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, 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 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.

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!

Once you have a good idea of the character you’d like to play, move on to Step 2 to start building your character.

Ancestry, Background, Class, or Details

If one of Pathfinder’s character ancestries, backgrounds, or classes particularly intrigues you, it’s easy to build a character concept around these options. The summaries of ancestries and classes 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 gnome with a stronger connection to fey magic or one who comes from the underground, or an arctic or woodland elf. Some heritages, known as versatile heritages, can even be applied to any ancestry; for instance, mortals with divine influence can be born to any ancestry as nephilim. 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.

Building a character around a specific ancestry, background, or class can be a fun way to interact with the world’s lore. Would you like to build a typical member of your character’s ancestry or class, as described in the relevant entry, or would you prefer to play a character who defies commonly held notions about their people? For example, you could play a dwarf with a wide-eyed sense of wonder and a zest for change, or a performing rogue capable of amazing acrobatic feats but with little interest in sneaking about.

You can draw your concept from any aspect of a character’s details. You can use roleplaying to challenge not only the norms of Pathfinder’s fictional world, but even real-life societal norms. Your character might challenge gender notions, explore cultural identity, have a disability, or any combination of these suggestions. Your character can live any life you see fit.

Faith

Perhaps you’d like to play a character who is a devout follower of a specific deity. Pathfinder is a rich world with myriad faiths and philosophies spanning a wide pantheon, 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 in Religion. Your character might be so drawn to a particular faith that you decide they should be a 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.

The Six Attribute Modifiers

One of the most important aspects of your character is their attribute modifiers. These numbers represent your character’s raw potential, and they influence nearly every other statistic on your character sheet. Determining your attribute modifiers is not done all at once, but instead happens over several steps during character creation.

Attribute modifiers are split into two main groups: physical and mental. Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are physical attribute modifiers, measuring your character’s physical power, agility, and stamina. In contrast, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are mental attribute modifiers and measure your character’s learned prowess, awareness, and force of personality.

Excellence in an attribute modifier improves the checks and statistics related to that ability, as described below. When imagining your character, you should also decide what attribute modifiers you want to focus on to give you the best chance at success.

Strength

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

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

Constitution measures your character’s health and stamina. Constitution is important for all characters, especially those who fight in close range. Your Constitution modifier is added to your Hit Points and Fortitude saving throws.

Intelligence

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

Wisdom measures your character’s common sense, awareness, and intuition. High Wisdom helps your character detect hidden things and resist mental effects. Your Wisdom modifier is added to your Perception and Will saving throws.

Charisma

Charisma measures your character’s personal magnetism and strength of personality. A high Charisma modifier helps you build relationships and influence the thoughts and moods of others with social skills.

Attribute Modifier Overview

Each attribute modifier starts at +0, representing the human average, but as you make character choices, you’ll adjust these modifiers by applying attribute boosts, which increase an attribute modifier, and attribute flaws, which decrease an attribute modifier. As you build your character, remember to apply attribute modifier adjustments when making the following decisions.

Ancestry: Each ancestry provides attribute boosts, and sometimes an attribute flaw. If you are taking any voluntary flaws, apply them in this step.

Background: Your character’s background provides two attribute boosts.

Class: Your character’s class applies an attribute boost to their key attribute: the attribute modifier most important for that class.

Four Free Boosts: After the other steps, you apply four more attribute boosts to attributes of your choice to finalize your starting attribute modifiers.

Attribute Boosts

An attribute boost normally increases an attribute modifier’s value by 1. However, if the attribute modifier to which you’re applying an attribute boost is already +4 or higher, instead mark “partial boost” on the character sheet for that attribute. If the attribute already has a partial boost invested in it, increase the modifier by 1 and uncheck the box. At 1st level, a character can never have any attribute modifier that’s higher than +4.

When your character receives an attribute boost, the rules indicate whether it must be applied to a specific attribute modifier, to one of a limited list, or whether it is a “free” attribute boost that can be applied to any attribute modifier of your choice. Dwarves, for example, receive an attribute boost to their Constitution modifier and their Wisdom modifier, as well as one free attribute boost, which can be applied to any other attribute.

