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Character Creation

Unless you’re the GM, the first thing you need to do when playing Pathfinder is create your character. It’s up to you to imagine your character’s past experiences, personality, and worldview, and this will set the stage for your roleplaying during the game. You’ll use the game’s mechanics to determine your character’s ability to perform various tasks and use special abilities during the game.

This section provides a step-by-step guide for creating a character using the Pathfinder rules, preceded by a guide to help you understand ability scores. These scores are a critical part of your character, and you will be asked to make choices about them during many of the following steps. The steps of character creation are presented in a suggested order, but you can complete them in whatever order you prefer.

Many of the steps instruct you to fill out fields on your character sheet. The character sheet is designed to be easy to use when you’re actually playing the game—but creating a character happens in a different order, so you’ll move back and forth through the character sheet as you go through the character creation process. Additionally, the character sheet includes every field you might need, even though not all characters will have something to put in each field. If a field on your character sheet is not applicable to your character, just leave that field blank.

All the steps of character creation are detailed on the following pages; each is marked with a number that corresponds to the sample character sheet, showing you where the information goes. If the field you need to fill out is on the third or fourth page of the character sheet, which aren’t shown, the text will tell you.

If you’re creating a higher-level character, it’s a good idea to begin with the instructions here, then turn to page 29 for instructions on leveling up characters.

Creating a Character

The Six Ability Scores

One of the most important aspects of your character is their ability scores. These scores represent your character’s raw potential and influence nearly every other statistic on your character sheet. Determining your ability scores is not done all at once, but instead happens over several steps during character creation.

Ability scores are split into two main groups: physical and mental. Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are physical ability scores, measuring your character’s physical power, agility, and stamina. In contrast, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are mental ability scores and measure your character’s learned prowess, awareness, and force of personality.

Excellence in an ability score improves the checks and statistics related to that ability, as described below. When imagining your character, you should also decide what ability scores you want to focus on to give you the best chance at success.

Strength

Strength measures your character’s physical power.

Strength is important if your character plans to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Your Strength modifier gets added to melee damage rolls and determines how much your character can carry.

Dexterity

Dexterity measures your character’s agility, balance, and reflexes. Dexterity is important if your character plans to make attacks with ranged weapons or use stealth to surprise foes. Your Dexterity modifier is also added to your character’s AC and Reflex saving throws.

Constitution

Constitution measures your character’s overall health and stamina. Constitution is an important statistic for all characters, especially those who fight in close combat.

Your Constitution modifier is added to your Hit Points and Fortitude saving throws.

Intelligence

Intelligence measures how well your character can learn and reason. A high Intelligence allows your character to analyze situations and understand patterns, and it means they can become trained in additional skills and might be able to master additional languages.

Wisdom

Wisdom measures your character’s common sense, awareness, and intuition. Your Wisdom modifier is added to your Perception and Will saving throws.

Charisma

Charisma measures your character’s personal magnetism and strength of personality. A high Charisma score helps you influence the thoughts and moods of others.

Ability Score Overview

Each ability score starts at 10, representing human average, but as you make character choices, you’ll adjust these scores by applying ability boosts, which increase a score, and ability flaws, which decrease a score. As you build your character, remember to apply ability score adjustments when making the following decisions.

Ancestry: Each ancestry provides ability boosts, and sometimes an ability flaw. If you are taking any voluntary flaws, apply them in this step.

Background: Your character’s background provides two ability boosts.

Class: Your character’s class provides an ability boost to the ability score most important to your class, called your key ability score.

Determine Scores: After the other steps, you apply four more ability boosts of your choice. Then, determine your ability modifiers based on those scores.

Ability Boosts

An ability boost normally increases an ability score’s value by 2. However, if the ability score to which you’re applying an ability boost is already 18 or higher, its value increases by only 1. At 1st level, a character can never have any ability score that’s higher than 18.

When your character receives an ability boost, the rules indicate whether it must be applied to a specific ability score or to one of two specific ability scores, or whether it is a “free” ability boost that can be applied to any ability score of your choice. However, when you gain multiple ability boosts at the same time, you must apply each one to a different score. Dwarves, for example, receive an ability boost to their Constitution score and their Wisdom score, as well as one free ability boost, which can be applied to any score other than Constitution or Wisdom .

