[Mechanics] Pathfinder 1e -Set 1

[zevonian]

Hi, I'm zevonian, aka zev.

I shall now try to create a sample Pathfinder character, so NPSG applicants have a sheet to look at that uses the PF rules, instead of the 3.5e rules. This is an attempt at copying the fine work of CE2JRH in regards to 3.5e characters making, which can be seen elsewhere on site. My steps may be in different order, but they will be similar in scope.

Warning: this post qualifies as a "wall of text" and may take some time for you to read.

For my guidelines, I shall use this post which is on the site that the RPG Crossing control panel links to for PF information. Thus, I believe it to be site friendly, free and legal information as my source material.

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Determine Concept, start a Character Sheet, and deal with Ability Scores.

Concept: I'm going to make a warrior. But I'll make someone that doesn't mess with spells, he just wades into combat with sword in hands and gets the job done. A number of classes would suit this concept, and I'll decide on that soon, but let's get some basic numbers down first. For that I'll need a character sheet, so it's to the Control Panel -> Tools -> Character Database I go. I select a new character sheet, but need to think up a name for sake of putting something down. I'll call him Fytor, because I can. I make sure to select the Pathfinder template, and click Create. Seconds later, I have a registered sheet, and can click on it and edit it as needed.

And here it is. Note I had to edit it to set it to apply Public Permission so all of you could see it. Yes, the sheet will be completely filled by the time I've finished this post, but if you look at a blank sheet, you'll see how many boxes and lines need/needed to be filled.



Ability scores: These are the six basic attributes that a character has. Different DMs will have different methods of how they want you to determine those scores upon your acceptance into a game. The most common method is that you roll 4d6 six times, and drop the lowest die from each set. This gives you 6 sets of three dice, and you total each set to generate a number between 3 and 18.

There are mutliple threads and posts in regards to using the dice roller/coding on here, and I'm going to suppose that you've happened upon at least one before reading this.

So let's just suppose I rolled my scores, and did well.
18, 10, 14, 12, 10, 16. Yes, all evens, for sake of simplifying the math. I shall put the starting rolls on the sheet under Other Notes, just to have those base numbers handy.
Now, the prime ability in regards to melee combat is Strength. As I said I'm making a swordsman, I'll put my 18 in that attribute. As I'm expecting this character to get into battles often, he'll need to be hearty and withstand punishment, so let's give him a 16 in Constitution. I want him to be seen as a bold leader of men, and a bit quicker than the average person. 14 Charisma and 12 Dexterity is what I shall choose. This leaves 10s for Wisdom and Intelligence, no harm no foul there.
So now rather than just say I'm going to assign these where I did, I enter them in the appropriate sections of the character sheet, not the sheet has filled in some blocks for me automatically, and move on to the next step.

 

Pick Your Race.
The source material has a number of Races that your character can cite as for lineage. After going through the basic seven, I'm going to choose half-orc. There's part of the description about how sometimes it's easier to just crack a few skulls that just works for this character. So now I would put Half-Orc for my race, and proceed to enter all the racial abilities it provides on my character sheet.

+2 to One Ability Score, Medium Size, Normal Speed, Darkvision, Intimidating, Orc Blood, Orc Ferocity, Weapon Familiarity, Languages.
These are all qualities I need to place under Special Abilities. I've chosen to add the +2 to Constitution, and made short notations as to what each racial aspect does. Note that some of them require additonal notations in other sections of the sheet. For examples, I'll place Common and Orcish in the Languages section, and add that +2 under Miscellaneous Modifiers (Misc Mod) by the Intimidate skill.

Also I'll note that I would get bonus languages equal to my Intelligence modifier, but since an INT of 10 leads to a mod of +0, I've got no additional languages to take. And now on to the next step.

 

Pick Your Class
Now, I could go with a Barbarian, but as his name suggests, I'm going with Fighter for my Class of choice.

As I look at the list of classes, I scroll down and noticed there is what is called a Favored Class. Short version of this is that by declaring a single class as Favored, I will get either 1 HP or 1 bouns skill point anytime I get a level in said class. I'm thus declaring Fighter, and will give myself 1 HP bonus later.

