Last month, I made a Twitter thread about racial ability score bonuses. I don’t like the way that races in D&D get numerical bonuses to their ability scores. I think it’s unnecessarily limiting. There are over 1,000 unique race/class combinations in fifth edition D&D, but only a small handful of them are worth playing from a character optimization standpoint. Not everyone feels the need to play optimal characters, and would instead rather play characters for their roleplay potential than their mechanical viability, but I don’t see why we can’t have both.
Halfling rogues are a classic class combination, for example, because they’re an optimal combo for all three pillars of D&D. Ever since The Hobbit, the idea of halflings being small and sneaky has been a staple of fantasy, giving us prime examples of how one might explore, fight, or interact with people as a halfling rogue. And D&D lets you do all that because of supremely synergistic racial ability score increases, racial traits, and the somewhat more ephemeral idea of being fun to roleplay. On the other hand, class combinations like a half-orc wizard have always been a harder sell. In previous additions, a half-orc’s penalty to Intelligence made being a wizard incredibly hard—and even in fifth edition D&D, the fact that the half-orc race doesn’t get a bonus to Intelligence makes it hard to excel as a wizard because you’ll always have a subpar spell attack bonus and saving throw DC.
This is to say nothing of the fact that linking ability score penalties (which are thankfully absent from the fifth edition Player’s Handbook, at least) to your choice of race has distasteful similarities to real-life racist ideology.
But the thing is, it doesn’t have to be this way. Ability score increases don’t have to be tied to which race you chose. They could be tied directly to your class, or more indirectly to your background, to some combination of the two options. Let’s take a look at some character creation house rules that you can use to decouple ability scores from race.
Step One: Remove Racial Ability Score Increases
The first step of this house rule is tremendously easy. Simply remove the Ability Score Increase trait from your character’s race and subrace, if applicable. In the case of the so-called “monstrous races” of orcs and kobolds from Volo’s Guide to Monsters, this removes their ability score reductions, as well.
If you’re worried about this making your character’s race irrelevant, or making the various fantasy races of D&D too homogeneous, don’t worry. Each race still has plenty of traits that help make them unique. For example, tieflings still have the Darkvision, Hellish Resistance, and Infernal Legacy traits, all of which make them unique and fantastical—and more importantly, these traits are interesting in a way that numerical stat bonuses just aren’t. Even without racial ability score increases, half-orcs are still strong and tough by virtue of their Relentless Endurance and Savage Attacks traits, and dwarves are still sturdy and martially adept, thanks to their Dwarven Resilience and Dwarven Combat Training traits.
There are few exceptions to this houserule for races and subraces that are highly impacted by their ability score increases. These are:
Human. The variant human presented in the Player’s Handbook is the default example of the human race while using this house rule.
Mountain Dwarf. Since the mountain dwarf subrace gains a +2 bonus to Strength in place of another trait, they gain a new trait in its place: Martial Aptitude. When you hit with a martial melee weapon, you roll an additional 1d4 and add it to the damage.
This trait originally appeared in a different form, which many commenters rightfully pointed out was much stronger than a +2 bonus to Strength. The older version is presented here for consistency.
Martial Aptitude. When using a martial weapon, you roll one additional damage die. For instance, when you hit with a greatsword, you roll 3d6 to determine the attack’s damage, instead of 2d6.
Half Elf. Since half elves gain more ability score increases than most other races, they gain a new trait in its place: Knowledge of the Elves. You possess one of the following traits: Cantrip (as the high elf trait), Elf Weapon Training (as the high elf or wood elf trait), Mask of the Wild (as the wood elf trait), Superior Darkvision (as the drow trait), or Drow Weapon Training (as the drow trait). Other traits, such as those from elves not in the Player's Handbook, can be used at the DM's discretion.
