Building a Character, Part 1: Ability Scores

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Many people will argue that choosing ability scores first is a dumb way to do things. So if you'd like to choose your race or class first, feel free to jump around these posts as needed. I like to start off my characters by rolling the numbers, though.

First, here's a handy way to explain ability scores using tomatoes!
Image result for d&d stats using tomatoes

Or to put it plainly...
Strength (STR), is how physically strong your character is.
Dexterity (DEX), is how nimble your character is.
Constitution (CON), is related to your health and ability to take a hit
Intelligence (INT), is book smarts
Wisdom (WIS), is people/life smarts
Charisma (CHA), is how charming/deceiving you can be

Now that we all understand what these are, let's roll for them.
  • Take four d6 (six sided dice), and roll them all once. 
    • Optional: Ask your DM about their rules for re-rolling 1s and 2s for stats. 
  • Take off the lowest number
  • Add the three remaining.
  • Write it down.
  • Repeat until you have 6 numbers.

 You don't have to assign the numbers to the abilities just yet. I'd actually advise waiting until you see what bonuses your new race has and what scores your preferred class could use the highest of.

There are two other ways of determining your stats if you don't like rolling.

(1) Take the following numbers and assign them as you please:
15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
*These come from page 13 of the PH5e

(2) You have 27 points to spend.
Scores cost a certain amount of points, detailed below.
No score can be lower than 8.
score......cost
8...........0
9...........1
10..........2
11..........3
12..........4
13..........5
14..........7
15..........9

Don't worry about people talking about score modifiers yet, wait until you have your final numbers then check out Building a Character, Part 5: Filling in The Character Sheet. Or if you NEED to peek, there's an explanation in the PH5e on page 13.

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