How to Make Ability Checks in D&D
Published on October 7, 2024
Whether you’re trying to sneak passed guards, move a boulder, or investigate clues, you’ll need ability checks to determine your outcome!
Livia Prima - Wizards of the Coast - Etrata, Deadly Fugitive
Table of Contents
What Are Ability Checks in D&D?
Ability checks are a fundamental aspect of D&D 5e gameplay, as they determine whether your character’s actions succeed or fail. Whether you’re new to D&D 5e, or just hoping to brush up on your technical understanding of ability checks, here is a great intro guide to this fundamental mechanic.
D20 Tests
The term “D20 Test” is introduced in the 2024 Player’s Handbook as a unified way to refer to ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws—each of which involves rolling a d20 to determine success or failure.
Back to the Basics
All creatures in the D&D world possess six core abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
For characters, the baseline for these scores is determined upon character creation, and this makeup represents the core of your character’s attributes. They are increased as you level up, as determined by your class.
Ability scores influence physical traits, strengths, and weaknesses—all of which affect the way in which one interacts with the surrounding world.
To help quantify these attributes during gameplay, ability modifiers are applied to your D20 Test whenever the relevant ability is being used. Ability modifiers either increase or decrease your roll, depending on the score associated with the ability (i.e., modifiers associated with a high ability score add to your dice rolls to represent a strength, whereas low score modifiers subtract from your roll, indicating a weakness).
Calculating Ability Modifiers
Modifiers are calculated as your ability score minus 10, divided by two. If you have a Charisma score of 16, your modifier would be calculated as such:
- 16 – 10 = 6
- 6/2 = +3
Similarly, if you have a Strength score of 8, you would have a negative modifier:
- 8 – 10 = -2
- -2/2 = -1
Adding Skills to Ability Checks
To understand how each of the six abilities tie into gameplay, familiarize yourself with the eighteen skills below. Each skill is tied to a specific ability. When you use one of these skills and are proficient in the skill, you add your Proficiency Bonus and ability modifier to your rolls.
Ability | Skill |
Strength | Athletics |
Dexterity | Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth |
Intelligence | Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, Religion |
Wisdom | Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, Survival |
Charisma | Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion |
Now that we have a general understanding of skills, abilities, and ability modifiers, let’s look at how these are applied during gameplay via skill checks.
How to Resolve an Ability Check
As your character explores the surrounding world, they will be confronted with various tasks that require specific abilities and skills.
As we’ve discussed, certain creatures are better equipped to handle certain challenges based on their ability scores. However, while one’s specific attributes may determine the likelihood of success in a task, there is typically some level of uncertainty to the final outcome.
This is where ability checks come in. Whether you need to move a heavy object, hide from surrounding enemies, deceive antagonistic NPCs, or navigate a complex labyrinth, your DM may call for an ability check to determine the outcome of your efforts.
Here’s how it works:
- To make an ability check, your DM will want to understand what action you are attempting to perform to determine what abilities are most relevant:
- For our task, let’s use the example of moving a heavy object. Referencing the list of skills above, this task relates to the ability of Strength (Athletics).
- The DM will decide the task’s level of difficulty and set the Difficulty Class (DC) accordingly. This is the target your roll must meet or exceed to succeed:
- DC will vary depending on the task and can range anywhere from 5 (very easy tasks) to 25 (near-impossible feats).
- In this example, we will say the object is moderately heavy, so the DM sets the DC as 10
- Player rolls a d20 and adds the applicable ability modifier:
- Let’s say we roll our d20 and get 10
- Our character’s Strength ability score is 12, therefore, the ability modifier is +1
- Adding our ability modifier will total our roll to 11
- A Proficiency Bonus is then added if the character is proficient in the relevant skill:
- Our character is proficient in Athletics and is level 5, so we add +3, making the result a 14.
- The character succeeds if their final calculated roll equals or exceeds the DC. If their roll is less than the DC, the character fails.
- Our total result of 14 exceeds the DC set by the DM, so our character succeeds and is able to accomplish the task (i.e., move the heavy object).
Now You Have the Ability!
Ability checks are a core mechanic that D&D 5e players will encounter countless times during gameplay. They add depth and excitement to your gameplay by accounting for the uncertainty in your world through the element of chance, and combining this with your character’s complex skills leads to a world of endless possibilities.
Take this knowledge with you on your next adventure, and may the ability check odds be ever in your favor!