Pathfinder 2e Roleplaying Game
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Name ▼ Page Description
Key Terms 12There are a number of important terms that you’ll need to know as you create your first character or adventure. Some of the most important terms mentioned on previous pages are also included here for reference.
Example of Play 14The following example is presented to give you a better idea of how the game of Pathfinder is played. In this adventure, Erik is the GM.
Using This Book 16While this chapter is here to teach you the basics of Pathfinder, the rest of this rulebook serves as a reference manual during play, and it is organized to make finding the rule you need as easy as possible.
Format of Rules Elements 17Throughout this rulebook, you will see formatting standards that might look a bit unusual at first. Specifically, the game’s rules are set apart in this text using specialized capitalization and italicization.
Character Creation 19Unless you’re the GM, the first thing you need to do when playing Pathfinder is create your character.
The Six Ability Scores 19One 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.
Ability Score Overview 20Each 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.
Ability Modifiers 20Once 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.
Step 1: Create a Concept 21What 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…
Step 2: Start Building Ability Scores 24At this point, you need to start building your character’s ability scores.
Step 3: Select an Ancestry 24Select an ancestry for your character. The ancestry summaries on page 22 provide an overview of Pathfinder’s core ancestry options, and each is fully detailed in Chapter 2. Ancestry determines your character’s size,
Step 4: Pick a Background 25Your 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.
Step 5: Choose a Class 25At 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…
Step 8: Buy Equipment 27At 1st level, your character has 15 gold pieces (150 silver pieces) to spend on armor, weapons, and other basic equipment.
Step 9: Calculate Modifiers 27With most of the big decisions for your character made, it’s time to calculate the modifiers for each of the following statistics.
Step 10: Finishing Details 28Now add the following details to your character sheet in the appropriate spaces.
Leveling Up 31The world of Pathfinder is a dangerous place, and your character will face terrifying beasts and deadly traps on their journey into legend.
Skills 233While your character’s ability scores represent their raw talent and potential, skills represent their training and experience at performing certain tasks.
Key Ability 233Each skill is tied to a key ability. You add your modifier for this ability to checks and DCs when using that skill.
Skill Actions 233The actions you can perform with a given skill are sorted into those you can use untrained and those that require you to be trained in the skill, as shown on Table 4–1: Skills, Key Abilities, and Actions (page 235).
Skill Checks and Skill DCs 234When you’re actively using a skill, often by performing one of its actions, you might attempt a skill check: rolling a d20 and adding your skill modifier.
General Skill Actions 234General skill actions are skill actions that can be used with multiple different skills.
Decipher Writing (Trained) 234When you encounter particularly archaic or esoteric texts, the GM might require you to Decipher the Writing before you can understand it. You must be trained in the relevant skill to Decipher Writing.
Earn Income (Trained) 236You can use a skill—typically Crafting, Lore, or Performance—to earn money during downtime. You must be trained in the skill to do so.
Identify Magic (Trained) 238Using the skill related to the appropriate tradition, as explained in Magical Traditions and Skills on page 238, you can attempt to identify a magical item, location, or ongoing effect.
Learn a Spell (Trained) 238If you’re a spellcaster, you can use the skill corresponding to your magical tradition to learn a new spell of that tradition.
Recall Knowledge (Untrained) 238To remember useful information on a topic, you can attempt to Recall Knowledge.
Subsist (Untrained) 240If you need to provide food and shelter, you can use the Subsist downtime activity. This typically uses Society if you’re in a settlement or Survival if you’re in the wild.
Skill Descriptions 240The following entries describe the skills in the game. The heading for each entry provides the skill’s name, with that skill’s key ability in parentheses.
Acrobatics (Dex) 240Acrobatics measures your ability to perform tasks requiring coordination and grace. When you use the Escape basic action (page 470), you can use your Acrobatics modifier instead of your unarmed attack modifier.
Arcana (Int) 241Arcana measures how much you know about arcane magic and creatures. Even if you’re untrained, you can Recall Knowledge (page 238).
Athletics (Str) 241Athletics allows you to perform deeds of physical prowess. When you use the Escape basic action (page 470), you can use your Athletics modifier instead of your unarmed attack modifier.
Crafting (Int) 243You can use this skill to create, understand, and repair items. Even if you’re untrained, you can Recall Knowledge (page 238).
