Dungeons & Dragons Released a Possible Look at New Racial Ability Score Modifier Rules

Dungeons & Dragons' new ruleset for its upcoming Organized Play season may include an early look at some of the upcoming rules that give players the ability to modify racial traits and ability score modifiers. Yesterday, Dungeons & Dragons released the official ruleset for the tenth season of Adventurer's League, an Organized Play campaign that typically takes place in game stores, libraries, or other "open" areas. Because Adventurer's League is designed so that players can take their characters from one Adventurer's League game to any other, each season uses different rulesets and restrictions. This season's rules include an Appendix about "Customizing Your Origin in D&D," which seems to line up with a new variant rule set found in the upcoming rule book Tasha's Cauldron of Everything that allows players to modify racial traits and modifiers.

The appendix explains how players can change their racial ability score modifiers to better match their character's origin story and culture. The rules themselves are pretty simple - players can take any Ability Score Increase trait of their race and assign that increase to another ability score. Players can only assign one Ability Score Increase modifier per ability score - so if a player has a +2 modifier and a +1 modifier available for re-assignment, they can't put those modifiers on the same ability score. Players can also choose to change their default racial proficiencies to that of another equivalent skill. For instance, an elf can swap out their proficiency with the longsword for another simple or martial weapon or a tool. Skills can also be swapped out for one another, and tools can be swapped out for other tools or for simple weapons.

Earlier this year, Dungeons & Dragons confirmed that they were introducing variant rules that would give players the ability to modifier racial traits and ability score modifiers. Those rules are set to be released in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and it seems that these Adventurer's League rules are at least a version of the rules we'll officially see later this year. You can find the full set of rules on the D&D website.