Half-elves originally had a different trait in an earlier version of this article, which several commenters pointed out had unpleasant social implications. The older version is presented here for consistency. Supernatural Charm. You know the friends cantrip. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast charm person once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Step Two: Reassign Ability Score Increases
Now that you’ve severed ability score increases from races, it’s time to relink them somewhere else in the system. Since almost every race in D&D gains a +2 bonus to one ability score and a +1 bonus to another, a total bonus of +3 should be assigned to all characters. My preferred option is for characters to gain access to improving their ability scores based on the training they undergo to become a member of a certain class. However, while discussing this option with other D&D fans, I found a not-insignificant number of people who felt that this would make all characters of a certain class feel too homogenous, regardless of racial traits.
While I disagree with this take, I’ve nevertheless presented three different ways to reassign ability score increases. Take your pick!
Option One: Class
You gain the Ability Score Increase feature when you choose your class at 1st level. If you gain levels in another class using the optional Multiclassing rules, you don’t gain this feature again.
Ability Score Increase (Barbarian). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.
Ability Score Increase (Bard). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. You can increase any ability score using this feature.
Ability Score Increase (Cleric). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom.
Ability Score Increase (Druid). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Strength, Wisdom, or Charisma.
Ability Score Increase (Fighter). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, or Intelligence.
Ability Score Increase (Monk). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, or Wisdom.
Ability Score Increase (Paladin). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, or Charisma.
Ability Score Increase (Ranger). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, or Wisdom.
Ability Score Increase (Rogue). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. You can increase any ability score using this feature.
Ability Score Increase (Sorcerer). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Dexterity, Constitution, or Charisma.
Ability Score Increase (Warlock). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, or Charisma.
Ability Score Increase (Wizard). You can increase one of your ability scores by 2 and another ability score by 1. Alternatively, you can increase three of your ability scores by 1. The ability scores you can increase using this feature are Dexterity, Constitution, or Intelligence.
Option Two: Background
You gain the Ability Score Increase feature based on your background. This list includes the backgrounds from the Player’s Handbook. If you choose a background from a different book, consult with your Dungeon Master to determine one ability score to gain a +2 bonus in, and another ability score to gain a +1 bonus in.
Ability Score Increase (Acolyte). Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Charlatan). Your Charisma score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Criminal). Your Constitution score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Entertainer). Your Charisma score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Folk Hero). Your Strength or Dexterity score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Guild Artisan). Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Hermit). Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Noble). Your Intelligence or Charisma score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Outlander). Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Sage). Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Sailor). Your Strength or Dexterity score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Soldier). Your Constitution score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Ability Score Increase (Urchin). Your Dexterity or Constitution score increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Option Three: Class and Background
The third and final option is a combination of the two above. When you choose your class, assign a +2 to one ability score available to your class in Option One (or two +1s to two ability scores available to your class). Then when you choose your background, assign a +1 to the ability score specified by your background in Option Two. Since some backgrounds in Option Two let you choose between two ability scores to increase, you can choose either of them.
Would you use this house rule in your home D&D game? Which option is your favorite, or do you have a fourth option that you would use instead?
James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and the Critical Role Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, a member of the Guild Adepts, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and other RPG companies. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his partner Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan. You can find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.
Also a direct violation of their own terms of service which states we not bring real world politics or religious ideologies into the any of the forums or homebrew creations we make.
The point we are making is no alternative is needed. I made a level 8 Orc-Half Wizard with 19 intelligence... how is that a problem?
I think it's that everyone wants to be a multi-class demigod with multiple maxed out stats but using a race they like the look of... which really just isn't how the game meant to be played. Multiclass characters are supposed to be a bit split with one class being weaker than the other. Characters are supposed to have flaws, weaknesses and shortcomings in order to have room for growth. You can always use various magical items and such to boost weaker stats or eventually get a wish spell. But even if you are just heart set on having an OP half-orc wizard you can simply justify his greater intelligence with a creative backstory. Most DMs will approve of something like that if your character isn't too OP.
You realize you mostly just used Pathfinder 2s character creation right?
