How To Calculate Ability Scores D&D 5e
In D&D, ability scores are the numerical measure of your character’s abilities.
But figuring out how to pick the ‘right’ ability scores can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re new.
If you’re in a hurry to calculate your next character’s ability scores, check out our D&D 5e Ability Score Calculator - now updated to include the latest Spelljammer 5e races!
In this post, we’ll explore the attributes that make ability scores, the rules for assigning them, and ways to find what works for you.
Table of Contents
What are ability scores in D&D?
When creating your character in D&D, you assign numbers to your character’s traits - strength, dexterity, constitution, dexterity, and charisma.
These numbers, or ability scores, represent the measurement of your character’s physical and mental traits. They directly impact your character's skills at certain tasks and the likelihood of success.
Each number represents how developed that trait is. The higher, the better because it contributes more to the possibility of success. And unless you’re playing homebrew, 8 is the minimum you can have for a starting character.
But 8 doesn’t mean your character is totally inept at that trait. To put it into perspective, a rat in the D&D world has a strength of 2. A hill giant has a strength of 21. Where does your character fall on the spectrum?
Here’s another way to think about it - 8 is the level of your everyday average layperson. Sixteen would be at that ability's elite, professional, or genius level. Twenty and above would be godlike.
Let’s briefly discuss each ability score and how it impacts your character.
Ability Score Overview
Strength (STR)
Strength refers to the physical prowess of your character and determines your ability with melee weapons, how much you can carry, pull, push, jump, or otherwise exert physical force.
Influences: Athletics.
Also influences: Attack and Damage rolls, lifting and carrying capacity.
Dexterity (DEX)
Dexterity is the measure of reflex, balance, and agility. This determines how successful acrobatic, sleight of hand, sneaking, or any action requiring nimbleness or finesse will be
Influences: Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth.
Also influences: attack rolls and damage.
Constitution (CON)
Constitution is how hearty, healthy, or resilient a character is. It represents their vitality or stamina and is how a character might push themselves beyond their normal limits.
CON also contributes to your HP, which we’ll talk about later.
Intelligence (INT)
Intelligence determines your character’s mental ability, recall, and logical skills. Pulling from wells of education, memory, deduction, or logic requires intelligence.
Influences: Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, Religion.
Also influences: spellcasting ability for wizards.
Wisdom (WIS)
Wisdom is how perceptive, aware, and intuitive your character is. It plays into emotional intelligence, reading body language, noticing things, or healing.
Influences: Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, Survival.
Also influences: spellcasting ability for clerics, druids, rangers.
Charisma (CHR)
Charisma is how effectively you interact with others. An important skill! It covers confidence, eloquence, intimidation, charm, or commanding.
Influences: Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion.
Also influences: spellcasting ability for bards, paladins, sorcerers, and warlocks.
How to Calculate Ability Scores in D&D 5e
To quote Socucious Ergalla from Morrowind, “There are a few ways we can do this, and the choice is yours…
How to Calculate Standard Array DnD 5e
This is generally the preferred option. It provides a balanced spread of stats that works well for many characters and it forces you to think about their skills and abilities. In this method, you assign the numbers 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 to each of your traits, and you’re done! It’s just that easy. In reality, getting there can be the hard part when you’re pulled in several directions.
How to Calculate Point Buy DnD 5e
This method gives you more control over your character’s spread. Using this method, you have 27 points to “spend” on your ability score points. You can have three high stats and three low stats, more averaged stats across the board, or variations between those two.
For new players, I recommend using the standard array. But if your DM allows it, point buy can help you create a more optimized or balanced character, depending on your playstyle or intentions for the character.
For example, one approach to our little Paladin conundrum would be to use a spread like 15 | 15 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 8. The downside is this method leaves some gaps that can be exploited by an attentive DM. The choice is yours, but realize that there will always be tradeoffs one way or the other.
How to Roll For Stats DnD 5e
Rolling for your ability scores is an old-school method that can be a lot of fun for roleplaying, but your DM must allow it. This method is not in the PHB as an option and it isn’t Adventurer’s League legal. This is a great way to give yourself up to the whimsy of fate and let probability decide the abilities of your character.