Ability Flaws

Ability flaws are not nearly as common as ability boosts. If your character has an ability flaw—likely from their ancestry—you decrease that ability score by 2.

Ability Modifiers

Once you’ve finalized your ability scores, you can use them to determine your ability modifiers, which are used in most other statistics in the game. Find the score in Table 1–1: Ability Modifiers to determine its ability modifier.

Table 1–1: Ability Modifiers
Ability Score Modifier
1 –5
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
20–21 +5
22–23 +6
24–25 +7
etc…

Step 1 – Create a Concept

What sort of hero do you want to play? The answer to this question might be as simple as “a brave warrior,” or as complicated as “the child of elven wanderers, but raised in a city dominated by humans and devoted to The Healing Flame, goddess of the sun.” Consider your character’s personality, sketch out a few details about their past, and think about how and why they adventure. You’ll want to peruse Pathfinder’s available ancestries, backgrounds, and classes. The summaries might help you match your concept with some of these basic rule elements. Before a game begins, it’s also a good idea for the players to discuss how their characters might know each other and how they’ll work together throughout the course of their adventures.

There are many ways to approach your character concept.

Once you have a good idea of the character you’d like to play, move on to Step 2 to start building your character.

Ancestry, Background, Class, or Details

If one of Pathfinder’s character ancestries, backgrounds, or classes particularly intrigues you, it’s easy to build a character concept around these options. The summaries of ancestries and classes give a brief overview of these options. Each ancestry also has several heritages that might refine your concept further, such as a human with an elf or orc parent, or an arctic or woodland elf. Additionally, the game has many backgrounds to choose from, representing your character’s upbringing, their family’s livelihood, or their earliest profession.

Building a character around a specific ancestry, background, or class can be a fun way to interact with the world’s lore. Would you like to build a typical member of your character’s ancestry or class, as described in the relevant entry, or would you prefer to play a character who defies commonly held notions about their people?

For example, you could play a dwarf with a wide-eyed sense of wonder and a zest for change, or a performing rogue capable of amazing acrobatic feats but with little interest in sneaking about.

You can draw your concept from any aspect of a character’s details. You can use roleplaying to challenge not only the norms of Pathfinder’s fictional world, but even real-life societal norms. Your character might challenge gender notions, explore cultural identity, have a disability, or any combination of these suggestions. Your character can live any life you see fit.

Faith

Perhaps you’d like to play a character who is a devout follower of a specific deity. Pathfinder is a rich world with myriad faiths and philosophies spanning a wide range, from The Drunken God, the Drunken Hero of good-hearted adventuring; to Goddess of Fortune, the Song of Spheres and goddess of dreaming and the stars; to Lady of Valor, the Inheritor, goddess of honor, justice, and rulership. Your character might be so drawn to a particular faith that you decide they should be a champion or cleric of that deity; they might instead be a lay worshiper who applies their faith’s teachings to daily life, or simply the child of devout parents.

Your Allies

You might want to coordinate with other players when forming your character concept. Your characters could have something in common already; perhaps they are relatives, or travelers from the same village. You might discuss mechanical aspects with the other players, creating characters whose combat abilities complement each other. In the latter case, it can be helpful for a party to include characters who deal damage, characters who can absorb damage, and characters who can provide Healing.

However, Pathfinder’s classes include a lot of choices, and there are many options for building each type of character, so don’t let these broad categories restrict your decisions.

Character Sheet

Once you’ve developed your character’s concept, jot down a few sentences summarizing your ideas under the Notes section on the third page of your character sheet. Record any of the details you’ve already decided, such as your character’s name, on the appropriate lines on the first page.

