This section summarizes the rules found elsewhere in this chapter.

Modes of Play

This game presents three main methods of structuring play. Encounter mode is highly structured and is most often used for combat or stressful situations. Everyone in an encounter rolls initiative to determine the order they act, with highest results going first. A participant takes their turn when their initiative comes up. You can Delay to change when you take your turn.

Exploration mode takes place over minutes or hours. You use your travel Speed if you’re moving, and you engage in exploration activities like Avoiding Notice, Detecting Magic, Scouting, or Searching. You can rest for the night while exploring to recover HP and abilities, and make daily preparations at the start of each day.

Downtime mode takes place over days. You might make money, train, or recover, among other things.

Actions

During an encounter, you get 3 actions and 1 reaction per turn. Icons indicate whether your abilities take a single action [one-action], 2 actions [two-actions], 3 actions [three-actions], a reaction [reaction], or a free action [free-action]. Reactions have triggers, allowing you to take them whenever they come up. The Ready basic action lets you prepare to use a single action as a reaction. Free actions can have triggers like reactions; a free action with no trigger can be used like a single action, but don’t cost any of your actions for the turn.

The most important actions to learn are the basic actions. Specialty basic actions come up less frequently, and you typically won’t look them up until you need them. Speaking normally doesn’t take an action.

Related: Activities, disrupting actions

Rolling Checks

An action that can potentially fail requires rolling a check. Roll a d20 (20-sided die) and identify the modifiers, bonuses, and penalties that apply. Then, calculate the result, compare it to the DC (your target number), and determine the degree of success and the effect.

Most checks are modified by your attribute modifier (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma) and your proficiency modifier (untrained, trained, expert, master, or legendary) for the statistic. You might get a circumstance, status, or item bonus or penalty as well.

The degrees of success are critical success, success, failure, and critical failure. You get a success if you meet or exceed the DC, or a critical success if you exceed the DC by 10 or more. If your result is lower than the DC, you get a failure, or a critical failure if you failed by 10 or more.

Related: Flat checks, fortune and misfortune, secret checks

Effects

An effect is the rules term for anything that occurs in the game world. Effects might have limited range, and you may need to designate targets or create areas for your effects. Areas include bursts from a single point, cones blasting out from you, emanations surrounding you or another creature, or straight lines.

Effects that last for a period of time list a duration. These can last a set increment of time, or can end if certain requirements are met. Many effects apply conditions, which measure advantages or impediments like being blinded, frightened, or invisible.

Movement

Your Speed governs how far you can move. Stride is an action that has the move trait and allows you to move a number of feet up to your Speed. You may need to Stride multiple times in a turn! Move actions can often trigger reactions or free actions. However, unlike other actions, a move action can trigger reactions not only when you first use the action, but also for every 5 feet you move during that action. The Step action lets you move without triggering reactions, but only 5 feet. Other basic actions with the move trait include Crawl, Drop Prone, and Stand.

This game measures movement on a grid. Difficult terrain and other types of terrain may impede your movement.

Creatures can get tactical advantages by careful positioning. The most common are using cover from terrain and other creatures to increase your AC, and flanking, which requires you and an ally to be on the opposite sides of an enemy to reduce the enemy’s AC.

Related: Escape a grab or restraint, falling, forced movement, moving through creatures, special movement modes (burrow, climb, fly, and swim), travel speed outside of encounters

Attacking

Strike actions have the attack trait and allow you to attack with a weapon you’re wielding or an unarmed attack (such as a fist). If you’re using a melee weapon or unarmed attack, your target must be within your reach; if you’re attacking with a ranged weapon, your target must be within your range. Ranged weapons get less effective as you exceed their range increments. Striking multiple times in a turn has diminishing returns. A multiple attack penalty applies to each attack after the first.

Related: Cover, flanking enemies, spell attacks, targeting creatures

Defenses

Your Armor Class (AC) is the main DC used for attacks against you. You might also roll a type of check called a saving throw, also called a save, against spells, afflictions, and a wide variety of other effects. There are three kinds of saving throw: Fortitude, Reflex, and Will.

Damage

Attacks, spells, and other dangers deal damage. The amount is typically determined by a damage roll, which can use a variety of sizes and numbers of dice.

Damage reduces the Hit Points (HP) that measure a creature’s overall health or an object’s durability. A creature might have immunity to damage or effects of certain kinds, a resistance that reduces the damage it takes, or a weakness that increases damage it takes. These are typically keyed to damage types such as slashing damage or fire damage.

Related: Persistent damage condition

Spells

Most of the rules for casting spells are in Chapter 7. For a spell that requires an attack roll against the target’s AC, you’ll calculate your spell attack modifier. For one that causes its subject to attempt a saving throw, you’ll need your spell DC.

Related: Dismiss and Sustain basic actions

Skills

Skill checks are required for all sorts of other tasks related to adventuring and life in general. Most of their rules are in Chapter 4. Many exploration activities, such as Avoid Notice and Investigate, also use skill checks.

Perception and Detection

Your Perception modifier indicates how good you are at noticing things around you. You typically use the Seek basic action to find physical things or the Sense Motive basic action in social situations. While in exploration mode, the Search activity lets you keep an eye out for things around you.

Four main conditions indicate how well you can pinpoint and target a creature: observed, hidden, undetected, and unnoticed. A creature with the concealed or invisible condition is harder to find and target.

Related: Light, special senses

Game Conventions

Pathfinder has many specific rules, but you’ll also want to keep these general guidelines in mind when playing.

The GM Has the Final Say

If you’re ever uncertain how to apply a rule, the GM decides. Of course, Pathfinder is a game, so when adjudicating the rules, the GM is encouraged to listen to everyone’s point of view and make a decision that is both fair and fun.

Specific Overrides General

A core principle of Pathfinder is that specific rules override general ones. If two rules conflict, the more specific one takes precedence. If there’s still ambiguity, the GM determines which rule to use. For example, the rules state that when attacking a concealed creature, you must attempt a DC 5 flat check to determine if you hit. Flat checks don’t benefit from modifiers, bonuses, or penalties, but an ability that’s specifically designed to overcome concealment might override and alter this. While some special rules may also state the normal rules to provide context, you should always default to the general rules presented in this chapter, even if effects don’t specifically say to.

Rounding

You may need to calculate a fraction of a value, like halving damage. Always round down unless otherwise specified. For example, if a spell deals 7 damage and a creature takes half damage from it, that creature takes 3 damage.

Multiplying

When more than one effect would multiply the same number, don’t multiply more than once. Instead, combine all the multipliers into a single multiplier, with each multiple after the first adding 1 less than its value. For instance, if one ability doubled the duration of one of your spells and another one doubled the duration of the same spell, you would triple the duration, not quadruple it.

Duplicate Effects

When you’re affected by the same thing multiple times, only one instance applies, using the higher level or rank of the effects, or the newer effect if the two are equal. For example, if you were using mystic armor and then cast it again, you’d still benefit from only one casting of that spell. Casting a spell again on the same target might get you a better duration or effect if it were cast at a higher rank the second time, but otherwise doing so gives you no advantage.

Ambiguous Rules

Sometimes a rule could be interpreted multiple ways. If one version is too good to be true, it probably is. If a rule seems to have wording with problematic repercussions or doesn’t work as intended, work with your group to find a good solution, rather than just playing with the rule as printed.