To find your ability scores, roll 4d6, drop the lowest number from each roll, and repeat 6 times. Then, place these numbers however you want in your ability scores. This is a high-risk/high-reward situation that can potentially unbalance your character in either direction. It’s also recommended that the entire party use this method for fairness and roll for stats at the table to prevent cheating.
Add Your Bonuses
Now that you’ve determined your initial ability scores, add racial or feat bonuses, if applicable.
Every race and sub-race has attribute bonuses to help reinforce specific traits from a roleplaying standpoint. For example, Dwarves are known for their strength and hardiness and get a +2 to their Strength and +1 to their Constitution. Elves are typically lithe and limber, and thus get a +2 to their Dexterity.
I like to place my stats first, then add any racial bonuses. This also might determine how you spread out your stats. Some feats, like Observant, give you a +1 in an ability score and some other improvement or feature.
Ability Score Modifiers
Once you’ve figured out your ability scores, you can figure out your ability score modifiers. Guess what? This is actually the number you want to pay attention to. It’s the bonus (or penalty) you add to your rolls when using that trait.
+1 Tip - put your modifier in the big bubble. It’s what you’re actually going to be using, so it’s nice to have it noticeable on your character sheet!
The quickest way to find these is by referring to this table or the chart on page 13 of the PHB.
D&D 5e Ability Score Modifier Table
| Ability Score | Ability Score Modifier |
|---|---|
| 1 | -5 |
| 2-3 | -4 |
| 4-5 | -3 |
| 6-7 | -2 |
| 8-9 | -1 |
| 10-11 | 0 |
| 12-13 | +1 |
| 14-15 | +2 |
| 16-17 | +3 |
| 18-19 | +4 |
| 20-21 | +5 |
| 22-23 | +6 |
| 24-25 | +7 |
| 26-27 | +8 |
| 28-29 | +9 |
| 30 | +10 |
Ability Score Increases
As you level up, you will have opportunities to improve your ability scores. Having an idea of how you want your character to grow beforehand can help you plan your initial ability scores, like putting a 13 in Dexterity for now because you know you’ll bump it up to 14 and get the modifier at level 4. Just remember, a one point difference in modifier at level 1 isn’t going to make a big impact, so don’t sweat it!
How Class Influences Ability Score Choices
We go into detail on this in our post on how to choose your D&D class, but each class uses ability scores to power their abilities. Some classes rely on a single attribute to shine, like Wizards who only need Intelligence, while others require multiple attributes to work, like the Paladin, who needs Charisma, Strength, and Constitution.
This isn’t as big of a deal in 5e, but trying to stretch all your abilities too far won’t help you or your party. You can’t be the strongest, wisest, fastest, and smartest fighter, but you don’t need to be.
With a standard array, you can be really good at two things, fairly good at two other things, and just okay at two others. Looking at it that way, how would you split that out for your character?
Another way to think about how to assign your stats is to think about what skills your character would be proficient in.
Looking at the ability scores that influence those skills might help you decide where to place those points. So if I’m creating a fast-talking pickpocket, deception, persuasion, stealth, and sleight of hand tell me that charisma and dexterity are going to be important stats for my character.
When assigning your skill points, think about your party. Rely on them to help round out your weaknesses.
Going back to our episode on choosing your class, think first about the person you’re creating, their skills, history, background, preferences, etc. Based on who they are, how would you then measure their abilities using these numbers?
There’s an important distinction I want to make here. There is an “ideal” way to create your character, min/maxing, which is making sure your character is completely optimized for a specific task or by taking advantage of combinations of feats and traits.
There’s nothing wrong with this; these characters can still be fun to play, but it doesn’t always match with the character you’re trying to create.
Or worse, the character just becomes a one-trick pony that becomes boring to play over time. Just be aware there are a few methods for how to pick where to put your ability scores, and each of them has merit depending on what you have in mind
Putting It All Together
Ability scores play a role in your character’s probability of success but having the highest scores doesn’t make a character great.
A fleshed-out backstory with bonds, flaws, and ideals that push and pull the character will result in a PC that’s a blast to play, regardless of their stats - check out our post on how to make your character background for tips!