Ability Score Guide (5e Other)
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5e Ability Score Guide[edit]
Guide on roleplaying each ability score. This is meant to help both players and DMs understand what each ability score means at each modifier number, plus 0, even though it is almost impossible to have a 0 in any ability score. Includes the optional Honor and Sanity ability scores.
| Ability Score (Modifier) | Strength | Dexterity | Constitution | Intelligence | Wisdom | Charisma | Sanity | Honor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (-5) | Cannot lift even one’s own body, or have their heart beat. | Cannot balance oneself whatsoever, slowly moves limbs where they want them to be. | Easily killed by even the most mild of diseases and poisons. | Unable to process anything mentally, restricted to reactions only. | Unable to notice anything beyond oneself. | Incapable of exerting any sort of influence at all. | Lost in their own head practically all of the time, unable to discern the difference between illusion and reality, prone to madness. | Untrusted whatsoever, rarely, if ever, treated with any semblance of respect, cannot get work. |
| 1 (-5) | Can barely keep oneself upright, can easily fall over from a light poke. | Unable to keep oneself balanced, seemingly paralyzed. | Easily gets wounded and prone to passing out constantly. | Unable to reason or understand language, acts according to base instincts only. | Can barely sense what is going on around them. | Extremely difficult time communicating, stutters almost every word. | Mostly inside one’s own head, has full on conversations with voices inside their head. | Barely trusted by even the lowest of criminals, barely finds work at all. |
| 2-3 (-4) | Has a hard time moving anything, takes great effort. | Very slow reflexes, barely any subtlety to one’s movements. | Can barely last without eating or drinking, cannot hold even the weakest amount of alcohol in a drink. | Hard time remembering anything. | Quite often forgets that things exist around them, and that others have thoughts and feelings. | Can barely speak, and does so in short fragments, stutters often. Oftentimes uses grunts and gestures. | Easily falls victim to the few voices inside one’s head, | Slightly trusted to do the most simple of tasks and can find work for criminals. |
| 4-5 (-3) | Has difficulty carrying things that are more than 1/2 one’s own body weight. | Has difficulty flexing one’s own body, tends to be quite stiff. | Can barely endure most illnesses without needing to rest. | Has difficulty reasoning anything in their head, is prone to using logical fallacies out of ignorance when communicating. | Has a hard time discerning what others are thinking and feeling, oftentimes makes bad decisions. | Has difficulty speaking with confidence, stutters rarely. | Difficulty discerning between reality and illusion, sometimes hears whispers inside their head. | Rarely trusted outside the criminal underworld, unable to discern proper etiquette in any situation. |
| 6-7 (-2) | Can move things that are less than their body weight without issue, can sometimes break open weaker bonds. | Can tie looser ropes, has a hard time playing instruments. | Can march for an hour before needing a quick break. | Can get a very rough estimate of the value of an item. | Can barely tell the difference between a creature that is undead and one that is not. | Has difficulty learning about the latest news, gossip, and rumors. | Oftentimes mistakes illusions for reality. | Is trusted by criminals and barely by normal members of society, can be fooled into doing dishonorable work more often than not. |
| 8-9 (-1) | Struggles pushing stone statues and stopping medium boulders from rolling. | Difficulty crafting or detailing a small object. | Can endure a mild infection without issue. | Can sometimes win games of skill. | Good gut feelings about things. | Can, with effort, blend into a crowd to learn of key conversation topics. | With considerable effort, can comprehend alien magic and technology. | Is somewhat trusted by the criminal underworld and normal society, can save face by surrendering with difficulty. |
| 10-11 (+/-0) | Can easily lift and drag one’s own weight. | Can react in time to most common occurrences. | Can endure most everyday hazards without much issue. | Can often recall memorable events with a decent degree of accuracy. | Can detect the feelings of most creatures with ease. | Can speak coherently. | Can tell the difference between illusion and reality most of the time. | Is completely trusted by the lower members of society, can be relied upon to complete a given task and update others. Has an understanding of society’s code of ethics. |
| 12-13 (+1) | Can easily hang on to fast moving objects while being dragged. | Can wriggle free of rope quite easily. | Can go for a day without sleeping. | Can recall a good amount of details about certain events. | Can calm down a beast easily. | Can change the mind of someone else after a bit of talking. | Can decipher what lunatics have written with difficulty. | Can learn how honorable another is by observing them, is somewhat trusted by high society. |