I love the idea behind the article. I hadn't realized how much racial ability modifiers rankle until I read it. They seem minor, but in play they impose a uniformity almost as strict on race-class combos as 1E. Non-optimal combos may make interesting stories, but they will be looked down on whenever the wargaming side of the game emerges.
One thing to remember is that PCs are not representative of the world. 50% of any given party may be full casters, flinging spells constantly, but in most worlds spells are rare, with maybe 1 in 1000 people being a full caster. Outside of PCs, half orcs may indeed be stronger on average than gnomes - that's just "real world physics". But that's no reason to impose that on all PCs - let players choose to follow or break the norms. If your gnome starts with strength 17, have a good backstory about working out constantly or falling into a potion cauldron as a child. Perhaps in some race, biological males on average are stronger than females, and 99% of the very strongest are male; would you then impose a strength modifier based on that character choice for members of that race?
That said, I like the simplicity of a universal +2/+1 choice, or just boosting the standard array.
Honestly after reading all this...
Ya'll do realize that 10 in a stat represents human average at that thing, right? So strength 10 is human average. So races that naturally have better muscle density will get better strength. Races with naturally better hand-eye coordination and flexibility get dex, your average gnome is smarter than your average human. Lots of people dog on Charisma, because they look up the definition of the word and not its place in mechanics. It represents your force of will and power of personality. Not just your persuasiveness, but your strength of spirit. While Wisdom might represent your strength to use your spirit (Such as a monk's ki) charisma is your raw, innate skill with it. That's why it's the thing for Sorcerer. I just can't believe people don't get how some species could genuinely have a better average at something than the average human. Then again, people have a horrifically bad understanding of alignments too, so I guess it shouldn't surprise...
See and to me it’s not an insult I’m just providing constructive criticism I wasn’t accusing the author of actually virtue signaling, only that it was getting close to that and I think that is a bit of a slippery slope as well as being against their terms of service
Thank you. Finally, some sense. WOTC, please do not make this author (James Haeck) a member of any rules team. The reason NPC characters get traits like the hobgoblin additional damage die, is because of the way their hit dice are calculated. This also throws all bounded accuracy out of the water.
The Custom Background option would allow the player (if allowed by the DM) to assign the ability score increases to any attributes they want. That said, I think this is a pretty cool alternative way of doing attributes.
I love this! Definitely something that I want to use and include in my home game!
Thank you for writing it down and sharing!
I am very much in favor of this.
The traditional way many fantasy rpgs attribute physical and mental abilities to race (a problematic concept to begin with) smacks of antiquated anthropological concepts rooted in racism.
if I could implement rules like these via dndbeyond for my home brew game, I would.
Probably should also be mentioned that in your option 1 (getting your ability increase from class) you are restricting the choices of attributes per class, what if i wanted to raise my wisdom as a wizard (maybe i already have a maxed int). Wizards seem limited to Dexterity, Constitution, or Intelligence, while fighters could raise their Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, or Intelligence, but not wisdom, or charisma..
You are placing restrictions on what stats i value.
I disagree. James has some interesting ideas that could be turned into Unearthed Arcana playtest mechanics that could be further vetted by actual players and offered up as Variant rules.
If 5e is anything, its an evolution. One that has taken creative thinking to get to where we're at.
Great article with really interesting thoughts/fixes, and some excellent input to be found in the comments as well! I will incorporate ideas from both into my next character creation session.
I hate how people bring up racism in DND like it’s anything similar to the way racism works in real life.
In real life the reason racism is bad is because we all more or less have the same genetic code. What we have is social racism which focuses on prejudicial assumptions which could be completely false such as assuming all people of a certain race act a certain way.
