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Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide

Core Rulebook

Chapter 1: Introduction

Source Core Rulebook pg. 7 ^4.0
Pathfinder is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game (RPG) where you and a group of friends gather to tell a tale of brave heroes and cunning villains in a world filled with terrifying monsters and amazing treasures. More importantly, Pathfinder is a game where your character’s choices determine how the story unfolds.

Pathfinder adventures take place in the Age of Lost Omens, a perilous fantasy world rife with ancient empires; sprawling city-states; and countless tombs, dungeons, and monster lairs packed with plunder. A Pathfinder character’s adventures might take them to forsaken underwater ruins, haunted gothic crypts, or magical universities in jungle cities. A world of endless adventure awaits!

What is a Roleplaying Game?

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A roleplaying game is an interactive story where one player, the Game Master (GM), sets the scene and presents challenges, while other players take the roles of player characters (PCs) and attempt to overcome those challenges. Danger comes in the form of monsters, devious traps, and the machinations of adversarial agents, but Pathfinder also provides political schemes, puzzles, interpersonal drama, and much, much more.

The game is typically played in a group of four to seven players, with one of those players serving as the group’s Game Master. The GM prepares, presents, and presides over the game’s world and story, posing challenges and playing adversaries, allies, and bystanders alike. As each scene leads into the next, each player contributes to the story, responding to situations according to the personality and abilities of their character. Dice rolls, combined with preassigned statistics, add an element of chance and determine whether characters succeed or fail at actions they attempt.

Dice

Pathfinder requires a set of polyhedral dice. Each die has a different number of sides—four, six, eight, or more. When these dice are mentioned in the text, they’re indicated by a “d” followed by the number of sides on the die. Pathfinder uses 4-sided dice (or d4), 6-sided dice (d6), 8-sided dice (d8), 10-sided dice (d10), 12-sided dice (d12), and 20-sided dice (d20). If you need to roll multiple dice, a number before the “d” tells you how many. For example, “4d6” means you should roll four dice, all 6-sided. If a rule asks for d%, you generate a number from 1 to 100 by rolling two 10-sided dice, treating one as the tens place and the other as the ones place.

The Flow of the Game

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Pathfinder is played in sessions, during which players gather in person or online for a few hours to play the game. A complete Pathfinder story can be as short as a single session, commonly referred to as a “one-shot,” or it can stretch on for multiple sessions, forming a campaign that might last for months or even years. If the Game Master enjoys telling the story and the players are entertained, the game can go as long as you like.

A session can be mostly action, with battles with vile beasts, escapes from fiendish traps, and the completion of heroic quests. Alternatively, it could include negotiating with a baron for rights to a fort, infiltrating an army of lumbering frost giants, or bargaining with an angel for a strand of hair required for an elixir to revive a slain friend. Ultimately it’s up to you and your group to determine what kind of game you are playing, from dungeon exploration to a nuanced political drama, or anything in between.

The Players

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Everyone involved in a Pathfinder game is a player, including the Game Master, but for the sake of simplicity, “player” usually refers to participants other than the GM. Before the game begins, players invent a history and personality for their characters, using the rules to determine their characters’ statistics, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. The GM might limit the options available during character creation, but the limits are discussed ahead of time so everyone can create interesting heroes. In general, the only limits to character concepts are the players’ imaginations and the GM’s guidelines.

During the game, players describe the actions their characters take and roll dice, using their characters’ abilities. The GM resolves the outcome of these actions. Some players enjoy acting out (or roleplaying) what they do as if they were their characters, while others describe their characters’ actions as if narrating a story. Do whatever feels best! If this is your first experience with a roleplaying game, it is recommended that you take on the role of a player to familiarize yourself with the rules and the world.

The Game Master

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While the other players create and control their characters, the Game Master (or GM) is in charge of the story and world. The GM describes all the situations player characters experience in an adventure, considers how the actions of player characters affect the story, and interprets the rules along the way.

The GM can create a new adventure—crafting a narrative, selecting monsters, and assigning treasure on their own— or they can instead rely on a published adventure, using it as a basis for the session and modifying it as needed to accommodate their individual players and the group’s style of play. Some even run games that combine original and published content, mixed together to form a new narrative.

Being the GM is a challenge, requiring you to adjudicate the rules, narrate the story, and juggle other responsibilities. But it can also be very rewarding and worth all the work required to run a good game. If it is your first time running a game, remember that the only thing that matters is that everyone has a good time, and that includes you. Everything else will come naturally with practice and patience.

Gaming is for All

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Whether you are the GM or a player, participating in a tabletop roleplaying game includes a social contract: everyone has gathered together to have fun telling a story. For many, roleplaying is a way to escape the troubles of everyday life. Be mindful of everyone at the table and what they want out of the game, so that everyone can have fun. When a group gathers for the first time, they should talk about what they hope to experience at the table, as well as any topics they want to avoid. Everyone should understand that elements might come up that make some players feel uncomfortable or even unwelcome, and everyone should agree to respect those boundaries during play. That way, everyone can enjoy the game together.

Pathfinder is a game for everyone, regardless of their age, gender, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other identities and life experiences. It is the responsibility of all of the players, not just the GM, to make sure the table is fun and welcoming to all.

Tools of Play

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In addition to this book, there are a few things you will need to play Pathfinder. These supplies can be found at your local hobby shop or online at paizo.com.

Character Sheet: Each player will need a character sheet to create their character and to record what happens to that character during play. You can find a character sheet in the back of this book and online as a free pdf.

Dice: The players and GM will need at least one set of polyhedral dice, although most participants bring their own. Six-sided dice are quite common, but all the dice in the set can be found at hobby game stores or online. See the Dice sidebar on page 7 for more on the different kinds of dice and how they are discussed in the text.

Adventure: Every table needs an adventure to play, whether it's designed by the GM or found in a published resource. You can find a variety of exciting adventures and even entire Adventure Path campaigns at paizo.com.

