The derivation of a new 3D QSAR field based on the electrotopological state (E-state) formalism is described. A complementary index and its associated field, the HE-state, describing the polarity of hydrogens is also defined. These new fields are constructed from a nonempirical index that incorporates electronegativity, the inductive influence of neighboring atoms, and the topological state into a single atomistic descriptor. The classic CoMFA steroid test data set was examined with models incorporating the E-state and HE-state fields alone and in combination with steric, electrostatic and hydropathic fields. The single best model was the E-state/HE-state combination with q2 = 0.803 (three components) and r2 = 0.979. Using the E-state and/or HE-state fields with other fields consistently produced models with improved statistics, where the E-state fields provided a significant, if not dominant, contribution.