Now “races” in dungeons and dragons are a completely different thing. The different “races “ are almost completely different species. Orcs are a completely different from a humans. They have completely different bone structures, body sizes, muscle densities and brain sizes. Orcs used to be monsters that were mostly unintelligent and only over time became the intelligent creatures that humans now interact with and interbreed with in the world of the game. It would be like humans Breeding with a Neanderthal with green skin and tusks and quite a bit more height & strength.
There are actual completely different physical genetic differences in the extreme between the different Species of the DND world.
What we deal with in the real world is just social racism where there is no real basis in genetic or scientific fact.... it’s just people being a holes.
The thing you have to realize is the whole reason why orcs were introduced as a playable race in the game so that people could role-play as a big overgrown brutish Oaf as well as the various role-playing opportunities it opens up playing as a “monster race “. To balance that out there are extra abilities in fighting and strength they have to have lower intelligence so they can‘t also be an Uber mage.
So again let’s all please follow the rules of conduct and stop bringing up real world racism or ideologies in this forum and focus on offering legitimate reasons why you can’t simply accommodate your nontraditional race (species) wizard ( or other non traditional class/race combo ) with some creative imaginative backstory rather than re-writing the entire attribute system and the lore of all the races.
Instead of looking add racial traits as a disadvantage you should be looking at the idea of say a half-orc wizard being an interesting solution to being able to multi class being both a wizard and a fighter duel class as you always get those benefits to strength and fighting even though you’re boring most of your points into intelligence to level your wizard class.
The counterpoint to using any of the systems the original post described is that it homogenizes the various different races (Species) and robs them of their physical uniqueness. These widely varying species were created to be so different in order to escape from the real world into the world of fantasy where monsters like elves, dwarves, fairies, vampires, Giants, orcs, Goblins and dragons exist. They were created so we could role-play as something magical and fantastical and unique… When you homogenize DND and try to make it like an MMO video game where everything is a level playing ground then you’re missing the point of playing DND. One of the reasons why Orcs were made a playable race is because people wanted to play as a brutish monster fighter. But to balance out its strengths it was given weaknesses. Now a days the vast majority of races don't have negative attribute modifiers so basically it's an argument over which buffs you aren't getting.
So its 2019 now, and if I'm a DM and i use racial ability score penalties in my game I'm uncomfortably close to being racist?
How very SJW game design of you...
I really like this concept, as I personally have been afraid to play different race/class combinations simply because of the benefits some races give to certain classes. A possible 4th option to the +3 spread-around would be based in a characters backstory. Based on the backstory players would give their DM's, they could decide if certain aspects of that story would give them . a bonus to a certain trait. I understand that there are players that don't like to come up with backstories, so it may not be a widely used option, but it would really give a lot of freedom and personal interpretation between a player and their DM.
Also by far the simplest solution to the problem of racial attributes is just roll your stats differently versus using point buy or a static array.
And old-school way of rolling stats ( which I think a lot of people still do) that we used to do when we wanted to ensure we had good rolls for our character’s important stats is to create a custom random array using dice rolls .
The way this works is you take 3d6 and throw them all at once and record the best number out of them. Do that three times for the stat roll total. Do that process a total of six times and you have your stat array. Then you can choose whatever rolls you want to apply to each ability stat. If you or the dungeon master feels that you rolled too well you can then re-roll one or Two of the stats to adjust down. Another way to control that is that you set a total number of ability points starting characters can have for your campaign/game and if you go over that you have to reroll a portion of your array until it fits within the agreed upon starting ability point total. 85 to 90 is usually pretty good for this kind of threshold depending on whether you include racial bonuses or not.
To avoid players being disheartened by really low rolls you can set a lower threshold between 65 and 70 and if their total falls below that they can re-roll one or two of the array stat rolls to Bring them up.
And if you still don’t get good stats after that is all done don’t be so disheartened there are a multitude of ways you can strengthen your character within the bounds of the game to make them truly legendary powerful and strong.