Deception (Cha) 245You can trick and mislead others using disguises, lies, and other forms of subterfuge.
Diplomacy (Cha) 246You influence others through negotiation and flattery.
Intimidation (Cha) 247You bend others to your will using threats.
Lore (Int) 247You have specialized information on a narrow topic. Lore features many subcategories. You might have Military Lore, Sailing Lore, Vampire Lore, or any similar subcategory of the skill.
Medicine (Wis) 248You can patch up wounds and help people recover from diseases and poisons. Even if you’re untrained in Medicine, you can use it to Recall Knowledge (page 238).
Nature (Wis) 249You know a great deal about the natural world, and you command and train animals and magical beasts. Even if you’re untrained in Nature, you can use it to Recall Knowledge (page 238).
Occultism (Int) 249You know a great deal about ancient philosophies, esoteric lore, obscure mysticism, and supernatural creatures. Even if you’re untrained in Occultism, you can use it to Recall Knowledge (page 238).
Performance (Cha) 250You are skilled at a form of performance, using your talents to impress a crowd or make a living.
Religion (Wis) 250The secrets of deities, dogma, faith, and the realms of divine creatures both sublime and sinister are open to you. You also understand how magic works, though your training imparts a religious slant to that knowledge.
Society (Int) 250You understand the people and systems that make civilization run, and you know the historical events that make societies what they are today.
Stealth (Dex) 251You are skilled at avoiding detection, allowing you to slip past foes, hide, or conceal an item.
Survival (Wis) 252You are adept at living in the wilderness, foraging for food and building shelter, and with training you discover the secrets of tracking and hiding your trail.
Thievery (Dex) 253You are trained in a particular set of skills favored by thieves and miscreants.
Equipment 271To make your mark on the world, you’ll need to have the right equipment, including armor, weapons, and other gear. This chapter presents the various equipment that you can purchase during character creation.
Carrying and Using Items 271A character typically has two hands, allowing them to hold an item in each hand or a single two-handed item using both hands.
Item Damage 272An item can be broken or destroyed if it takes enough damage. Every item has a Hardness value. Each time an item takes damage, reduce any damage the item takes by its Hardness.
Shields 277A shield can increase your character’s defense beyond the protection their armor provides.
Weapons 278Most characters in Pathfinder carry weapons, ranging from mighty warhammers to graceful bows to even simple clubs.
Spells 297Whether it comes in the form of mystic artifacts, mysterious creatures, or wizards weaving strange spells, magic brings fantasy and wonder to Pathfinder.
Tradition and School 297The fundamental building blocks of magic are the magical traditions and the schools of magic. The four traditions are arcane, divine, occult, and primal.
Magical Schools 297All spells, all magic items, and most other magical effects fall into one of the eight schools of magic. These schools broadly define what the magic is capable of. Every spell has the trait corresponding to its school.
Spell Slots 298Characters of spellcasting classes can cast a certain number of spells each day; the spells you can cast in a day are referred to as spell slots.
Cantrips 300A cantrip is a special type of spell that’s weaker than other spells but can be used with greater freedom and flexibility.
Focus Spells 300Focus spells are a special type of spell attained directly from a branch of study, from a deity, or from another specific source.
Refocus 300Traits: concentrate, exploration
Innate Spells 302Certain spells are natural to your character, typically coming from your ancestry or a magic item rather than your class. You can cast your innate spells even if you aren’t a member of a spellcasting class.
Casting Spells 302The casting of a spell can range from a simple word of magical might that creates a fleeting effect to a complex process taking minutes or hours to cast and producing a long-term impact.
Ranges, Areas, and Targets 304Spells with a range can affect targets, create areas, or make things appear only within that range.
Durations 304The duration of a spell is how long the spell effect lasts. Spells that last for more than an instant have a Duration entry.
Saving Throws 305Spells that require a target to attempt a save to resist some or all of the spell’s effects have a Saving Throw entry.
Spell Attacks 305Some spells require you to succeed at a spell attack roll to affect the target. This is usually because they require you to precisely aim a ray or otherwise make an accurate attack.
Identifying Spells 305Sometimes you need to identify a spell, especially if its effects are not obvious right away.
Counteracting 305Some spells, such as dispel magic, can be used to eliminate the effects of other spells.
Hostile Actions 305Sometimes spell effects prevent a target from using hostile actions, or the spell ends if a creature uses any hostile actions.
