A Dungeons and Dragons character’s Constitution score represents their health and vitality (or, “health, stamina, and vital force,” as noted on page 177 of 5e PHB), mostly meaning how many times that character can get hit with the sharp edge of a sword, or their chances of shaking off the poison an unscrupulous rogue put in their mead.
Should I Put Points into Constitution in 5e?
Constitution is one of D&D’s six primary ability scores present in every version of the game and is one of the three “physical” scores, along with Strength and Dexterity. Unlike those scores, however, Constitution does not directly add any bonuses to your roll to hit somebody or increase the amount of damage you deal when you do hit someone. It also doesn’t have any skills associated with it, so it may appear like a less attractive attribute on a first look.
Yet, note that if your character:
- decides to go on multiple rounds of drinking
- skips a night of sleep
- pushes past starvation or dehydration
- braces against a chilling storm
- ingests something poisonous
- or even as much as holds breath underwater for an extended period of time
— your GM might very well call for a Constitution check.
Even more importantly, Constitution plays a crucial role in determining how many times you can get hit. A character’s hit point total (HP, for short) is based off of their class’s unique hit dice (what you roll to determine HP) and their Constitution bonus — every two points in Constitution stat after 10 (+0) increases that bonus by +1.
- CON 10-11: +0
- CON 12-13: +1
- CON 14-15: +2
- CON 16-17: +3
- CON 18-19: +4
- CON 20: +5
Let’s look at a Fighter for an example of how we can calculate that HP.
How to Calculate HP (Fighter Class Example)
For example, a Fighter in 5e D&D has a hit die of 1d10 per level. At level 1, you take the maximum value of that die when calculating your HP — in this case, 10. This means that a 1st level Fighter with a Constitution of 16 (bonus of +3) has 13 hit points.
At level 1, you may note that the 3 bonus points from the CON stat make up almost a quarter of the total health. Not bad. The less sturdy your class is (hit dice go as low as 1d6 in D&D 5e!), the bigger the difference that bonus will make.
Rules as written (PHB page 71), when that same Fighter levels up they have an option to either just take 6 (to avoid the risk of rolling low on that 1d10), or go ahead and roll their hit die — then add their Constitution bonus to that, times the Fighter’s level. +3 to HP at level 1 becomes +6 at level 2.
(Note: be sure to ask your GM on this: they might prefer one method over the other.)
Do I Need High Constitution For My Character?
How much you want to invest in Constitution will probably be ultimately dictated by your class and playstyle. If your Class already offers or will soon unlock an alternative method to soak up or avoid damage, or if you have a solid lineup of tanky characters in the party, maybe you don’t need to worry about it quite as much.
Still, because every character aspires to not die horribly from a single lucky axe swing from the enemy, Constitution is important at least in some way to every class — be wary when a cool build guide on a forum tells you to dump it completely. Of course, your GM’s love for physical challenges, horrible weather, and whether they are a softie when it comes to killing off player characters may affect its necessity a little.
Notably, Barbarians benefit from Constitution a bit more than others because their Unarmored Defense ability lets them add their Constitution modifier in addition to their Dexterity modifier when determining their armor class, making it that much harder to land a hit on them.
You Can Wait Until Later to Increase Your Constitution
Though, you wouldn’t be wrong to skimp on Constitution for a less physical class — a lot of optimized build guides out there will often tell you to do so. You can always increase your CON score later if you find yourself spending most of the battles face down in the mud, rolling Death Saves.
Per standard rules (PHB page 177), the bonus to HP will get added retroactively. So, your level 6 Fighter with 15 in CON will have a bonus of +12 to HP (+2 x 6), but that same Fighter with 16 in CON can benefit from a whopping +18 (+3 x 6) even if they only reached their +3 bonus this level.
(Again, do consult with your GM on this: some have a specific preference. If you are using something like D&D Beyond with standard settings in place, it should follow the convention and grant you the full bonus retroactively.)
Original (Pre-Tasha’s Cauldron) Race Bonuses to Constitution
If you are playing 5e using only the Player’s Handbook, or you are playing with supplements that predate Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, then some characters might have bonuses to their Constitution score on account of their Race.
These include:
- Dwarves with a +2 bonus
- Stout Halflings with a +1 bonus
- Humans, which have a +1 bonus to all stats
- but may (if GM allows) instead use the optional Variant Human which has +2 to any one stat and +1 to any other
- and, finally, Rock Gnomes with a +1 bonus
Constitution in Other Editions of D&D
Constitution functions in a pretty similar way in other editions of Dungeons and Dragons (don’t fix what isn’t broken, right?). Some of the details do differ, but generally you want even more of it, because not having it will kill you — if you are playing by the rules, you might note that most of these editions tend to be deadlier.
In particular, in 1e, 2e, 3e, the classic Dungeons and Dragons game characters have smaller hit dice than their 5e counterparts and, depending on the edition, may be required to roll for HP at first level. An unlucky 1st level fighter with no Constitution bonus could start out with only 1 hit point!