Ancestries
Dwarf Elf Gnome Goblin Halfling Human
Dwarves are a short, stocky people who are often stubborn, fierce, and devoted. Elves are a tall, slender, long-lived people with a strong tradition of art and magic. Gnomes are short and hardy folk, with an unquenchable curiosity and eccentric habits. Goblins are a short, scrappy, energetic people who have spent millennia maligned and feared. Halflings are a short, adaptable people who exhibit remarkable curiosity and humor. Humans are incredibly diverse. Some, such as half-elves and half-orcs, even have non-human ancestors.
Ability Boosts
Constitution, Wisdom, free Dexterity, Intelligence, free Constitution, Charisma, free Dexterity, Charisma, free Dexterity, Wisdom, free Two free ability boosts
Ability Flaw
Charisma Constitution Strength Wisdom Strength
Classes
Alchemist Barbarian Bard Champion
The alchemist throws alchemical bombs and drinks concoctions of their own making. The barbarian flies into a rage on the battlefield, smashing foes with abandon. Skilled performances and secrets of the occult enable the bard to distract foes and inspire allies. A warrior dedicated to a deity, the champion uses divine power to enhance their abilities and protect allies.
Key Ability Score*
Intelligence Strength Charisma Strength
Secondary Ability Scores
Constitution, Dexterity Constitution, Dexterity Constitution, Dexterity Charisma, Constitution
Classes
Cleric Druid Fighter Monk
The cleric calls on the power of a deity to cast spells that can heal allies or harm foes. The druid uses the magic of the natural world to bolster allies and strike down enemies. The fighter is a master of weapons, martial techniques, and powerful attack combinations. The monk wields the secrets of martial arts in dazzling displays of battlefield prowess.
Key Ability Score*
Wisdom Wisdom Dexterity or Strength Dexterity or Strength
Secondary Ability Scores
Charisma, Constitution Constitution, Dexterity Constitution Constitution, Wisdom
Classes
Ranger Rogue Sorcerer Wizard
The ranger is a master of using their surroundings, traps, and animal allies to harry enemies. The rogue is a multitalented master of skulduggery who strikes when enemies least expect it. The sorcerer’s magical might flows from their blood and manifests as fantastic spells and abilities. The wizard is a scholar whose reservoirs of arcane knowledge powers their wondrous spells and abilities.
Key Ability Score*
Dexterity or Strength Dexterity or other Charisma Intelligence
Secondary Ability Scores
Constitution, Wisdom Charisma, Constitution Dexterity, Constitution Dexterity, Constitution

* A character receives an ability boost to their class’s key ability score.

Start Building Ability Scores

At this point, you need to start building your character’s ability scores. See the overview of ability scores for more information about these important aspects of your character and an overview of the process.

Your character’s ability scores each start at 10, and as you select your ancestry, background, and class, you’ll apply ability boosts, which increase a score by 2, and ability flaws, which decrease a score by 2. At this point, just note a 10 in each ability score and familiarize yourself with the rules for ability boosts and flaws. This is also a good time to identify which ability scores will be most important to your character. See The Six Ability Scores and the class summaries for more information.

Step 3 – Select an Ancestry

Select an ancestry for your character. The ancestry summaries provide an overview of Pathfinder’s core ancestry options. Ancestry determines your character’s size, Speed, and languages, and contributes to their Hit Points.

Each also grants ability boosts and ability flaws to represent the ancestry’s basic capabilities.

You’ll make four decisions when you select your character’s ancestry:

  • Pick the ancestry itself.
  • Assign any free ability boosts and decide if you are taking any voluntary flaws.
  • Select a heritage from those available within that ancestry, further defining the traits your character was born with.
  • Choose an ancestry feat, representing an ability your hero learned at an early age.
Character Sheet

Write your character’s ancestry and heritage in the appropriate space at the top of your character sheet’s first page. Adjust your ability scores, adding 2 to an ability score if you gained an ability boost from your ancestry, and subtracting 2 from an ability score if you gained an ability flaw from your ancestry. Note the number of Hit Points your character gains from their ancestry—you’ll add more to this number later. Finally, in the appropriate spaces, record your character’s size, Speed, and languages. If your character’s ancestry provides them with special abilities, write them in the appropriate spaces, such as darkvision in the Senses section on the first page and innate spells on the fourth page. Write the ancestry feat you selected in the Ancestry Feat section on your character sheet’s second page.

