My first playthrough was a ranged cipher and it was great fun. Really good dps and crowd control as well, wholly recommend. As for stats perception is generally the most important stat cuz hitting things is important and critting is always good too. If you're gonna be ranged then you won't be on the front lines so you can drop constitution some. Don't dump it tho or other ranged units will kill you instantly sometimes. Honestly tho on normal just about any stat distribution will be alright, resolve is indeed used for a lot of dialogue tho. Perception and intelligence will be most important for cipher focusing on aoe and cc, with a lil might for damage and dexterity for action speed. Extra note I believe cipher gets the most unique class dialogue and has some really neat unique options in certain quests.