Is there a way to add a bonus to ability checks?

We are using the 5E OGL character sheets, and my character just got a Stone of Good Luck, which says: "While this polished agate is on your person, you gain a +1 bonus to ability checks and saving throws". I dropped it from the compendium onto my sheet, and it automatically improved my Saves by +1, but it isn't affecting the Ability checks at all. I don't see any 'global' ability check modifier, or any way to add in the +1 to ability checks from the Stone. Am I missing something?

Interesting, I just did the same and you're quite right - it's giving a +1 to the save stats on the sheet, but not abilities. You can do it manually here by clicking on the cog in the character sheet and selecting "Show global skill modifier field" Then back on the core page, you'll have a skill modifier field where you can chuck in the +1 from the stone. Make sure the checkbox is ticked! The output from this is, IMHO, better than the compendium default of adding an invisible attribute mod, as your rolls will show the +1 from the stone separately. If you prefer this output, delete the compendium stone from your inventory (your saves will all drop by 1), manually add it back in, then repeat the above trick for the Saving Throw Modifier field. Then both the saving and ability check throws will show the +1 from the stone separately, and you won't have "misleading" saving throw stats on your sheet.

andrew p. said: Interesting, I just did the same and you're quite right - it's giving a +1 to the save stats on the sheet, but not abilities. You can do it manually here by clicking on the cog in the character sheet and selecting "Show global skill modifier field" Sorry, but "Skills modifier" is different than "Ability modifier", is it not? So it doesn't solve the problem at all. Actually it makes said item to act wrong (unless skill checks are actually ability checks, those things are tightly connected in PH but they seam to me as 2 separate mechanics). I may be wrong here, perhaps stone of luck was meant to work the way you said, or my understanding of mechanics of 5e is flawed. I will appreciate clarification.

Skills are keyed off abilities, persuasion for example uses Charisma (unless the DM says otherwise!). By adding the stone as a skill bonus you are covering 90% of your use cases right there. In the instances where the DM asks for a straight up Strength check (instead of a Strength (Athletics) check) the global mod won't cover it... BUT adding one to the result of a straight up ability check manually isn't a bad price to pay for more automation than you'd get at a table :)

Paulson79 said: andrew p. said: Interesting, I just did the same and you're quite right - it's giving a +1 to the save stats on the sheet, but not abilities. You can do it manually here by clicking on the cog in the character sheet and selecting "Show global skill modifier field" Sorry, but "Skills modifier" is different than "Ability modifier", is it not? So it doesn't solve the problem at all. Actually it makes said item to act wrong (unless skill checks are actually ability checks, those things are tightly connected in PH but they seam to me as 2 separate mechanics). I may be wrong here, perhaps stone of luck was meant to work the way you said, or my understanding of mechanics of 5e is flawed. I will appreciate clarification. An Ability check can just be a straight out Strength or Charisma check. Like for example someone casting Counterspell on a level 4 spell. However a skill check is still an ability check. There is no separation under the section in the PHB on p174-175. In fact. Skills are literally under the section "Ability Checks" in the PHB so skill checks are ability checks. Skill checks are just done with a bonus and nothing else. The stone should give a bonus to the following: - +1 on any roll that use an attribute score. Such as those for dispel magic and counterspell - +1 Initiative (dex ability check) - +1 on skill checks because they are based on ability attribute checks and therefore ability checks. - +1 Saving throws and Death Saving throws. I might have missed some. OP You should add a +1 mod to all skills + initiative. It seems Roll20 have missed that part.

These guys are 100% correct and I'm 100% ashamed. Currently playing a Bard with Jack of all Trades so I should very well know the difference between ability & skill checks. I'm not sure what the cleanest solution is though? Manually bumping @{strength_mod} and the other 5 attributes mods by +1 doesn't seem to have an effect on skills, so that, along with the above global skill modifier would maybe do the trick. But now your @{ability_mod} attributes won't match your rolled @{ability} attributes, I'm not sure if this will do bad things to charactermancer next time you level up. And you also need to remember to -1 those 6 @{ability_mod}s if you stop using the stone. Another option would be to use the Attribute Modifier section in the character sheet settings - this modifies the rolled attribute and not the mod, so you need to add +2 to every field. Once again this is not ideal, it isn't technically what the item does and will have an effect on things like jump distance & carrying capacity. Any thoughts anyone? I can't see any way to do this properly on the sheet... which may well be why the compendium item doesn't do it. It seems like a global_ability_mod or similar should be an attribute on the next version of the sheet? There must be something similar baked in somewhere for Jack of all Trades to function, since it's a more complex calculation than +1 to all checks.

