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.
You can't really separate the two, though - especially for people of color who still feel impacted by those flaws.
All art is political, dude.
This first statement hits the nail on the head, square and perfectly! " "Races" in D&D are not races. They are species." I personally feel that simply changing the word to species would alleviate any of the distaste that some find with the word race.
With changing the term, now you don’t have to worry about different options rules. A Tabaxi gets a DEX bonus because it’s of a feline species, dwarves get the CON bonus because their species is more resilient; half-orc species is just genetically stronger, thus getting the STR bonus.
I think the best and most balanced way to do homebrew ability scores is first pick a one that best fits the race, for instance for a high elf, intelligences and give that a +1 then give the player a standard ASI so +1 to any two or +2 to one, OR the option of a feat.
I wouldn't bet on that.
My DM wanted to use the point buy system (which I personally detest) and I objected based on this specific mechanic. It's not fair that you should be prevented from starting with a +3 in your class's main ability score just because you chose a class that doesn't get a bonus there.
The workaround we came up with is as follows:
IF your chosen race doesn't give you an ability score bonus in the main ability of your chosen class, THEN you can buy your way to a 16, which costs 2 points. Otherwise, you can't buy your way to a 16, and you don't get any extra points to play with, which means one of your other scores will have to be lower.
I did a lot of experimentation and I found that this solution was actually pretty fair; a tiefling druid built this way had an almost identical range of ability scores to the dragonborn warlock built with regular point buy.
I agree that some fantasy races are better than others, I.E. an average goliath would always be stronger than the average halfling. HOWEVER, an exceptional halfling could potentially be stronger than the average goliath. The only racial bonuses I don't get are how can one race start off with more intelligence/wisdom? That seems farfetched, and the worst one is Charisma??? Charisma is literally relationships with others, how can that be an innate thing that a race can be better than another in? That doesn't make any sense to me.
So by taking away the bonuses to race and transferring them to background or class makes more sense to me. A fighter who is trained to be strong and quick and durable, or a wizard who has trained in the art of magic and knowledge, both of these make more sense to me than the earlier examples. So I would prefer bonuses granted through training rather than bonuses granted because of how you're born....
Just wanted to add, I HATE point buy too lol I despise it......I personally like to roll for stats and then assign the rolled number to a stat. It's a little bit of a gamble when you roll a 15 or 16 because then you have to decide if you're going to put that as your main stat or 2nd main stat and hope for a 17 or 18!
Another option would be a +1 for race (species), +1 for class, and +1 for background. As an example a half-orc would have the option of +1 to Str. or Con. If he chooses to be a wizard it would be +1 to Int. And if he has a background sailor, he could have a +1 to Str., Con., or Dex. I would thing that if you are looking for more variety and get away from the optimizations then having more places to put an ability score increase, the better. The fighter could have a +1 to Str. or Dex. (or even Str., Con., or Dex.). A half elf might get an increase to Dex., Con., Int., or Cha. By splitting the between class, race, and background with significant overlap you increase the number of choices available to the player.
Right, and I don't know that these racial undertones in Tolkien are a flaw, exactly, so much as they are a part of Tolkien's whole enterprise of mythmaking -- which was inevitably going to involving reifying some obsolete ideas about the world. Aristocracy, for example, is very real in LotR, with real-world effects in terms of capability. Aristocratic ideas of class as a reflection of superior blood are far enough from our current thinking, though, that's it's not disturbing in the way the racial undertones can be -- because racism is more of a persistent issue in today's world than aristocracy (where there remain, of course, epic levels of inequality, but that is rarely rationalized via traditional aristocratic thinking.)
Another example is the equivalence in LotR between rulers and warriors. Any worthy leader in LotR (and most of the unworthy ones) excel in personal combat. This is an idea we haven't believed literally in Western culture for the better part of a thousand years. If people took this idea seriously -- replacing Congress and the President with MMA fighters and Special Forces soldiers -- it would be as destructive as racism, but nobody believes that any more, so it isn't threatening.
I don't have a perfect answer, but I tend to think that rather than try to eliminate these elements, it's better to reimagine them, to hold them up to criticism, to tell subversive stories around them. Retelling a story is more powerful than trying to erase it.
