What Abilities Are Important to a Sorcerer in Dungeons & Dragons?

Charisma

• A sorcerer's main ability score is Charisma. The higher the charisma, the more powerful the sorcerer's spells will be. This is true no matter which sorcerer's build you decide to use. Choosing a race that has inherent Charisma bonuses will give you an advantage. Dragonborn, Half-elves, Halflings, Tieflings and Gnomes all get an extra plus-two Charisma at character creation.

Strength

• Strength should be the secondary ability for Dragon Sorcerers. They get to add their Strength modifier to arcane powers. In addition, Dragon Sorcerers gain Draconic Resilience, which allows them to use their Strength modifier instead of their Dexterity or Intelligence modifier to determine armor class, when they aren't wearing heavy armor. Dragonborn are natural Dragon Sorcerers because they have a racial bonus of plus-two to both Charisma and Strength.

Dexterity

• Chaos Sorcerers use their Dexterity modifier to add damage to arcane attacks, so their secondary ability should be Dexterity. They should take Wild Magic spells and powers, like "Stretch Spell" or "Spectral Claw," the effects of which are determined by the Dexterity modifier. Halflings, with their plus-two to Dexterity and Charisma, are the most likely to be Chaos Sorcerers.

Other Abilities

• Sorcerers can place their other ability points where they like. Constitution is a good place for any extra points, as it increases hit points -- something the sorcerer won't have much of naturally. Another way to allocate ability points is to determine which of the skills you want to be particularly good at. Most of the sorcerer's possible skills are Charisma-based (Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate), so you'll already have a good bonus there. Sorcerers get Arcana as a skill at character creation. This is an Intelligence-based skill, so increasing Intelligence will make it higher. A higher Intelligence will also increase History checks. Of the remaining possible skills for a sorcerer, Dungeoneering, Insight and Nature are all Wisdom-based skills, so putting extra points in that ability may also serve you well. The other two possible skills are Athletics (Strength-based) and Endurance (Constitution-based).