Alternatively if you Want a less forgiving/more challenging system instead of doing an array you can assign to any stat, you instead roll each stat separately in the manner above and you’re locked in to that value for that ability. The DM can then allow you to swap one stat roll to a different stat. That way you can ensure your highest stat is going to the ability that is most needed for your class.
Been having more of a think, and I wonder, what if there's another way to reward less than optimal stats by your species, background and class choice, rather than (or in conjunction with altering the way you get stat increases?
What if, there was an actual in-game mechanic that gave you a slight offset in some area, if you had negatives in scores (whether it was the one your class uses or not.) depending on just how low they went, how many you had that were negative, (and just how high your positive ones were, if that should be included?) All of this would entail a chart of some sort and number crunching, so that's some added work that needs testing. Bear in mind, these would not negate the negatives, but simply encourage people to use them, for more than RP purposes and not give them the notoriety of being completely bad for your style of gaming.
I'm just brainstorming here, and I'd love to see more concepts and playtests, but here goes an example: Let's say you make a Lightfoot Halfling Barbarian with the Acolyte background. (You were a cloistered layperson of *insert god here*, until someone came and almost slaughtered them off. You managed to fight an attacker off and found that no one wanted to see you, when you get angry! You then wandered off, offering yourself to just fight with reckless abandon, without the need for holy powers, unless you multiclass or something. Pfft.) Now your stats managed to be...shall we say meh? You actually have an 7 strength score, and just a 10 constitution. Your Dex is pretty damn good though, along with everything else being average or above. Now, would you call this character stillborn and unplayable? Not if you got something in return. Perhaps, you now always have advantage on one of your class saves. (Or gain another?) Perhaps you get above average to maximum hit points when you level (or can always re-roll 1's and 2's) Perhaps you always get inspiration or 1 luck point to use each session. You gain expertise in a skill you're already proficient in (or a new proficiency for certain rogues/bards), or a new set of tools or a language (reading and writing optional for low Intelligence, of course). Perhaps you start out with more coin and/or equipment than a starting character has access to? And I mean a lot, enough to buy a minor magic item. Now how's that for fate taking pity on your odds of survival. (Call it: Found a hidden stash by dumb luck.) Maybe you even gained a resistance to a type of damage, because of all of the hard knocks your poor body had to take that few others did, who were naturally better at just about everything else. Perhaps you can use one hit dice for free once when you rest per session or just in general. A big one might be that you always get an extra +1 to your damage of your choice, depending on class. (Whatever weapon is in your hand/barehanded, or whatever spells you use). Another big one might be one bonus use of an ability above your allotted, for the level. (Say an extra rage, or a low level spell slot) All of this would of course vary with the intensity of your negative attributes, (and positive ones if that needs to be factored in).
Again this is just me thinking off the top of my head. I don't think most of it's game breaking, but I haven't play tested it nor seen it in action, save for a different system that had different mechanics. At the end, who knows, maybe off-set mechanics like this could eventually see players trying out the F (as in fail) team, and seeing how far they can get while embracing low scores, but with so many slight bonuses tacked on. I'd watch that, heck I'd play that once for fun, because it's something I've never done before in D&D, and it wouldn't be a complete joke of a game...um, hopefully. Better yet, GMs can use the same mechanics of course, so just because that Kobold Sorceror that you spited, is a laughing stock to your party, doesn't mean it's not full of surprises.
@solardream Did you check out my old school stat rolling technique that we used to use back in 1st edition and 2nd edition? Check it out it’s right above your post.
Something I've been doing is giving my players one +1 to put into a stat based on the class's proficient saving throws. So, since a bard starts with proficiency in charisma and dex saving throws, that player gets a +1 that goes in either dex or charisma. This let's players get to the coveted 16 in point buy. And, if you're really into optimization, there is a chance to get to 18 at level 1. I've tampered with 'flatening' a race's asi by making all +2's +1's, and giving the +1 class bonus, but it just didn't feel right. And my players agreed. But who knows, I'm only on session 3 with this idea. Maybe it will work out in the end?