PHB Abridged
PHB abridged; OR How to go from knowing nothing, to having a functional character sheet in about 30 mins:
Basics:
First things first, get yourself a character sheet. This is the piece of paper that you record pretty much every aspect of your character onto. It’s what basically defines your character, and it’s gonna be changing a lot over your characters life. This is why the game is often referred to as “Pencil and Paper,” and not “Pen and Paper”. If you don’t know where to find a character sheet, or what format to use, Googling “Pathfinder character sheet” is a great place to start. Some of these are pdfs you can simply download and fill out on your computer, while others you will need to print out, and fill in by hand, with pencil and paper.
Alternatively, feel free to use one of the many online character sheet hosting services, such as RPG crossing, or Mythweavers. Most of these websites will require you to make an account or sign up first, but they often do simple math for you, such as automatically filling in bonuses where relevant, or being easily shareable. Honestly, pick the format that works for you. You probably don’t want to show up to a physical game with a digital character sheet, but again, do what works for you. For the sake of explanation, I’m going to assume your using the Mythweavers template. It’s what works for me.
Once you’ve gotten yourself a character sheet, first things first is to decide what the heck kinda character you're playing. Pathfinder is a Role Playing Game, so half the fun is deciding who or what you wanna play You can literally play as yourself, living in a fantasy world. Maybe you got sucked through some weird time-travel portal. Maybe you want to roleplay as a famous fictional character, such as Legolas, or Harry Potter. Most of the time however, your character is going to be someone you’ve made up yourself. You don’t need to know everything about your character before you start, mind you, but having a basic idea from the get-go is essential to playing dnd.
Step 1: Determining Ability Scores:
Once all of that is out of the way, you can get onto your ability scores. These are six scores, measuring Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, witch define your character. They usually range on a score from 3 to 18, (with 10 being an average score) and are basically the backbone of your character, and each of them benefits you in different ways:
1. Your Strength score measures muscle mass. How strong you are, how much you can carry, how hard can you swing a greatsword, that kinda thing.
2. Your Dexterity score measures agility, as well as hand-eye coordination, shooting a bow, picking a lock, jumping about, etc.
3. Your Constitution score is basically your toughness, and basically measures your health. It does not control any skills, but a general rule is that a character with a low Constitution isn’t going survive that long out in the wild.
4. Intelligence is basically your book-learning. The stuff you were taught in school. Memorisation, facts and figures, scientific knowledge, and general knowledge of various skills and trades. It is also a rough estimate of someone's magical ability, assuming they are the wizarding sort.
5. Wisdom is effectively your understanding of things, your common sense. This is your listening to people skills, your empathy, your ability to understand social cues, and defines spiritual characters such as druids, and clerics.
6.Your Charisma defines your ability to interact with other people, your ability to tell a convincing lie, as well as things like attractiveness, and force of personality.
Sidenote:I’ve had some people have trouble understanding the difference between Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, so I’ve put together a few examples.
Standard politician Low Intelligence, average Wisdom, High Charisma. Buddhist monk: Average intelligence, High wisdom, below average Charisma Autistic savant : High intelligence, low wisdom, low charisma.
Their are a million and one ways to genrate abiliy scores, I’ve written a little mini-essay on them myself if you want to read it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13znDoiFVbT9jkVddgC5nxqWCbWWaiUqPvk8nX_3fs5E/edit
But moving on: the most common way I’ve found to generate ability scores is either picking a set array, or rolling for them. If you don’t happen to have dice right now, or are in a hurry, you can use this array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. This is known as the Elite Array, and is what I usually use as a GM if I want to make monsters in a hurry, or don’t have my dice handy.
For those of you with dice, the standard method of rolling is to roll a six sided dice, four times, discard the lowest, and add the resulting dice together. So if you rolled a 6, 4, 2, and 3, you'd discard the 2, and add 6, 4, and 3, resulting in a score of 13. You do this six times, once for each ability score, rolling a six sided die 4 times, discarding the lowest, adding up the rest, and setting the number aside. The more savvy or you will realize that this always generates a number between 3 or 18, no matter how high or how low you roll.
Sidenote: Dice Notation: This “roll a six sided dice 4 times” method can be represented in dice notation as 4d6. Dice notion is simply a fancy way of writing dice rolls on a piece of paper. You’ll find it written as, (Number of Dice your rolling) d (Size of dice) So 2d10 means “roll two ten sided dice, and add them together” or 3d4 means “roll three four sided dice, and add them together.” You may occasionally see modifiers added to dice, like 2d6+2. This simply means “roll two six-sided dice, add them together, and add 2 to the total.” You may also see additional dice in the equation, so 1d12+1d6+6 means “roll a twelve sided dice, then a six sided dice, and then add an extra 6 to the total.” This is about as complicated as it gets, however. You’ll never need to multiply or divide dice, just add or subtract numbers from the total.
Once you have your ability scores, head on over to your character sheet and go ahead and plug your ability scores into your character sheet, in any order you desire. Higher scores are better. Where you put your ability scores determines what kind of character your going to end up playing, so choose it wisely, Through, at the same time, don’t spend too much time worrying about it; a story about a clumsy thief can be just as interesting as a nimble one.
For the sake of example, and to help you follow along, I’ll be making a character called Maximilian. He’ll be a warrior, but he’ll have a sweet charm as well. Using the above array, I arrange Maxamillians scores as follows:
Str: 15 Dex: 13 Con: 12 Int: 10 Wis: 8 Cha: 14
Since I plan for Maximilian to be a warrior, I put his highest score (15) into Strength. His next highest score (14) goes into Charisma, to represent his personality. I then give him above average Dexterity and Constitution to represent his training. Maxamillians intelligence is average, due to being a warrior, but his weakness is his below-average wisdom. This low score also gives me a chance to develop Maximilian as a character. Perhaps the reason he has such low wisdom is because he's recently out of training, and doesn't have a lot of “real world” experience, or perhaps he’s used to being a leader, from affair (which plays into his high charisma score) as opposed to leading from the front? Again, your character should be more than just stats on a page, and you can use those numbers to develop your character as you make them.
When your putting your scores in, keep in mind that, for the most part, only even numbers matter. That is to say, a character with a Str of 12 gains just as much benefit as a character with a Str of 13, because of ability modifiers. When you use your ability scores, as opposed to using the actual score, you use the ability modifier for that score, which gets higher the higher the score is. If you are using an online sheet, these modifiers should be calculated automatically for you, but if you are not, here they are: 2-3: -4 4-5: -3 6-7: -2 8-9: -1 10-11: +0 12-13: +1 14-15: +2 16-17: +3 18-19: +4
As you can see, having a higher ability score gives you a bonus compared to someone with a lower score, but it does not make or break any engagement. While a character with a Strength score of 14 (+2 modifier) will usually be able to beat a character with 10 (+0 modifier) Strength at an arm wrestling contest, there are still a variety of factors, such as an uneven table, a lack of concentration, encouragement from others, or simply a bad grip that can lead the weaker player to win, at least sometimes. These sort of factors are referred to as The Golden Rule.
Sidenote: The Golden Rule, and how you do stuff.
The Golden Rule is very simple. Whenever you want to attempt an action that has a chance of failure, you roll 1d20 (A single twenty sided die) and add any relevant modifiers. For example, if you wanted to break down a door you'd roll 1d20, and add your Strength modifier. You'd compare this to the difficulty of the task at hand, which depends on what exactly your doing. For example, breaking through a simple wooden door might have a Difficulty Class (also known as a DC) of 13, while breaking down a reinforced door might be 20 or higher.
90% of all rolls you will make in Pathfinder follow this formula, rolling 1d20, and adding modifiers. The only exception to this is damage rolls, were the size of dice you roll depends on your weapon. But if you are ever confused as to how to proceed, the number one thing to remember is “Roll 1d20, and add any relevant modifiers.”
Example: While exploring a dungeon, Maximilian comes to a door. The door looks old, but sturdy; and while it is not locked, the wet mildew of the dungeon have caused it to become stuck. In an attempt to open the door, Maximian announces he’s going to throw his entire body against the door, to open it. To do so, he rolls a Strength check, 1d20+Strength. Since Maximilians Strength score is 15, he gets a +2 bonus to this check. He rolls his 1d20, and gets a 15. Adding his +2, he announces his final total as 17. The Game Master compares this number to the difficulty class of the door (16) Since Maximilian's check is higher than the Difficulty Class (DC) of the door, he succeeds, and so the GM describes how after Maximian throws his body against the door, the door pops open, revealing the room beyond.
Step 2: Determine race and class:
Once you have your ability scores, it is time to decide on what kind of character you would like to play. This involves picking a race, such as Humans, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Orcs, etc. There are many races to pick from, and depending on your Game Master, their may even be additional races to pick from. Furthermore, each race has unique racial traits, which offer small benefits to your character, in various ways. However, when picking your first race, I advice you to ignore them, and simply pick whatever race you think looks the coolest, or fits your character concept the best. Write this down on your character sheet under “Race”
Once you have figured out the race of your character, take a look at the classes. There are 11 base classes, ranging from Barbarian to Wizard, each of them offering a unique playstyle. A high intelligence character may find themselves drawn to the Wizarding arts, while a character with a high Charisma may find the trade of the Bard or Paladin more interesting. There are no restrictions on character class based on ability scores, but depending on your ability scores, you may find certain classes play to your characters strengths more than others, but again, you are free to play whatever you want to play. Once you have decided on a class, write this down on your sheet under “Class”
Example: Since Maximian is from a small country village, we decide that his race will be human, for simplicity. In addition, because he has a high Strength and Charisma score, multiple classes appeal to him, such as Paladin, Bard, or even Sorcerer. However, from what we’ve decided so far, Maximian is definitely the swing sword type, and while we want to play a good aligned character, perhaps the lawful rigidity of the Paladin isn’t for him.
Sidenote: Campaign Variance: Depending on your campaign, your GM may bar certain classes, or offer additional classes for you to pick from. For example, in a Dark Sun campaign, where there are no deities and little magic, but psychic powers run rampant, your GM may not allow Clerics, and restrict people from playing Wizards, but offer up new and exciting psionic classes for you to play as. Always check with your GM for the specifics of his or her world.
Step 3: Race and class features. Once you have decided on your race and class, it’s time to fill in what all those things mean. On your sheet, there should be a section dedicated to “Feats/class features/special abilities.” This is where you mark down all of your racial traits, and class features. Don’t worry too much about knowing what all of these traits mean, just note them down here, we’ll get back to them later. The one thing that you should worry about right now are your racial ability modifiers. All races modify your ability scores slightly, some allowing you to pick a score to improve, while others simply improving or lowering specific scores, depending on race. For example, Dwarfs improve their Constitution and Wisdom scores by +2, but lose -2 points of Charisma. These are not temporary mods, feel free to change the actual score itself by +2 or -2. Most races grant +2 to two scores, and -2 to a third score , but there are exceptions.
