Abilities

Ability Scores and Modifiers

Score	Modifier
1	-5
2-3	-4
4-5	-3
6-7	-2
8-9	-1
10-11	+0
12-13	+1
14-15	+2
16-17	+3
18-19	+4
20-21	+5
22-23	+6
24-25	+7
26-27	+8
28-29	+9
30	+10

To determine an ability modifier without consulting the table, subtract 10 from the ability score and then divide the total by 2 (round down).

Because ability modifiers affect almost every attack roll, ability check, and saving throw, ability modifiers come up in play more often than their associated scores.

Ability Score	Abbreviation
Strength	STR
Dexterity	DEX
Constitution	CON
Intelligence	INT
Wisdom	WIS
Charisma	CHA

Advantage and Disadvantage

Sometimes a special ability or spell tells you that you have advantage or disadvantage on an ability check, a saving throw, or an attack roll. When that happens, you roll a second d20 when you make the roll. Use the higher of the two rolls if you have advantage, and use the lower roll if you have disadvantage. For example, if you have disadvantage and roll a 17 and a 5, you use the 5. If you instead have advantage and roll those numbers, you use the 17.

If multiple situations affect a roll and each one grants advantage or imposes disadvantage on it, you don’t roll more than one additional d20. If two favorable situations grant advantage, for example, you still roll only one additional d20.

If circumstances cause a roll to have both advantage and disadvantage, you are considered to have neither of them, and you roll one d20. This is true even if multiple circumstances impose disadvantage and only one grants advantage or vice versa. In such a situation, you have neither advantage nor disadvantage.

When you have advantage or disadvantage and something in the game, such as the halfling’s Lucky trait, lets you reroll the d20, you can reroll only one of the dice. You choose which one. For example, if a halfling has advantage or disadvantage on an ability check and rolls a 1 and a 13, the halfling could use the Lucky trait to reroll the 1.

You usually gain advantage or disadvantage through the use of special abilities, actions, or spells. Inspiration can also give a character advantage. The GM can also decide that circumstances influence a roll in one direction or the other and grant advantage or impose disadvantage as a result.

Proficiency Bonus

Characters have a proficiency bonus determined by level. Monsters also have this bonus, which is incorporated in their stat blocks. The bonus is used in the rules on ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls.

Your proficiency bonus can’t be added to a single die roll or other number more than once. For example, if two different rules say you can add your proficiency bonus to a Wisdom saving throw, you nevertheless add the bonus only once when you make the save.

Occasionally, your proficiency bonus might be multiplied or divided (doubled or halved, for example) before you apply it. For example, the Expertise feature doubles the proficiency bonus for certain ability checks. If a circumstance suggests that your proficiency bonus applies more than once to the same roll, you still add it only once and multiply or divide it only once.

By the same token, if a feature or effect allows you to multiply your proficiency bonus when making an ability check that wouldn’t normally benefit from your proficiency bonus, you still don’t add the bonus to the check. For that check your proficiency bonus is 0, given the fact that multiplying 0 by any number is still 0. For instance, if you lack proficiency in the History skill, you gain no benefit from a feature that lets you double your proficiency bonus when you make Intelligence (History) checks.

In general, you don’t multiply your proficiency bonus for attack rolls or saving throws. If a feature or effect allows you to do so, these same rules apply.

Ability Checks

An ability check tests a character’s or monster’s innate talent and training in an effort to overcome a challenge. The GM calls for an ability check when a character or monster attempts an action (other than an attack) that has a chance of failure. When the outcome is uncertain, the dice determine the results.

For every ability check, the GM decides which of the six abilities is relevant to the task at hand and the difficulty of the task, represented by a Difficulty Class.

The more difficult a task, the higher its DC. The Typical Difficulty Classes table shows the most common DCs.

Typical Difficulty Classes

Task Difficulty	DC
Very easy	5
Easy	10
Medium	15
Hard	20
Very hard	25
Nearly impossible	30

To make an ability check, roll a d20 and add the relevant ability modifier. As with other d20 rolls, apply bonuses and penalties, and compare the total to the DC. If the total equals or exceeds the DC, the ability check is a success—the creature overcomes the challenge at hand. Otherwise, it’s a failure, which means the character or monster makes no progress toward the objective or makes progress combined with a setback determined by the GM.

Trying Again

A failed check usually ends the attempt: trying the same thing the same way won’t go any better. You can try again when something has changed, such as a new approach, someone new stepping in to help or take over, or a shift in the situation. The GM decides whether the change is enough, and raises the DC for the new attempt, usually by 2, or by 5 if the failure made things worse: the lock is now jammed, the guard is on alert, the merchant is losing patience.

For example, your Persuasion check to talk a merchant down from her price fails. You change the offer (“What if we buy every healing potion you have?”), and the GM lets you roll again at DC 17 instead of 15, because she’s tiring of the haggling.

Degrees of Success

A check doesn’t have to be all or nothing. When the margin matters, the GM can describe outcomes in steps of 5 around the DC:

Result	Outcome
Fails by 5 or more	You fail, and something goes wrong: damaged tools, a minor injury, a trace left behind.
Fails by 1 to 4	You fail, without making things worse.
Meets the DC	You succeed, but slowly, noisily or at a small cost.
Beats the DC by 5 or more	You succeed cleanly and quickly.
Beats the DC by 10 or more	You succeed brilliantly, with a bonus the GM decides.