Thanks for all the responses. I just went into settings and added the Global Skill Modifier, called it 'Stone of Good Luck' and put +1 in the field, so that should take care of the bonus to all ability checks for my Skills, and I also put a +1 in my Initiative Modifier. As was already stated, that should cover 90% of my uses right there, I'd just have to remember to manually add a +1 anytime I am called upon to make a straight-up ability check (that isn't a save or a skill). However, unless I am mistaken I do NOT think the Stone would add anything to Death Saves...that's a special save which isn't tied to any ability score. It still wouldn't be a bad idea to add a checkable Global Ability Check Modifier to the sheet, though. We have one for literally everything BUT that.

Shard said: However, unless I am mistaken I do NOT think the Stone would add anything to Death Saves...that's a special save which isn't tied to any ability score. Whether it is tied to an ability does not matter, it is a saving throw, and the stone 's description says: "gain a +1 bonus to ability checks and saving throws ."

Rabulias said: Shard said: However, unless I am mistaken I do NOT think the Stone would add anything to Death Saves...that's a special save which isn't tied to any ability score. Whether it is tied to an ability does not matter, it is a saving throw, and the stone 's description says: "gain a +1 bonus to ability checks and saving throws ." Ah yes, you're right. And interestingly, I just looked and the Stone automatically adds its +1 to Death saves already.

Good catch, by the way. One of my party has had one of these for 3 levels, and no one's noticed it was broken.

OK, I am also trying to fix this 'Stone of good Luck' issue. It is only the 'Ability Score' that I can not add it too. So basically it should add +1 to all Strength, Dexterity, Constituion, Wisdom, Intelliegence & Charisma checks. Now if you do as stated above, this does not modifier your Avility (Str,Dex,Con, Wis, Int or Cha) checks, they roll as normal (No +1) Through searching/trialing, I noticed that the 'Jack of all Trades' when marked does add a +1 to the Ability checks (these being the ones I wish to be able to add to). I would like some knowledge how to add this part of the 'JoaT' with out the rest. Thanks

Yeah, that functions a little differently again, as it only applies to a roll which does not have PB applied. I don't actually know exactly how JoaT functions on the sheet, though I'm sure someone could rip the workings out. It could be possible to hijack it to apply it for the Stone, but I don't know how. The workaround I use is combined with Chat Menus . You need to be using an ability check menu for your rolls for this to work, not straight from the sheet. You have the ability macros in your Chat Menu linked to the default sheet actions: [Strength](~selected|strength) . This will roll the sheet's inbuilt Strength ability check, unless you overwrite it with your own Ability called strength : (or you can reference on stored on a Macro sheet) @{selected|wtype}&{template:simple} {{rname=^{strength-u}}} {{mod=@{selected|strength_mod}@{selected|jack_bonus}}} {{r1=[[@{selected|d20}+@{selected|strength_mod}@{selected|jack_attr}[STR]]]}} @{selected|rtype}+@{selected|strength_mod}@{selected|jack_attr}[STR]]]}} {{global=@{selected|global_skill_mod}} } @{selected|charname_output} This is the standard strength ability check roll, just with the Skills global modifier field added in. You will now get any global mods to skill checks added to straight-up strength ability checks. Technically there are no "Skill checks" in 5E, just Ability Checks which can have you proficiency bonus added on via skill proficiency, so anything that is globally adding to a skill check is technically adding to an Ability Check. I'm not sure why the sheet has this upside down... there shouldn't even be a global skill modifier field at all, just a global ability check field. Anyway, doing the above for the 6 main stats will give you Global Mods for your Ability Checks. The bonus from Stone of GL still needs to be added to Initiative, either directly or by adding the Global Mod field to the Initiative macro.