Bestiary: From terrifying dragons to mischievous gremlins, monsters are a common threat that the PCs might face, and each type has its own statistics and abilities. These can be found in the Pathfinder Bestiary, an absolutely invaluable book for GMs. Monster statistics can also be found online for free at paizo.com/prd.

Maps and Miniatures: The chaos of combat can be difficult to imagine, so many groups use maps to represent the battlefield. These maps are marked with a 1-inch grid, and each square represents 5 feet in the game. Miniatures and illustrated tokens called pawns are used to represent the characters and the adversaries they face.

Additional Accessories: There are a number of additional accessories you can add to your game to enhance the experience, including tools that help you track turns in combat, decks of cards for referencing common rules, digital character-creation tools, and even background music and sound-effect sets.

Basics of Play

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Before creating your first character or adventure, you should understand a number of basic concepts used in the game. New concepts are presented in bold to make them easy to find, but this chapter is only an introduction to the basics of play. The complete game rules are defined in later chapters, and the Glossary and Index in the back of this book will help you find specific rules you need.

Defining Characters

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In Pathfinder, the players take on the role of player characters (PCs), while the Game Master portrays nonplayer characters (NPCs) and monsters. While PCs and NPCs are both important to the story, they serve very different purposes in the game. PCs are the protagonists— the narrative is about them—while NPCs and monsters are allies, contacts, adversaries, and villains. That said, PCs, NPCs, and monsters share several characteristics.

Level is one of the most important statistics of the game, as it conveys the approximate power and capabilities of every individual creature. PCs range in level from 1st, at the start of the character’s adventuring career, to 20th, the very height of power. As the characters overcome challenges, defeat foes, and complete adventures, they accumulate Experience Points (XP). Every time a character amasses 1,000 XP, they go up a level, gaining new abilities so they can take on even greater challenges. A 1st-level PC might face off against a giant rat or a group of bandits, but at 20th level, that same character might be able to bring ruin to an entire city with a single spell.

In addition to level, characters are defined by ability scores, which measure a character’s raw potential and are used to calculate most of their other statistics. There are six ability scores in the game. Strength represents a character’s physical might, while Dexterity represents agility and the ability to avoid danger. Constitution indicates a character’s overall health and well-being. Intelligence represents raw knowledge and problem-solving ability, while Wisdom measures a character’s insight and the ability to evaluate a situation. Finally, Charisma indicates charm, persuasiveness, and force of personality. Ability scores for ordinary folk range from as low as 3 to as high as 18, with 10 representing average human capabilities. High-level characters can have ability scores that range much higher than 18.

An ability score that’s above the average increases your chance of success at tasks related to the ability score, while those below the average decrease your chance. This adjustment is called an ability modifier.

Your player character is also defined by some key choices you make. The first choice is a PC’s ancestry, representing the character’s parents and heritage, such as human, elf, or goblin. Next up is the PC’s background, which describes their upbringing, from lowly street urchin to wealthy noble. Finally, and most importantly, a PC’s class defines the majority of their aptitudes and abilities, like a wizard’s command of powerful arcane spells or a druid’s power to transform into a fearsome beast!

In addition to these key choices, player characters also have a number of feats— individual abilities selected during character creation and as the character increases in level. Every feat has a type to denote where its explanation can be found (for example, elf feats can be found in the elf ancestry) and its theme (wizard feats, for example, grant abilities that deal with spells). Finally, characters have skills that measure their ability to hide, swim, bargain, and perform other common tasks.

Creating a Narrative

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Characters and their choices create the story of Pathfinder, but how they interact with each other and the world around them is governed by rules. So, while you might decide that your character undertakes an epic journey to overcome terrifying foes and make the world a safer place, your character’s chance of success is determined by their abilities, the choices you make, and the roll of the dice.

The GM determines the premise and background of most adventures, although character histories and personalities certainly play a part. Once a game session begins, the players take turns describing what their characters attempt to do, while the GM determines the outcome, with the table working together toward a specific goal. The GM also describes the environment, other characters’ actions, and events. For example, the GM might announce that the characters’ hometown is under attack by marauding trolls. The characters might track the trolls to a nearby swamp—only to discover that the trolls were driven from their swamp by a fearsome dragon! The PCs then have the choice of taking on an entire tribe of trolls, the dragon, or both. Whatever they decide, their success depends on their choices and the die rolls they make during play.

A single narrative—including the setup, plot, and conclusion—is called an adventure. A series of adventures creates an even larger narrative, called a campaign. An adventure might take several sessions to complete, whereas a campaign might take months or even years!

The World as a Participant

Aside from characters and monsters, the world of Pathfinder itself can be a force at the table and in the narrative. While the presence of the larger world can sometimes be an obvious hazard, such as when a powerful storm lashes the countryside, the world can also act in subtle, small ways. Traps and treasures are just as important in many tales as cunning beasts. To help you understand these game elements, many of them use the same characteristics as characters and monsters. For example, most environmental hazards have a level, which indicates how dangerous they are, and the level of a magic item gives you a sense of its overall power and impact on a story.

Playing the Game

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In a Pathfinder game, three modes of play determine the pacing of each scene in the story. Most of your character’s time is spent in exploration, uncovering mysteries, solving problems, and interacting with other characters. The Age of Lost Omens abounds with danger, however, and characters often find themselves in an encounter, fighting savage beasts and terrifying monsters. Finally, time moves quickly when the characters enjoy downtime, a respite from the world’s troubles and a chance to rest and train for future expeditions. Throughout an adventure, game play moves between these three modes many times, as needed for the story. The more you play the game, the more you’ll see that each mode has its own play style, but moving from mode to mode has few hard boundaries.

During the game, your character will face situations where the outcome is uncertain. A character might need to climb a sheer cliff, track down a wounded chimera, or sneak past a sleeping dragon, all of which are dangerous tasks with a price for failure. In such cases, the acting character (or characters) will be asked to attempt a check to determine whether or not they succeed. A check is usually made by rolling a single 20-sided die (a d20) and adding a number based on the relevant ability. In such cases, rolling high is always good.

