Honor [DMG 9.264]

Honor Score

Here’s how to incorporate the Honor ability at character creation:

• If your players use the standard array of ability scores, add one 11 to the array for optional ability Honor.
• If your players use the optional point-buy system, add 3 points to the number of points..
• If your players roll their ability scores, have them roll for optional ability Honor.

If you ever need to make a check or saving throw for Honor for a monster that lacks the score, you can use Charisma for Honor.

If your campaign involves cultures where a rigid code of honor is part of daily life, consider using the Honor score as a means of measuring a character’s devotion to that code. This ability fits well in a setting inspired by Asian cultures, such as Kara-Tur in the Forgotten Realms. The Honor ability is also useful in any campaign that revolves around orders of knights.

Honor measures not only a character’s devotion to a code but also the character’s understanding of it. The Honor score can also reflect how others perceive a character’s honor. A character with a high Honor usually has a reputation that others know about, especially those who have high Honor scores themselves.

Unlike other abilities, Honor can’t be raised with normal ability score increases. Instead, you can award increases to Honor—or impose reductions—based on a character’s actions. At the end of an adventure, if you think a character’s actions in the adventure reflected well or poorly on his or her understanding of the code, you can increase or decrease the character’s Honor by 1. As with other ability scores, a character’s Honor can’t exceed 20 or fall below 1.

Honor Checks. Honor checks can be used in social situations, much as Charisma would, when a character’s understanding of a code of conduct is the most defining factor in the way a social interaction will play out.

You might also call for an Honor check when a character is in one of the following situations:

• Being unsure how to act with honor
• Surrendering while trying to save face
• Trying to determine another character’s Honor score
• Trying to use the proper etiquette in a delicate social situation
• Using his or her honorable or dishonorable reputation to influence someone else

Honor Saving Throws. An Honor saving throw comes into play when you want to determine whether a character might inadvertently do something dishonorable. You might call for an Honor saving throw in the following situations:

• Avoiding an accidental breach of honor or etiquette
• Resisting the urge to respond to goading or insults from an enemy
• Recognizing when an enemy attempts to trick a character into a breach of honor