| 14-15 (+2) | Can break open tough manacles without much difficulty. | Can steer a chariot around a tight turn with limited failure. | Can endure harsh weather without suffering any ill effects. | Can discern if something is an illusion most of the time through logical reasoning. | Can determine if a creature is undead with ease. | Can dazzle others with a pretty impressive trick. | Can overcome madness itself with difficulty. | Can easily act honorably in most situations. |
| 16-17 (+3) | Can climb sheer cliffs with ease. | Can oftentimes catch weapon projectiles. | Can go for a day without food or water. | Can pull off a convincing disguise or forgery. | Oftentimes has a gut feeling that is right. | Can talk their way out of tricky situations. | Can handle seeing alien creatures from the far realm most of the time. | Can easily resist the urge to respond to goading or insults with one’s own. |
| 18-19 (+4) | Can outlift ordinary folks with ease. | Can pick common locks and disable easy traps reliably. | Can often go marching for 10 hours without needing a break. | Can pick out details most others miss, such as what weapon caused a certain wound or where a hidden object is. | Can diagnose most illnesses reliably. | Can reliably deceive others most of the time. | Can reliably avoid obtaining madness from common sources. | Can sometimes influence others using one’s own Honor. |
| 20-21 (+5) | Can keep multiple large boulders from rolling with some difficulty. | Can balance oneself upon a precarious tightrope with ease. | Can easily drink most alcohol and be fine.. | Can communicate with a creature using gestures instead of words with relative ease. | Can spot when someone isn’t being honest quite often. | Can easily influence most people into doing what one wants. | Can easily decipher the most important parts of text without succumbing to madness. | Can easily avoid most breaches of etiquette. |
| 22-23 (+6) | Can outlift even the strongest mortals. | Can expertly detail small objects with ease. | Can endure some weaker poisons without issue. | Can recall most lore that one has heard of. | Can track creatures even during heavy rain or snow. | Can lie their way out of almost any situation. | Can handle passing through other planes and demiplanes built on alien physics quite reliably. | Can recognize most attempts at being tricked to breach one’s code of honor. |
| 24-25 (+7) | Can tip over heavy, huge statues with some difficulty. | Can easily escape most bonds. | Can sleep for days on end without becoming exhausted reliably. | Can recognize most symbols and recall their historical or magical significance. | Can calm down even raging beasts reliably. | Can demand another to do one’s own bidding quite often. | Can recall alien lore that could madden others without going mad. | Knows how to act with honor in most situations. |
| 26-27 (+8) | Can break open most doors, locked, barred, and/or stuck, with raw power. | Can expertly tie up other creatures. | Can endure harsh weather for days on end while marching for over 8 hours reliably. | Can recall almost everything one has seen with a high amount of detail. | Can detect when something is off about others quite often. | Can get many key topics of conversation while in a crowd within minutes. | Can learn spells from forbidden tomes without losing one’s mind. | Can easily save face while surrendering. |
| 28-29 (+9) | Can outlift several ordinary people. | Can flex their bodies in seemingly unnatural ways. | Can endure harsh poisons and diseases reliably. | Can logically explain why every part of a plan is essential. | Can notice most things within sight with ease. | Can confidently express oneself as if one was an expert and influence entire towns. | Can easily comprehend most alien knowledge without succumbing to madness. | Can learn how to act with honor in any given situation. |
| 30 (+10) | Shining beacon of strength. Can easily lift up huge creatures and objects without difficulty. | Shining beacon of dexterity. Able to craft extremely detailed carvings on tiny objects perfectly. | Shining beacon of constitution. Can endure harsh weather, poisons, diseases, etc. reliably and without ill effect. | Shining beacon of intelligence. Can perfectly recall everything one has seen, heard, and/or learned within the past month, extremely detailed recollections for up to 1 year. | Shining beacon of wisdom. Notices almost everything within a 1.5 mile radius around oneself. | Shining beacon of charisma. Is able to influence entire kingdoms with words alone. | Shining beacon of sanity. Is nearly impervious to losing one’s mind. | Shining beacon of honor. Can lift up those with even no honor to have high honor, and is trusted by practically everybody. |
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