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Your six main ability scores are your bread and butter inDungeons & Dragons. You’ll always have strengths and weaknesses, but working to balance and improve your Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma is a key part of any campaign. But, how exactly should you go about improving these stats?
When it comes to D&D, you shouldn’t feel limited to improving your character in just one way! Depending on your table, there are a variety of different roleplay and optimization approaches you can pursue to create your ideal build. Here are some of the best ways to improve your ability scores in Dungeons & Dragons.
How To Use Feats To Improve Ability Scores
Should You Choose A Feat Or Ability Score Improvement?
The best standard approachto improving your ability scoreis to use feats. By default at certain levels,you can select any feat from the general feats tablein the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Typically,feats improve your ability scoresin one of two ways.
How To Map Out Character Progression
As you map out your character’s progression, you shouldconsider how you can maximize each featyou take. Depending on your choices,some feats can prove extremely powerful. As an example, you might have your eye on a powerful feat that has a certain prerequisite.
This means you’ll want touse an Ability Score Improvement earlyon so that you can take the feat you want later on. See the below example of a monk’s character progression.
Level Four
Ability Score Improvement
A player roleplaying a monk character wants to take the Polearm Master feat, but doesn’t have the 13+ Strength prerequisite. So, they take an Ability Score Improvement at Level Four, increasing their Strength from 11 to 13.
Level Eight
Polearm Master
Now, at level eight, this same player can take the Polearm Master feat, increasing their Strength or Dex by one (their choice). Now, they have meaningfully increased their ability scores twice across four levels of play and gained new abilities with their chosen feat.
A list of general feats can be found in Chapter Five of the 2024 Player’s Handbook, along with their prerequisites.
How To Use Items To Max Out Your Abilities
You should alsouse items to buff your character build. Items can often boost stats oreven armor class. As a DM, you should alsoconsider ways to reward playerswith magic items that are tailored to their needs.
Here are afew examples of some itemsthat can either permanently or temporarily improve ability scores.
Headband of Intellect
Intelligence
Once attuned to this headband, your intelligence increases to 19 as long as you wear it.
Ioun Stone
Wisdom
Depending on the type of Ioun Stone gained, these marble-like stones can increase certain ability scores, like Wisdom by 2 to a maximum of 20, while the stone orbits around your character’s head magically.
Potion of Giant Strength
Strength
When you consume this position, your Strength score temporarily changes for 1 hour. For example, if you find a Potion of Storm Giant Strength, your Strength score changes to 27. This varies depending on each type of potion.
For example, if you know a barbarian player at your table wants to max out their strength score,consider using an item that enhances strength as a rewardfor accomplishing a difficult side quest. Players should also not be shy about expressing their wants for these rewards to their DM.
For higher levels of play, it might prove helpful to gift orcraft special magic itemswith playersthat can increase certain ability scores past their maximum. This will help players feel like they’ve truly hit their capstone as characters!
How To Use Roleplay To Increase Ability Scores
Create Story Scenarios Based On Ability Scores
Players and DMs who are less interested in maxing stats or using traditional routes for ability score improvements shouldconsider using roleplay elementsinstead. If players and DMs work together tocraft meaningful roleplay moments, ability score improvements area great way to reward your table. Here are justa few ideas of roleplay scenariosyou can implement.
How To Reward Players For Their Roleplay
Let’s create an example andbreakdown how to incorporate it into your campaignas a DM. We’ll set up one story thread idea, and then break it up into steps.
Say you havea druid in your party who was kidnappedby a maligned druidic cult as a child. As an adult, they have fled the cult, butancient magic still curses themand binds them to the cult’s leader telepathically.
Now, the party has the opportunity totry to break the seal of this magicon their druidic friend. Here’s a breakdown of how you canthread this narrative arc into an ability score improvementfor your player.
Once you’ve mastered this step-by-step process,you can apply these ideas to any roleplay moment.This will allow you toreward players in fun waysandhelp them improve their ability scoresacross a long-spanning campaign.
How To Improve Ability Scores Past Level 20
If you’replaying a high-level campaign, it might behoove your players to try toget their ability scores past level 20. However,you cannot use feats or the standard Ability Score Improvementto do this. Rather, players should rely on two things.
