D&D 5E Are ability score caps adjusted by racial modifiers, or does every race have the same potential?

[Cedric]

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere. I searched and I checked the book, and I couldn't find an answer, leading me to believe that everyone caps at 20. I could understand that, but it would seem to water down the racial differences.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere. I searched and I checked the book, and I couldn't find an answer, leading me to believe that everyone caps at 20. I could understand that, but it would seem to water down the racial differences.

Yup, it's a hard cap at 20 (barring one major class exception). Nope, it does not water down the racial differences at all. Races with a bonus in a class' preferred stat will not only get to their 20 faster, but will also have more room with their other increases for boosts to a secondary stat or even a feat or two.

 

[Cedric]

Nope, it does not water down the racial differences at all.

I can see that line of thought. But having mid-low level Halfings that are just as strong as high level Half-Orcs is vaguely bothersome. Certainly not a deal breaker, it just feels like an unnecessary effort at balance.

 

[Mercurius]

That's the great thing about D&D, perhaps especially 5E: What you don't like you can change via house rule.

I see all rules, including hard caps, as being "recommendations" or "guidelines." So a hard cap becomes more like cartilage rather than bone.

 

[Mercurius]

For instance, I could see a valid house rule where different races have a higher cap of 22 on their "specialty" abilities, like so:

Dwarves - Con
Elves - Int and/or Dex
Halflings - Dex
Half-orcs - Str
Gnomes - Cookie Making

 

[Cedric]

That's the great thing about D&D, perhaps especially 5E:

Any reason you wrote especially 5E?

 

[Jester David]

For instance, I could see a valid house rule where different races have a higher cap of 22 on their "specialty" abilities, like so:

Dwarves - Con
Elves - Int and/or Dex
Halflings - Dex
Half-orcs - Str
Gnomes - Cookie Making

I like that idea. That might make it into my big list of potential house rules.

(must spread xp around blah blah)

 

[drjones]

I can see that line of thought. But having mid-low level Halfings that are just as strong as high level Half-Orcs is vaguely bothersome. Certainly not a deal breaker, it just feels like an unnecessary effort at balance.

It's an effort at making Feats attractive and making characters who are broad rather than completely specialized more viable. If you could get to 24 it would almost always pay off to pump your main stat instead of doing something more interesting in the world of bounded accuracy.

 

[Li Shenron]

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere. I searched and I checked the book, and I couldn't find an answer, leading me to believe that everyone caps at 20. I could understand that, but it would seem to water down the racial differences.

20 for all.

It has already been suggested a few times to try and use different caps for different races, and the most obvious idea is to raise the cap by the same amount as the racial bonuses.

It's only a +1 real increase to any roll at the end. It breaks bounded accuracy by the same amount that having all magic weapons imply a +1 to attack rolls already does. If this +1 really bothers you, an alternative (to still have racial cap differences) is to cap everyone at 18+racial bonus, instead of 20, so that only races with a +2 in a certain ability can reach 20, the others only reach 18.

 

[Ravenheart87]

I can see that line of thought. But having mid-low level Halfings that are just as strong as high level Half-Orcs is vaguely bothersome. Certainly not a deal breaker, it just feels like an unnecessary effort at balance.

Try arm wrestling with a chimp and you'll learn, that little fellows can be just as strong as the big guys - or even stronger. The same can be true about halflings and half-orcs.