For class features, turn the book or webpage to the page on the class you picked back in Step 2. Your looking for a big table with rows and columns called Table: Your Class. This table is, in essence a big summary of all the bonuses your class gets, level by level. We will be using this full table later, but for now, take a look at the “Class features” table, and note down all the cool class features you gain for being a level 1 character. Feel free to copy down just the name of the feature, a quick summary, or the entire paragraph, it’s your character sheet. Again, don’t worry too much about understanding what each of these class features do right now, we’ll get to filling in all the small details after we’ve got the big stuff down.
While every class is different, something consistent across all classes are Weapon and Armor Proficiency. This is, in effect, a list of all the weapons and types of armor your character has learned to use, and can wield without penalty. The amount of weapons and armor granted here very much depends on your class; a Fighter gains more proficiency than a wizard, for instance. Mark down your proficiency like any other class feature, it will be important later when you begin to equip your character.
Example: Maximian is a human, so we note down on his sheet that he gains +1 skill point each level, and +1 feat. Due to the adaptability of humans, Maximilian gets to pick a single ability score, and improve it by +2. We could improve his highest score, Strength , turning it from a respectable 15, to a massive 17. Alternatively, we could shore up a weakness of his, turning his below average wisdom of 8 into a 10. It is up to us exactly where we place this bonus. Ultimately, since we want Maximian to be a versatile character, and because we’ve already decided we like Maximilians low wisdom, we pick his dexterity, improving it from a 13, to a 15. Maximian is now just as agile as he is strong.
For class features, since Maximilian is a Fighter, we only need to mark down that we receive a Bonus Feat this level. In addition, we mark down his weapons and armor proficiency. As a Fighter, Maximian has been trained and drilled in the use of all simple weapons, all martial weapons, all types of armor, as well as all types of shields! It might be tempting to write down “Everything” under proficiency, but alas, despite our many hours of training, there are some weapons that remain beyond our knowledge, such as the Twin-Bladed Sword, or the Dwarven Urgrosh (but see Feats, below.).
Step 4: Filling in misc information:
It seems strange to put a glossary of terms right in the middle of a document, but don’t worry, this isn’t a full glossary, it’s simply a box-by box explanation of what most of the boxes on your character sheet do, and what information to put in them. So if say, you have a class feature that grants +4 AC in specific circumstances, you’ll be able to understand what that means. Again, depending on what exactly sheet your using, the exact location of these boxes will vary.
In addition, if you see a box on your character sheet marked “Dexterity Mod” or “Wisdom Mod” feel free to put your relivet ability score modifier into that box. Again, depending on what sheet template your using, the sheet itself may automatically fill in the boxes, and save you the math here.
Hitpoints: Right at the top of your sheet, to the right of your ability scores (Again, assuming you're using the Mythweavers template) you will spy two letters: HP. These stand for Hitpoints, and are the main thing standing between you, and lying dead on the floor. If you run out, you’ll collapse to the ground, and start bleeding out. Which is bad. The amount of Hitpoints your character has depends on your class, as well as your Constitution modifier.
Every time you gain a level, you roll your Hit Dice, and add your Constitution modifier to the roll. Physically weak classes, such as Wizards and Sorcerers, use a 1d6. Characters of average physical stature (Bards, Clerics, Druids, Monks, and rogues) use a 1d8. Frontline warrior characters (Such as the Fighter, Paladin or Ranger) use a 1d10. And the mighty Barbarian uses the 1d12.
However, in order to ensure that a bad roll at level 1 doesn't leave you incredibly weak, all characters gain maximum hit points at level 1 from their Hit Die, as well as their Constitution modifier. All other levels you must roll your Hit Die, and take whatever number you roll.
Example: As a Fighter, Maximian uses a 1d10. Since his constriction score is 12, he has a +1 modifier. Giving Maximian a Hit Die of 1d10+1. At level 1, rather than rolling, he takes the maximum roll off of the dice; in this case, 10. Adding his Con modifier, and Maximian can see he has 11 Hit Points at level 1.
Armor class Next to your Hit Points will be a number called Armor Class. This represents how hard it is for you to be hit by enemy attacks. Again, higher is better, with a 10 representing an unarmored human. Right now, I imagine your Armor Class is hovering around 10, with only your Deteraty Mod adding to it. However, there are many things that can affect how hard you are to hit, from actual armor, to shields, to a tough hide, as well as various magical spells, and you’ll find slots for each of them here. Right now, there's nothing you need to do here, other than perhaps mark down your Dexterity bonus.
Sidenote: Typed bonuses: The reason there are so many boxes next to Armor Class, saving throws, and other relevant boxes is because of Typed Bonuses. In essence, bonuses of the same type do not stack with each other, thus removing the need, for instance, to wear armor under your armor, or attempt to use a Ring of Force Shield along with an actual, physical shield. In general bonuses of the same type do not stack, you only benefit from the highest bonus. Bonuses of different types do, in fact, stack, however. Thus, a character encased in plate armor, carrying a shield, wearing an Amulet of Natural Armor +1, and blessed with a Barkskin spell chould conseviely benfit from the plate armor, the shield, AND the spell but not the Amulet, as the benefit to Armor Class from the Amulet is a Natural Armor bonus, and thus counteracted by the more powerful Natural Armor bonus coming from the Barkskin spell. Make sure you check with your local mage or druid to find out what type of Armor Class bonus their spells provide before striding confidently into danger!
Touch and Flat Footed: Sometimes, you don’t get to apply your full Armor Class against an attack. When surprised, you may not have time to dodge, and thus unable to add your Dexterity bonus to AC. This is referred to as being Flat-Footed. Alternatively, you may find yourself in the opposite situation, where your physical armor proves useless, and only your ability to dodge matters, such as when fighting against spellcasters, ghosts, and firearms. This is referred to as your “Touch” AC, since all the foe requires is to touch you. You DM will call out if an attack you are subjected to goes against your regular AC, touch, or Flat-Footed AC, depending on the circumstances.
CMD: Combat Maneuver Defence. This is, in essence, your Armor Class against anything that isn’t a sword blade. If someone attempts to grab you, wrestle you, shove, or trip you, it goes against your CMD, instead of AC. It otherwise works in exactly the same way. Your CMD is equal to: 10+Your Base Attack Bonus+Your Strength Modifier+Your Dexterity Modifier.
FCMD: This basically just means Flat-Footed CMD. Incase someone grabs you when your not looking, for instance.
INIT: This means Initiative. When you get into combat (See below) you roll Initiative, to determine the order people act in turn. For most characters, your Initiative is just your Dexterity bonus.
Caster Level: Your caster level determines how powerful your spells are, and is represented by the amount of levels you have in a particular spellcasting class, such as Bard, or Wizard. Non spellcasters do not have Caster Levels.
Speed: Your speed represents how fast you are. Usually this is 30 feet (Or six squares on a grid) for most medium sized creatures, and 20 feet (or four squares) for small creatures, though exceptions exist. Wearing exceptionally heavy armor, or carrying a heavy load can lower this.
Saving Throws:
There are three main saving throws, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. Each of these represent your ability to resist, or avoid something bad happening to you. Fortitude saves represent poisons and physical pain, Reflex saves representing your ability to avoid pits and fireballs, and Will saves, your ability to resist mental attacks, such as mind control. Your total bonus to your saving throw depends partially on your class, as well as your ability scores. Check Table: Your class for your Base Saving Throws for each one, and mark them down, along with your relevant ability score modifier, Constipation for Fort, Dexterity for Reflex, and Wisdom for Will. Then, add them together to get your total Saving Throw bonus.
Example: As a fighter, Maximian gets a Base Fortitude of +2, but no others. Checking his ability scores, he has +1 to Constitution, +2 to his newly improved Dex, and -1 to his wisdom. Adding these with his Base save of +2 Fortitude, gives Maximian a +3 bonus on Fortitude saves, a +2 bonus on reflex saves, and a -1 penalty on Will saves.
Attacking, and Base Attack Bonus:
As discussed above, if you want to attempt an action, you roll 1d20+modifiers. So what are the main modifiers you add if you want to hit something? If you wish to make a melee attack, the formula is: 1d20+Base Attack Bonus+Strength Modifier. The formula is the exact same for Ranged attacks, except your add your Dexterity modifier instead of your Str. What is your Base Attack Bonus? It is a number that goes up at a different rate, depending on your class. More martial classes, like Fighters, and Barbarians start with a Base Attack Bonus of +1, and get one every single level. Other classes gain Base Attack Bonus at a slower rate, check Table: Your Class for more information.
Step 5: Skills
Now that you’ve got all your misc bonuses pushed it, it’s time to tackle Skills. Skills are basically a list of things that your character is good at. You get a number of skill points each time you level, dependent on your class, and intelligence modifier, and can spend them however you like. Certain races and classes may grant bonuses to particular skills as well. If you have a racial trait granting a bonus to a particular skill (Such as an elven bonus to Perception) you can mark that down now, in the “Misc” collem of your skills. Your bonus to a skill is equal to the number of ranks you put in a skill+that skills relevant ability modifier any miscellaneous bonuses+the Class Skill bonus.
You may have noticed a list of Class Skills next to Table: Your Class. These represent skills that, due to your characters background and training, they have a natural aptitude for. As a result of this, the first time you put a rank in a skill that is a Class Skill for your character, you get a free, one-time +3 bonus to that skill. This bonus applies only to the first time you put a rank in that skill. Apart from this bonus, their are no other differences between a Class Skill, and a non-class skill. While at level 1, a +3 bonus does sound like a lot, it evens out over time. A fighter who puts 12 ranks in Use Magic Device will have a +12 bonus, while a Sorcerer who does the same will have a +15 bonus. In essence, Class Skills exist to give suggestions as to things your character is naturally inclined to be good at, but you are by no means restricted to these choices.
Finally, when you spend skill points, keep in mind you may only put a number of ranks in a skill equal to your level. Or to put it another way: you can only spend a single skill rank per skill at this level.
Example, When Maximilian goes to spend skills, he checks his class features. Fighters gain 2+Int modifier skills per level. Since Maximian has an Intelligence of 10, he gains no bonus skill points from intelligence. But wait! Maximian is human! And one of the racal traits of humans grants them +1 skill point per level, granting Maximilian 3 skill points to play with right now. He marks down his class skills, and decides on what three skills he wants to put points in. Since Maximilian is a warrior, he spends his first skill point in Intimidate, to represent him getting tough to get what he wants. He spends 1 rank, and adds his +2 charisma modifier. Since Intimidate is a class skill for Fighters, he also adds that +3 misc bonus from the fact it is a class skill, giving him a total bonus of 1+2+3, or +6 to intimidate checks.
