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 Sarenrae, 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 on pages 22–23 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 on pages 22–23 give a brief overview of these options (full details appear in Chapters 2 and 3, respectively). 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. Backgrounds are detailed later in Chapter 2, beginning on page 60.

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 Cayden Cailean, the Drunken Hero of good-hearted adventuring; to Desna, the Song of Spheres and goddess of dreaming and the stars; to Iomedae, the Inheritor, goddess of honor, justice, and rulership. Pathfinder’s major deities appear on pages 437–440. 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 worshipper who applies their faith’s teachings to daily life, or simply the child of devout parents.

Each player takes a different approach to creating a character. Some want a character who will fit well into the story, while others look for a combination of abilities that complement each other mechanically. You might combine these two approaches. There is no wrong way!

When you turn the page, you’ll see a graphical representation of ancestries and classes that provide at-a- glance information for players looking to make the most of their starting ability scores. In the ancestries overview on page 22, each entry lists which ability scores it boosts, and also indicates any ability flaws the ancestry might have. You can find more about ability boosts and ability flaws in Ability Scores on page 20.

The summaries of the classes on pages 22–23 list each class’s key ability score—the ability score used to calculate the potency of many of their class abilities. Characters receive an ability boost in that ability score when you choose their class. This summary also lists one or more secondary ability scores important to members of that class.

Keep in mind a character’s background also affects their ability scores, though there’s more flexibility in the ability boosts from backgrounds than in those from classes. For descriptions of the available backgrounds, see pages 60–64.

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

ELF

GNOME
GOBLIN
HALFLING
DWARF
Halflings are a Goblins are a
Gnomes are

Dwarves are a Elves are a tall, short, adaptable short, scrappy, short and hardy slender, long-lived short, stocky

people who
energetic people folk, with an

people with a people who are exhibit remarkable who have spent unquenchable strong tradition of often stubborn, curiosity and millennia maligned curiosity and

art and magic. fierce, and devoted. humor.
and feared.
eccentric habits. Ability Boosts Constitution,
Dexterity,
Constitution,
Dexterity,
Dexterity,
Wisdom, free

Intelligence, free Charisma, free Charisma, free Wisdom, free

Ability flaw Charisma
Constitution
Strength
Wisdom
Strength

Human

Humans are incredibly diverse. Some, such as half-elves and half-orcs, even have non-human ancestors.

Two free ability

boosts

—

Classes CHAMPION

ALCHEMIST

The alchemist throws alchemical bombs and drinks concoctions of their own making.

Intelligence
Constitution, Dexterity
BARBARIAN
BARD
The barbarian flies into

Skilled performances and a rage on the battlefield, secrets of the occult enable smashing foes with abandon. the bard to distract foes and inspire allies.

Key Ability Score* Strength
Charisma

Secondary Ability Scores Constitution, Dexterity

Constitution, Dexterity

A warrior dedicated to a deity, the champion uses divine power to enhance their abilities and protect allies.

Strength

Charisma, Constitution

Classes MONK

CLERIC

The cleric calls on the power of a deity to cast spells that can heal allies or harm foes. Wisdom

Charisma, Constitution
DRUID
FIGHTER
The fighter is a master
The druid uses the magic of of weapons, martial

the natural world to bolster techniques, and powerful allies and strike down enemies. attack combinations.

Key Ability Score* Wisdom
Dexterity or Strength

Secondary Ability Scores Constitution, Dexterity

Constitution

The monk wields the secrets of martial arts in dazzling displays of battlefield prowess.

Dexterity or Strength

Constitution, Wisdom

Classes WIZARD

RANGER

The ranger is a master of using their surroundings, traps, and animal allies to harry enemies.

Dexterity or Strength Constitution, Wisdom
ROGUE
SORCERER

The rogue is a multitalented The sorcerer’s magical might master of skulduggery who flows from their blood and strikes when enemies least manifests as fantastic spells expect it.

and abilities.
Key Ability Score* Dexterity or other
Charisma
Secondary Ability Scores Charisma, Constitution
Dexterity, Constitution

The wizard is a scholar whose reservoirs of arcane knowledge powers their wondrous spells and abilities.

Intelligence

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

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4

5

6

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9

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