From Concept to Character Sheet; Part 2: Ability Scores

In our last FCtCS article, we talked about coming up with the concept for my character, and deciding on the class and race, which sort of inherently came from deciding on the concept. Today, we’ll talk about Ability Scores.

Part 2: Ability Scores

Ability Scores do a lot to help determine how I’m going to roleplay this character. A lot of times, I’ll choose ability scores that don’t lend themselves to the class I’ve chosen, but make for more interesting RP elements (imagine, if you will, a rogue with a horrible Dexterity score).

So, for Alric Hawklin, we’ll go step by step through the character’s ability scores.

I went into the Generating Ability Scores section of the 2nd chapter of the PHB, and I know that all the players are generating scores from Method 2: Customizing Scores. This allows for the maximum amount of choices, and it’s different for this group, who are used to my method of “roll 4d6, drop the lowest, roll 7 times, dropping the lowest of the 7 scores”.

The array I ended up with was 16, 15, 12, 11, 11, 10. I like having some odd numbers in there, because it will help out when I get to 4th level and get to bump a couple of them up. I’ll get Ability Bonus bumps right off the bat then.

First up: Strength. I decided that I wanted my hero to definitely be the strong one of the group, so I placed my highest score, 16, in that spot.

Second, Constitution. He should be healthy, so a 15 puts him in a good place for 4th level, when he’ll be able to bump that up to a 16.

Third, we have Dexterity. I don’t expect him to be doing much in the way of (as Eddie Izzard would say) running, jumping, climbing trees… so I placed that fairly low. It’s an 11, so I’ll be able to boost that at 4th level if need be as well.

Intelligence. He’s a little smarter than the layman, so I’m putting my 11 there as well.

His Wisdom is a 10, simply because he’s just not that much aware of his surroundings than most. He isn’t the type to notice things right away, relying on those around him, including his Gnome Historian traveling companion.

Here’s where I think most people will be surprised: Charisma. I decided to put a 12 there. I want him to be witty and charming, a true genteel knight.

Additionally, a human gets to boost one Ability by 2. I decided to put that boost not into Strength or Constitution, which could use it, I’m sure, but Charisma. He’s now got a CHA of 14, and is mighty studly.

That’s all for now. Next time we’ll cover Skills and Feats.

Keep rolling 20’s!