However, not wanting to be a scary person, he spends his next skill point on Diplomacy. Since Diplomacy is not a class skill for Fighters, his only bonus is his chasma bonus, giving him a +3 on Diplomacy checks.
Finally, wishing to have some actual, physical skills to go along with his talking, he spends his final skill point on Survival. Since this is a class skill, he once again gains his +3, but since Survival is based on Wisdom, this gives him a slight penalty. Adding everything together, the rank (+1) the wisdom Modifier (-1) and the Class skill bonus (+3) gives him a total mod of +3 to survival checks.
Step 6: Feats
Unlike skills, which are things that pretty much every character can master, given enough time and training, feats are special. Feats are things that only a select few people have learned to master, and are a much more exclusive club. While skills can be taught, feats are learned through life experience. While you may receive dozens of skill points through your characters life, you may only receive a scant few feats, so pick them wisely. All characters receive a single feat at first level, and gain a new one every Odd level, though certain classes or races may grant bonus feats.
Feats can offer a variety of benefits for your character, from simple bonuses, to, pardon the term, feats of might that were otherwise impossible for your character to perform, or even entirely new weapon or armor proficiencies! Some feats, such as Improved Initiative, and Toughness, are valuable to all characters, while other feats are more specialised. Some feats require prerequisites to qualify for them, such as a high Base Attack bonus, ability scores, or sometimes other feats. Certain feats, such as Two Weapon Fighting, open up entirely new playstyles. Pick the feat(s) that you think fits what your character is capable, and fit your vision of the hero that you are building.
Example: Maximilian is in a very privileged position when it comes to feats. Not only does he gain a bonus feat from being a human, he also is entitled to a third feat, due to his class. However, reading the entry on Fighter bonus feats, he notes that this third feat needs to be a Combat feat. He resolves to pick that one up first.
Looking through the list of feats, Maximillian is overwhelmed with choice. The first feat that appeals to him is Weapon Focus which simply gives him a bonus to hit for a particular weapon. He looks at the requirements for Weapon Focus: Proficiency in the specific weapon and a Base Attack bonus of +1 or higher. Since he meets those requirements, he takes Weapon Focus: Longsword for his first feat, which fills the “combat feat” requirement of his fighter bonus feat. He can either simply write down “Power Attack”, a short description of how it works, or the full text of the feat. It is up to him how he wants to remind himself of the effects of the feat.
However, since we decided above that we want to build a vesicle character, Maximian choices an archery feat as his second choice, Point Blank Shot. Since our second feat can be anything, it doesn't matter that Point Blank Shot is also a combat feat, and we mark that down as our second feat choice.
Finally, we get one more feat, due to being Human.Rather than focusing entirely on combat,, Maximilian reads the Endurance feat and, since he put a few skill points in survival, thinks that it’s outdoorsy nature fits the type of character he wants to fit. He marks down Endurance as his third feat.
Step 7: Equipment and gear: At this point, your sheet is basically finished. However, since it is unwise to go into battle unarmed, and unarmored. (Unless your playing a monk, and even then, a bit of clothing never hurt anyone.) the final step to creating a character is to buy equipment. Each character is given a stipend of Gold Pieces (also known as GP) in order to buy the equipment that they will start the game with. There are many ways to determine starting wealth, but the simplest option is simply rolling dice. The size of dice you roll depends on your class, with classes such as monks rolling the smallest dice, while classes such as Fighters and Paladins getting the largest. While this wealth difference may seam large at first, it quickly evens out as you gain levels, and is simply present because swords and heavy armor cost more then simple cloth clothing. In addition, some DMs simply give the same, flat amount of money to each party member, regardless of class (usually 100 gold)
Once you have determined the amount of money your character starts the game with, it is time to spend it! A good rule of thumb is to buy at least one melee weapon, one ranged weapon, and a set of armor your character is proficient in. Keep in mind, however, that your character is not simply walking into a store, throwing down a massive bag of gold, and buying things. Rather, this gold represents all the things your character has bought up until this point. Perhaps the have a weapon passed down to them by their parents, or perhaps the bucker they use is something that they stole from a passing knight. You don’t need to come up with the EXACT reason that your character possessed each and every item in their possession (who does?) but knowing why, for instance, your character uses a rapier as their main weapon, as opposed to a more traditional longsword, can add a lot of personality to a character for little effort.
Most character sheets will have a specialised zone, near where you marked down your Melee attack bonus, for you to mark down your weapons, along with their statistics.
The Total Attack bonus of your weapon is the main number you add to your 1d20 roll when making an attack with that weapon. It is, usually, the same as your regular Attack bonus. However, there are a wide variety of factors that can affect this. Perhaps you picked a feat allowing you to specialise in a particular weapon. Perhaps you are weilding a well made, or even magical weapon, which grants you a bonus to hit, but only for that specific weapon.
Weapons have five stats, the damage die (or dice) of the weapon, the critical threat range, the critical multiplier for the weapon, as well as the range of the weapon, and the type of damage it does. For right now, however, all that matters to us is the weapons damage die.
A melee weapons damage depends on the weapons damage die (Or dice, in the case of some weapons) + your strength modifier. If you weild a weapon two handed, you get one and a half times your strength modifier. Thrown weapons do add your Str bonus to damage, but crossbows do not. Short Bows and Longbows usually do not add your Strength bonus to damage, unless specifically made to do so.
Example: As a fighter, Maximilian starts with a very large stipend of gold, 175 gp. Looking back at his proficiencies, he remembers he is proficiency with every single simple, and martial weapon, as well as all armor and shields. Since he picked Weapon Focus: Longsword as one of his feats, he decides his first weapon will be a longsword, and so he subtracts the 15 gold necessary to purchase that longsword off his sheet, leaving him with 160 gp remaining. He goes up to his “Weapon” section on the character sheet, and writes in “Longsword” For his total attack bonus, it is his Base Attack Bonus, plus his Str bonus. He also receives +1 to hit with longswords, thanks to his feat. Granting him a total bonus to hit of 1+2+1, or +4 to hit with his longsword. His damage with his longsword is 1d8(The base damage of a longsword) +2 (From his Str modifier) Though, if he decided to use his longsword two-handed, he could bump that up to 1d8+3.
He decides to also pick up a Shortbow, for ranged attacks, again subtracting the 35 gold necessary to purchase a shortbow. And while he should definitely spend more to purchase a composite shortbow, possibly allowing him to add his Str modifier to damage, he decides to hold off on it, in order to conserve money for armor and other items. Again, his bonus to hit with his shortbow is Base Attack Bonus+Dex mod, or +3 in this case.
He is left with 125 gold pieces to buy armor.
When buying armor, it helps to think of armor as a tradeoff between protection and mobility. The heavier the armor, the less lightly you are to be hit, but Medium and Heavy armor slow your characters move speed. In addition, the heavier the armor, the larger the Armor Check Penalty the armor with bestow on any physical skill check, (such as climbing and swimming) your character performs.
Despite this, however, I recommend always wearing the heaviest armor your character can afford and is proficient in. Why? Because, especially at lower levels, characters can be very fragile, and the difference between life or death for certain characters, especially those with low Con scores can be a handful of hit points. In addition, until you get to the very heavy armors, the penalties you take aren't actually all that bad. For instance, a character wearing a Breastplate,the heaviest, and most expensive of the Medium armors, grants a huge, +6 bonus to Armor class, and only bestows a -4 armor check penalty. In addition, it allows for a Maximum dexterity bonus of +3, meaning that even a character with 16-17 dexterity would be completely fine in a full, unmodified breastplate, assuming they were proficient.
Example: With 125 gp left, Maximian looks at his options. While unable to afford even the cheapest armors, a set of scale mail costs a mere 50 gold, though it does offer a -4 armor check penalty, as well as a 20ft move speed. Alternatively, we could decide to purchase a Chain Shirt. It is more expensive, at 100 gold, and is less protective than the scale mail, however it does only bestrow a -2 armor check penalty, and also allows us to keep our full 30ft move speed. Since Maximilians Dexterity bonus is +2, the Maximum Dex Bonus of scale, (+3) is a non-factor to him. Ultimately, we decide to go for the more economical option, and spend 50 gold on the Scale Mail. We note down it’s stats, it’s armor bonus of +5, it’s armor check penalty of -4, it’s max dex bonus of +3, and it’s total weight, 30lbs. This leaves us with 75 gold.
In addition, since a longsword is one-handed, and because we have proficiency, we may decide to look at the shields. There are four kinds of shields, all of which we have proficiency in: Buckers, (which simply strap to your arm, and allow full use off your off hand) Light shields (slightly more cumbersome, and allow everything except weapon use) Heavy Shields (Offering more protection, but do not allow your hands to be used for anything else) and Tower Shields Offering a truly massive amount of protection, but are large and unwieldy, even with proficiency) Currently, Maximilians Armor class is sitting at 17 (10 base, 2 from dex, 5 from armor) so picking up a light shield would improve it to 18, a heavy shield to 19, and a tower shield to an absolutely massive 21. Since we have decided against using two weapons at once, we decide to pick the middle-of-the-road option, and pick up a Heavy Shield.
The last decision you need to make when purchasing a shield is to determine what it is made out of, wood or metal. At first, the distinction appears mostly cosmetic, and to some degree it is. However, something to keep in mind is that the material of your shield determines how it reacts to certain spells, such as Warp Wood, and Heat Metal. Since a wooden shield is cheaper, however, Maximian picks up a Wooden Heavy Shield for a measly 7 gold.We are left with 68 gold to buy Goods and Services.
Weapons and armor in hand, the last thing on your shopping list ought to be the Goods and Services page. This table lists all of the miscellaneous supplies you may need on your adventure, from rope, to lantern oil, to trail rations. These items do not affect your characters combat ability in any way, and are entirely optional. However, even though they may not offer bonuses to damage or armor, does not make them useless. Far from it in fact. In my years DMing, I have scene almost every single item on the Goods and Services page either make-or-break a character, or in some cases, save a characters life when used correctly, or perhaps with a bit of creativity. Ultimately, it is up to you and your own judgement call what you want to buy, but a small kit of tools never hurt anyone. Things such as backpacks, torches, trail rations, waterskins, and maybe a change of clothing never hurt anyone. In addition, check with your GM for additional mundane items. If you wish to buy an item that isn’t listed on the Goods and Services page (such as a bear trap) check with your GM about it, they may have additional mundane items for sale beyond those listed in the Player's Handbook.
