Question for STR-Based Heavy Armor Melee build

[hoot hoot]

Making a STR focused melee that will be in heavy armor, I'm curious if there is any reason not to dump DEX to 8? I know Heavy Armor negates any DEX AC bonus, but will I be suffering any other ways from low Dex aside from some skill checks?

Does DEX affect hit chance with melee weapons, more specifically?

[Indure]

The biggest thing you will notice is initiative rolls (who gets to go first in combat). I have a low dexterity character and I routinely go last in combat.

[pascal.difolco]

Your init wills suck and there's a lot of DEX saving throws you'll fail...

[Izuzul]

Yeah you will go later in combat, but that can work in your favor if you have a caster that is using hold person or similar spells. Caster goes first then you come in and hit for the crit on the helpless person/monster

[TheMasterBlaster]

I wouldn't go lower than 10.

a negative DEX modifier means your initiative and DEX save will be trash. You will often go last in combat and the vast majority of DEX saves from spells and attacks will fail. That's really bad.

using a bow or crossbow will not be good either.

[Szorrin]

A lot of the more damaging spells have DEX saves, so if you're okay with taking full damage from those, go for it.

[zero]

as others have said, init and dex saving throws.

that said, if i need the stat points, im dumping it, the -1 vs a 0 isn't that huge in this situation cause not everything is a dex save and i have 3 other characters that can handle going first.

[oddball]

Low dex save means you'll eat a lot of ♥♥♥♥ from AOE spells so be ready for that. I'd definitely recommend getting every magic resist thing you can find and slapping that bad boy on.

[hoot hoot]

Lots of helpful tips. Thanks everyone.

I suspected there was a downside I wasn't seeing.