Optional: Voluntary Flaws

Sometimes, it’s fun to play a character with a major flaw even if you’re not playing an ancestry that imposes one. You can elect to take two additional ability flaws when applying the ability boosts and ability flaws from your ancestry. If you do, you can also apply one additional free ability boost. These ability flaws can be assigned to any ability score you like, but you can’t apply more than one ability flaw to the same ability score during this step unless you apply both of the additional ability flaws to a score that is already receiving an ability boost during this step. In this case, the first ability flaw cancels the ability boost, and the second ability flaw decreases the score by 2. Likewise, as an exception to the normal rules for ability boosts, you can apply two free ability boosts to an ability score receiving an ability flaw during this step; the first ability boost cancels the ability flaw, and the second ability boost increases the score by 2. For example, a dwarf normally gets an ability boost to Constitution and Wisdom, along with an ability flaw to Charisma.

You could apply one ability flaw each to Intelligence and Strength, or you could apply both ability flaws to Wisdom . You could not apply either additional ability flaw to Charisma, though, because it is already receiving dwarves’ ability flaw during this step.

Step 4 – Pick a Background

Your character’s background might represent their upbringing, an aptitude they’ve been honing since their youth, or another aspect of their life before they became an adventurer. They typically provide two ability boosts (one that can be applied to either of two specific ability scores, and one that is free), training in a specific skill, training in a Lore skill, and a specific skill feat.

Character Sheet

Record your character’s background in the space at the top of the first page of your character sheet. Adjust your ability scores, adding 2 to an ability score if you gained an ability boost from your background. Record the skill feat the background provides in the Skill Feat section of your character sheet’s second page. On the first page, check the “T” box next to the name of the specific skill and for one Lore skill to indicate your character is trained, then write the name of the Lore skill granted by your background.

Step 5 – Choose a Class

At this point, you need to decide your character’s class.

A class gives your character access to a suite of heroic abilities, determines how effectively they fight, and governs how easily they can shake off or avoid certain harmful effects.

You don’t need to write down all of your character’s class features yet. You simply need to know which class you want to play, which determines the ability scores that will be most important for your character.

Character Sheet

Write your character’s class in the space at the top of the first page of your character sheet, then write “1” in the Level box to indicate that your character is 1st level. Next to the ability scores, note the class’s key ability score, and add 2 to that ability score from the ability boost the class provides. Don’t worry about recording the rest of your character’s class features and abilities yet—you’ll handle that in Step 7.

Step 6 – Determine Ability Scores

Now that you’ve made the main mechanical choices about your character, it’s time to finalize their ability scores. Do these three things:

  • First, make sure you’ve applied all the ability boosts and ability flaws you’ve noted in previous steps (from your ancestry, background, and class).
  • Then, apply four more ability boosts to your character’s ability scores, choosing a different ability score for each and increasing that ability score by 2.
  • Finally, record your starting ability scores and ability modifiers, as determined using Table 1–1: Ability Modifiers.

Remember that each ability boost adds 2 to the base score of 10, and each ability flaw subtracts 2. You should have no ability score lower than 8 or higher than 18.

Character Sheet

Write your character’s starting ability scores in the box provided for each. Record the ability modifier for each ability score in the box to the left of the ability’s name.

Step 7 – Record Class Details

Now, record all the benefits and class features that your character receives from the class you’ve chosen. While you’ve already noted your key ability score, you’ll want to be sure to record the following class features.

To determine your character’s total starting Hit Points, add together the number of Hit Points your character gains from their ancestry (chosen in Step 2) and the number of Hit Points they gain from their class.

The Initial Proficiencies section of your class entry indicates your character’s starting proficiency ranks in a number of areas. Choose which skills your character is trained in and record those, along with the ones set by your class. If your class would make you trained in a skill you’re already trained in (typically due to your background), you can select another skill to become trained in.

See the class advancement table in your class entry to learn the class features your character gains at 1st level—but remember, you already chose an ancestry and background. Some class features require you to make additional choices, such as selecting spells.

Character Sheet

Write your character’s total Hit Points on the first page of your character sheet. Use the proficiency fields (the boxes marked “T,” “E,” “M,” and “L”) on your character sheet to record your character’s initial proficiencies in Perception, saving throws, and the skills granted by their class; mark “T” if your character is trained, or “E” if your character is expert. Indicate which additional skills you chose for your character to be trained in by marking the “T” proficiency box for each skill you selected. Likewise, record your character’s their armor proficiencies in the Armor Class section at the top of the first page and their weapon proficiencies at the bottom of the first page. Record all other class feats and abilities on the second page. Don’t worry yet about finalizing any values for your character’s statistics—you’ll handle that in Step 9.