Sidenote: Carrying Capacity: When buying equipment, it is also a good idea to keep in mind carrying capacity. Assuming you have a high enough Strength score, or are planning to employ Medium or Heavy armor, it is not entirely necessary to keep track of exactly how much every single item weighs, but if you intend to travel light, it pays to keep in mind what you’ll be carrying. Indeed, especially when carrying multiples of the same item (such as a bundle of javelins, or a week's worth of trail rations) the weight can add up quickly.
In addition, while RPGs have a reputation of allowing characters to carry anything up to their weight limit, keep in mind how such pack-animal like behavior might look to onlookers. Would YOU trust some stranger to walk unguarded through a rural peasant town, armed to the teeth with swords, axes, and throwing axes? That being said however, if your character's backstory is as a mercenary, or monster-hunter, then perhaps it makes sense for them to carry a wide variety of weapons. Ultimately it is your call as to how much is too much, though again, as a rule of thumb, anything over 4+ weapons on a single character is usually pushing it.
Step 8: Spellcasting
If your character is a spellcaster, than the last thing you need to do is to sort out your magical side. And in order to do that, you need to understand two things: the difference between arcane and divine magic, as well as prepared vs spontaneous casters.
A: Divine and Arcane:
For Divine casters, magic comes from above. You pray to your deity of choice, and they take care of everything for you. Their is no need to fumble around with spellbooks, you simply request your choice of spells, and, so long as you maintain your faith, your deity grants them to you. As a divine spellcaster, you never need to worry about arcane spell failure chance, lost spell books, or any of the other downsides of Arcane magic. The downside, of course, is that the vast majority of divine magic is supportive. Not all of it, mind you, but most cleric and druid spells boil down to Healing, blessings, protection, charms, and other such spells.
Arcane magic, on the other hand, is much more powerful. This is where you find your Fireballs, your Lighting Bolts, your Dominate Person, and your Finger of Death. Arcane magic is much more overt, much more destructive, but also much harder to control. As an arcane spellcaster, you will either need to worry about keeping a record of your collective knowledge in a spellbook,or dealing with only knowing a small handful of spells. As for prepared vs spontaneous, it boils down to how exactly you prepare and cast your spells. I’ll go over prepared first:
B: Prepared vs Spontaneous As a Prepared spellcaster, (Wizards, Clerics, Druids) in order to do any spellcasting, you need to have some time to sit down and do your preparation rituals. Usually this is first thing in the morning, but it can be anytime you have time. Preparing spells usually takes about an hour or so, and involves rote memorisation, prayers to your deity or the natural world, and figuring out exactly what you want to prepare.
Under Table: Your Class, for each level of spell, you will get a number under “spells per day” This represents the number of “slots” you have for that level of spell. So for instance, as a first level Wizard, you have 3 “0th” level spells (also known as cantrips) and a single 1st level slot. Meaning out of all the cantrips you know, you can prepare 3 different ones to know that day, and out of all your 1st level spells you know, you can pick one to use that day. And once prepared, each spell slot can be used to cast that spell exactly once, before it is considered “expended” and thus cannot be used until you prepare spells. What this means is If you want to cast a spell more then once, you will need to prepare it in more than one slot. In addition, unlike spontaneous casters, you have the power to change exactly what spells you have prepared every morning, to take on varied encounters, like a sniper picking the exact round for a particular target.
Example:
Let's say Quel has 4 first level spell slots to fill, but in her spellbook, she knows 5 first level spells: Magic Missile, Sleep, Burning Hands, Enlarge Person, and Shield. And so, on a normal day, where you don’t know what to expect, she might prepare a varied list of spells, like Sleep, Magic Missile Enlarge Person, Shield. However, if she knew beforehand that her adventering party was going to be taking her into a goblin cave, an environment with lots of very weak creatures she might vary her spell list to take advantage of this, preparing Burning Hands twice, Sleep one, and keeping Magic Missle in for an emergency. Alternatively, she might be headed into a war zone with a large contingent of bodyguards, fighting against foes immune to magic. In this situation, she might prepare Enlarge person 3 times, and Shield once, or maybe even Enlarge Person in all of her spell slots, if she was sure to be able to rely on her bodyguards.While she has a small number of spell slots per day, her ability to customise them exactly to what she needs based on what she expects to face.
If a prepared caster is like a sniper, a spontaneous caster is like a minigun. A spontaneous caster might only know 1 or two spells of a particular level, but will be able to cast that single spell four, five, or even six times per day. A spontaneous caster, such as a sorcerer need not spend time in the morning preparing spells, they use the exact same set of spells every single day. And rather then decide exactly how to arrange it like a prepared spellcaster, they can spontaneously decide exactly how they spend their slots the moment they chose to cast it. A sorcerer need not choose between preparing Haste, Fly and Fireball once each, preparing Fly twice, and haste once, but leaving out fireball or vice versa, they know all three spells, and have three spell slots, allowing them to cast haste three times, fireball 3 times, Fly three times, or any combination thereof, spontaneously.
This flexibility and power comes at a cost, however, and that cost is Spells Known. A sorcerer might be able to cast twice as many spells as a wizard, but the wizard will have a spellbook of choice containing twice, three times, or even ten times the number of spells a sorcerer is limited to, even though they can only prepare a tiny fraction of those spells per day.
Ultimily, the question of “Which is better” comes down to personal preference. Do you prefer a small, highly varied, incredibly customizable and adaptable list of abilities, or a simpler, less versatile loadout, but with more bang per level? The answer to that question determines whether your on Team Wizard, or Team Sorcerer.
C: Actually using and casting magic:
As a prepared caster, every morning you pick which spells you want in each slot. Spontaneous casters skip this step.
Casting a spell is (usually*) a Standard Action, that provokes an attack of opportunity. In order to cast a spell, you must concentrate. If anything is preventing you from concentrating, such as being grappled, threatened by weapons, torrential rain, or being onboard a ship, you need to roll a concentration check. This check is 1d20+Your Caster Level+Your Casting Modifier (Int for wizards, Wisdom for clerics and druids, Cha for Bards and sorcerers) There are feats, such as Defensive Casting which assist with this.
The power of a spell depends on the Caster Level of the person using it.
Spells can do a variety of different effects, make sure you read your spells before you cast them.
D: How to read spells
Hold Person School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]; Level bard 2, cleric 2, sorcerer/wizard 3 Casting Time 1 standard action Components V, S, F/DF (a small, straight piece of iron) Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) Target one humanoid creature Duration 1 round/level (D see text Saving Throw Will negates; see text; Spell Resistance yes The subject becomes paralyzed and freezes in place. It is aware and breathes normally but cannot take any actions, even speech. Each round on its turn, the subject may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. This is a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A winged creature who is paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A swimmer can't swim and may drown.
School: The school of the spell is irrelevant if your not a wizard, or have the Spell Focus feat. If you are one of those things, you know you get bonuses for casting spells of certain schools
(Descriptors) These tell you what kind of spell it is. Certain creatures (such as elfs) gain a bonus against enchantment spells, and certain creatures (such as zombies) are outright immune to mind-affecting spells.
Level: What level the spell is. The same spell can be of different levels for different classes.
Casting time: How long it takes to cast this spell:
Components: V= You must be able to speak S= You must have at least one hand free M= You must have a particular item. It is consumed when cast. F: You must have a particular item. It is not consumed when cast DF= Your holy symbol must be present
The F/DF in this spells means that if you are a cleric, all you need is your holy symbol, but if you are not a cleric, you need the second focus (A small bit of iron)
Range: How far away does this spell reach?
Target: Does this spell target myself, a creature I can touch, or only a certain type of creature?
Duration: How long does this spell last? The (D) symbol means it can be dismissed early if you want.
Saving Throw: What sort of saving throw does the target get against this effect?
To calculate the saving throw of your own spell, the formula is 10+Level of spell+Ability mod (Int for wizards, Wis for cleric/druids, Cha for Bard/Sorcerer) So a Cleric with a wisdom of 16 casting Hold Person would have a DC of 10+2+3= 15
Step 9: Final checklist:
Ability scores set, and the relevant ability mod placed where they need to be?
All numbers (Base attack bonus, Base Saving Throw, Hit Points) placed where they need to be?
All Class and racial features written down, understood, and misc skill bonuses plugged in?
All skill points spent, and total skill modifiers totaled?
Feat taken, and bonuses added in?
Weapons, armor, and other equipment bought?
Known spells marked down?
Step 10: Your done! Congrats. You just learned exactly how to make a Pathfinder RPG character. While I won’t say it was super easy, you learned a shitload along the way. Assuming you or I haven’t missed anything, you should now have a perfectly legal character to take to your local friendly gaming store, or perhaps a friends game. Though do keep in mind, there's more to pathfinder then simply numbers on a character sheet. Throughout this document, I reference a whole bunch of stuff, like critical hits, attacks of opportunity that are integral to understanding pathfinder, but aren't entirely necessary to building a character. If you'd like to learn about them, feel free to ask your DM, or tune in next time, for PHB abridged, Combat!
Additional tips: -As a spellcaster, if you have a high casting attribute modifier (12 or higher) you are entitled to additional spells per day, depending on how high your score is. Check the Ability Scores and Spellcasters table for more information
-At level 1, you are allowed to pick a class as your Favored Class. (Half-Elves may pick two.) This is usually the class you start the game with, but it can be any class of your characters choice. Every time you gain a level of your Favored Class (including right now, at level 1) you gain either+1 extra hit point, or +1 extra skill point. Once made, this choice cannot be changed, but each time you gain a level of your favored class, you can pick either the hitpoint or the skill point, once per level.
-A pretty common variant rule I’ve come across in my time are Hero Points, and I'd be doing a disservice if I didn’t mention them here. In summary, under this variant rule, you get +1 hero point at level, one, and +1 at each level-up, to a maximum of 3. You also can gain them purely at the Game Master's discretion. I have scene hero points awarded for good roleplaying, for solving puzzles posed to the party, for particularly strong faith in service to one's deity, or even for out of game activities, such as offering to buy pizza for an in person group. Hero points are never payment, they are a token of appreciation given out by the game master, to encourage good behavior.
What can hero points do? Well, an easier question is to ask what hero points CANT do. You can spend a hero point to reroll any die in the game, from a critical hit, to a Profession: Sailor check. If your out of spells, you can spend a hero point to cast JUST one more spell. You can spend a hero point to give yourself JUST enough hitpoints to not die from a goblins crossbow bolt, or other such similar situations. For those cinematic moments, where everyone things the hero's are doomed, but they somehow get out at the last second. That's what hero points are fuel for.
Some DMs may include additional material for Hero points, such as spells that grant hero points, or feats and items that interact with hero points, while others may simply use the basic system above. As always, check with your DM before using a particular variant rule.
