What stat best represents willpower?

Question

In D&D 5e, what stat best represents willpower?

Wisdom saves you from mind control spells, resisting the urge to sleep and fighting fear, but Intelligence resists Psionics, is shown to help overcome illusions and can be used by wizards to reshape reality to their will. I honestly don't know which better defines willpower in general.

@rStyskel Being able to resist mental effects and emotions effectively, and not letting things deceive you. Also being able to do what needs to be done. — Tobias Fizzlewig, Jan 13 '16 at 18:26
@SevenSidedDie I was hoping for a definition that could get a more concrete answer than "All the mental stats, depending on circumstance". — rStyskel, Jan 14 '16 at 15:28
I would agree that willpower can be subjective and it helps to get a definition from the asker — Premier Bromanov, Jan 14 '16 at 20:59
I think this is answerable. From my experience the RPG community seems to fall into 1 of 2 camps and an answer could explain both. — Jason_c_o, Sep 29 '18 at 19:51

score 20 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 16 '20 at 10:23

20

Charisma is a good choice

From PHB, p. 173

• Charisma, measuring force of personality

A review of what spells you use Charisma to save against suggests that Charisma is as close to "will power" as a single ability gets. Some examples:

Bane
Calm Emotions
Magic Circle
Zone of Truth

The problem with that analysis is that, in this case, Charisma appears to reflect personality power versus external influences, while willpower is traditionally a reference to winning the inner battle against your inner turmoil / forces / urges / weaknesses.

In game terms, what we refer to as willpower IRL is a combination of Charisma, Wisdom, and in some cases Constitution (since things like kicking a drug addiction can be painful).

As a DM, mechanically, if you wanted to rule on a check or save for willpower, you could have the player pick which of those three attribute to use in the same way that players may choose between Athletics and Acrobatics checks in some cases by Using Different Ability Scores. (Credit to @RyanReads for this addendum).

edited Jun 16 '20 at 10:23

Community

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answered Jan 13 '16 at 19:24

KorvinStarmast

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To add, this reflects real life; it is not difficult to find people who weather pain and fatigue without worry (Con), but fall apart under social pressure or studies. People have different tolerances to types of difficulties. – Sawyer Jan 13 '16 at 20:21
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I would agree that willpower is a combination of those attributes, as well as, in some cases, the strength you draw from in the absence of those attributes. But in mechanical terms, if I needed to check/save willpower specifically, I might let the player pick which attribute to use in the same way that players often may choose between athletics and acrobatics. – Alaric Jan 13 '16 at 20:31
@RyanReads I added your suggestion into the answer. Thank you, good idea. – KorvinStarmast Jan 13 '16 at 20:42
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I realize we're talking 5e here, however, this was one thing from 4e that I did like, the pairings of abilities to saves/defenses: ie Str/Con, Dex/Int and Wis/Cha for "Willpower" ... both made some sense. However, I do agree with Charisma as "Force of personality" as Korvin stated as the best match to the Willpower argument .. if you had to pick 1. ;) – Ditto Jan 13 '16 at 20:55
@Sawyer - Resisting the pain (or other physical effects) of withdraw might indeed be Constitution, depending on exactly why it manifests. A successful Con save, where applicable, might minimize/reduce the magnitude of the physical effect. Willpower is only tangentially related to that though. It comes into play in resisting the urge to go back to the thing that makes the agonizing physical effect go away for even just a little while. Constitution just sets the limit for the point at which you need willpower to resist. – Theo Brinkman Jan 14 '16 at 22:07

Premier Bromanov · Answer 2 · 2018-09-29T19:16:54.427

There is no hard and fast "willpower" save or attribute.

The way you define willpower in your question, there is no attribute that exclusively represents "Being able to resist mental effects and emotions effectively, and not letting things deceive you. Also being able to do what needs to be done."There are, however, a few attributes that do not fit this description. Let's go through each attribute and see how they fit into that definition. I am currently without my PHB, but they have some general descriptions of them, which I will add later.

Strength

Generally strength is your physical ability in regards to moving, lifting, pulling, etc, all of which go into general combat and physical contests. This has basically nothing to do with willpower, only what you can and cannot do (and how well you do it).

Dexterity

Dexterity is nimbleness, speed, and precision. This relates to ranged attacks, dodging attacks, and how well you can defend yourself in combat. This also does not relate to willpower.

Constitution

Constitution is like your physical willpower. It allows you to resist poisons as well as maintain concentration. You could argue that maintaining concentration takes a certain aspect of willpower to focus on a spell rather than the pain coming to you. Constitution could directly influence willpower.

Wisdom

Wisdom I think best represents willpower, but again, there is no exclusive ability to this. Wisdom allows you to resist a lot of spells, but also tends to common sense and perception. So wisdom is not willpower, it is something else entirely.

Intelligence

Intelligence relates to your actual brain capacity as well as academic knowledge and logic. It is, in a way, a representation of your physical brain, as it lets you resist psionic effects, tell if something is an illusion, or recall information previously learned.

Charisma

Charisma relates to the emotional aspect you mentioned of willpower. It also relates to your social skills. A person with high charisma can deceive or persuade better, but also resist charm effects. This is another aspect of the willpower of which you spoke

So what does it all mean?

It means that willpower is contextual. When you're looking for a "willpower save" or a contest that isn't outright given to you in the rules, you need to weigh each attribute and how they fit into this particular "willpower save". Willpower against pain seems to fit constitution pretty well, but willpower against lust would more fit charisma (resist that succubus!). Willpower against magic effects is often attributed to wisdom, but willpower against psychic manipulation can fit intelligence as well.

Consider also the technique of allowing your player to decide which attribute to use, as is done in some RPGs. The player picks an attribute and justifies it to you and then they use that attribute. Can they justify Dexterity as a willpower save? I mean, maybe. It's up to them to make the case and you to accept or reject it.

So weigh your options as DM, see which attribute fits the best for your current situation. Or, as a player, weigh which aspects of willpower your character is best at.

+1 for "There's no one stat for willpower." There's no one stat for a lot of things; That's just the way mechanical abstractions work. — GMJoe, Jan 19 '16 at 03:25

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 14 '16 at 21:56

This is a tricky question, but I think Premier Bromanov and KorvinStarmast touch on the answer. Charisma is probably the closest thing to 'willpower' in 5e.

Wisdom helps you resist things where being aware of the existence of something counters it.
Intelligence helps you resist things where knowing something is false counters it.
Charisma helps you resist things where having a strong sense of self counters it.

Therefore:

A Perception(Wisdom) check allows you to 'resist' invisibility by perceiving the presence invisible thing.
An Intelligence save allows you to resist an illusion, because you know it's not real, or allow you to resist deception based on spinning falsehoods.
A Charisma save allows you to resist intimidation, not by being aware of it, and not by recognizing that it is intimidation, but by holding onto what you want instead of giving in to it.

I think both you and I could benefit from examples, though mine is already pretty bloated. So maybe you're more willing to do that — Premier Bromanov, Jan 19 '16 at 15:47
Coming back to this a few years later, I really like the way that you spelled out the distinctions in your "therefore" part. — KorvinStarmast, Sep 06 '19 at 19:19