Spells and Spellcasting

Most classes can learn to cast a few focus spells, but the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard all gain spellcasting—the ability to cast a wide variety of spells.

If your character’s class grants spells, you should take time during Step 7 to learn about the spells they know and how to cast them. The fourth page of the character sheet provides space to note your character’s magic tradition and their proficiency rank for spell attack rolls and spell DCs. It also gives ample space to record the spells in your character’s repertoire or spellbook, or that you prepare frequently. Each class determines which spells a character can cast, how they are cast, and how many they can cast in a day.

Step 8 – Buy Equipment

At 1st level, your character has 15 gold pieces (150 silver pieces) to spend on armor, weapons, and other basic equipment. Your character’s class lists the types of weapons and armor with which they are trained (or better!). Their weapons determine how much damage they deal in combat, and their armor influences their Armor Class; these calculations are covered in more detail in Step 10. Don’t forget essentials such as food and traveling gear!

Once you’ve spent your character’s starting wealth, calculate any remaining gp, sp, and cp they might still have and write those amounts in Inventory on the second page. Record your character’s weapons in the Melee Strikes and Ranged Strikes sections of the first page, depending on the weapon, and the rest of their equipment in the Inventory section on your character sheet’s second page. You’ll calculate specific numbers for melee Strikes and ranged Strikes with the weapons in Step 9 and for AC when wearing that armor in Step 10.

Step 9 – Calculate Modifiers

With most of the big decisions for your character made, it’s time to calculate the modifiers for each of the following statistics. If your proficiency rank for a statistic is trained, expert, master, and legendary, your bonus equals your character’s level plus another number based on the rank (2, 4, 6, and 8, respectively). If your character is untrained, your proficiency bonus is +0.

Perception

Your character’s Perception modifier measures how alert they are. This modifier is equal to their proficiency bonus in Perception plus their Wisdom modifier.

Saving Throws

For each kind of saving throw, add your character’s Fortitude, Reflex, or Will proficiency bonus (as appropriate) plus the ability modifier associated with that kind of saving throw.

Fortitude

For Fortitude saving throws, use your character’s Constitution modifier.

Reflex

For Reflex saving throws, use your character’s Dexterity modifier.

Will

For Will saving throws, use your character’s Wisdom modifier. Then add in any bonuses or penalties from abilities, feats, or items that always apply (but not modifiers, bonuses, or penalties that apply only in certain situations). Record this number on the line for that saving throw.

Melee Strikes and Ranged Strikes

Next to where you’ve written your character’s melee and ranged weapons, calculate the modifier to Strike with each weapon and how much damage that Strike deals. The modifier for a Strike is equal to your character’s proficiency bonus with the weapon plus an ability modifier (usually Strength for melee Strikes and Dexterity for ranged Strikes).

You also add any item bonus from the weapon and any other permanent bonuses or penalties. You also need to calculate how much damage each weapon’s Strike deals.

Melee weapons usually add your character’s Strength modifier to damage rolls, while ranged weapons might add some or all of your character’s Strength modifier, depending on the weapon’s traits.

Skills

In the second box to the right of each skill name on your character sheet, there’s an abbreviation that reminds you of the ability score tied to that skill. For each skill in which your character is trained, add your proficiency bonus for that skill (typically +3 for a 1st-level character) to the indicated ability’s modifier, as well as any other applicable bonuses and penalties, to determine the total modifier for that skill. For skills your character is untrained in, use the same method, but your proficiency bonus is +0.

For Perception and saving throws, write your proficiency bonus and the appropriate ability modifier in the boxes provided, then record the total modifier in the large space.

Record the proficiency bonuses, ability modifiers, and total modifiers for your melee Strikes and ranged Strikes in the box after the name of each weapon, and put the damage for each in the space below, along with the traits for that attack. For skills, record the relevant ability modifier and proficiency bonus in the appropriate box for each skill, and then write the total skill modifiers in the spaces to the left.