-As for Maximilian, if you're wondering how his sheet turned out, here ya go:
https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1639682
Basics:
First things first, get yourself a character sheet. This is the piece of paper that you record pretty much every aspect of your character onto. It’s what basically defines your character, and it’s gonna be changing a lot over your characters life. This is why the game is often referred to as “Pencil and Paper,” and not “Pen and Paper”. If you don’t know where to find a character sheet, or what format to use, Googling “Pathfinder character sheet” is a great place to start. Some of these are pdfs you can simply download and fill out on your computer, while others you will need to print out, and fill in by hand, with pencil and paper.
Alternatively, feel free to use one of the many online character sheet hosting services, such as RPG crossing, or Mythweavers. Most of these websites will require you to make an account or sign up first, but they often do simple math for you, such as automatically filling in bonuses where relevant, or being easily shareable. Honestly, pick the format that works for you. You probably don’t want to show up to a physical game with a digital character sheet, but again, do what works for you. For the sake of explanation, I’m going to assume your using the Mythweavers template. It’s what works for me.
Once you’ve gotten yourself a character sheet, first things first is to decide what the heck kinda character you're playing. Pathfinder is a Role Playing Game, so half the fun is deciding who or what you wanna play You can literally play as yourself, living in a fantasy world. Maybe you got sucked through some weird time-travel portal. Maybe you want to roleplay as a famous fictional character, such as Legolas, or Harry Potter. Most of the time however, your character is going to be someone you’ve made up yourself. You don’t need to know everything about your character before you start, mind you, but having a basic idea from the get-go is essential to playing dnd.
Step 1: Determining Ability Scores:
Once all of that is out of the way, you can get onto your ability scores. These are six scores, measuring Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, witch define your character. They usually range on a score from 3 to 18, (with 10 being an average score) and are basically the backbone of your character, and each of them benefits you in different ways:
1. Your Strength score measures muscle mass. How strong you are, how much you can carry, how hard can you swing a greatsword, that kinda thing.
2. Your Dexterity score measures agility, as well as hand-eye coordination, shooting a bow, picking a lock, jumping about, etc.
3. Your Constitution score is basically your toughness, and basically measures your health. It does not control any skills, but a general rule is that a character with a low Constitution isn’t going survive that long out in the wild.
4. Intelligence is basically your book-learning. The stuff you were taught in school. Memorisation, facts and figures, scientific knowledge, and general knowledge of various skills and trades. It is also a rough estimate of someone's magical ability, assuming they are the wizarding sort.
5. Wisdom is effectively your understanding of things, your common sense. This is your listening to people skills, your empathy, your ability to understand social cues, and defines spiritual characters such as druids, and clerics.
6.Your Charisma defines your ability to interact with other people, your ability to tell a convincing lie, as well as things like attractiveness, and force of personality.
Sidenote:I’ve had some people have trouble understanding the difference between Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, so I’ve put together a few examples.
Standard politician Low Intelligence, average Wisdom, High Charisma. Buddhist monk: Average intelligence, High wisdom, below average Charisma Autistic savant : High intelligence, low wisdom, low charisma.
Their are a million and one ways to genrate abiliy scores, I’ve written a little mini-essay on them myself if you want to read it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13znDoiFVbT9jkVddgC5nxqWCbWWaiUqPvk8nX_3fs5E/edit
But moving on: the most common way I’ve found to generate ability scores is either picking a set array, or rolling for them. If you don’t happen to have dice right now, or are in a hurry, you can use this array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. This is known as the Elite Array, and is what I usually use as a GM if I want to make monsters in a hurry, or don’t have my dice handy.
For those of you with dice, the standard method of rolling is to roll a six sided dice, four times, discard the lowest, and add the resulting dice together. So if you rolled a 6, 4, 2, and 3, you'd discard the 2, and add 6, 4, and 3, resulting in a score of 13. You do this six times, once for each ability score, rolling a six sided die 4 times, discarding the lowest, adding up the rest, and setting the number aside. The more savvy or you will realize that this always generates a number between 3 or 18, no matter how high or how low you roll.
Sidenote: Dice Notation: This “roll a six sided dice 4 times” method can be represented in dice notation as 4d6. Dice notion is simply a fancy way of writing dice rolls on a piece of paper. You’ll find it written as, (Number of Dice your rolling) d (Size of dice) So 2d10 means “roll two ten sided dice, and add them together” or 3d4 means “roll three four sided dice, and add them together.” You may occasionally see modifiers added to dice, like 2d6+2. This simply means “roll two six-sided dice, add them together, and add 2 to the total.” You may also see additional dice in the equation, so 1d12+1d6+6 means “roll a twelve sided dice, then a six sided dice, and then add an extra 6 to the total.” This is about as complicated as it gets, however. You’ll never need to multiply or divide dice, just add or subtract numbers from the total.
Once you have your ability scores, head on over to your character sheet and go ahead and plug your ability scores into your character sheet, in any order you desire. Higher scores are better. Where you put your ability scores determines what kind of character your going to end up playing, so choose it wisely, Through, at the same time, don’t spend too much time worrying about it; a story about a clumsy thief can be just as interesting as a nimble one.
For the sake of example, and to help you follow along, I’ll be making a character called Maximilian. He’ll be a warrior, but he’ll have a sweet charm as well. Using the above array, I arrange Maxamillians scores as follows:
Str: 15 Dex: 13 Con: 12 Int: 10 Wis: 8 Cha: 14
Since I plan for Maximilian to be a warrior, I put his highest score (15) into Strength. His next highest score (14) goes into Charisma, to represent his personality. I then give him above average Dexterity and Constitution to represent his training. Maxamillians intelligence is average, due to being a warrior, but his weakness is his below-average wisdom. This low score also gives me a chance to develop Maximilian as a character. Perhaps the reason he has such low wisdom is because he's recently out of training, and doesn't have a lot of “real world” experience, or perhaps he’s used to being a leader, from affair (which plays into his high charisma score) as opposed to leading from the front? Again, your character should be more than just stats on a page, and you can use those numbers to develop your character as you make them.
When your putting your scores in, keep in mind that, for the most part, only even numbers matter. That is to say, a character with a Str of 12 gains just as much benefit as a character with a Str of 13, because of ability modifiers. When you use your ability scores, as opposed to using the actual score, you use the ability modifier for that score, which gets higher the higher the score is. If you are using an online sheet, these modifiers should be calculated automatically for you, but if you are not, here they are: 2-3: -4 4-5: -3 6-7: -2 8-9: -1 10-11: +0 12-13: +1 14-15: +2 16-17: +3 18-19: +4
As you can see, having a higher ability score gives you a bonus compared to someone with a lower score, but it does not make or break any engagement. While a character with a Strength score of 14 (+2 modifier) will usually be able to beat a character with 10 (+0 modifier) Strength at an arm wrestling contest, there are still a variety of factors, such as an uneven table, a lack of concentration, encouragement from others, or simply a bad grip that can lead the weaker player to win, at least sometimes. These sort of factors are referred to as The Golden Rule.
Sidenote: The Golden Rule, and how you do stuff.
The Golden Rule is very simple. Whenever you want to attempt an action that has a chance of failure, you roll 1d20 (A single twenty sided die) and add any relevant modifiers. For example, if you wanted to break down a door you'd roll 1d20, and add your Strength modifier. You'd compare this to the difficulty of the task at hand, which depends on what exactly your doing. For example, breaking through a simple wooden door might have a Difficulty Class (also known as a DC) of 13, while breaking down a reinforced door might be 20 or higher.
90% of all rolls you will make in Pathfinder follow this formula, rolling 1d20, and adding modifiers. The only exception to this is damage rolls, were the size of dice you roll depends on your weapon. But if you are ever confused as to how to proceed, the number one thing to remember is “Roll 1d20, and add any relevant modifiers.”
Example: While exploring a dungeon, Maximilian comes to a door. The door looks old, but sturdy; and while it is not locked, the wet mildew of the dungeon have caused it to become stuck. In an attempt to open the door, Maximian announces he’s going to throw his entire body against the door, to open it. To do so, he rolls a Strength check, 1d20+Strength. Since Maximilians Strength score is 15, he gets a +2 bonus to this check. He rolls his 1d20, and gets a 15. Adding his +2, he announces his final total as 17. The Game Master compares this number to the difficulty class of the door (16) Since Maximilian's check is higher than the Difficulty Class (DC) of the door, he succeeds, and so the GM describes how after Maximian throws his body against the door, the door pops open, revealing the room beyond.
Step 2: Determine race and class:
Once you have your ability scores, it is time to decide on what kind of character you would like to play. This involves picking a race, such as Humans, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Orcs, etc. There are many races to pick from, and depending on your Game Master, their may even be additional races to pick from. Furthermore, each race has unique racial traits, which offer small benefits to your character, in various ways. However, when picking your first race, I advice you to ignore them, and simply pick whatever race you think looks the coolest, or fits your character concept the best. Write this down on your character sheet under “Race”
Once you have figured out the race of your character, take a look at the classes. There are 11 base classes, ranging from Barbarian to Wizard, each of them offering a unique playstyle. A high intelligence character may find themselves drawn to the Wizarding arts, while a character with a high Charisma may find the trade of the Bard or Paladin more interesting. There are no restrictions on character class based on ability scores, but depending on your ability scores, you may find certain classes play to your characters strengths more than others, but again, you are free to play whatever you want to play. Once you have decided on a class, write this down on your sheet under “Class”
Example: Since Maximian is from a small country village, we decide that his race will be human, for simplicity. In addition, because he has a high Strength and Charisma score, multiple classes appeal to him, such as Paladin, Bard, or even Sorcerer. However, from what we’ve decided so far, Maximian is definitely the swing sword type, and while we want to play a good aligned character, perhaps the lawful rigidity of the Paladin isn’t for him.
Sidenote: Campaign Variance: Depending on your campaign, your GM may bar certain classes, or offer additional classes for you to pick from. For example, in a Dark Sun campaign, where there are no deities and little magic, but psychic powers run rampant, your GM may not allow Clerics, and restrict people from playing Wizards, but offer up new and exciting psionic classes for you to play as. Always check with your GM for the specifics of his or her world.
Step 3: Race and class features. Once you have decided on your race and class, it’s time to fill in what all those things mean. On your sheet, there should be a section dedicated to “Feats/class features/special abilities.” This is where you mark down all of your racial traits, and class features. Don’t worry too much about knowing what all of these traits mean, just note them down here, we’ll get back to them later. The one thing that you should worry about right now are your racial ability modifiers. All races modify your ability scores slightly, some allowing you to pick a score to improve, while others simply improving or lowering specific scores, depending on race. For example, Dwarfs improve their Constitution and Wisdom scores by +2, but lose -2 points of Charisma. These are not temporary mods, feel free to change the actual score itself by +2 or -2. Most races grant +2 to two scores, and -2 to a third score , but there are exceptions.