Setting Triggers 305If a spell is meant to respond only to certain events or under certain conditions—such as magic mouth—it might require you to set a trigger. This is a simple sensory cue that causes the spell to activate.
Walls 306Spells that create walls list the depth, length, and height of the wall, also specifying how it can be positioned.
Reading Spells 306Each spell uses the following format. Entries appear only when applicable, so not all spells will have every entry described here.
Playing the Game 443Chapter 9: Playing the Game
Making Choices 443Pathfinder is a game where your choices determine the story’s direction.
Checks 443When success isn’t certain—whether you’re swinging a sword at a foul beast, attempting to leap across a chasm, or straining to remember the name of the earl’s second cousin at a soiree—you’ll attempt a check.
Step 1: Roll D20 and Identify The Modifiers, Bonuses, and Penalties That Apply 444Start by rolling your d20. You’ll then identify all the relevant modifiers, bonuses, and penalties that apply to the roll.
Step 4: Determine the Degree of Success and Effect 445Many times, it’s important to determine not only if you succeed or fail, but also how spectacularly you succeed or fail.
Specific Checks 446While most checks follow these basic rules, it’s useful to know about a few specific types of checks, how they’re used, and how they differ from one another.
Attack Rolls 446When you use a Strike action or any other attack action, you attempt a check called an attack roll.
Spell Attack Rolls 447If you cast spells, you might be able to make a spell attack roll. These rolls are usually made when a spell makes an attack against a creature’s AC.
Perception 448Perception measures your ability to be aware of your environment. Every creature has Perception, which works with and is limited by a creature’s senses (described on page 464).
Saving Throws 448There are three types of saving throws: Fortitude
Skill Checks 449Pathfinder has a variety of skills, from Athletics to Medicine to Occultism. Each grants you a set of related actions that rely on you rolling a skill check.
Notating Total Modifiers 450When creating your character and adventuring you’ll record the total modifier for various important checks on your character sheet.
Special Checks 450Some categories of checks follow special rules. The most notable are flat checks and secret checks.
Damage 450In the midst of combat, you attempt checks to determine if you can damage your foe with weapons, spells, or alchemical concoctions. On a successful check, you hit and deal damage.
Step 1: Roll The Damage Dice and Apply Modifiers, Bonuses, and Penalties 450Your weapon, unarmed attack, spell, or sometimes even a magic item determines what type of dice you roll for damage, and how many. For instance, if you’re using a normal longsword, you’ll roll 1d8.
Damage Types 451When an attack deals a type of damage, the attack action gains that trait.
Step 3: Apply the Target’s Immunities, Weaknesses, and Resistances 451Defenses against certain types of damage or effects are called immunities or resistances, while vulnerabilities are called weaknesses. Apply immunities first, then weaknesses, and resistances third.
Conditions 453The results of various checks might apply conditions to you or, less often, an item. Conditions change your state of being in some way. You might be gripped with fear or made faster by a spell or magic item.
Effects 453Anything you do in the game has an effect. Many of these outcomes are easy to adjudicate during the game.
Areas 456Some effects occupy an area of a specified shape and size. An area effect always has a point of origin and extends out from that point. There are four types of areas: emanations,
Afflictions 457Diseases and poisons are types of afflictions, as are curses and radiation. An affliction can infect a creature for a long time, progressing through different and often increasingly debilitating stages.
Counteracting 458Some effects try to counteract spells, afflictions, conditions, or other effects. Counteract checks compare the power of two forces and determine which defeats the other.
Hit Points, Healing, and Dying 459All creatures and objects have Hit Points (HP). Your maximum Hit Point value represents your health, wherewithal, and heroic drive when you are in good health and rested.
Actions 461You affect the world around you primarily by using actions, which produce effects.
Movement 463Your movement and position determine how you can interact with the world. Moving around in exploration and downtime modes is relatively fluid and free form.
Perception 464Your Perception measures your ability to notice things, search for what’s hidden, and tell whether something about a situation is suspicious.
Light 464The amount of light in an area can affect how well you see things. There are three levels of light: bright light, dim light, and darkness.
Senses 464The ways a creature can use Perception depend on what senses it has.
Special Senses 465While a human might have a difficult time making creatures out in dim light, an elf can see those creatures just fine.
Detecting Creatures 465There are three conditions that measure the degree to which you can sense a creature: observed, hidden, and undetected.