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Originally Posted by Darth_Trethon
This...or try playing a barbarian with 8 strength. D&D is a game that harshly punishes ineptitude, and greatly rewards competence. And not just strictly in character builds but also in power usage, party management...like try sending the wizard or the cleric up front to tank and see how that goes.

A STR 8 barbarian is completely feasible in 5E, you need high DEX and CON and a finesse weapon. Is it optimal? No, of course not but it's viable.
Clerics, depending on their domain choice, can be very effective at the frontline and yes, they can even tank. Again it's of course not the optimal choice but it's entirely doable. Can it be done with every cleric? No, but some are capable of doing it.

I do agree that casters generally require high(er) values in their casting stat, but that still doesn't mean one has min/max.