If your character has any modifiers, bonuses, or penalties from feats or abilities that always apply, add them into the total modifiers. For ones that apply only in certain situations, note them next to the total modifiers.

Step 10 – Finishing Details

Now add the following details to your character sheet in the appropriate spaces.

Alignment

Your character’s alignment is an indicator of their morality and personality. There are nine possible alignments in Pathfinder, as shown on Table 1–2: The Nine Alignments. If your alignment has any components other than neutral, your character gains the traits of those alignment components. This might affect the way various spells, items, and creatures interact with your character.

Your character’s alignment is measured by two pairs of opposed values: the axis of good and evil and the axis of law and chaos. A character who isn’t committed strongly to either side is neutral on that axis. Keep in mind that alignment is a complicated subject, and even acts that might be considered good can be used for nefarious purposes, and vice versa. The GM is the arbiter of questions about how specific actions might affect your character’s alignment.

If you play a champion, your character’s alignment must be one allowed for their deity and cause, and if you play a cleric, your character’s alignment must be one allowed for their deity.

Good and Evil

Your character has a good alignment if they consider the happiness of others above their own and work selflessly to assist others, even those who aren’t friends and family. They are also good if they value protecting others from harm, even if doing so puts the character in danger. Your character has an evil alignment if they’re willing to victimize others for their own selfish gain, and even more so if they enjoy inflicting harm. If your character falls somewhere in the middle, they’re likely neutral on this axis.

Law and Chaos

Your character has a lawful alignment if they value consistency, stability, and predictability over flexibility.

Lawful characters have a set system in life, whether it’s meticulously planning day-to-day activities, carefully following a set of official or unofficial laws, or strictly adhering to a code of honor. On the other hand, if your character values flexibility, creativity, and spontaneity over consistency, they have a chaotic alignment—though this doesn’t mean they make decisions by choosing randomly.

Chaotic characters believe that lawful characters are too inflexible to judge each situation by its own merits or take advantage of opportunities, while lawful characters believe that chaotic characters are irresponsible and flighty.

Many characters are in the middle, obeying the law or following a code of conduct in many situations, but bending the rules when the situation requires it. If your character is in the middle, they are neutral on this axis.

Changing Alignment

Alignment can change during play as a character’s beliefs change, or as you realize that your character’s actions reflect a different alignment than the one on your character sheet. In most cases, you can just change their alignment and continue playing. However, if you play a cleric or champion and your character’s alignment changes to one not allowed for their deity (or cause, for champions), your character loses some of their class abilities until they atone (as described in the class).

Deity

Write down the deity your character worships, if any. Champions and clerics must worship a deity.

Age

Decide your character’s age and note it on the third page of the character sheet. The description for your character’s ancestry gives some guidance on the age ranges of members of that ancestry. Beyond that, you can play a character of whatever age you like. There aren’t any mechanical adjustments to your character for being particularly old, but you might want to take it into account when considering your starting ability scores and future advancement. Particularly young characters can change the tone of some of the game’s threats, so it’s recommended that characters are at least young adults.

Gender and Pronouns

Characters of all genders are equally likely to become adventurers. Record your character’s gender, if applicable, and their pronouns on the third page of the character sheet.

Class DC

A class DC sets the difficulty for certain abilities granted by your character’s class. This DC equals 10 plus their proficiency bonus for their class DC (+3 for most 1st-level characters) plus the modifier for the class’s key ability score.

Hero Points

Your character usually begins each game session with 1 Hero Point, and you can gain additional Hero Points during sessions by performing heroic deeds or devising clever strategies. Your character can use Hero Points to gain certain benefits, such as staving off death or rerolling a d20. See Hero Points.

Armor Class (AC)

Your character’s Armor Class represents how difficult they are to hit in combat. To calculate your AC, add 10 plus your character’s Dexterity modifier (up to their armor’s Dexterity modifier cap), plus their proficiency bonus with their armor, plus their armor’s item bonus to AC and any other permanent bonuses and penalties.