Once a check is rolled, the GM compares the result to a target number called the difficulty class (DC) to determine the outcome. If the result of the check is equal to or greater than the DC, the check is successful. If it is less, the check is a failure. Beating the DC by 10 or more is referred to as a critical success, which usually grants an especially positive outcome. Similarly, failing the check by 10 or more is a critical failure (sometimes called a fumble). This sometimes results in additional negative effects. You also often score a critical success by rolling a 20 on the die when attempting a check (before adding anything). Likewise, rolling a 1 on the die when attempting a check often results in a critical failure. Note that not all checks have a special effect on a critical success or critical failure and such results should be treated just like an ordinary success or failure instead.

For example, in pursuit of the wounded chimera, your character might find the path blocked by a fast-moving river. You decide to swim across, but the GM declares this a dangerous task and asks you to roll an Athletics skill check (since swimming is covered by the Athletics skill). On your character sheet, you see that your character has a +8 modifier for such checks. Rolling the d20, you get an 18, for a total of 26. The GM compares this to the DC (which was 16) and finds that you got a critical success (since the result exceeded the DC by 10). Your character swims quickly across the river and continues the pursuit, drenched but unharmed. Had you gotten a result less than 26 but equal to or greater than 16, your character would have made it halfway across the river. Had your result been less than 16, your character might have been swept downriver or, worse, been pulled under the current and begun to drown!

Checks like this are the heart of the game and are rolled all the time, in every mode of play, to determine the outcome of tasks. While the roll of the die is critical, the statistic you add to the roll (called a modifier) often makes the difference between success and failure. Every character is made up of many such statistics governing what the character is good at, each consisting of a relevant ability modifier plus a proficiency bonus, and sometimes modified further by other factors, such as bonuses or penalties from gear, spells, feats, magic items, and other special circumstances.

Proficiency is a simple way of assessing your character’s general level of training and aptitude for a given task. It is broken into five different ranks: untrained, trained, expert, master, and legendary. Each rank grants a different proficiency bonus. If you’re untrained at a statistic, your proficiency bonus is +0—you must rely solely on the raw potential of your ability modifier. 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). Proficiency ranks are part of almost every statistic in the game.

Exploration

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Most of the time, your character will explore the world, interact with characters, travel from place to place, and overcome challenges. This is called exploration. Game play is relatively free-form during exploration, with players responding to the narrative whenever they have an idea of what to do next. Leaving town via horseback, following the trail of a marauding orc tribe, avoiding the tribe’s scouts, and convincing a local hunter to help in an upcoming fight are all examples of things that might occur during exploration.

Throughout this mode of play, the GM asks the players what their characters are doing as they explore. This is important in case a conflict arises. If combat breaks out, the tasks the PCs undertook while exploring might give them an edge or otherwise inform how the combat begins.

Encounters

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In the course of your adventures, there will be times when a simple skill check is not enough to resolve a challenge— when fearsome monsters stand in your character’s way and the only choice is to do battle. In Pathfinder, this is called an encounter. Encounters usually involve combat, but they can also be used in situations where timing is critical, such as during a chase or when dodging hazards.

While exploration is handled in a free-form manner, encounters are more structured. The players and GM roll initiative to determine who acts in what order. The encounter occurs over a number of rounds, each of which is equal to about 6 seconds of time in the world of the game. During a round, each participant takes a turn. When it’s your turn to act, you can use up to three actions. Most simple things, such as drawing a weapon, moving a short distance, opening a door, or swinging a sword, use a single action to perform. There are also activities that use more than a single action to perform; these are often special abilities from your character’s class and feats. One common activity in the game is casting a spell, which usually uses two actions.

Free actions, such as dropping an object, don’t count toward the three actions you can take on your turn. Finally, each character can use up to one reaction during a round. This special type of action can be used even when it’s not your turn, but only in response to certain events, and only if you have an ability that allows it. Rogues, for example, can select a feat that lets them use their reaction to dodge an incoming attack.

Attacking another creature is one of the most common actions in combat, and is done by using the Strike action. This requires an attack roll—a kind of check made against the Armor Class (AC) of the creature you’re attacking. Strikes can be made using weapons, spells, or even parts of a creature’s body, like a fist, claw, or tail. You add a modifier to this roll based on your proficiency rank with the type of attack you’re using, your ability scores, and any other bonuses or penalties based on the situation. The target’s AC is calculated using their proficiency rank in the armor they’re wearing and their Dexterity modifier. An attack deals damage if it hits, and rolling a critical success results in the attack dealing double damage!

You can use more than one Strike action on your turn, but each additional attack after the first becomes less accurate. This is reflected by a multiple attack penalty that starts at –5 on the second attack, but increases to –10 on the third. There are many ways to reduce this penalty, and it resets at the end of your turn.

If your character finds themself the target of a magical lightning bolt or the freezing breath of a fearsome white dragon, you will be called on to attempt a saving throw, representing your character’s ability to avoid danger or otherwise withstand an assault to their mind or body. A saving throw is a check attempted against the DC of the spell or special ability targeting your character. There are three types of saving throws, and a character’s proficiency in each says a great deal about what they can endure. A Fortitude saving throw is used when your character’s health or vitality is under attack, such as from poison or disease. A Reflex saving throw is called for when your character must dodge away from danger, usually something that affects a large area, such as the scorching blast of a fireball spell. Finally, a Will saving throw is often your defense against spells and effects that target your character’s mind, such as a charm or confusion spell. For all saving throws, a success lessens the harmful effect, and scoring a critical success usually means your character escapes unscathed.

