D&D Skills: All 18 Skills in 5e, What They Do and Which to Pick
D&D 5e has 18 skills, each tied to an ability: Athletics (Strength); Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand and Stealth (Dexterity); five Intelligence skills; five Wisdom skills; and four Charisma skills. Your skill bonus is the ability modifier plus your proficiency bonus if you are proficient. Constitution has no skills.
What are the 18 skills in D&D 5e?
Skills are the specific things your character is trained at. The list is identical in the 2014 and 2024 rules. How a roll actually works (the DC scale, passive checks, group checks) is covered in skill checks in 5e; this page is about the skills themselves and what they look like at the table. To roll one, use the d20 roller with your skill bonus in the bonus box.
Strength
- Athletics: climbing a wet cliff, swimming against a current, jumping a chasm, forcing a stuck portcullis. It's also the skill for escaping a grapple (see grappled).
Dexterity
- Acrobatics: keeping your feet on an icy bridge or a pitching ship deck, tumbling past a guard, landing a stunt.
- Sleight of Hand: lifting a key from a jailer's belt, palming a card, planting a letter on someone.
- Stealth: sneaking past the sentries, ambushing a camp. In 2024, the Hide action is a DC 15 Stealth check.
Intelligence
- Arcana: identifying a spell as it's cast, recognizing a magic circle, knowing what a beholder can do.
- History: recalling which noble house uses that crest, or what happened at this ruined fort.
- Investigation: finding the hidden latch by working out how the room fits together, spotting the forged signature, reading a ledger for the missing money.
- Nature: knowing which berries are safe, predicting the storm, recognizing a beast's habits.
- Religion: reading a holy symbol, knowing how to turn the undead in this crypt, recognizing a cult's rites.
Wisdom
- Animal Handling: calming a spooked horse, getting a guard dog to back off.
- Insight: telling whether the innkeeper is lying, reading a duke's mood before you make your pitch.
- Medicine: stabilizing a dying ally (DC 10), working out what killed the body on the floor.
- Perception: hearing the footsteps behind the door, spotting the tripwire, noticing the ambush in the trees.
- Survival: following tracks, foraging, finding north, avoiding quicksand.
Charisma
- Deception: bluffing past a checkpoint, holding a disguise together under questioning.
- Intimidation: making a captured bandit talk, scaring off a drunk.
- Performance: earning coin in a tavern, holding a crowd's attention while your Rogue works.
- Persuasion: negotiating a better price, convincing the captain to let you through honestly.
Which skills are the best in 5e?
Some skills come up every session; others twice a campaign. Here's how they usually shake out in a mixed campaign. Your DM's style moves these around.
| Tier | Skills | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Rolled constantly | Perception, Stealth | Perception also sets passive Perception, which works even when you don't roll |
| Very often | Athletics, Insight, Persuasion, Investigation | Exploration, grappling, and almost every social scene |
| Regularly | Arcana, Acrobatics, Deception, Intimidation, Survival | Strong in the right campaign or party role |
| Situational | History, Religion, Nature, Medicine, Animal Handling, Sleight of Hand, Performance | Great for flavor and the occasional key moment |
The best skill for your party is the one nobody else has. One great Perception roller is enough to spot the ambush; four is overkill. Split the social skills too: someone takes Persuasion, someone Insight.
How many skill proficiencies do you get?
At level 1 you get skills from your class and your background. In the 2024 rules every background grants two fixed skills. In the 2014 rules backgrounds also grant two.
| Class | Skills chosen from class list | Total at level 1 (with background) |
|---|---|---|
| Rogue | 4 | 6 |
| Bard | 3 (any skills) | 5 |
| Ranger | 3 | 5 |
| Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard | 2 | 4 |
If your class and background would give you the same skill, you pick a different one instead. Extra skills also come from some species (a 2024 human's Skillful trait adds one, and an elf's Keen Senses gives Insight, Perception or Survival) and from the Skilled feat, which grants three skills or tools.
How is a skill bonus calculated?
Skill bonus = ability modifier + proficiency bonus (if proficient). With expertise you add the proficiency bonus twice.
| Example character | Ability | Proficiency | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 cleric, Wisdom 16, proficient in Insight | +3 | +2 | +5 |
| Level 1 rogue, Dexterity 17, Stealth expertise | +3 | +4 (doubled) | +7 |
| Level 5 fighter, Strength 18, proficient in Athletics | +4 | +3 | +7 |
| Level 1 wizard, Wisdom 10, not proficient in Perception | +0 | – | +0 |
Proficiency starts at +2 and reaches +6 at level 17; the table is in proficiency bonus in 5e. Ability modifiers are explained in ability scores.
Which actions use which skills in 2024?
The 2024 rules connect skills to specific actions, which helps settle "what do I roll?" during a fight:
- Search action: Insight, Medicine, Perception or Survival.
- Study action: Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature or Religion.
- Influence action: Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion or Animal Handling.
- Hide action: Stealth, DC 15.
Quick picks by class
- Fighter or Barbarian: Athletics and Perception. You'll grapple, climb and keep watch.
- Rogue: Stealth and Perception with expertise, then Sleight of Hand, Investigation and a social skill.
- Wizard: Arcana and Investigation. You're the one who knows what the runes mean.
- Cleric or Druid: Insight and Medicine or Perception. High Wisdom makes these cheap.
- Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock or Bard: Persuasion plus Insight or Deception. Your Charisma does the talking.
FAQ
How many skills are there in D&D 5e?
Eighteen, the same list in the 2014 and 2024 rules. Wisdom and Intelligence have five each, Charisma four, Dexterity three and Strength one. Constitution has none.
What is the most useful skill in D&D?
Perception. It is rolled more than any other skill and sets your passive Perception, which decides whether you notice ambushes and traps without rolling. Stealth, Athletics and Insight are close behind.
How many skill proficiencies do you get at level 1?
Usually four: two from your class and two from your background. Rogues get four from their class, Bards and Rangers three, so a level 1 Rogue has six. A 2024 human adds one more from the Skillful trait.
Can you use a different ability with a skill?
Yes, if your DM allows it. The rules let the DM pair a skill with another ability when it fits, such as Strength (Intimidation) when you hoist a thug off his feet.
What is the difference between Investigation and Perception?
Perception is noticing things with your senses: hearing footsteps, spotting the hidden door. Investigation is reasoning about what you find: working out how the trap is triggered or which book is out of place.
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Contains content from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.