The Six Attribute Modifiers

One of the most important aspects of your character is their attribute modifiers. These numbers represent your character's raw potential, and they influence nearly every other statistic on your character sheet. Determining your attribute modifiers is not done all at once, but instead happens over several steps during character creation. Attribute modifiers are split into two main groups: physical and mental. Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are physical attribute modifiers, measuring your character's physical power, agility, and stamina. In contrast, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are mental attribute modifiers and measure your character's learned prowess, awareness, and force of personality. Excellence in an attribute modifier improves the checks and statistics related to that ability, as described below. When imagining your character, you should also decide what attribute modifiers you want to focus on to give you the best chance at success. Strength Strength measures your character's physical power, and is important if your character plans to engage in hand-tohand combat. Your Strength modifier gets added to melee damage rolls and determines how much your character can carry. Dexterity Dexterity measures your character's agility, balance, and reflexes, and is important if your character plans to make attacks with ranged weapons or use stealth to surprise foes. Your Dexterity modifier is also added to your character's AC and Reflex saving throws. Constitution Constitution measures your character's health and stamina, and is important for all characters, especially those who fight in close range. Your Constitution modifier is added to your Hit Points and Fortitude saving throws. Intelligence Intelligence measures how well your character can learn and reason. A high Intelligence allows your character to analyze situations and understand patterns, and it means they can become trained in additional skills and might be able to master additional languages. Wisdom Wisdom measures your character's common sense, awareness, and intuition. High Wisdom helps your character detect hidden things and resist mental effects. Your Wisdom modifier is added to your Perception and Will saving throws. Charisma Charisma measures your character's personal magnetism and strength of personality. A high Charisma modifier helps you build relationships and influence the thoughts and moods of others with social skills.