Attacks, spells, hazards, and special abilities frequently either deal damage to a character or impose one or more conditions—and sometimes both. Damage is subtracted from a creature’s Hit Points (HP)—a measure of health— and when a creature is reduced to 0 HP, it falls unconscious and may die! A combat encounter typically lasts until one side has been defeated, and while this can mean retreat or surrender, it most often happens because one side is dead or dying. Conditions can hinder a creature for a time, limiting the actions they can use and applying penalties to future checks. Some conditions are even permanent, requiring a character to seek out powerful magic to undo their effects.

Downtime

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Characters don’t spend every waking moment adventuring. Instead, they recover from wounds, plan future conquests, or pursue a trade. In Pathfinder, this is called downtime, and it allows time to pass quickly while characters work toward long-term tasks or objectives. Most characters can practice a trade in downtime, earning a few coins, but those with the right skills can instead spend time crafting, creating new gear or even magic items. Characters can also use downtime to retrain, replacing one character choice with another to reflect their evolving priorities. They might also research a problem, learn new spells, or even run a business or kingdom!

Key Terms

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There 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.

Ability Scores

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Each creature has six ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. These scores represent a creature’s raw potential and basic attributes. The higher the score, the greater the creature’s potential in that ability. Ability scores are described in full later in this chapter.

Alignment

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Alignment represents a creature’s fundamental moral and ethical attitude.

Ancestry

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An ancestry is the broad family of people that a character belongs to. Ancestry determines a character’s starting Hit Points, languages, senses, and Speed, and it grants access to ancestry feats. Ancestries can be found in Chapter 2.

Armor Class (AC)

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All creatures in the game have an Armor Class. This score represents how hard it is to hit and damage a creature. It serves as the Difficulty Class for hitting a creature with an attack.

Attack

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When a creature tries to harm another creature, it makes a Strike or uses some other attack action. Most attacks are Strikes made with a weapon, but a character might Strike with their fist, grapple or shove with their hands, or attack with a spell.

Background

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A background represents what a character experienced before they took up the life of an adventurer. Each background grants a feat and training in one or more skills. You can read more about backgrounds in Chapter 2.

Bonuses and Penalties

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Bonuses and penalties apply to checks and certain statistics. There are several types of bonuses and penalties. If you have more than one bonus of the same type, you use only the highest bonus. Likewise, you use only the worst penalty of each type.

Class

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A class represents the adventuring profession chosen by a character. A character’s class determines most of their proficiencies, grants the character Hit Points each time they gain a new level, and gives access to a set of class feats. Classes appear in Chapter 3.

Condition

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An ongoing effect that changes how a character can act, or that alters some of their statistics, is called a condition. The rules for the basic conditions used in the game can be found in the Conditions Appendix at the back of this book.

Currency

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The most common currencies in the game are gold pieces (gp) and silver pieces (sp). One gp is worth 10 sp. In addition, 1 sp is worth 10 copper pieces (cp), and 10 gp are worth 1 platinum piece (pp). Characters begin play with 15 gp (or 150 sp) to spend on equipment.

Feat

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A feat is an ability you can select for your character due to their ancestry, background, class, general training, or skill training. Some feats grant the ability to use special actions.

Game Master (GM)

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The Game Master is the player who adjudicates the rules and narrates the various elements of the Pathfinder story and world that the other players explore.

Golarion

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Pathfinder is set on the planet Golarion during the Age of Lost Omens. It is an ancient world with a rich diversity of people and cultures, exciting locations to explore, and deadly villains. More information on the Age of Lost Omens, the world of Golarion, and its deities can be found in Chapter 8.

Hit Points (HP)

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Hit Points represent the amount of punishment a creature can take before it falls unconscious and begins dying. Damage decreases Hit Points on a 1-to-1 basis, while healing restores Hit Points at the same rate.

Initiative

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At the start of an encounter, all creatures involved roll for initiative to determine the order in which they act. The higher the result of its roll, the earlier a creature gets to act. Initiative and combat are described in Chapter 9.

Level

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A level is a number that measures something’s overall power. Player characters have a level, ranging from 1st to 20th, representing their level of experience. Monsters, NPCs, hazards, diseases, and poisons have levels ranging from –1 to 30 that measure the danger they pose. An item’s level, usually within the range of 0 to 20 but sometimes higher, indicates its power and suitability as treasure.

Spells have levels ranging from 1st to 10th, which measure their power; characters and monsters can usually cast only a certain number of spells of any given level.

Nonplayer Character (NPC)

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A nonplayer character, controlled by the GM, interacts with players and helps advance the story.

Perception

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Perception measures your character’s ability to notice hidden objects or unusual situations, and it usually determines how quickly the character springs into action in combat. It is described in full in Chapter 9.

Player Character (PC)

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This is a character created and controlled by a player.

Proficiency

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Proficiency is a system that measures a character’s aptitude at a specific task or quality, and it has five ranks: untrained, trained, expert, master, and legendary. Proficiency gives you a bonus that’s added when determining the following modifiers and statistics: AC, attack rolls, Perception, saving throws, skills, and the effectiveness of spells. If you’re untrained, your proficiency bonus is +0. If you’re trained, expert, master, or legendary, your proficiency bonus equals your level plus 2, 4, 6, or 8, respectively.

Rarity

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Some elements of the game have a rarity to denote how often they’re encountered in the game world. Rarity primarily applies to equipment and magic items, but spells, feats, and other rules elements also have a rarity. If no rarity appears in the traits of an item, spell, or other game element, it is of common rarity. Uncommon items are available only to those who have special training, grew up in a certain culture, or come from a particular part of the world. Rare items are almost impossible to find and are usually given out only by the GM, while unique ones are literally one-of-a-kind in the game. The GM might alter the way rarity works or change the rarity of individual items to suit the story they want to tell.

Roleplaying

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Describing a character’s actions, often while acting from the perspective of the character, is called roleplaying. When a player speaks or describes action from the perspective of a character, they are “in character.”

Round

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A round is a period of time during an encounter in which all participants get a chance to act. A round represents approximately 6 seconds in game time.

