Dungeons & Dragons has always offered several different choices for playable races, which include all of the fantasy stalwarts, such as dwarves, elves, and halflings (who are hobbits with the serial number filed off). The old editions of Dungeons & Dragons offered harsh limitations in regards to the classes that could be chosen by the demihuman races, but these were loosened over time.

One way in which the current edition of Dungeons & Dragons differentiates the races is by giving them specific stat bonuses. Not everyone is a fan of these racial ability bonuses, as they tend to make people choose specific class/race combos rather than experimenting with something new. There is also the question of whether such bonuses make sense in regards to every member of a specific race, as not every elf will be swift, nor would every dwarf be vigorous.

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The players of Dungeons & Dragons are free to use whatever rules they want in their own game and a set of optional racial ability rules has been posted to D&D Beyond that offers some interesting alternatives to the established rules. These rules were created by James Haeck, who co-wrote Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and is a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast.

The Rules As Written

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In the current edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the player character is given several benefits when they select a race, ranging from racial ability bonuses that boost stats, to individual powers.

The Player's Handbook states that dwarves gain a base racial ability bonus of +2 to Constitution, with hill dwarves gaining a further +1 to Wisdom and mountain dwarves gaining +2 to Strength. Elves gain +2 to Dexterity, with high elves gaining a further +1 to Intelligence, wood elves gaining a further +1 to Wisdom and drow gaining +1 to Charisma. Halflings gain +2 to Dexterity, with lightfoot halflings gaining a further +1 to Charisma and stout halflings gaining +1 to Constitution. All dragonborn gain +2 to Strength and +1 to Charisma, but their breath weapon is different depending on their ancestry. Gnomes gain +2 to Intelligence, with forest gnomes gaining a further +1 to Dexterity and rock gnomes gaining +1 to Constitution. Half-elves gain +2 to Charisma and two +1s to any other stats the player chooses. All half-orcs gain +2 to Strength and +1 to Constitution. All tieflings gain +2 to Charisma and +1 to Intelligence.

Humans are slightly different, in that they have a popular variant that is described in the Player's Handbook. The base version of humans adds +1 to every stat, while the variant human gains two +1s to any stat, as well as a free feat and an additional skill proficiency. The majority of players would rather pick the variant human, as it offers better options for specializing in one field, rather than the loose jack-of-all-trades approach of the base version of the race.

The problem with the above rules is that some players don't like how the racial ability bonuses pigeonhole different races into picking specific classes. If a player is dead-set on playing a sorcerer, they would be far better off playing a race that offers a Charisma bonus (like the tiefling) over something like a half-orc. This means that players will have to choose between creating a unique character over one that is better in their role.

Remove The Bonuses & Use Variants

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The easiest way to change the racial ability score rules is to remove them altogether, and rely on each race's other abilities to define them. The options laid down in Haeck's article suggest using the variant version of the human (where they gain a feat inside of stat bonuses), giving mountain dwarves an additional 1d4 damage bonus whenever using a melee weapon, and letting half-elves select from the abilities gained by the other elves, including Cantrip, Drow Weapon Training, Elf Weapon Training, and Mask of the Wild.

The issue with using this variant is that characters will be slightly weaker than the options provided in the Player's Handbook, as they will be missing three stat points (or six stat points for humans). There are many players who would rather have the stat bonuses than not, even if they are for stats that they don't always use, as a plus one bonus to a check is better than no bonus at all.

Determine Bonuses Based On Class & Background

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One alternative that is offered in Haeck's article is simply giving players three additional stat points that they can distribute themselves, with a +2 that can be put into one stat and a +1 in another.

In order to prevent players from power-gaming and abusing this rule, Haeck offers an alternative option, where the player's options for stat distribution are limited by their choice of class and background.

The class variant of these rules limits the choice of stats that the player can improve to three. The exception to this is bards and rogues, who can improve any stats that they want.

The background variant of these rules is similar, except that the +2 bonus is determined by the choice of class (such as Acolyte giving +2 to Wisdom), with the player free to choose which other stat gets the +1.

It's also possible to combine these rules together, with the player giving the +2 bonus to one of the stats offered by their class, while the +1 is given to the stat that received a +2 from the background options.

These are the major ways Dungeons and Dragons players can change up the racial ability score system, should they want to!

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