Bulk

Your character’s maximum Bulk determines how much weight they can comfortably carry. If they’re carrying a total amount of Bulk that exceeds 5 plus their Strength modifier, they are encumbered. A character can’t carry a total amount of Bulk that exceeds 10 plus their Strength modifier. The Bulk your character is carrying equals the sum of all of their items; keep in mind that 10 light items make up 1 Bulk.

Sample Character

This step-by-step example illustrates the process of creating a Pathfinder character.

Steps 1 and 2

Adam is making his first Pathfinder character. After talking about it with the rest of the group, he’s decided to make a dwarven druid. After jotting down a few ideas, he begins by writing down a 10 for each ability score.

Step 3

Adam looks up the dwarf entry. He records the ability boosts to his Constitution and Wisdom scores (bringing both up to 12). He also applies the ability flaw to his Charisma, dropping it to 8. For his free ability boost, he chooses Dexterity to boost his defenses, raising it to 12 as well. He also records the 10 Hit Points the ancestry gives him. Next, he returns to his character sheet to record the size, Speed, language, and darkvision ability he gets from being a dwarf. Finally, he decides on a heritage, writing “rock dwarf” next to dwarf, and he picks an ancestry feat, deciding on Rock Runner, to show his character’s strong connection to stone.

Step 4

Looking through the backgrounds, Adam likes the idea of a solitary dwarven druid, and the nomad background makes for a good choice. For the first ability boost granted by the background, Adam chooses Wisdom, and for the free ability boost, he chooses Constitution, taking both up to 14. On the second page, he writes “Assurance (Survival)” in the Skill Feats area, on the Background line.

Finally, returning to the first page, he writes “cave” next to the first Lore skill entry and checks the box under the “T” for that skill and Survival.

Step 5

Adam writes “druid” on the class line of his character sheet and fills in the number 1 in the level box. The druid class grants an ability boost to its key ability score, which is Wisdom, so Adam’s character has his Wisdom raised to 16.

Step 6

Adam applies four more ability boosts to his ability scores to determine his starting scores. After giving it some thought, he applies them to Wisdom (raising it to 18), since that’s the most important ability score for his class, and to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution (raising them to 12, 14, and 16, respectively) to make him better in combat. He then looks at Table 1–1 to determine the ability modifiers for each score and writes all of his ability scores and modifiers down on his character sheet.

Step 7

As Adam applies his class, he has a number of things to figure out. First, he starts by recording all of his initial proficiencies, marking the appropriate boxes in the Armor Class, Saving Throws, Weapon Proficiencies, Spell Attack Roll, and Spell DCs areas of his sheet. Turning to skills, he marks Nature as trained and notes that once he picks his druid order, he’ll become trained in another skill determined by that order. He then gets to choose three more skills (if he had a higher Intelligence, he would have gotten more). He decides on Athletics, Diplomacy, and Medicine, marking all of them as trained. Next, he adds the 8 Hit Points from the druid class and his Constitution modifier of +3 to the 10 Hit Points from his dwarf ancestry for an impressive 21 total Hit Points.

Moving on to class features, Adam marks down wild empathy in the class feats and abilities area, as well as the Shield Block feat in the bonus feats area. He makes note of the anathema for being a druid and records Druidic in his language section. Next, he looks through the druid orders and decides upon the wild order, which gives him his final trained skill (Intimidation), the ability to cast wild morph, as well as the Wild Shape feat, which lets him cast a spell to turn into an animal. He writes these spells in the focus spell area of his character sheet and also notes that he has 1 Focus Point to use to cast these spells.

Finally, a druid can cast a limited number of primal spells. Although he can change them every morning, Adam is curious, and he turns to Spells to decide what spells he might cast. He jots down five cantrips and two 1st-level spells and marks them as prepared.

Step 8

Next up, Adam turns to Equipment. He’s trained in medium armor, but since wearing metal armor is anathema to druids, he chooses hide armor. For weapons, he decides on a spear, but he buys two just in case he wants to throw the first one. He writes all of these on the front of his character sheet. Adam lists the spear under both melee Strikes and ranged Strikes, and he also writes the claws he gains from wild morph under his melee Strikes, because he’s sure that he’ll be casting that spell a lot. He records the rest of his gear in the Inventory section on the second page, along with coin left over after buying his starting gear.