Saving Throw (Save)

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When a creature is subject to a dangerous effect that must be avoided, it attempts a saving throw to mitigate the effect. You attempt a saving throw automatically—you don’t have to use an action or a reaction. Unlike for most checks, the character who isn’t acting rolls the d20 for a saving throw, and the creature who is acting provides the DC. There are three types of saving throws: Fortitude (to resist diseases, poisons, and physical effects), Reflex (to evade effects a character could quickly dodge), and Will (to resist effects that target the mind and personality).

Skill

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A skill represents a creature’s ability to perform certain tasks that require instruction or practice. Skills are fully described in Chapter 4. Each skill includes ways anyone can use that skill even if untrained, as well as uses that require a character to be trained in the skill.

Speed

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Speed is the distance a character can move using a single action, measured in feet.

Spell

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Spells are magical effects created by performing mystical incantations and gestures known only to those with special training or inborn abilities. Casting a spell is an activity that usually uses two actions. Each spell specifies what it targets, the actions needed to cast it, its effects, and how it can be resisted. If a class grants spells, the basics of that ability are provided in the class description in Chapter 3, while the spells themselves are detailed in Chapter 7.

Trait

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A trait is a keyword that conveys additional information about a rules element, such as a school of magic or rarity. Often, a trait indicates how other rules interact with an ability, creature, item, or another rules element that has that trait. All the traits used in this book are listed here.

Turn

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During the course of a round, each creature takes a single turn according to initiative. A creature can typically use up to three actions during its turn.

Example of Play

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The 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. Lyz is playing Valeros, a daring human fighter, James is playing Merisiel, a deadly elven rogue, and Judy is taking on the role of Kyra, a fiery human cleric of Sarenrae. The group has just defeated a horde of undead and is making its way into an ancient mausoleum.

Erik: The entrance to the crypt stands before you, a set of crumbling stairs leading down into darkness. A terrible smell issues forth from the doorway—the stench of old, rotted flesh.
Lyz: I'm not afraid of a foul stink! I draw my sword and ready my shield.
Judy: The light of Sarenrae will guide us. I cast my light spell on my religious symbol.
Erik: All right, a glowing radiance spills forth, illuminating the stairs. They appear to go down only about 10 feet before opening up into a chamber. Puddles of stagnant water fill the cracks between uneven stone tiles.
James: I should go first to make sure it's safe. I'm going to draw my rapier and carefully go down the stairs, looking for traps as I go.
Erik: Sure, but looking for traps is a secret check, so I'll roll for you. What's your Perception modifier?
James: I have a +5.

Erik rolls a d20 behind his GM screen, hidden from the players' view, and gets a 17 on the die for a total of 22, more than enough to find the trip wire on the third step.

Erik: Your caution pays off! You spot a thin wire located at ankle height just above the third stair.
James: I point it out to the others and head down.
Lyz: I follow right behind Merisiel, avoiding the wire but otherwise keeping an eye out for danger.
Judy: Me too.
Erik: Okay! You make it down the stairs to find yourselves in a crypt. Ancient wood coffins are arranged around the room, covered in cobwebs and dust. Directly ahead, on a raised dais, is a stone casket adorned with wicked-looking symbols. You can tell that it was once wrapped in iron chains, but now twisted links are scattered around the room, along with chunks of what must have been the casket's lid. From the damage, it looks like it was shattered from within!
Judy: Sarenrae protect us. I draw my blade and advance—I want a better look at those symbols.
Lyz: I'll keep pace with her. I don't like the look of this.
James: I think I'll stay back here and hide behind one of the coffins.
Erik: Merisiel takes cover while the two of you advance. As you draw near, the stench of rot grows stronger until it's almost overpowering. Suddenly you see the source of the horrid odor. Rising up out of the casket is a nightmarish dead thing. It might have once been a human, but it's hard to tell from its withered body. Its flesh is the color of a new bruise, pulled so tight across its bones that it has split in places. It's hairless, with pointed ears, but worst of all, its mouth is lined with tiny, sharp teeth and its tongue is entirely too long.
Lyz: So, not a friend?
Erik: Most certainly not. It looks poised to leap at you and attack. Roll for initiative! Valeros and Kyra need to roll Perception, while Merisiel should roll Stealth.

Everyone rolls for their initiative. Lyz rolls a 2 for Valeros, getting a total of 8. Judy rolls better for Kyra, getting a total of 14. James uses Stealth for Initiative, because Merisiel was hiding at the start of the fight, and rolls a 17 for a total of 25! Erik rolls for the undead creature, getting a 12. Erik records all these totals, putting the characters in order from highest to lowest.

Erik: Looks like Merisiel gets to act first. Whatever that thing is, you're pretty sure it doesn't know you are there.
James: Awesome! For my first action, I want to draw a dagger. For my second, I want to move closer.
Erik: You can get to within 15 feet of it with one Stride action.
James: Perfect. For my final action, I'm going to throw my dagger at it!

James rolls a 13 and adds 8, due to Merisiel's skill at thrown daggers, for a total of 21, but the range means he takes a –2 penalty for a result of 19. Erik consults his notes to learn that the monster has an AC of 18.

Erik: That's a hit! Go ahead and roll damage.
James: Okay, and I get to add extra damage due to sneak attack.

Rogues have the ability to deal extra damage to foes that haven't acted yet in an encounter. This extra damage also applies to attacks against enemies that are distracted. James rolls 1d4 for the dagger and 1d6 for the sneak attack, and he adds 4 for Merisiel's Dexterity, getting a total of 9.

Erik: It hisses as the blade sinks into its shoulder. That looks like it hurt, but the undead thing doesn't appear to be slowing down. James, that was all three of your actions. Next up is Kyra!
Judy: I think this is undead. What do I know about it?
Erik: You use an action to recall your training about the living dead. Give me a Religion skill check.

Judy rolls a 16, adding Kyra's +8 with Religion to get a total of 24.