When you gain multiple attribute boosts at the same time, you must apply each one to a different modifier. This means you can’t apply a partial boost to an attribute modifier and apply another boost simultaneously to increase it.

Attribute Flaws

Attribute flaws are not nearly as common in Pathfinder as attribute boosts. If your character has an attribute flaw—likely from their ancestry—you decrease that attribute modifier by 1.

Ancestries

*Any character can choose to take two free boosts instead of the listed boosts and flaws.

Dwarf

Dwarves are a short, stocky people who are often stubborn, fierce, and devoted.

Attribute Boosts* Constitution, Wisdom, Free
Attribute Flaw* Charisma

Elf

Elves are a tall, long-lived people with a strong tradition of art and magic.

Attribute Boosts* Dexterity, Intelligence, Free
Attribute Flaw* Constitution

Gnome

Gnomes are short and hardy folk, with an unquenchable curiosity and eccentric habits.

Attribute Boosts* Constitution, Charisma, Free
Attribute Flaw* Strength

Goblin

Goblins are a short, scrappy, energetic people who have spent millennia maligned and feared.

Attribute Boosts* Dexterity, Charisma, Free
Attribute Flaw* Wisdom

Halfling

Halflings are a short, resilient people who exhibit remarkable curiosity and humor.

Attribute Boosts* Dexterity, Wisdom, Free
Attribute Flaw* Strength

Human

Humans are diverse and adaptable people with wide potential and deep ambitions.

Attribute Boosts* Two free attribute boosts
Attribute Flaw* —

Leshy

Leshies are immortal nature spirits placed in small plant bodies, seeking to experience the world.

Attribute Boosts* Constitution, Wisdom, Free
Attribute Flaw* Intelligence

Orc

Orcs are proud, strong people with hardened physiques who value physical might and glory in combat.

Attribute Boosts* Two free attribute boosts
Attribute Flaw* —

Versatile Heritages

These heritages can be chosen for a member of any ancestry.

Changeling

Changelings are the children of malevolent hags, born with occult magic and the potential to hear a psychic Call.

Nephilim

Nephilim are influenced by the divine magic of the Outer Sphere, often with fiendish or celestial features.

Mixed Ancestry

Create a character, such as a half-elven aiuvarin or an orc-blooded dromaar, who comes from multiple ancestries.

Classes

**A character receives an attribute boost to their class's key attribute.

Bard

The bard distracts foes and inspires allies with skilled performances and secrets of the occult.

Key Attribute** Charisma
Secondary Attributes Constitution, Dexterity

Cleric

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

Key Attribute** Wisdom
Secondary Attributes Charisma, Constitution

Druid

The druid uses the magic of the natural world to bolster allies and strike down enemies.

Key Attribute** Wisdom
Secondary Attributes Constitution, Dexterity

Fighter

The fighter is a master of weapons, martial techniques, and powerful attack combinations.

Key Attribute** Dexterity or Strength
Secondary Attributes Constitution

Ranger

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

Key Attribute** Dexterity or Strength
Secondary Attributes Constitution, Wisdom

Rogue

The rogue is a multitalented master of skulduggery who strikes when enemies least expect it.

Key Attribute** Dexterity or other
Secondary Attributes Charisma, Constitution

Witch

The witch casts spells and hexes learned through a powerful familiar from a mysterious patron.

Key Attribute** Intelligence
Secondary Attributes Dexterity, Wisdom

Wizard

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

Key Attribute** Intelligence
Secondary Attributes Dexterity, Constitution

Your Allies

You might want to coordinate with other players when forming your character concept. Your characters could have something in common already; perhaps they are relatives, or travelers from the same village, or maybe they met each other during a different adventure in their backstory. 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 heal and support their allies. However, Pathfinder’s classes include a lot of choices, and there are many options for building each type of character, so don’t let these broad categories restrict your decisions.

Character Sheet

Once you’ve developed your character’s concept, jot down a few sentences summarizing your ideas under the Notes section on the third page of your character sheet. Record any of the details you’ve already decided, such as your character’s name, on the appropriate lines on the first page.