For class features, turn the book or webpage to the page on the class you picked back in Step 2. Your looking for a big table with rows and columns called Table: Your Class. This table is, in essence a big summary of all the bonuses your class gets, level by level. We will be using this full table later, but for now, take a look at the “Class features” table, and note down all the cool class features you gain for being a level 1 character. Feel free to copy down just the name of the feature, a quick summary, or the entire paragraph, it’s your character sheet. Again, don’t worry too much about understanding what each of these class features do right now, we’ll get to filling in all the small details after we’ve got the big stuff down.
While every class is different, something consistent across all classes are Weapon and Armor Proficiency. This is, in effect, a list of all the weapons and types of armor your character has learned to use, and can wield without penalty. The amount of weapons and armor granted here very much depends on your class; a Fighter gains more proficiency than a wizard, for instance. Mark down your proficiency like any other class feature, it will be important later when you begin to equip your character.
Example: Maximian is a human, so we note down on his sheet that he gains +1 skill point each level, and +1 feat. Due to the adaptability of humans, Maximilian gets to pick a single ability score, and improve it by +2. We could improve his highest score, Strength , turning it from a respectable 15, to a massive 17. Alternatively, we could shore up a weakness of his, turning his below average wisdom of 8 into a 10. It is up to us exactly where we place this bonus. Ultimately, since we want Maximian to be a versatile character, and because we’ve already decided we like Maximilians low wisdom, we pick his dexterity, improving it from a 13, to a 15. Maximian is now just as agile as he is strong.
For class features, since Maximilian is a Fighter, we only need to mark down that we receive a Bonus Feat this level. In addition, we mark down his weapons and armor proficiency. As a Fighter, Maximian has been trained and drilled in the use of all simple weapons, all martial weapons, all types of armor, as well as all types of shields! It might be tempting to write down “Everything” under proficiency, but alas, despite our many hours of training, there are some weapons that remain beyond our knowledge, such as the Twin-Bladed Sword, or the Dwarven Urgrosh (but see Feats, below.).
Step 4: Filling in misc information:
It seems strange to put a glossary of terms right in the middle of a document, but don’t worry, this isn’t a full glossary, it’s simply a box-by box explanation of what most of the boxes on your character sheet do, and what information to put in them. So if say, you have a class feature that grants +4 AC in specific circumstances, you’ll be able to understand what that means. Again, depending on what exactly sheet your using, the exact location of these boxes will vary.
In addition, if you see a box on your character sheet marked “Dexterity Mod” or “Wisdom Mod” feel free to put your relivet ability score modifier into that box. Again, depending on what sheet template your using, the sheet itself may automatically fill in the boxes, and save you the math here.
Hitpoints: Right at the top of your sheet, to the right of your ability scores (Again, assuming you're using the Mythweavers template) you will spy two letters: HP. These stand for Hitpoints, and are the main thing standing between you, and lying dead on the floor. If you run out, you’ll collapse to the ground, and start bleeding out. Which is bad. The amount of Hitpoints your character has depends on your class, as well as your Constitution modifier.
Every time you gain a level, you roll your Hit Dice, and add your Constitution modifier to the roll. Physically weak classes, such as Wizards and Sorcerers, use a 1d6. Characters of average physical stature (Bards, Clerics, Druids, Monks, and rogues) use a 1d8. Frontline warrior characters (Such as the Fighter, Paladin or Ranger) use a 1d10. And the mighty Barbarian uses the 1d12.
However, in order to ensure that a bad roll at level 1 doesn't leave you incredibly weak, all characters gain maximum hit points at level 1 from their Hit Die, as well as their Constitution modifier. All other levels you must roll your Hit Die, and take whatever number you roll.
Example: As a Fighter, Maximian uses a 1d10. Since his constriction score is 12, he has a +1 modifier. Giving Maximian a Hit Die of 1d10+1. At level 1, rather than rolling, he takes the maximum roll off of the dice; in this case, 10. Adding his Con modifier, and Maximian can see he has 11 Hit Points at level 1.
Armor class Next to your Hit Points will be a number called Armor Class. This represents how hard it is for you to be hit by enemy attacks. Again, higher is better, with a 10 representing an unarmored human. Right now, I imagine your Armor Class is hovering around 10, with only your Deteraty Mod adding to it. However, there are many things that can affect how hard you are to hit, from actual armor, to shields, to a tough hide, as well as various magical spells, and you’ll find slots for each of them here. Right now, there's nothing you need to do here, other than perhaps mark down your Dexterity bonus.
Sidenote: Typed bonuses: The reason there are so many boxes next to Armor Class, saving throws, and other relevant boxes is because of Typed Bonuses. In essence, bonuses of the same type do not stack with each other, thus removing the need, for instance, to wear armor under your armor, or attempt to use a Ring of Force Shield along with an actual, physical shield. In general bonuses of the same type do not stack, you only benefit from the highest bonus. Bonuses of different types do, in fact, stack, however. Thus, a character encased in plate armor, carrying a shield, wearing an Amulet of Natural Armor +1, and blessed with a Barkskin spell chould conseviely benfit from the plate armor, the shield, AND the spell but not the Amulet, as the benefit to Armor Class from the Amulet is a Natural Armor bonus, and thus counteracted by the more powerful Natural Armor bonus coming from the Barkskin spell. Make sure you check with your local mage or druid to find out what type of Armor Class bonus their spells provide before striding confidently into danger!
Touch and Flat Footed: Sometimes, you don’t get to apply your full Armor Class against an attack. When surprised, you may not have time to dodge, and thus unable to add your Dexterity bonus to AC. This is referred to as being Flat-Footed. Alternatively, you may find yourself in the opposite situation, where your physical armor proves useless, and only your ability to dodge matters, such as when fighting against spellcasters, ghosts, and firearms. This is referred to as your “Touch” AC, since all the foe requires is to touch you. You DM will call out if an attack you are subjected to goes against your regular AC, touch, or Flat-Footed AC, depending on the circumstances.
CMD: Combat Maneuver Defence. This is, in essence, your Armor Class against anything that isn’t a sword blade. If someone attempts to grab you, wrestle you, shove, or trip you, it goes against your CMD, instead of AC. It otherwise works in exactly the same way. Your CMD is equal to: 10+Your Base Attack Bonus+Your Strength Modifier+Your Dexterity Modifier.
FCMD: This basically just means Flat-Footed CMD. Incase someone grabs you when your not looking, for instance.
INIT: This means Initiative. When you get into combat (See below) you roll Initiative, to determine the order people act in turn. For most characters, your Initiative is just your Dexterity bonus.
Caster Level: Your caster level determines how powerful your spells are, and is represented by the amount of levels you have in a particular spellcasting class, such as Bard, or Wizard. Non spellcasters do not have Caster Levels.
Speed: Your speed represents how fast you are. Usually this is 30 feet (Or six squares on a grid) for most medium sized creatures, and 20 feet (or four squares) for small creatures, though exceptions exist. Wearing exceptionally heavy armor, or carrying a heavy load can lower this.
Saving Throws:
There are three main saving throws, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. Each of these represent your ability to resist, or avoid something bad happening to you. Fortitude saves represent poisons and physical pain, Reflex saves representing your ability to avoid pits and fireballs, and Will saves, your ability to resist mental attacks, such as mind control. Your total bonus to your saving throw depends partially on your class, as well as your ability scores. Check Table: Your class for your Base Saving Throws for each one, and mark them down, along with your relevant ability score modifier, Constipation for Fort, Dexterity for Reflex, and Wisdom for Will. Then, add them together to get your total Saving Throw bonus.
Example: As a fighter, Maximian gets a Base Fortitude of +2, but no others. Checking his ability scores, he has +1 to Constitution, +2 to his newly improved Dex, and -1 to his wisdom. Adding these with his Base save of +2 Fortitude, gives Maximian a +3 bonus on Fortitude saves, a +2 bonus on reflex saves, and a -1 penalty on Will saves.
Attacking, and Base Attack Bonus:
As discussed above, if you want to attempt an action, you roll 1d20+modifiers. So what are the main modifiers you add if you want to hit something? If you wish to make a melee attack, the formula is: 1d20+Base Attack Bonus+Strength Modifier. The formula is the exact same for Ranged attacks, except your add your Dexterity modifier instead of your Str. What is your Base Attack Bonus? It is a number that goes up at a different rate, depending on your class. More martial classes, like Fighters, and Barbarians start with a Base Attack Bonus of +1, and get one every single level. Other classes gain Base Attack Bonus at a slower rate, check Table: Your Class for more information.
Step 5: Skills
Now that you’ve got all your misc bonuses pushed it, it’s time to tackle Skills. Skills are basically a list of things that your character is good at. You get a number of skill points each time you level, dependent on your class, and intelligence modifier, and can spend them however you like. Certain races and classes may grant bonuses to particular skills as well. If you have a racial trait granting a bonus to a particular skill (Such as an elven bonus to Perception) you can mark that down now, in the “Misc” collem of your skills. Your bonus to a skill is equal to the number of ranks you put in a skill+that skills relevant ability modifier any miscellaneous bonuses+the Class Skill bonus.
You may have noticed a list of Class Skills next to Table: Your Class. These represent skills that, due to your characters background and training, they have a natural aptitude for. As a result of this, the first time you put a rank in a skill that is a Class Skill for your character, you get a free, one-time +3 bonus to that skill. This bonus applies only to the first time you put a rank in that skill. Apart from this bonus, their are no other differences between a Class Skill, and a non-class skill. While at level 1, a +3 bonus does sound like a lot, it evens out over time. A fighter who puts 12 ranks in Use Magic Device will have a +12 bonus, while a Sorcerer who does the same will have a +15 bonus. In essence, Class Skills exist to give suggestions as to things your character is naturally inclined to be good at, but you are by no means restricted to these choices.
Finally, when you spend skill points, keep in mind you may only put a number of ranks in a skill equal to your level. Or to put it another way: you can only spend a single skill rank per skill at this level.
Example, When Maximilian goes to spend skills, he checks his class features. Fighters gain 2+Int modifier skills per level. Since Maximian has an Intelligence of 10, he gains no bonus skill points from intelligence. But wait! Maximian is human! And one of the racal traits of humans grants them +1 skill point per level, granting Maximilian 3 skill points to play with right now. He marks down his class skills, and decides on what three skills he wants to put points in. Since Maximilian is a warrior, he spends his first skill point in Intimidate, to represent him getting tough to get what he wants. He spends 1 rank, and adds his +2 charisma modifier. Since Intimidate is a class skill for Fighters, he also adds that +3 misc bonus from the fact it is a class skill, giving him a total bonus of 1+2+3, or +6 to intimidate checks.