Erik: At first, you thought this thing might be a ghoul, which is a type of undead that feasts on the flesh of the dead, but the terrible smell reveals the truth. This thing is a ghast, a more powerful type of ghoul. You are pretty sure that its stench can make you sick and that its claws can paralyze you with a touch.
Judy: This is bad. I am going to spend my last two actions to cast bless. It gives anyone next to me a +1 bonus to attack rolls.

Casting this spell is an activity that requires two actions to complete, and it has two components. The complex gestures needed to invoke the spell are the somatic component, and Kyra's prayers to her deity are the verbal component.

Erik: Okay! The ghast leaps from the casket straight toward Merisiel. The stench of its rotting body is absolutely horrific up close. Attempt a Fortitude save!

James rolls an 8, for a total of 14.

Erik: Not quite enough—you gain the sickened 1 condition, which is going to give you a –1 penalty to most of your d20 rolls. Next, it lunges at you, trying to bite you!
James: Oh no! I use my reaction to nimbly dodge out of the way.

Erik rolls an attack roll for the ghast, getting an 9 on the die. Looking at the monster's statistics, he adds 11 for a total of 20. Merisiel's AC is normally 19, but the Nimble Dodge feat lets her use her reaction to increase her AC by 2 against a single attack. In this case, it turns the ghast's attack into a miss.

Erik: Does a 20 hit you?
James: Nope, just missed!
Erik: You twist away from the ghast as its tongue leaves a slimy film on your armor. With its final action, the undead menace lashes out at you with its claw.

Erik rolls a second attack with the ghast, this time with its claw. Normally this attack would take a –5 multiple attack penalty, but since the claw has the agile trait, the penalty is only –4. He rolls a 19 on the die, adds 11 for the ghoul's attack modifier and subtracts 4, for a total of 26.

Erik: You may have dodged the ghast's bite, but the thing's bony claw rakes across your face!

Erik knows this is a hit and rolls the ghast's claw damage, getting a total of 8.

Erik: Take 8 points of damage, and I need you to attempt a Fortitude saving throw as a numbing sensation spreads from the wound.

James rolls a Fortitude saving throw. He gets a 4 on the die, and after adding his bonus and the penalty from the sickened condition, it comes out to only a 9.

James: This isn't my day. I don't suppose a 9 is good enough?
Erik: I am afraid not. You are paralyzed!

Erik notes that Merisiel is paralyzed, making her unable to act, but she will get a new saving throw at the end of each of her turns to shake off the effect.

Erik: A dry, creaking laugh escapes the ghast's curled lips, but that's the end of its turn. Valeros, you are the last one to act this round.
Lyz: About time, too! I raise my shield and use my final two actions to make a Sudden Charge!

Sudden Charge is a fighter feat that lets Valeros move up to twice his Speed and attack at the end of his movement, all for only two actions.

Erik: As you draw near, the smell is horrific. Attempt a Fortitude save.

After rolling, Lyz gets a 19 on the Fortitude save.

Erik: You fight off the nausea from this thing's stench. Make your attack roll.

Lyz rolls the die and it comes up a 20.

Lyz: I got a 20! That must be a critical success!
Erik: Your blade hits the vile creature right in the neck, dealing double damage!

Lyz rolls a 5 on her d8, then adds 4 because of Valeros's Strength modifier. Because it is a critical success, she then doubles the total.

Lyz: A mighty 18 damage! That surely had to kill it!
Erik: I'm afraid not. Black ichor runs from the deep wound on its neck, but it only turns to look at you. You can see burning hatred in its eyes!
Lyz: Uh-oh.

That is the end of the first round of combat. The second round begins immediately after this, using the same initiative order as before. The fight is far from over...

Using This Book

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While 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. Rules are grouped together in chapters, with the early chapters focusing on character creation. The last two chapters contain rules for GMs, with advice on how to run a game of Pathfinder and a rich array of treasure. The following is a summary of what you can expect to find in each chapter.

Chapter 1: Introduction

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This introduction is designed to help you understand the basics of Pathfinder. This chapter also includes the rules for building and leveling up a character. The chapter ends with an example of building a 1st-level character.

Chapter 2: Ancestries & Backgrounds

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The rules for the most common ancestries in the Age of Lost Omens are in this chapter, including their ancestry feat options. Backgrounds are at the end of this chapter, along with a section about languages, as these are most often influenced by your choice of ancestry.

Chapter 3: Classes

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This chapter contains the rules for all 12 classes. Each class entry includes guidelines on playing the class, rules for building and advancing a character of that class, sample builds, and all of the class feats available to members of that class. This chapter also includes rules for animal companions and familiars, which can be acquired by members of several different classes. At the end of this chapter are the rules for archetypes—special options available to characters as they increase in level. These rules allow a character to dabble in the abilities of another class or concept.

Chapter 4: Skills

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The rules for using skills are presented in this chapter, and they detail what a character can do with a given skill, based on that character’s proficiency rank. Ancestry, background, and class can define some of a character’s skill proficiencies, and each character can also select a few additional skills to reflect their personality and training.

Chapter 5: Feats

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As a character advances in level, they gain additional feats to represent their growing abilities. General feats and skill feats (which are a subset of general feats) are presented in this chapter.

Chapter 6: Equipment

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Armor, weapons, and other gear can all be found in this chapter, along with the price for services, cost of living, and animals (such as horses, dogs, and pack animals).

Chapter 7: Spells

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This chapter starts with rules for casting spells, determining their effects, and getting rid of foes’ spells (called counteracting). After that, the spell lists for each spellcasting tradition are included, making it easy to quickly find spells by their level. Next are rules for every spell, presented in alphabetical order. Following the spell descriptions are all of the focus spells—special spells granted by specific class abilities and feats. While most spells appear on multiple spell lists, focus spells are granted only to members of a specific class and are grouped together by class for ease of reference. Finally, at the end of the chapter are rules for rituals, complicated and risky spells that any character can cast.