Step 9

Adam records all of the ability modifiers for Perception, saving throws, Strikes, and skills. He then puts a “+3” in the box marked Prof to indicate his proficiency bonus for each statistic he’s trained in (1 for his level, plus 2 for being trained) and “+5” in any that he is an expert. Then, he adds up his modifiers for each statistic.

Step 10

Finally, Adam fills out the final details of his character, noting his neutral alignment and calculating his AC and Bulk limits. Last but not least, he fills in some last-minute information about his character and decides on a name.

Gar the dwarf druid is ready for his first adventure!

Leveling Up

The world of Pathfinder is a dangerous place, and your character will face terrifying beasts and deadly traps on their journey into legend. With each challenge resolved, a character earns Experience Points (XP) that allow them to increase in level. Each level grants greater skill, increased resiliency, and new capabilities, allowing your character to face even greater challenges and go on to earn even more impressive rewards.

Each time your character reaches 1,000 Experience Points, their level increases by 1. On your character sheet, indicate your character’s new level beside the name of their class, and deduct 1,000 XP from their XP total. If you have any Experience Points left after this, record them—they count toward your next level, so your character is already on their way to advancing yet again!

Next, return to your character’s class entry. Increase your character’s total Hit Points by the number indicated for your class. Then, take a look at the class advancement table and find the row for your character’s new level.

Your character gains all the abilities listed for that level, including new abilities specific to your class and additional benefits all characters gain as they level up.

For example, all characters gain four ability boosts at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter.

You can find all the new abilities specific to your class, including class feats, right in your class entry, though you can also use class feats to take an archetype.

Your character’s class entry also explains how to apply any ability boosts and skill increases your character gains.

If they gain an ancestry feat, head back to the entry for your character’s ancestry and select another ancestry feat from the list of options. If they gain a skill increase, refer to Skills when deciding which skill to apply it to. If they gain a general feat or a skill feat, you can choose from the feats listed. If they can cast spells, see the class entry for details on adding spell slots and spells. It’s also a good idea to review your character’s spells and see if there are heightened versions they can now cast.

Once you’ve made all your choices for your character’s new level, be sure to go over your character sheet and adjust any values that have changed. At a bare minimum, your proficiency bonuses all increase by 1 because you’ve gained a level, so your AC, attack rolls, Perception, saving throws, skill modifiers, spell attack rolls, and class DC all increase by at least 1. You might need to change other values because of skill increases, ability boosts, or class features that either increase your proficiency rank or increase other statistics at certain levels. If an ability boost increases your character’s Constitution modifier, recalculate their maximum Hit Points using their new Constitution modifier (typically this adds 1 Hit Point per level). If an ability boost increases your character’s Intelligence modifier, they become trained in an additional skill and language.

Some feats grant a benefit based on your level, such as Toughness, and these benefits are adjusted whenever you gain a level as well.

You can perform the steps in the leveling-up process in whichever order you want. For example, if you wanted to take the skill feat Intimidating Prowess as your skill feat at 10th level, but your character’s Strength score was only 14, you could first increase their Strength score to 16 using the ability boosts gained at 10th level, and then take Intimidating Prowess as a skill feat at the same level.

Leveling-Up Checklist

Every time you gain a level, make sure you do each of the following:

  • Increase your level by 1 and subtract 1,000 XP from your XP total.
  • Increase your maximum Hit Points by the amount listed in your class entry.
  • Add class features from your class advancement table, including ability boosts and skill increases.
  • Select feats as indicated on your class advancement table. For ancestry feats, see Ancestries. For class feats, see your class entry. For general feats and skill feats, see Feats.
  • Add spells and spell slots if your class grants spellcasting.
  • Increase all of your proficiency bonuses by 1 from your new level, and make other increases to your proficiency bonuses as necessary from skill increases or other class features. Increase any other statistics that changed as a result of ability boosts or other abilities.
  • Adjust bonuses from feats and other abilities that are based on your level.
Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Core Rulebook (Second Edition) © 2019, Paizo Inc.; Designers: Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, and Mark Seifter.

This is not the complete license attribution - see the full license for this page