However, not wanting to be a scary person, he spends his next skill point on Diplomacy. Since Diplomacy is not a class skill for Fighters, his only bonus is his chasma bonus, giving him a +3 on Diplomacy checks.
Finally, wishing to have some actual, physical skills to go along with his talking, he spends his final skill point on Survival. Since this is a class skill, he once again gains his +3, but since Survival is based on Wisdom, this gives him a slight penalty. Adding everything together, the rank (+1) the wisdom Modifier (-1) and the Class skill bonus (+3) gives him a total mod of +3 to survival checks.
Step 6: Feats
Unlike skills, which are things that pretty much every character can master, given enough time and training, feats are special. Feats are things that only a select few people have learned to master, and are a much more exclusive club. While skills can be taught, feats are learned through life experience. While you may receive dozens of skill points through your characters life, you may only receive a scant few feats, so pick them wisely. All characters receive a single feat at first level, and gain a new one every Odd level, though certain classes or races may grant bonus feats.
Feats can offer a variety of benefits for your character, from simple bonuses, to, pardon the term, feats of might that were otherwise impossible for your character to perform, or even entirely new weapon or armor proficiencies! Some feats, such as Improved Initiative, and Toughness, are valuable to all characters, while other feats are more specialised. Some feats require prerequisites to qualify for them, such as a high Base Attack bonus, ability scores, or sometimes other feats. Certain feats, such as Two Weapon Fighting, open up entirely new playstyles. Pick the feat(s) that you think fits what your character is capable, and fit your vision of the hero that you are building.
Example: Maximilian is in a very privileged position when it comes to feats. Not only does he gain a bonus feat from being a human, he also is entitled to a third feat, due to his class. However, reading the entry on Fighter bonus feats, he notes that this third feat needs to be a Combat feat. He resolves to pick that one up first.
Looking through the list of feats, Maximillian is overwhelmed with choice. The first feat that appeals to him is Weapon Focus which simply gives him a bonus to hit for a particular weapon. He looks at the requirements for Weapon Focus: Proficiency in the specific weapon and a Base Attack bonus of +1 or higher. Since he meets those requirements, he takes Weapon Focus: Longsword for his first feat, which fills the “combat feat” requirement of his fighter bonus feat. He can either simply write down “Power Attack”, a short description of how it works, or the full text of the feat. It is up to him how he wants to remind himself of the effects of the feat.
However, since we decided above that we want to build a vesicle character, Maximian choices an archery feat as his second choice, Point Blank Shot. Since our second feat can be anything, it doesn't matter that Point Blank Shot is also a combat feat, and we mark that down as our second feat choice.
Finally, we get one more feat, due to being Human.Rather than focusing entirely on combat,, Maximilian reads the Endurance feat and, since he put a few skill points in survival, thinks that it’s outdoorsy nature fits the type of character he wants to fit. He marks down Endurance as his third feat.
Step 7: Equipment and gear: At this point, your sheet is basically finished. However, since it is unwise to go into battle unarmed, and unarmored. (Unless your playing a monk, and even then, a bit of clothing never hurt anyone.) the final step to creating a character is to buy equipment. Each character is given a stipend of Gold Pieces (also known as GP) in order to buy the equipment that they will start the game with. There are many ways to determine starting wealth, but the simplest option is simply rolling dice. The size of dice you roll depends on your class, with classes such as monks rolling the smallest dice, while classes such as Fighters and Paladins getting the largest. While this wealth difference may seam large at first, it quickly evens out as you gain levels, and is simply present because swords and heavy armor cost more then simple cloth clothing. In addition, some DMs simply give the same, flat amount of money to each party member, regardless of class (usually 100 gold)
Once you have determined the amount of money your character starts the game with, it is time to spend it! A good rule of thumb is to buy at least one melee weapon, one ranged weapon, and a set of armor your character is proficient in. Keep in mind, however, that your character is not simply walking into a store, throwing down a massive bag of gold, and buying things. Rather, this gold represents all the things your character has bought up until this point. Perhaps the have a weapon passed down to them by their parents, or perhaps the bucker they use is something that they stole from a passing knight. You don’t need to come up with the EXACT reason that your character possessed each and every item in their possession (who does?) but knowing why, for instance, your character uses a rapier as their main weapon, as opposed to a more traditional longsword, can add a lot of personality to a character for little effort.
Most character sheets will have a specialised zone, near where you marked down your Melee attack bonus, for you to mark down your weapons, along with their statistics.
The Total Attack bonus of your weapon is the main number you add to your 1d20 roll when making an attack with that weapon. It is, usually, the same as your regular Attack bonus. However, there are a wide variety of factors that can affect this. Perhaps you picked a feat allowing you to specialise in a particular weapon. Perhaps you are weilding a well made, or even magical weapon, which grants you a bonus to hit, but only for that specific weapon.
Weapons have five stats, the damage die (or dice) of the weapon, the critical threat range, the critical multiplier for the weapon, as well as the range of the weapon, and the type of damage it does. For right now, however, all that matters to us is the weapons damage die.
A melee weapons damage depends on the weapons damage die (Or dice, in the case of some weapons) + your strength modifier. If you weild a weapon two handed, you get one and a half times your strength modifier. Thrown weapons do add your Str bonus to damage, but crossbows do not. Short Bows and Longbows usually do not add your Strength bonus to damage, unless specifically made to do so.
Example: As a fighter, Maximilian starts with a very large stipend of gold, 175 gp. Looking back at his proficiencies, he remembers he is proficiency with every single simple, and martial weapon, as well as all armor and shields. Since he picked Weapon Focus: Longsword as one of his feats, he decides his first weapon will be a longsword, and so he subtracts the 15 gold necessary to purchase that longsword off his sheet, leaving him with 160 gp remaining. He goes up to his “Weapon” section on the character sheet, and writes in “Longsword” For his total attack bonus, it is his Base Attack Bonus, plus his Str bonus. He also receives +1 to hit with longswords, thanks to his feat. Granting him a total bonus to hit of 1+2+1, or +4 to hit with his longsword. His damage with his longsword is 1d8(The base damage of a longsword) +2 (From his Str modifier) Though, if he decided to use his longsword two-handed, he could bump that up to 1d8+3.
He decides to also pick up a Shortbow, for ranged attacks, again subtracting the 35 gold necessary to purchase a shortbow. And while he should definitely spend more to purchase a composite shortbow, possibly allowing him to add his Str modifier to damage, he decides to hold off on it, in order to conserve money for armor and other items. Again, his bonus to hit with his shortbow is Base Attack Bonus+Dex mod, or +3 in this case.
He is left with 125 gold pieces to buy armor.
When buying armor, it helps to think of armor as a tradeoff between protection and mobility. The heavier the armor, the less lightly you are to be hit, but Medium and Heavy armor slow your characters move speed. In addition, the heavier the armor, the larger the Armor Check Penalty the armor with bestow on any physical skill check, (such as climbing and swimming) your character performs.
Despite this, however, I recommend always wearing the heaviest armor your character can afford and is proficient in. Why? Because, especially at lower levels, characters can be very fragile, and the difference between life or death for certain characters, especially those with low Con scores can be a handful of hit points. In addition, until you get to the very heavy armors, the penalties you take aren't actually all that bad. For instance, a character wearing a Breastplate,the heaviest, and most expensive of the Medium armors, grants a huge, +6 bonus to Armor class, and only bestows a -4 armor check penalty. In addition, it allows for a Maximum dexterity bonus of +3, meaning that even a character with 16-17 dexterity would be completely fine in a full, unmodified breastplate, assuming they were proficient.
Example: With 125 gp left, Maximian looks at his options. While unable to afford even the cheapest armors, a set of scale mail costs a mere 50 gold, though it does offer a -4 armor check penalty, as well as a 20ft move speed. Alternatively, we could decide to purchase a Chain Shirt. It is more expensive, at 100 gold, and is less protective than the scale mail, however it does only bestrow a -2 armor check penalty, and also allows us to keep our full 30ft move speed. Since Maximilians Dexterity bonus is +2, the Maximum Dex Bonus of scale, (+3) is a non-factor to him. Ultimately, we decide to go for the more economical option, and spend 50 gold on the Scale Mail. We note down it’s stats, it’s armor bonus of +5, it’s armor check penalty of -4, it’s max dex bonus of +3, and it’s total weight, 30lbs. This leaves us with 75 gold.
In addition, since a longsword is one-handed, and because we have proficiency, we may decide to look at the shields. There are four kinds of shields, all of which we have proficiency in: Buckers, (which simply strap to your arm, and allow full use off your off hand) Light shields (slightly more cumbersome, and allow everything except weapon use) Heavy Shields (Offering more protection, but do not allow your hands to be used for anything else) and Tower Shields Offering a truly massive amount of protection, but are large and unwieldy, even with proficiency) Currently, Maximilians Armor class is sitting at 17 (10 base, 2 from dex, 5 from armor) so picking up a light shield would improve it to 18, a heavy shield to 19, and a tower shield to an absolutely massive 21. Since we have decided against using two weapons at once, we decide to pick the middle-of-the-road option, and pick up a Heavy Shield.
The last decision you need to make when purchasing a shield is to determine what it is made out of, wood or metal. At first, the distinction appears mostly cosmetic, and to some degree it is. However, something to keep in mind is that the material of your shield determines how it reacts to certain spells, such as Warp Wood, and Heat Metal. Since a wooden shield is cheaper, however, Maximian picks up a Wooden Heavy Shield for a measly 7 gold.We are left with 68 gold to buy Goods and Services.
Weapons and armor in hand, the last thing on your shopping list ought to be the Goods and Services page. This table lists all of the miscellaneous supplies you may need on your adventure, from rope, to lantern oil, to trail rations. These items do not affect your characters combat ability in any way, and are entirely optional. However, even though they may not offer bonuses to damage or armor, does not make them useless. Far from it in fact. In my years DMing, I have scene almost every single item on the Goods and Services page either make-or-break a character, or in some cases, save a characters life when used correctly, or perhaps with a bit of creativity. Ultimately, it is up to you and your own judgement call what you want to buy, but a small kit of tools never hurt anyone. Things such as backpacks, torches, trail rations, waterskins, and maybe a change of clothing never hurt anyone. In addition, check with your GM for additional mundane items. If you wish to buy an item that isn’t listed on the Goods and Services page (such as a bear trap) check with your GM about it, they may have additional mundane items for sale beyond those listed in the Player's Handbook.