Chapter 8: The Age of Lost Omens

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The setting of Golarion is described in this chapter, including a brief overview of the world and its people, followed by a timeline of events. Most importantly, characters who venerate a deity should look to this chapter to find the rules associated with their faith.

Chapter 9: Playing the Game

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This important chapter contains the universal rules needed to play Pathfinder, including rules for the various modes of play, the basic actions that every character can perform, the rules for combat, and the rules for death and dying. Every player should be familiar with this chapter, especially the GM.

Chapter 10: Game Mastering

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Packed full of guidelines and advice, this chapter helps Game Masters tell an interesting and compelling story. It also includes advice on creating a fun and encouraging game space and guides for empowering players to create characters they want to play. This chapter also includes rules that are particularly important for the GM to know, such as rules dealing with traps, environmental dangers, and afflictions (such as curses, diseases, and poisons), as well as guidance on setting DCs and handing out rewards to player characters.

Chapter 11: Crafting and Treasure

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The treasures characters find during their adventures take many forms, from gold and gemstones to powerful magical weapons. This chapter details guidelines for distributing treasure to characters, as well as descriptions of hundreds of magic items. This chapter also contains the rules for alchemical items.

Appendices

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The back of this book has an appendix with the rules for all of the conditions that you will find in the game. This section also includes a blank character sheet, and an index with a comprehensive glossary of common terms and traits that you’ll encounter in the game.

Format of Rules Elements

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Throughout 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. These standards are in place to make this book rules elements easier to recognize.

The names of specific statistics, skills, feats, actions, and some other mechanical elements in Pathfinder are capitalized. This way, when you see the statement “a Strike targets Armor Class,” you know that both Strike and Armor Class are referring to rules.

If a word or a phrase is italicized, it is describing a spell or a magic item. This way, when you see the statement “the door is sealed by lock,” you know that in this case the word denotes the lock spell, rather than a physical item.

Pathfinder also uses many terms that are typically expressed as abbreviations, like AC for Armor Class, DC for Difficulty Class, and HP for Hit Points. If you’re ever confused about a game term or an abbreviation, you can always turn to the Glossary and Index, beginning on page 628, and look it up.

Understanding Actions

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Characters and their adversaries affect the world of Pathfinder by using actions and producing effects. This is especially the case during encounters, when every action counts. When you use an action, you generate an effect. This effect might be automatic, but sometimes actions necessitate that you roll a die, and the effect is based on what you rolled.

Throughout this book, you will see special icons to denote actions.

[one-action] Single Actions

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Single actions use this symbol: [one-action] . They’re the simplest, most common type of action. You can use three single actions on your turn in an encounter, in any order you see fit.

[reaction] Reactions

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Reactions use this symbol: [reaction] . These actions can be used even when it’s not your turn. You get only one reaction per encounter round, and you can use it only when its specific trigger is fulfilled. Often, the trigger is another creature’s action.

[free-action] Free Actions

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Free actions use this symbol: [free-action] . Free actions don’t require you to spend any of your three single actions or your reaction. A free action might have a trigger like a reaction does. If so, you can use it just like a reaction—even if it’s not your turn. However, you can use only one free action per trigger, so if you have multiple free actions with the same trigger, you have to decide which to use. If a free action doesn’t have a trigger, you use it like a single action, just without spending any of your actions for the turn.

Activities

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Activities are special tasks that you complete by spending one or more of your actions together. Usually, an activity uses two or more actions and lets you do more than a single action would allow. You have to spend all the actions an activity requires for its effects to happen. Spellcasting is one of the most common activities, as most spells take more than a single action to cast.

Activities that use two actions use this symbol: [two-actions] . Activities that use three actions use this symbol: [three-actions] . A few special activities, such as spells you can cast in an instant, can be performed by spending a free action or a reaction.

All tasks that take longer than a turn are activities. If an activity is meant to be done during exploration, it has the exploration trait. An activity that takes a day or more of commitment and that can be done only during downtime has the downtime trait.

Reading Rules

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This book contains hundreds of rules elements that give characters new and interesting ways to respond to situations in the game. All characters can use the basic actions found in Chapter 9, but an individual character often has special rules that allow them to do things most other characters can’t. Most of these options are feats, which are gained by making certain choices at character creation or when a character advances in level.

Regardless of the game mechanic they convey, rules elements are always presented in the form of a stat block, a summary of the rules necessary to bring the monster, character, item, or other rules element to life during play. Where appropriate, stat blocks are introduced with an explanation of their format. For example, the Ancestry section of Chapter 2 contains rules for each of the game’s six core ancestries, and an explanation of these rules appears at the beginning of that chapter.

The general format for stat blocks is shown below. Entries are omitted from a stat block when they don’t apply, so not all rule elements have all of the entries given below. Actions, reactions, and free actions each have the corresponding icon next to their name to indicate their type. An activity that can be completed in a single turn has a symbol indicating how many actions are needed to complete it; activities that take longer to perform omit these icons. If a character must attain a certain level before accessing an ability, that level is indicated to the right of the stat block’s name. Rules also often have traits associated with them (traits appear in the Glossary and Index).

Spells, alchemical items, and magic items use a similar format, but their stat blocks contain a number of unique elements (see Chapter 7 for more on reading spells, and Chapter 11 for more on alchemical and magic items).

Action or Feat Name [one-action] Level

Traits
Prerequisites Any minimum ability scores, feats, proficiency ranks, or other prerequisites you must have before you can access this rule element are listed here. Feats also have a level prerequisite, which appears above.
Frequency This is the limit on how many times you can use the ability within a given time.
Trigger Reactions and some free actions have triggers that must be met before they can be used.
Requirements Sometimes you must have a certain item or be in a certain circumstance to use an ability. If so, it’s listed in this section.

This section describes the effects or benefits of a rule element. If the rule is an action, it explains what the effect is or what you must roll to determine the effect. If it’s a feat that modifies an existing action or grants a constant effect, the benefit is explained here.
Special Any special qualities of the rule are explained in this section. Usually this section appears in feats you can select more than once, explaining what happens when you do.