A recent example of this I highly recommend is the movie "Bright." This underregarded Neflix film is set in a world of Elves, humans, and Orcs -- and Orcs are on the one hand pretty explicitly analogized to people of color, but elves are a sort of super-white people -- privileged with beauty, wealth, magical talent -- which means that, identifying with the humans, you also get a little taste of what it might be like to inhabit a society where the standards of beauty and the distribution of power, money, and education put someone else in the catbird seat.
It is disheartening to read so many comments here reducing races to purely the increases in their Ability Scores and completely ignoring all their other actual traits. A halfling and a half-orc with an identical spread of points are in fact still quite different, not just in flavor but actual mechanics. The halfling is still going to be luckier and better at sneaking, and the half-orc is still going to be harder to kill and more ferocious. If you're concerned that untying Ability Scores from race makes "all races identical," then don't be. Furthermore, rather than this somehow making races "more politically correct", doing so makes D&D's racial determinism far more clear: All half-orcs are menacing, all dwarves innately know about masonry, all tieflings have innate magic, etc.
These house rules don't do anything to decrease or change the traditional D&D conceit that there are inherent biological differences between the races. What these rules DO do (heh, do-do) is propose methods for creating more intra-racial variety while still making broad generalizations about those races, and without necessarily providing a statistical disincentive for doing so.
In short, races are mechanically more than their +2 and +1, and I think that the concerns that this homebrew somehow fundamentally alters the game's approach to racial distinction just don't hold up.
I agree with the premise. A simpler solution (I didn’t come up with this idea myself though) is just to have a character have a net +7 in ability modifiers regardless of race, class, or background. For example, for a half-orc wizard, -1 Str mod, +1 Dex mod, +2 Con mod, +3 Int mod, +1 Wis mod, and +1 Cha mod. At level 4, you add +1 to an ability modifier.
Thank you for saying all this better then I could.
I agree with this. As in a bear is naturally stronger than a cat who is naturally more dexterous. Dolphins having a higher intelligence than say a dog makes more sense. But that doesn't explain charisma. Wisdom doesn't make much sense, but Charisma so far is the problem ability for me. I don't buy that one race/species can be NATURALLY more charismatic than another. That doesn't make any sense to me. It is for that reason, that I would rather have ability score increases go into things that the individual trains in, which would be class or background.
So glad to see this up here, thank you for writing this up. I read James Mendes' orc essays only a couple weeks ago and his words have been on my mind ever since. I think I might stick to just letting players pick their +2/+1 as they wish, instead of being restricted by class or background, but I haven't fully decided just yet.
Whenever I make a character whose primary ability score isn't increased by race, I always allow characters to have the starting ability score at 16 if not already higher. This does not affect ability score investment (via point-buy system).
Yes please make this happen
I honestly love it and it.would increase the amount of combos
I prefer the third option
It gives more "power" in a sense to your background and your class
As long as custom background options can do the same thing
And if you Homebrew a class you can also do the same thing this would.be great
looks intresting. i might try this
Unfortunately, I don't see how this is going to stop race/class optimization. You're alternating stat increases for half-feats. All it will do is change the "This gives me +2 strength, I pick this" mindset to "This gives me 1d4 extra melee damage, I pick this." There will always be optimal race/class combos as long as races and classes have distinct features. It's a part of the game that's never going to go away, and optimizers will find a way. Check any forum, they will find a way.
I wholeheartedly agree that racial ability scores are somewhat limiting. However, I think the solution is easier than you think. Racial ability scores are what make races so thematic: the hardy dwarf, the agile elf, the strong half-orc, the intelligent gnome. Leave the increases that are most important, the rest is more customizle. All other race and subrace traits should be the same. It may be me, but it's okay for now that we don't have the perfect system.
Examples.Dwarf: +2 Con, +1 Any; Elf: +2 dex, +1 any; Gnome: +2 Int, +1 any; Tiefling: +2 Cha, +1 any
You get the gist, that way it's a bit easier to half that half-orc swashbuckler you've always wanted. XD. But that's for another day.