For New Player Solo Games, and many other games on site, you start with a 1st level character, 0 Experience Points (XP).
This means I have a number of Class abilities and numbers to enter on my sheet. I'll get these from reading both the Fighter's class description and checking out the Table that lists various numbers and talents as per his level.
I'll do the same. Examples include:

*Alignment: Any. I'll go with Chaotic Good. He'll fight the good fight, even if he gets branded a rulebreaker.

*Hit Die: d10. This determines his starting Hit Points. HP determine how much damage my fighter can take before he lays down and passes out or dies. You get maximum HP at 1st level, and you get to add your Constitution modifier to this. So 10 HP for level + 4 for CON modifier gives me 14 HP at 1st level. But as my Favored Class is Fighter, I'm taking a +1 here and coming up with a total of 15.

*Skill Ranks: I get 2+my Intelligence Modifier for being a 1st level modifier. My INT modifier is a 0, so 2 skill ponts for me. Easy enough to spend. Now, I have a number of Class skills, and I need to click the CS boxes next to each of those skills. This is so you know what typical Fighters are typically good at. To represent these being your go to skills, if you have 1 rank or more in a Class Skill, you get a free +3 bonus to your total score.

Now, if you're looking at my sheet, you'll see some skills are crossed off. That means I can't use them at all unless I have 1 rank or better, as I'm not trained in them. Anyway, I see my fighter as having a bit of Knowledge in monster lore and getting by in the wild, so I'll put 1 rank each in Knowledge: Dungeoneering and Survival.
Note: the maximum ranks you can have in a skill is equal to your level. So I can't put a 2 in Survival at this time.

*Base Attack Bonus, +1: That adds to my attack modifier, the higher the better if I want to hit something with a sword. I put that in the Melee/Ranged/CMB section near the middle of the sheet, and remind myself to incorporate it into attack modifiers later.

*Fortitude Save gets a +2, Reflex and Will get +0. Saving Throws determine how good you are at resisting spells, extreme conditions, traps sprung on you, and a number of other things. I add those to the saving throw section, and notice each save is modified by a different ability score.

*Bonus Feat. I'm doing Feats in a later Step. This is me reminding myself that I get a Bonus one.

*Weapon and Armor Proficiencies. I enter the ones I have that are listed just under the table. These determine what I can wield to attack with and what I can wear for defense without getting excessive penalties for not being trained in using them. Different classes have different proficiencies.

I'll conclude this step.

 

Choose your Skills and Feats

Well now, I've already got my skills, so let's go straight to the Feats I should select. These are extra things your character can do, and primarily alter mechanics of your character sheet. Every 1st level character gets 1 Feat, and as stated earlier, a 1st level fighter gets a Bonus Feat, so I have a total of 2 to choose.
Now, I want ones that are combat based, as I've decided this guy will get into combat whenever possible. I want to be able to hit hard, and I want to be able to hit fast. I know that combat is based on rounds, and it all starts with a roll for Initative. Initative determines who goes when each round. So after looking through these Feats, and yes there are a lot, I'm going to go with two that just sound good. Power Attack and Improved Initative. The first one will affect my attack modifier and damage, two cornerstones of melee combat determination. I'll tend to that when I select my weapons later. The second one will give me a bonus to my Initative of +4, and I shall mark that on the sheet as my Bonus Feat and a +4 under the Misc block next to Initative.

 

Select Your Equipment

Ok, this is important for not only must I select armor and weapons, I have to consider typical items one would have if he were traveling from town to town, or dungeon to dungeon in a medieval fantasy realm. One guideline I can consider is to imagine I'm going hiking for the day, but have no electronic gadgets. So yes I'm going to get a sword, some armor, and maybe a shield or other weapons...but I must save some gold for goods and services such as a waterskin and rations. No GPS enabled cellphone in this realm, but the equivalents of a canteen and trailmix are a must.

How much gold do I save back, well I should consult my starting gold first, yes. Different DMs have different allotments for starting gold, many will give you the starting average. But in the NPSG, it's maximum gold as per class.

I'll do this for sake of character creation: I'll try to limit myself to the average for a fighter, 175 Gold Pieces. That starting gold goes in my notes.

 

I want to do a lot of damage when I strike, that's why I took Power Attack as a Feat. I'm going with a Great Axe. It's base damage is d12, and it's only 20 GP. Yes, that will work for me. Now it's a 2 handed weapon, so I'm not going to take a shield.

I prefer to list my weapons along with the rest of my equipment, as well as in the weapon listings mid-sheet, so I'll do the equipment listing now, and sort out my attack modifiers later
.
I'll put the weight of the axe on the sheet too, noting the sheet automatically uses pounds as default weight measure, and put the cost in ( ) so I can keep a running total of my spending. For location I'm going to say "Back", as in he straps it to his back. but I'm pretty sure it's going to be in his hands regularly.

--If I were going with the 300 GP option, I'd pick a Falchion, because half-orcs are proficient in them, and I just like using such an irregular weapon sometimes. Aletrnately, I could take a Greatsword.--

 

For my armor, I'm going with a Chain Shirt. Decent bonus to Armor Class (which helps determines how often you get hit, the higher the better) and not too much of an Armor Check Penalty. That penalty affects various skill checks such as Swimming and Acrobatics. 100 GP is a steep price for a starting character, but affordable even with using the average starting gold. As it is a light armor, I would place "light" where it says Armor Type on the sheet.

Alternately I could go with Scale Mail, which is easily affordable, but Chain Shrt it is. Now, when I place this under my equipment, and input the weight, I have to remember to not re-add the weight when I place the chain shirt under the Armor listing. I'll just put a 0 along with all those other stats. Said stats are available in the Armor Table within the Equipment chapter, as so should be the definitions of what the numbers mean.


--For the 300 GP option, I'd go ahead with a Breastplate, and not fuss over Armor Check Penalty.--

 

I need something I can use for ranged attacks, something I can use as a fallback melee weapon, and something I can grab easily. I'll select daggers. 5 to be precise. I can just say I'm wearing a bandoleer, or one is on my belt and four are straped to my boots. There's several options I can take with buying small weapons, I can even say some are in a backpack I purchase before game start. I'll add those to my possessions, and give them one listing under where the weapons go, but remind myself to make notations for modifiers based on if I'm throwing one or stabbing with one.

---For the 300 GP Option, I'd be tempted to buy a Composite Longbow and stick to Chain Shirt and Greataxe. But as I'm not making an archer, daggers will suit me just fine.--

 

Ok, leaving a few lines of the posessions list blank in case my character picks up more items after game start. Now it's time to go through Goods and Services for what I think I need. This is just a matter of going through item descriptions and items, and entering them on the sheet, keeping mind of my gold I have left to spend.
Note: All characters begin play with one outfit, valued at 10 gp or less. I'm taking an explorer's outfit for this character, it seems appropriate.

-- Addendum: I believe I've seen in some source material that the weight of a worn starting outfit does not count for the equipment weight total. But at this time, I can't find and provide a specific link to that ruling, so will go ahead with a worn outfit adding to the weight total. --

Some DMs allow picking up minor magic items, which are in another section of the rules, some don't. For this character, I'll assume that I can't start with any healing potions, but that I can pick up some "special items and substances" as they are in the main equipment list.

Backpack, bedroll, case (map or scroll), flint and steel, trail rations (10 days worth), hemp rope (50'), grappling hook (for the rope), belt puch, sack (empty), sledge, 3 torches, waterskin, whetstone. 1 sunrod, 1 tindertwig. I reckon that's enough for travel from one town to another. As you read source material for equipment you may think I'm overlooking some things that you feel would be essential for travel. That's fine, for it means you've now made mental note of what you'd be sure to carry on your character when you make one. Cost of all this is 17 gold, 2 silver, 5 copper. I'll round that up to 17.5 gold, tell myself the character spent the difference on a good meal somewhere or torches from his last travel. Add that to the 130 I've spent on weapons and armor, and I'm at 147.5 gold, which is well under my 175 gp allowance.

It is important that I put the weight in of each item, so I can determine if my fighter is encumbered or not. Encumbered means a PC has too much stuff, and it will hamper movement rate and overall mobility. It's not a good condition to have, but fortunately my fighter and he can handle the load for his Carrying Capacity is high due to his great Strength. By the way, if you check that link to Carrying Capacity, you'll need to scroll down some on that page to find the chart.

--If using the 300 gold option, I'd likely not pick up much more, as I'd have spent the difference on weapons and armor. But there's always more special items and horses to consider picking up.--

After noting the location of my items on my sheet, I'm now ready to finish the character.

 

Completing the sheet.

Still with me, gentle readers? Excellent. Now to fill in all the blanks. I've got his alignment sorted out, but next to that on the sheet would be his Deity. Does he pay homage to anyone in regards to any pantheon? The Core Rulebook has a bit on each major deity, I'll go with Gorrum, he's a strong god, and go on.

Here is where I can find the information on alignment, as well as how to determine my character's age, height, and weight. Rather than roll, I'll just pick numbers with the min/maxes for a half orc. He'll be 18 years old, 6' tall and 280 pounds. Seems right for a young, strong, fighter. Hair and eye color, might as well think of something plausible, black and blue, respectively.

As he's first level, he has 0 XP, and I'll set the Xp rate at slow, until a DM says set it differently. My AC has been determined automatically after I entered my armor stats, for AC is based on armor and DEX modifier. I've already did my Hit Points, but will note that my Current HP is the same as my Maximum, for I'm not starting game injured.

 

Let's go on to the attack values. I need to know my modifiers for combat, and here's how I do it. My Base Attack Bonus is a +1 for having 1st level fighter. For swinging my greataxe, I add my STR modifier (+4) to this.

So now I know that on a normal attack with my axe, I get a +5 to hit. Greataxe normally does d12 damage on a hit, but I get to add my STR mod to that. And actually, since it's a 2 handed weapon that I'm using, I get to add 1.5x my STR mod. So I'll be doing d12+6 for damage. I now enter on to the sheet an appropriate weapon listing, noting the stats are for a normal attack.

But wait, I took Power Attack as a Feat. I might not use it all the time in combat, but I should go ahead and sort out the math for it, and make an addiitonal weapon listing. I'm subtracting 1 from my attack modifier, and adding plus 2 to my damage with this feat. and actually, the Feat's description says that I multiply that by 1.5 as well for a 2 handed weapon. So hey, I get +3 to my normal damage, at only -1 to my normal attack. I would roll d20+4, d12+9 for my Power Attack and Damage

For my daggers, I'm making 2 notations for the attack values, for throwing is based on DEX modifier, and stabbing is based on STR modifier. Standard modifiers will be used for this weapon listing, there's no 2 handed dagger throwing to deal with.

I've got no Feats or items that provide Spell Resistance or Damage Reduction, so zeroes for those on the sheet. And I do believe my sheet, in terms of mechanics, is now finished. I'll write up a few sentences to provide a brief background, those will be in the character notes.

Pathfinder provides an optional set of Traits. They're lesser powered Feats, to be honest, and not all PF DMs allow them. For this character, I will not be picking any Traits. But should you happen upon them in your source material reading, and wish to incorporate them, you should ask your DM about them.

And this should complete Fytor the Fighter.

And as such, this should complete the post. Thanks for reading.

[zevonian]

And now for a second example character. Going in the order that I did the previous post best I can, and it's probably for the best if you've read that one before going through this text-o-rama, as I'll be making reference to it regularly.

 

Determine Concept, start a Character Sheet, and deal with Ability Scores.

Concept: I've already created a melee specialist, I'm now going to make a caster. A woman with a way with words and a number of spells at her fingertips. I use the on site tools to get to the character sheet section, select a name and template, and here we go.

Paff Yes, the sheet will be completely filled by the time I've finished this post, but if you look at a blank sheet, you'll see how many boxes and lines need/needed to be filled.

Ability Scores: 18,16,14,12,10,10. They worked last time in the last post, they'll work here. I'll put the 18 in Charisma, for that way with words I mentioned earlier, and those of you with a bit of experience in DnD likely already know what class I'm thinking of selecting, even without looking at the finished sheet. A 16 for Dexterity and an Intelligence of 14 makes her fast on her feet and book smart. 12 in Constitution, and that leaves the 10s for Strength and Wisdom. I enter the stats on the sheet and to the next step I go.

 

Pick Your Character's Race.
Choosing from the core Races again, this time I shall go with a Half-Elf. I'll need to list all those Racial abilities on my sheet, and adjust various stat blocks as needed. Some examples:
The +2 to one ability I get, I'm going to put in Charisma, because yes you can start with a score of 20 and this will be an example of it.
Keen Senses gives me a +2 to Perception Checks, I'll note that when I get to skills.
Adaptability grants me the Feat of Skill Focus, I'll pick that when I get to the Feats section of this creation.

I am granted knowledge of Common and Elven Languages, and my Inteligence modifier of +2 grants me two additional languages. I'll take Dwarven and Orcish, to grant my character even more words to use with a variety of folks.

 

Pick Your Class.
I had Bard in mind even before looking at the core Class list, and Bard is what I'm going with. I've got many Class abilities to enter on my sheet from the Bard description and table of abilities. 1st level character, 0 XP, but still there's plenty of things to consider.

*Alignment: Chaotic Neutral. A free spirit. Neither law enforcer nor malevolent force, she just goes where the music in her mind takes her.

*Hit Die: d8. As per last post, Maximum HP at 1st level, and a Constitution of 12 gives a modifier of +1, which we add to HP. Plus as a racial ability, Half-Elves get 2 Favored Classes, and I'll choose Bard as one of those (Sorcerer for the other) and give myself an extra HP. This gives me 10 HP total for my Max and Current HP.

*Class Skills: There's a lot to choose from, thus a lot of CS boxes to check on the sheet. 6+INT modifier of +2 means I get 8 skills to choose from. Bards are Performers at heart, this one will be an Orator. Again I cite her way with words, and take Bluff, Diplomacy and Linguistics. Spellcraft, Sense Motive and Perception seem like good skills for her to be well versed in, so 1 rank in those too. Oh and as a half-elf, Keen Senses grants a +2 to Perception, got to fill that in under the "Misc Mod" box on the skill listing.
I happen to know that Linguistics grants a bonus language for taking a rank in it, so I'm going to add Celestial to her repertoire. Lastly, I'll take Ride. It's not a Class skill, but it's okay to take non class skills, and this is an example of doing so.

You'll notice I chose no Knowledge Skills. This is because my character also gets...
*Bardic Knowledge as an ability.
A bard adds half her class level (minimum 1) to all Knowledge skill checks and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained, so in essence I'm getting 1 rank in 11 Knowledge skills for free. Granted, it's not as good as taking a single rank in each of them and thus getting +3 in each due to them being Class skills, but I think it'll do for now, and gives me an idea of what skills to raise if/when the character gets to level up.

*Bardic Performance
The link I've provided would do a better job than I of explaining what all it does, so let's just do the math and comp up with her having 9 rounds per day usage of this ability, as it's 4+ her CHA modifier at 1st level.

*Base Attack Bonus +0. +0 to Fortitude Save, +2 to Reflex and Will Saves. I'll put those in the appropriate boxes.


*Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: She's proficient with all simple weapons, plus several others listed. Bards are also proficient with light armor and most shields. A bard can cast bard spells while wearing light armor, and use a shield, without incurring the usual arcane spell failure chance. That's important to note.

*Spells: Generally speaking, the more powerful a spell is, the higher level it is rated.
Bards use Charisma to determine modifiers for their spells.
This bard starts with knowing 4 0 level spells (cantrips) and in Pathfinder you can use 0 level spells a virtually infinite number of times per day. 2 1st level spells are known by a 1st level Bard. She would just cast 1 per day, but scrolling down on this page leads me to the list of Bonus spells for high ability scores. And a Charisma of 20 means she gets 2 bonus ones per day.

Here is the list of spells that Bards have the potential to learn and master. After a good look over of the spell names, and reading of descriptions of several, I shall take these.
Cantrips:
Dancing Lights, so she always has a backup light source.
Detect Magic, so she can determine if found items are magical, and can determine their properties thanks to her Spellcraft skill.
Know Direction, so she can find True North during her wanderings.
Prestidigitation, so she can clean up any messes, and make the world a more colorful, flavorful place.

1st levels:
Cure Light Wounds, in case someone gets hurt.
Sleep, to put down bad guys in a hurry.

Sleep is an example of a spell that has a saving throw attached to it. In this case, someone caught in the designated area of this spell when it is cast would have to make a Will based Save, and that involves a Difficulty Check. The DC for a Bardic spell is usually 10+the spell level+Charisma Modifier. Thus, a Sleep spell cast by Paff, along with any other 1st level spell with a Saving throw involved, has a DC of 16. Cantrips would have a DC of 15, 2nd level spells would be DC 17, and so on. There are places on the sheet to mark spells known, spells to cast per day, and DCs, so I'll enter them along with my spell choices. And that should be it for Class abilities.

 

Choose Your Skills And Feats
Skills are finished already. All characters get 1 Feat at 1st level. I want something that will affect spellcasting in a positive way. I'll take Combat Casting, that way I've got better chances of getting a spell completed when I'm in trouble in one way or another.

But remember, this is a half-elf Bard. Skill Focus is a bonus feat. I'll scroll down through the feats and see that it gives me a +3 to one skill of my choice. I'll place it on Perception, and that way it's as good a skill for my bard as Perform or Diplomacy.

 

Choose Your Equipment.
Bards get 3d6x10 GP normally at 1st level. Last time I chose equipment for my Fighter using average gold. This time I'm using the the maximum of 180 GP for the bard, as that's what NPSG characters get. I'll list all items under possessions, cost and weight included.

 

The rapier is a classic weapon of fantasy literature. A bard is proficient with use of one, and it's a good choice in my opinion, so I'm selecting it. 20 GP, easily affordable.

 

I need to stick with the Light armors so I can take advantage of the bard's ability to cast without arcane spell failure in such armor. I also have to consider that this character isn't very strong, and as such has a lesser tolerance for encumbrance. I'll go with simple Leather Armor. 10 GP, also affordable, and not too heavy.

 

Just going to grab 2 daggers in addition to the rapier. Sleep spell would likely be my ranged attack of choice, to be honest.

 

My equipment list will be shorter for ths bard than the fighter, but I'll list them the same, and note that I'm picking up a Spell Component Pouch for I've got a caster I'm working on. I've only spent 10 gold on the rest of my goods, for a total of 44 GP.

Thus I have 126 GP left, and 0 pounds to spare for encumbrance. I know what I'll do, I'll buy a horse, one with a stout heart.
This Bard is trained in the Ride skill, and I can get a light horse, riding saddle, saddlebags, bit and bridle, and plenty of feed torches for 92 GP (rounding up the coppers), so why not do this?

34 GP left means I can have a fashionable bard, one with extra outfits, more rations, and saddlebags to put them all. Let's cross off 9 GP for that, and leave ourselves with 25 GP for future needs, such as fancy meals and nice rooms for the orator, and good stabling for the horse.

Addendum: I could edit the sheet so that I put all the goods I can on the horse, and buy a Buckler to wear for a shield. This would leave 1 hand free for casting, with 1 hand on a rapier during combat, and I'd not be encumbered.

 

Finishing Touches
Here is where I can find the information on alignment, as well as how to determine my character's age, height, and weight. Rather than roll, I'll just pick numbers with the min/maxes for a half-elf.
5'6" 120 pounds works just fine. I'll go with age 24, burgundy colored hair, and pale blue eyes.

I've already determined the HP, and saving throws, and the sheet calculated my AC after I've input my Dexterity and armor stats.
Now for the attack values. Same as how I did it for my fighter, except the rapier is a 1 handed weapon, and I've not got a Power Attack feat to do the math for.

For Deity, I'm going to just put Desna, but this could be a character that pays homage to Nethys, Irori, or other gods and goddesses.

I'm not using Traits for this Character, and not using Hero Points either. But feel free to ask your DM if they are available.

What to do with my Other Notes? Don't want to leave that section blank, a few sentences to comprise a brief background for this troubador will do nicely.

And this should finish Paff the Bard.

And as such, that should complete the post. Thanks for reading.

[zevonian]

And now for a third example character. Please read the previous examples first.

 

Determine Concept, start a Character Sheet, and deal with Ability Scores.
Concept: She's an archer. Yes, that's a simple description, but it is all we need for this endeavor, as I'm going for a ranged combat expert.

Character sheet: Of course I'll need a character sheet, so it's to the Control Panel -> Tools -> Character Database I go once more.
I select a new character sheet, I'll go with the name Arrole.
I make sure to select the Pathfinder template, and click Create. After that, I have a registered sheet, and can click on it and edit it as needed. I'll mention now that I had to edit it just to apply Public Permission so all of you could see it.

Here is the sheet I created.
Yes, this sheet is filled, but if you look at a blank sheet in comparison, you'll see how many boxes and lines need/needed to be filled.

Ability Scores: Going with 18,16,14,12,10,10. Consult your DM for ability score creations for any game you apply to, if it is not detailed in advance, but for this sheet, I'm using the numbers I just entered. I said I'm making a ranged combatant, so I'll put an 18 in Dexterity, because I know that Dexterity is what is used to help determine ranged attack total modifiers. Any sort of weapon based combatant could use a decent Strength and Constitution, so I'll go with 16 and 14 respectively for those. 12 in Wisdom, 10 in Charisma and Intelligence will round out the stats.

 

Pick Your Character's Race.
Choosing from the core Races again, this time I'll go with a Human. It's the most populous race in most fantasy based games I've known, and provides good bonuses for my character. I'll need to list all those Racial abilities on my sheet, and adjust various stat blocks as needed.
Some examples:
The +2 to one ability I get, I'm going to put in Dexterity, because yes you can start with a score of 20 and this will be an example of it.
Medium size, speed of 30', speaking Common, these are all conditions to put on the sheet.

 

Pick Your Class.
From the Core Class list, I have decided to go with Ranger for my class. As Ranger are described as quality hunters, able to track their quarry well, I'm getting an idea of a quiet, solitary combatant who can wound or dispatch her foes from a far.

I need to notate my sheet with 1st level Ranger Special Abilities. Favored Enemy, Track, and Wild Empathy are such abilities I need to look up and get an understanding.

Favored Enemy gives me bonuses against a specific type of enemy. Now this is where you might ask your DM what sort of "bad guys" are plentiful in the game world...but for this character, I'm just going to think up a background on the spot and suppose that the ranger she learned hunting techniques from was an old, grizzled adventurer who knew a thing or two about facing the Undead. Yes, Undead will be my 1st favored enemy, because this archer believes that foks should be either alive or dead, not in between.

Track gives me the minimum +1 to Survival skill checks involving tracking, and Wild Empathy will give me a chance to improve the attitude of a wild animal. As she doesn't have Handle Animal, or a positive Charisma modifier, I get the feeling this won't be a highly used ability, but nonetheless it is noted.

*Alignment: A Ranger can be of any alignment. Suppose this archer works for someone. Perhaps she is a bounty hunter that goes after criminals wanted dead or alive. Her targeting is based on the status she has to bring them in, and her rewards for capture are fully sanctioned. Lawful Neutral is what I shall choose for this character. In the alignemnt box, I shall fill in LN.

*Hit Die: As per last post, Maximum HP at 1st level, and note that Current HP starts at your maximum. Rangers get d10s for HD, and so I've got a base of 10. A 14 Constitution gives me a +2 modifier, which adds to my HP as well. And I shall quickly deal with the Pathfinder's Favored Class option by declaring Ranger and getting a bonus 1 HP. Thus, my Current and Maximum HP start at 13.

*Class Skills: There's a lot to choose from, thus a lot of CS boxes to check on the sheet. Rangers get 6 + INT modifier, as per class listing. No bonus because of my INT modifier, as it is a 0 due to a 10 Intelligence, but as I'm playing a Human, I get 1 extra skill point.
So this means I have 7 skills to choose from. Survival is a key skill for Rangers, and Perception is important to any class. Ride, Intimidate, Knowledges: Dungeoneering, Geography...those 4 seem to be useful for my bounty hunter idea. Stealth will round out my skill list very nicely. Note the character sheet will add a +3 proficiency to each total skill modifier to each Class Skill once I've marked the appropriate CS boxes.

*Base Attack Bonus +1. +2 to Fortitude Save, +2 to Reflex and +0 to Will Saves. I'll put those in the appropriate boxes.

*Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons. Good to know when selecting her bow later. Light and medium armor, shields (except tower). Also important to remember when dealing with equipment.

 

Choose Your Skills And Feats
Skills are finished already. All characters get 1 Feat at 1st level.
Humans get a bonus feat, so that gives me a total of two. They will be archery based feats for sure.

A lot of feats have prerequisites, ones you have to pick first. Reading through the core rules listing, it would seem that Point Blank Shot is the first prerequisite for every archery feat I can see, so I'm taking Point Blank Shot as my first feat.

I also like the looks of Precise Shot. From a descriptive sense, it makes sense a bounty hunter wouldn't want to shoot the wrong target on accident. From a mechanics point of view, I wouldn't want penalties on shots into melee, so Precise Shot is Feat #2 for this character.
That completes the selection for this 1st level character, but it's important to know that starting at 2nd level, a Ranger starts gaining feats based on the specific Combat Style they choose, and Archery is a Style of merit.

 

Choose Your Equipment.
equipment

 

Maximum Gold for a 1st level Ranger is 300 GP. That's what I will work with here, and of course I'm starting with a bow.
Going right for the table of Martial Weapons, as Rangers have proficiency with all of them.
As I look through the listings, I'll also read their descriptions in the following pages. Upon reading up on the Composite Longbow, I see that they can be built for characters with greater than average Strength. It'll take a total of 200 GP, but I can get a Composite Longbow built for +1 Strength. I like it, so I'm doing it, and now I'll enter the stats for it on my sheet. Buying 40 arrows as well, because bows need arrows.

 

Looking at the armor table, I see that Studded Leather will allow a decent AC bonus at a good price, and will allow full usage of a +5 DEX modifier. I'll add it to my sheet, mark the "Armor" box as Light, and notice how the Armor Check Penalty affects some of my skills.

 

One handed melee weapons, and light weapons, from the martial weapons table. That's what I shall work with, given the Ranger's proficiencies. A scimitar and a kukri are uncommon weapons to wield. I'll have one of each, and as I enter them on the sheet, I think of the game description possibilities of my Ranger giving the first impression of a melee master instead of an aloof archer.
Note that when inputting melee weapon damage dice, I added my STR modifier to each.

 

My equipment list will be listed like the previous character sheets have been done. Nothing fancy, all core rules material. Remaining money will be placed in the Currency section of the sheet.

 

Finishing Touches
Here is where I can find the information on alignment, as well as how to determine my character's age, height, and weight randomly, should I choose to do it that way. I've already chose the alignment, Lawful Neutral. I've already determined the HP, and saving throws, and the sheet calculated my AC after I entered my Dexterity and armor stats.

As for the attack values of my character, Total Attack Bonus for the Longbow would be my DEX modifier (+5) and my Base Attack Bonus as a 1st level Ranger (+1) which gives me a total of +6. But I do have that Feat, Point Blank Shot, to consider, so I make a note of it on the weapon listing. Attack Bonus for both scimitar and kukri would be my STR modifier (+3) and my BAB (+1) for a total of +4.

For Deity, I'm currently going to leave that blank. Note to you readers: Some DMs will have homebrew pantheons, some will have favored deities as per starting region, and some may use a pantheon from another game world setting. Always check with your potential DMs in regards to such a choice.

I'm not using Traits for this Character, and not using Hero Points either. But feel free to ask your DM if they are available.

What to do with my Other Notes? Starting gold and starting ability scores will go here. And I could add a background for the character later. For now, I'll just put bare bones mention of archery and tracking skills along with mention of being a bounty hunter.

And that should complete the character Arrole.

And that would complete the post. Thanks for reading.

[zevonian]

Addendum- the above characters do not have associated artwork/imagery with them. Should you decide you want to provide artwork to accompany any character based posts you have on site, do make sure you have the permission of the artist. Thanks.