For example, picking a simple lock (DC 10) with thieves’ tools:

Under 5: the lock doesn’t open and your picks bend. You take a −1 penalty with those tools until they’re repaired.
5 to 9: the lock doesn’t budge, and the scratches you leave show it’s been tampered with.
10 to 14: it opens after several minutes of trial and error, leaving scuffs.
15 to 19: it opens in about a minute, leaving barely a trace.
20 or more: it opens in seconds, leaving no trace at all.

Use degrees of success when they add something to the scene, not on every roll.

Focus Checks

A focus check is an Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma check to turn your attention inward: to meditate, to steady your mind, or to reach out to something you’re bonded with, such as a god, a patron, an artifact or an ancestor. Describe how your character focuses; the GM picks the ability that fits your approach, and whether a skill proficiency applies. A focus check has nothing to do with a spellcasting focus (an Aethyr Focus), the object a caster can hold in place of material components.

For example, a Dedication Aethyrsoul seeking a sign from their god in a time of crisis might lead a congregation in prayer. The GM calls for a Wisdom (Performance) check, and the result decides how clearly the god answers.

Contests

Sometimes one character’s or monster’s efforts are directly opposed to another’s. This can occur when both of them are trying to do the same thing and only one can succeed, such as attempting to snatch up a magic ring that has fallen on the floor. This situation also applies when one of them is trying to prevent the other one from accomplishing a goal—for example, when a monster tries to force open a door that an adventurer is holding closed. In situations like these, the outcome is determined by a special form of ability check, called a contest.

Both participants in a contest make ability checks appropriate to their efforts. They apply all appropriate bonuses and penalties, but instead of comparing the total to a DC, they compare the totals of their two checks. The participant with the higher check total wins the contest. That character or monster either succeeds at the action or prevents the other one from succeeding.

If the contest results in a tie, the situation remains the same as it was before the contest. Thus, one contestant might win the contest by default. If two characters tie in a contest to snatch a ring off the floor, neither character grabs it. In a contest between a monster trying to open a door and an adventurer trying to keep the door closed, a tie means that the door remains shut.

Passive Checks

A passive check is a special kind of ability check that doesn’t involve any die rolls. Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the GM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice, such as noticing a hidden monster.

Here’s how to determine a character’s total for a passive check:

10 + all modifiers that normally apply to the check

If the character has advantage on the check, add 5. For disadvantage, subtract 5. The game refers to a passive check total as a score.

For example, if a 1st-level character has a Wisdom of 15 and proficiency in Perception, he or she has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 14.

The rules on hiding rely on passive checks, as do the exploration rules.

Working Together

Sometimes two or more characters team up to attempt a task. The character who’s leading the effort—or the one with the highest ability modifier—can make an ability check with advantage, reflecting the help provided by the other characters. In combat, this requires the Help action.

A character can only provide help if the task is one that he or she could attempt alone. For example, trying to open a lock requires proficiency with thieves’ tools, so a character who lacks that proficiency can’t help another character in that task. Moreover, a character can help only when two or more individuals working together would actually be productive. Some tasks, such as threading a needle, are no easier with help.

Group Checks

When a number of individuals are trying to accomplish something as a group, the GM might ask for a group ability check. In such a situation, the characters who are skilled at a particular task help cover those who aren’t.

To make a group ability check, everyone in the group makes the ability check. If at least half the group succeeds, the whole group succeeds. Otherwise, the group fails.

Group checks don’t come up very often, and they’re most useful when all the characters succeed or fail as a group. For example, when adventurers are navigating a swamp, the GM might call for a group Wisdom (Survival) check to see if the characters can avoid the quicksand, sinkholes, and other natural hazards of the environment. If at least half the group succeeds, the successful characters are able to guide their companions out of danger. Otherwise, the group stumbles into one of these hazards.

Taking the Lead

When one character can guide the rest through a task, such as leading a stealthy approach, calling out footholds on a climb or doing the talking at a merchant’s stall, the GM can call for a led group check instead. The GM sets the DC as usual, and a character who is Proficient or better in the check takes the lead and rolls first. Their result decides how well the others can follow:

Leader’s result	The followers’ checks
Fails by 5 or more	Disadvantage: the lead was confusing or clumsy.
Fails by 1 to 4	No change.
Meets the DC	Advantage.
Beats the DC by 5 or more	Advantage, and an Untrained or Incompetent follower counts as Proficient.
Beats the DC by 10 or more	Advantage, and each follower counts as Expert unless they’re already Expert or Master.

Each follower then makes the check, and each succeeds or fails on their own. If the party is sneaking past guards with a passive Perception of 12, every follower who rolls under 12 is spotted. The proficiency levels are described on the Skills page.

Skills, and the abilities they use, are described on the Skills page.

Saving Throws

A saving throw—also called a save—represents an attempt to resist a spell, a trap, a poison, a disease, or a similar threat. You don’t normally decide to make a saving throw; you are forced to make one because your character or monster is at risk of harm.

To make a saving throw, roll a d20 and add the appropriate ability modifier. For example, you use your Dexterity modifier for a Dexterity saving throw.

A saving throw can be modified by a situational bonus or penalty and can be affected by advantage and disadvantage, as determined by the GM.

As with skill proficiencies, proficiency in a saving throw lets a character add his or her proficiency bonus to saving throws made using a particular ability score. Some monsters have saving throw proficiencies as well.

The Difficulty Class for a saving throw is determined by the effect that causes it. For example, the DC for a saving throw allowed by a spell is determined by the caster’s spellcasting ability and proficiency bonus.

The result of a successful or failed saving throw is also detailed in the effect that allows the save. Usually, a successful save means that a creature suffers no harm, or reduced harm, from an effect.