Sidenote: Carrying Capacity: When buying equipment, it is also a good idea to keep in mind carrying capacity. Assuming you have a high enough Strength score, or are planning to employ Medium or Heavy armor, it is not entirely necessary to keep track of exactly how much every single item weighs, but if you intend to travel light, it pays to keep in mind what you’ll be carrying. Indeed, especially when carrying multiples of the same item (such as a bundle of javelins, or a week's worth of trail rations) the weight can add up quickly.
In addition, while RPGs have a reputation of allowing characters to carry anything up to their weight limit, keep in mind how such pack-animal like behavior might look to onlookers. Would YOU trust some stranger to walk unguarded through a rural peasant town, armed to the teeth with swords, axes, and throwing axes? That being said however, if your character's backstory is as a mercenary, or monster-hunter, then perhaps it makes sense for them to carry a wide variety of weapons. Ultimately it is your call as to how much is too much, though again, as a rule of thumb, anything over 4+ weapons on a single character is usually pushing it.
Step 8: Spellcasting
If your character is a spellcaster, than the last thing you need to do is to sort out your magical side. And in order to do that, you need to understand two things: the difference between arcane and divine magic, as well as prepared vs spontaneous casters.
A: Divine and Arcane:
For Divine casters, magic comes from above. You pray to your deity of choice, and they take care of everything for you. Their is no need to fumble around with spellbooks, you simply request your choice of spells, and, so long as you maintain your faith, your deity grants them to you. As a divine spellcaster, you never need to worry about arcane spell failure chance, lost spell books, or any of the other downsides of Arcane magic. The downside, of course, is that the vast majority of divine magic is supportive. Not all of it, mind you, but most cleric and druid spells boil down to Healing, blessings, protection, charms, and other such spells.
Arcane magic, on the other hand, is much more powerful. This is where you find your Fireballs, your Lighting Bolts, your Dominate Person, and your Finger of Death. Arcane magic is much more overt, much more destructive, but also much harder to control. As an arcane spellcaster, you will either need to worry about keeping a record of your collective knowledge in a spellbook,or dealing with only knowing a small handful of spells. As for prepared vs spontaneous, it boils down to how exactly you prepare and cast your spells. I’ll go over prepared first:
B: Prepared vs Spontaneous As a Prepared spellcaster, (Wizards, Clerics, Druids) in order to do any spellcasting, you need to have some time to sit down and do your preparation rituals. Usually this is first thing in the morning, but it can be anytime you have time. Preparing spells usually takes about an hour or so, and involves rote memorisation, prayers to your deity or the natural world, and figuring out exactly what you want to prepare.
Under Table: Your Class, for each level of spell, you will get a number under “spells per day” This represents the number of “slots” you have for that level of spell. So for instance, as a first level Wizard, you have 3 “0th” level spells (also known as cantrips) and a single 1st level slot. Meaning out of all the cantrips you know, you can prepare 3 different ones to know that day, and out of all your 1st level spells you know, you can pick one to use that day. And once prepared, each spell slot can be used to cast that spell exactly once, before it is considered “expended” and thus cannot be used until you prepare spells. What this means is If you want to cast a spell more then once, you will need to prepare it in more than one slot. In addition, unlike spontaneous casters, you have the power to change exactly what spells you have prepared every morning, to take on varied encounters, like a sniper picking the exact round for a particular target.
Example:
Let's say Quel has 4 first level spell slots to fill, but in her spellbook, she knows 5 first level spells: Magic Missile, Sleep, Burning Hands, Enlarge Person, and Shield. And so, on a normal day, where you don’t know what to expect, she might prepare a varied list of spells, like Sleep, Magic Missile Enlarge Person, Shield. However, if she knew beforehand that her adventering party was going to be taking her into a goblin cave, an environment with lots of very weak creatures she might vary her spell list to take advantage of this, preparing Burning Hands twice, Sleep one, and keeping Magic Missle in for an emergency. Alternatively, she might be headed into a war zone with a large contingent of bodyguards, fighting against foes immune to magic. In this situation, she might prepare Enlarge person 3 times, and Shield once, or maybe even Enlarge Person in all of her spell slots, if she was sure to be able to rely on her bodyguards.While she has a small number of spell slots per day, her ability to customise them exactly to what she needs based on what she expects to face.
If a prepared caster is like a sniper, a spontaneous caster is like a minigun. A spontaneous caster might only know 1 or two spells of a particular level, but will be able to cast that single spell four, five, or even six times per day. A spontaneous caster, such as a sorcerer need not spend time in the morning preparing spells, they use the exact same set of spells every single day. And rather then decide exactly how to arrange it like a prepared spellcaster, they can spontaneously decide exactly how they spend their slots the moment they chose to cast it. A sorcerer need not choose between preparing Haste, Fly and Fireball once each, preparing Fly twice, and haste once, but leaving out fireball or vice versa, they know all three spells, and have three spell slots, allowing them to cast haste three times, fireball 3 times, Fly three times, or any combination thereof, spontaneously.
This flexibility and power comes at a cost, however, and that cost is Spells Known. A sorcerer might be able to cast twice as many spells as a wizard, but the wizard will have a spellbook of choice containing twice, three times, or even ten times the number of spells a sorcerer is limited to, even though they can only prepare a tiny fraction of those spells per day.
Ultimily, the question of “Which is better” comes down to personal preference. Do you prefer a small, highly varied, incredibly customizable and adaptable list of abilities, or a simpler, less versatile loadout, but with more bang per level? The answer to that question determines whether your on Team Wizard, or Team Sorcerer.
C: Actually using and casting magic:
As a prepared caster, every morning you pick which spells you want in each slot. Spontaneous casters skip this step.
Casting a spell is (usually*) a Standard Action, that provokes an attack of opportunity. In order to cast a spell, you must concentrate. If anything is preventing you from concentrating, such as being grappled, threatened by weapons, torrential rain, or being onboard a ship, you need to roll a concentration check. This check is 1d20+Your Caster Level+Your Casting Modifier (Int for wizards, Wisdom for clerics and druids, Cha for Bards and sorcerers) There are feats, such as Defensive Casting which assist with this.
The power of a spell depends on the Caster Level of the person using it.
Spells can do a variety of different effects, make sure you read your spells before you cast them.
D: How to read spells
Hold Person School enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]; Level bard 2, cleric 2, sorcerer/wizard 3 Casting Time 1 standard action Components V, S, F/DF (a small, straight piece of iron) Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) Target one humanoid creature Duration 1 round/level (D see text Saving Throw Will negates; see text; Spell Resistance yes The subject becomes paralyzed and freezes in place. It is aware and breathes normally but cannot take any actions, even speech. Each round on its turn, the subject may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. This is a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. A winged creature who is paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A swimmer can't swim and may drown.
School: The school of the spell is irrelevant if your not a wizard, or have the Spell Focus feat. If you are one of those things, you know you get bonuses for casting spells of certain schools
(Descriptors) These tell you what kind of spell it is. Certain creatures (such as elfs) gain a bonus against enchantment spells, and certain creatures (such as zombies) are outright immune to mind-affecting spells.
Level: What level the spell is. The same spell can be of different levels for different classes.
Casting time: How long it takes to cast this spell:
Components: V= You must be able to speak S= You must have at least one hand free M= You must have a particular item. It is consumed when cast. F: You must have a particular item. It is not consumed when cast DF= Your holy symbol must be present
The F/DF in this spells means that if you are a cleric, all you need is your holy symbol, but if you are not a cleric, you need the second focus (A small bit of iron)
Range: How far away does this spell reach?
Target: Does this spell target myself, a creature I can touch, or only a certain type of creature?
Duration: How long does this spell last? The (D) symbol means it can be dismissed early if you want.
Saving Throw: What sort of saving throw does the target get against this effect?
To calculate the saving throw of your own spell, the formula is 10+Level of spell+Ability mod (Int for wizards, Wis for cleric/druids, Cha for Bard/Sorcerer) So a Cleric with a wisdom of 16 casting Hold Person would have a DC of 10+2+3= 15
Step 9: Final checklist:
Ability scores set, and the relevant ability mod placed where they need to be?
All numbers (Base attack bonus, Base Saving Throw, Hit Points) placed where they need to be?
All Class and racial features written down, understood, and misc skill bonuses plugged in?
All skill points spent, and total skill modifiers totaled?
Feat taken, and bonuses added in?
Weapons, armor, and other equipment bought?
Known spells marked down?
Step 10: Your done! Congrats. You just learned exactly how to make a Pathfinder RPG character. While I won’t say it was super easy, you learned a shitload along the way. Assuming you or I haven’t missed anything, you should now have a perfectly legal character to take to your local friendly gaming store, or perhaps a friends game. Though do keep in mind, there's more to pathfinder then simply numbers on a character sheet. Throughout this document, I reference a whole bunch of stuff, like critical hits, attacks of opportunity that are integral to understanding pathfinder, but aren't entirely necessary to building a character. If you'd like to learn about them, feel free to ask your DM, or tune in next time, for PHB abridged, Combat!
Additional tips: -As a spellcaster, if you have a high casting attribute modifier (12 or higher) you are entitled to additional spells per day, depending on how high your score is. Check the Ability Scores and Spellcasters table for more information
-At level 1, you are allowed to pick a class as your Favored Class. (Half-Elves may pick two.) This is usually the class you start the game with, but it can be any class of your characters choice. Every time you gain a level of your Favored Class (including right now, at level 1) you gain either+1 extra hit point, or +1 extra skill point. Once made, this choice cannot be changed, but each time you gain a level of your favored class, you can pick either the hitpoint or the skill point, once per level.
-A pretty common variant rule I’ve come across in my time are Hero Points, and I'd be doing a disservice if I didn’t mention them here. In summary, under this variant rule, you get +1 hero point at level, one, and +1 at each level-up, to a maximum of 3. You also can gain them purely at the Game Master's discretion. I have scene hero points awarded for good roleplaying, for solving puzzles posed to the party, for particularly strong faith in service to one's deity, or even for out of game activities, such as offering to buy pizza for an in person group. Hero points are never payment, they are a token of appreciation given out by the game master, to encourage good behavior.
What can hero points do? Well, an easier question is to ask what hero points CANT do. You can spend a hero point to reroll any die in the game, from a critical hit, to a Profession: Sailor check. If your out of spells, you can spend a hero point to cast JUST one more spell. You can spend a hero point to give yourself JUST enough hitpoints to not die from a goblins crossbow bolt, or other such similar situations. For those cinematic moments, where everyone things the hero's are doomed, but they somehow get out at the last second. That's what hero points are fuel for.
Some DMs may include additional material for Hero points, such as spells that grant hero points, or feats and items that interact with hero points, while others may simply use the basic system above. As always, check with your DM before using a particular variant rule.
-As for Maximilian, if you're wondering how his sheet turned out, here ya go:
https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1639682
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments