PCs

Building a Hero

Halfling ???

Picture your favorite hero- for me this is a literal thing. When I start creating a character, I start with a general idea--mage, fighter, thief, cleric--that usually includes class, his/her job in the gaming world, but also race and gender. Take the image to the right... Who is she? Halfling yes, but who is she? Why is she an adventurer? Why does she have a shadowy serpent around her arm? Also, no visible weapons or armor... and her smile, she knows something I don't. I already have Step One out of the way, but I'll take a moment and review what it means to be a halfling in Pathfinder or 4e. For the purposes of this- I'll stick to Pathfinder (It's all online for free and will be the system I'll use for the D&D club in the coming years)

Step 1—Choose a Core Race / Advanced Race

Core races are open in all gaming worlds with few exceptions- They are the classic races of Fantasy-Advanced races tend to be more powerful than the core races with magical abilities and ties to the heavens or the elemental planes. These are available only with a DM's approval. For our purposes here, we'll stick to the Core Races. (Kindred Races & Plane Touched can be found at these links)

Rockdwellers: proud creatures of their undermountain homes

• Dwarves +2 Con; +2 Wis; -2 Cha (Core Race)

Fey: mysterious creatures of the Feywild- an outer world bound to nature and the wild  

• Elves +2 Dex; +2 Int; -2 Con (Core Race)
• Gnomes +2 Con; +2 Cha; -2 Str (Core Race)

Humankin: The dominant race of most game world-Humans have mingled their bloodlines creating half species across the planes

• Humans +2 to any 1 ability score (Core Race)
• Half-Elves +2 to any 1 ability score (Core Race)
• Half-Orcs  +2 to any 1 ability score (Core Race)
• Halfling +2 Dex; +2 Cha; -2 Str (Core Race)

As a halfling, she's a quick (+2 Dex), charming (+2 Cha) individual by nature but, due to her small size, weaker (-2 Str) than most. More importantly for now, she needs to roll her abilities: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma, but before that I'd like to firm up who she is in the gaming world and choose her class. 

Step 2—Determine Class  (Core / Advanced / Advanced Core)

Arcane, Divine, or Martial Classes are the 3 main categories of classes in Pathfinder and determine what a PCs role is in the party, the gaming world, and limits their actions in fundamental ways. This is overly simplistic as there is a lot of overlap between different classes and their roles, but it's a start.

Arcane: Arcane players are wielders of dark magics and are best suited to the fringes of combat where they can direct their spell to greatest effect

• Core: Bard, Sorcerer, or Wizard
• Advanced: Alchemist, Magus, Summoner, or Witch

Divine: Divine players lead the party through their Charisma and divine powers (healing, rebuking the undead, tactical spells that target foes of their deity)

• Core: Cleric, Druid, or Paladin
• Advanced: Inquisitor or Oracle

Martial: Martial players wade into combat on steed or in full plate and deal out constant damage or skirt around the edges and strike the unaware from the shadows.

• Core: Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, or Rogue
• Advanced: Cavalier (Samurai), Gunslinger, or Ninja (Rogue)

I know the suggested order of events for character creation starts with rolling ability scores, but before I begin, I like to have a firm character concept in mind that includes class and lets me know what I'm shooting for. For our halfling, I'm torn between a Sorcerer with an Elemental Pact, a Summoner, or oddly enough a Cleric with Trickery and Darkness as her domains. Having never played a Summoner before, I'll give that a try as it seems to fit her concept.

Step 3—Determine Ability Scores

STRength: Melee attacks, B&E, Damage Bonus, Physical Skills
DEXterity: aides in Reflex Saves, adds to Armor Class, Ranged Attacks
CONstitution: aides in Fortitude Saves, adds to HP, Endurance Checks
INTelligence: +Bonus Languages, Skill Points/Lvl, Bonus Spells- Wizards, Witches, and Alchemists
WISdom: aides in Will Saves, Sense Skills, Bonus Spells Divine Characters
CHArisma: Personality and Leadership, Bonus Spells Bards, Sorcerers, Summoner, and Oracles



In the coming years, players will roll up their characters as in the days of old (ie 2e which I grew up with) with Pathfinder using a variation of the 4d6 drop the lowest- The Dice Pool


Dice Pool: (From Core Rulebook) Each character has a pool of 24d6 to assign to his statistics. Before the dice are rolled, the player selects the number of dice to roll for each score, with a minimum of 3d6 for each ability. Once the dice have been assigned, the player rolls each group and totals the result of the three highest dice. For more high-powered games, the GM should increase the total number of dice to 28. Depending on the results- I'd allow Players to shift 2 scores around to meet the requirements of their class or character concept.

Halfling Summoner

STR: 3d6-2 (Results: 2, 4, 4 -2) = 8
DEX: 5d6+2 (Results: 1, 3, 3, 4, 6 +2) = 15
CON: 4d6 (Results: 2, 2, 6, 6) = 14
INT: 4d6 (Results: 1, 3, 4, 5) = 12
WIS: 3d6 (Results: 2, 2, 5) = 9
CHA: 5d6+2 (Results: 1, 4, 5, 6, 6 +2) = 19

Ability Modifiers: +/- to dice rolls on skills and abilities that rely on that attribute- Example- Swim (STR Skill) gets a -1 to all rolls because of her low strength. 

STR: 8 (-1)
DEX: 15 (+2)
CON: 14 (+2)
INT: 12 (+1)
WIS: 9 (-1)
CHA: 19 (+4) Bonus Spells: 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 (1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th)

Step 3a—Fill in the Blanks

Using the Class and Racial traits, fill in other areas of the Player's Sheet.

Languages: Common, Halfling, & Elven (+1 Int from Halfling Language List)

Initiative: +2 (determines order of actions in combat- d20 + Dex modifier + other mods)

CMB: (-1 Small Size)
CMD: (-1 Small Size)

HP: 8 [d8+2 (Dice roll 6 +2 Con modifier)]

Saving Throws- Halflings get a +1 Racial Bonus to ALL saves (Halfling Luck); Summoner gives a +2 to Will

Fortitude: +3
Reflex: +3
Will: +2 (-1 Wis, +1 Racial Bonus, +2 Class) +4 vs. Fear (+2 Fearless- Halfling Trait)

Racial Traits: Size- Small; Slow-Speed (20'/round) 


Step 4—Pick Skills and Select Feats: (From Core Rulebook) Determine the number of skill ranks possessed by your character, based on his class and Intelligence modifier (and any other bonuses, such as the bonus received by humans). Then spend these ranks on skills, but remember that you cannot have more ranks than your level in any one skill (for a starting character, this is usually one). After skills, determine how many feats (bonus features that give each PC an edge) your character receives, based on his class and level, and select them from those presented in Feats.

4a-SKILLS: The summoner's class skills are Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).  Trained Class Skills get an additional +3 on top of Ranks and Ability Modifiers. Roll d20 + Skill and compare it the DC of a desired outcome-

Skill Ranks: 2 +Int modifier +1 Favored Class (instead of +1 HP) = 4 Ranks at 1st level

Ride: +6 [+3 (class skill) +2 (Dex) +1 (rank)]
Spellcraft: +5 [+3 (class skill) +1 (Int) +1 (rank)]
Use Magical Device: +8 [+3 (class skill) +4 (Cha) +1 (rank)]
Bluff: +5 [+4 (Cha) +1 (rank); No Class Skill bonus]
Perception: +1 [+2 Keen Senses-Racial Trait; -1 Wis]
Acrobatics: +4 [+2 Sure-Footed-Racial Trait; +2 Dex]
Climb: +1 [+2 Sure-Footed-Racial Trait; -1 Str]
Stealth: +6 [+4 Small Size; +2 Dex) 

4b-FEATS- Dodge (+1 dodge bonus to AC)


Step 5—Buy Equipment: (From Core Rulebook) Each new character begins the game with an amount of gold, based on his class, that can be spent on a wide range of equipment and gear, from chainmail armor to leather to backpacks. This gear helps your character survive while adventuring. Generally speaking, you cannot use this starting money to buy magic items without the consent of your GM.

See Silver Standard (link) for an alternate GP system

Splug Links: Daily Equipment & Adventuring Gear


Summoners, as a Wizard class, get 2d6 x10 GP on starting wealth. (Dice rolls of 2 & 4 gives me 60 GP to spend). First on my list is some armor- 

- Leather Armor adds to my AC (+2) along side my Dex (+2), Small Size (+1), Dodge (+1) and only costs 10 GP (Final AC: 16)

• AC: 16 
• Touch AC:14 (-2 for Leather Armor which doesn't make me harder to touch)
• Flat-Footed AC: 14 (-2 from Dex as you are surprised- armor protects as normal)

Weapons: I don't count on her wading into battle often and she is only proficient with Simple Weapons to boot, and as a Small sized character her weapons deal less damage too. Her spells should make up for that though. She does get a +1 Size bonus to attack rolls

A dagger is essential, 2 are better- 1 on her belt, 1 in her boot (4 GP), Sling (free) + 20 Bullets (2 SP), Spear (2 GP) 

Dagger- 
Sling- 
Spear- 

Equipment: Backpack (2 GP); Bedroll (1 SP); Winter Blanket (5 SP); 1 2-lb bag caltrops (1 GP); Small Mirror, steel (10 GP); Ink- 1 oz (8 GP); Parchment- 5 sheets (1 GP); Ink Pen (1 SP); Belt Pouch (1 GP); Rations- 5 days (25 SP); Signal Whistle (8 SP); Waterskin (1 GP); Explorer's Outfit (10 GP) 

GP: 5 / SP: 8

Step 6—Finishing Details: earlier choices determine many of the finishing touches including HP, AC, Saves, initiative modifiers...

Lastly, you need to decide how to play your character- this includes using your ability scores as a guide- but also determining your character's alignment (her outlook on the world and how she sees herself in it and interacts with others).

You should have a few notes jotted down on your physical appearance (any scars, wounds, birthmarks?) and personality traits- If your DM allows them, this is a perfect place to use Traits- minor feats that add to your character's backstory. Additional rules, like age, height, weight, and how much you can carry can be found under Additional Rules. The icing if you already don't already have it, is to settle on your character's name.

End Notes: For most characters this is the end of character creation- for Arcane and Divine characters there is still the matter of spells, Deities, and other class powers.