Character Creation

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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 on pages 21–28 instruct you to fill out fields on your character sheet. The character sheet is shown on pages 24–25; you can find a copy in the back of this book or online as a free pdf. 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 on pages 24–25, 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.

The Six Ability Scores

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

Charisma

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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

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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 (see the sidebar on page 24).

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.

Alternative Method: Rolling Ability Scores

The standard method of generating ability scores that’s described above works great if you want to create a perfectly customized, balanced character. But your GM may decide to add a little randomness to character creation and let the dice decide what kind of character the players are going to play. In that case, you can use this alternative method to generate your ability scores. Be warned—the same randomness that makes this system fun also allows it to sometimes create characters that are significantly more (or less) powerful than the standard ability score system and other Pathfinder rules assume.

If your GM opts for rolling ability scores, follow these alternative steps, ignoring all other instructions and guidelines about applying ability boosts and ability flaws throughout the character generation process.

STEP 1: ROLL AND ASSIGN SCORES

Roll four 6-sided dice (4d6) and discard the lowest die result. Add the three remaining results together and record the sum. (For example, if you rolled a 2, 4, 5, and 6, you would discard the 2 and your total would be 15.) Repeat this process until you’ve generated six such values. Decide which value you want for each of your ability scores.

STEP 2: ASSIGN ABILITY BOOSTS AND ABILITY FLAWS

Apply the ability boosts your character gains from their ancestry, but your character gets one fewer free ability boost than normal. If your character’s ancestry has any ability flaws, apply those next. Finally, apply one ability boost to one of the ability scores specified in the character’s background (you do not get the other free ability boost).

These ability boosts cannot raise a score above 18. If this would happen, you can put the ability boost into another ability score instead, as if it were a free ability boost, or you can put it into an ability score of 17 to reach 18 and lose the excess increase.

STEP 3: RECORD SCORES AND MODIFIERS

Record the final scores and assign the ability modifiers according to Table 1–1. When your character receives additional ability boosts at higher levels, you assign them as any character would.

Ability Boosts

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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

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

Ability Modifiers

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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

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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.

Ancestries and Class

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.

Ancestry, Background, Class, or Details

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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

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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.

Your Allies

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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.

Step 2 Start Building Ability Scores

Source Core Rulebook pg. 21 ^4.0
At this point, you need to start building your character’s ability scores. See the overview of ability scores on pages 19–20 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 on page 20. This is also a good time to identify which ability scores will be most important to your character. See The Six Ability Scores on page 19 and the class summaries on pages 22–23 for more information.

Step 3 Select an Ancestry

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Select 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, 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.

Step 4 Pick a Background

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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. Character backgrounds appear in Chapter 2, starting on page 60. 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

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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. Each class is fully detailed in Chapter 3, but the summaries on pages 22–23 provide an overview of each and tells you which ability scores are important when playing that class.

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.

Step 6 Determine Ability Scores

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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.

Step 7 Record Class Details

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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, but the spells themselves and detailed rules for spellcasting are located in Chapter 7.

Step 8 Buy Equipment

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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! For more on the available equipment and how much it costs, see Chapter 6.

Character Sheet

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

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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.

Character Sheet

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.

Perception

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Your character’s Perception modifier measures how alert they are. This modifier is equal to their proficiency bonus in Perception plus their Wisdom modifier. For more about Perception, see page 448.

Saving Throws

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

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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. See the weapon entries in Chapter 6 for more information.

Skills

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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.

Step 10 Finishing Details

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

Alignment

Source Core Rulebook pg. 28 ^4.0
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 (pages 437–440 and 106–107), and if you play a cleric, your character’s alignment must be one allowed for their deity (pages 437–440).

Table 1-2: The Nine Alignments

	Good	Neutral	Evil
Lawful	Lawful Good (LG)	Lawful Neutral (LN)	Lawful Evil (LE)
Neutral	Neutral Good (NG)	True Neutral (N)	Neutral Evil (NE)
Chaotic	Chaotic Good (CG)	Chaotic Neutral (CN)	Chaotic Evil (CE)

Good and Evil

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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

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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

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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

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Write down the deity your character worships, if any. Champions and clerics must worship a deity. See pages 437–440 for more about Pathfinder’s deities.

Age

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Decide your character’s age and note it on the third page of the character sheet. The description for your character’s ancestry in Chapter 2 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

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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

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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

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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 page 467 for more about Hero Points.

Armor Class (AC)

Source Core Rulebook pg. 29 ^4.0
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; page 274), plus their proficiency bonus with their armor, plus their armor’s item bonus to AC and any other permanent bonuses and penalties.

Bulk

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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. You can find out more about Bulk in Chapter 6: Equipment.

Sample Character

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

Steps 1 and 2

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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

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Adam looks up the dwarf entry in Chapter 2. 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

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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 choses 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

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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

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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

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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 Chapter 7: 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

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Next up, Adam turns to Chapter 6: 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

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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

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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

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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 (page 219). 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 in Chapter 2 and select another ancestry feat from the list of options. If they gain a skill increase, refer to Chapter 4 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 in Chapter 5. 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 in Chapter 7 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

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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 in Chapter 3.
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 Chapter 2. For class feats, see your class entry in Chapter 3. For general feats and skill feats, see Chapter 5.
Add spells and spell slots if your class grants spellcasting. See Chapter 7 for spells.
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.

Chapter 2: Ancestries & Backgrounds >>

Classic Feel

Classic Feel

Classic Feel

Book Feel

Book Feel

Book Feel

Round Feel

Round Feel

Round Feel

Slim Feel

Slim Feel

Slim Feel

Absalom

Blackbird

Boneyard

Book of the Dead

Dark

Extra Contrast

Howl of the Wild

Lavender

Light

ORC

Paper Standard

Treasure Vault

Archives of Nethys

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide

Chapter 1: Introduction