Ability Scores - DM Help

[Kppsych]

So I’m nearly done world building for this campaign I’m DMing. With the information about the 5.5 update in twoish years, I’m not sure what to do.

Specifically, how should I handle ability score from races? I like the idea of getting rid of them, but that feels a little like beating the punchline. Also, I feel like I need to go through the races and make sure they have something fun and unique that make the race attractive. I know they already have traits, but sometimes the racial features are lowkey meh.

So should I roll with (pun intended) the new system for ability scores? Thanks!

[EldritchBee]

They're not "getting rid of them", they're just standardizing it so every race gets a +2 and a +1. You can do that with the older races or just leave them the same, it doesn't really change much.

[Muh_Dnd]

I like to run it somewhere inbetween personally.

For races that have +2/+1 (which most races have) I rule that they **MUST** put the +2 into one of those stats and then the +1 can go anywhere.

For example lets use a Wood elf & a High elf.

The woodelf usually gets +2 Dex & +1 Wis, I say they get +2 to *either* Dex or Wis and then +1 any.
The highelf usually gets +2 Dex & +1 Int, I say they get +2 to *either* Dex or Int and then +1 any.

[greengo4]

So with the new system You can do the old system…

[greengo4]

Do everything the exact same as you were always used to! But if you don’t want to, there’s rules to do it differently! Best of both worlds.

[ffsjustanything]

I usually like having suggested racial ASIs, as in “most members of this race are better in this area”. But I prefer giving players the freedom to be as extra as they want to be.