D&D 5E Why do ability scores cap at 20 instead of 18?

[Tales and Chronicles]

Would you be interested in our group's revised half-feats (we turned most of the feats (all in PHB) into half-feats)? I can DM you a link if you want?

Yeah, sure, I'd like to see them.

 

[d24454_modern]

Because 20 is already ridiculously low stat cap.

 

[jasper]

Because if it 20 I can get my dm to make 22. EtC

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Because 20 is already ridiculously low stat cap.

Depends for whom...

 

[Steampunkette]

Level 20 Barbarians are being made VERY SAD by this thread.

 

[Bill Zebub]

God it would be nice to feel free to take the fun feats at 8 instead of 12.

 

[DND_Reborn]

God it would be nice to feel free to take the fun feats at 8 instead of 12.

Why wait until 8, take them at 4!

Nothing is stopping you...

 

[Stormonu]

There are no +2 bonuses to specific scores anymore.

That is not true in my game, nor will it ever be true.

 

[d24454_modern]

Yeah, might as well not have levels at all. Then your characters can just be as strong as you want

 

[Yaarel]

I like the idea of capping ability scores, rather than the endless chase from 3E & 4E. However, I can't fathom why they chose 20, instead of the dice maximum of 18 (which was the non-magical maximum in AD&D and earlier). It might have made sense back when racial ASI could take a rolled ability score over the cap, but since the game is moving away from fixed ASI, this really doesn't hold up anymore.

What does everyone thing? Would you prefer to go back to 18 as a cap, or do you have a reason why 20 works better for you?

When people reach epic level 21, they can spend their boon to improve their ability score beyond 20.


For this reason, I dont mind the 20 cap until then.