House rules: Abilities

Ability Scores

Strength - Bonus (or penalty) to melee attacks and melee weapon damage. Stronger characters can carry more weight.

Intelligence - Scores of 8 and lower are considered illiterate in all languages known. It gives bonuses (or penalties) to languages known; knowledge rolls, and spells for mages and elves.

Wisdom - Bonus (or penalty) to saving throws, and spells for clerics.

Dexterity - Bonus (or penalty) to range weapon attacks, armor class, and initiative.

Constitution - Bonus (or penalty) to hit points, and healing.

Charisma - Bonus (or penalty) to maximum hirelings/cohorts/animal companions available, and XP rewards. -3 penalty gives –20%, -2 penalty gives –10%, -1 penalty gives –5%; +1 bonus gives +5%, +2 bonus gives +10%, +1 bonus gives +5%, +3 bonus gives +15%.

Designer notes: I wanted every ability to mean something. No obvious dump stat.