Character Creation Outline
1) Determine Ability Scores
Rules for ability score generation can be found in House Rules: Ability Scores.
- Point-Buy: all ability scores start at 8, 10 point-buy.
- Roll: 3d6, 1s become 2s.
You can then increase two different ability scores by 1. Your beggining ability scores will further change as you select your race, your background, and your class.
2) Choose a Race
Pick a race, and its racial traits. You may select alternate physical traits by swapping them with the appropriate default traits. You also get to select 2 cultural traits in addition to your physical traits. Each race lists the languages a character of that race automatically knows, as well as a number of bonus languages it may learn. A character knows a number of additional bonus languages equal to his or her Intelligence modifier.
Available races can be found in the Races section of Legends of Celesia.
3) Choose an Ethnicity
Pick an ethnicity. Your ethnicity is the culture and traditions your character grew up with, based on a mix of ancestry, region, and religion. You gain a starting language and gain a proficiency skill increase in a skill specific to your ethnicity.
4) Choose a Background
Pick a background. Your background is your life before you completed your training in your chosen profession. You gain a +2 bonus to an ability score, a proficiency skill increase, and a bonus feat specific to your background.
5) Choose a Class
Pick your starting profession, such as fighter or wizard. Each class one or more key ability scores. Select one key ability score, and add +2 to it. Applying the key ability score can only be done at your 1st character level; you do not apply the key ability score boost when you multiclass into a new class. Prestige classes do not have a key ability score.
Favored Class: Each character begins play with a single favored class of his choosing—typically, this is the same class as the one he chooses at 1st level. Whenever a character gains a level in his favored class, he receives either a +1 hit point or a +1 skill rank, although certain races may have a different option. The choice of favored class cannot be changed once the character is created, and the choice of gaining a hit point or a skill rank each time a character gains a level (including his first level) cannot be changed once made for a particular level. Prestige classes can never be a favored class.
6) Allocate Skill Proficiencies and Ranks
Determine the number of skill ranks your character gets based on his class and Intelligence modifier (and any other bonuses, such as the bonus received by humans). Then allocate these ranks to desired skills, but remember that you cannot have more ranks than your level in any one skill (for a starting character, this is usually one).
Each level thereafter, your character gains a number of skill ranks dependent upon your class plus your Intelligence modifier. Investing a rank in a skill represents a measure of training in that skill.
Your skills with no ranks start at the novice proficiency level.
Class Skills: Each class has a number of favored skills, called class skills. Class skills begin at the skilled proficiency level, even with no ranks allocated to them. If you select a feat or a trait that adds a non-class skill to your class skills, your proficiency increases by one level. If you add at least 1 rank to a class skill, your proficiency also increases by one level.
After updating the proficiency level of your class skills, choose which skills to apply your two proficiency skill increases from being 1st-level and from your Background. Your maximum proficiency in any skill at 1st level is expert.
See House Rules: Skills.
7) Choose Feats
Pick your starting feat. This can be any type of feat as long as you meet the prerequisites. You gain a new feat at every level.
Next, pick a racial feat appropriate for your race. Aside from being the appropriate race, you must meet all other prerequisites for that racial feat. You gain another racial feat at 4th-level and every three levels thereafter.
Your class and race may grant additional feats at 1st level.
8) Determine Starting Hit Points
You start with maximum hit points (the maximum number on your class Hit Die) at your 1st character class level. Add your Strength and Constitution modifiers to your starting hit points.
9) Get Equipped
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. Usually you cannot use this starting money to buy magic items or use it for crafting without the consent of your GM. The starting amount of gold is the maximum possible result of the class' formula.
Making a Character Above 1st level: If you are creating a character or creature at a level other than 1st you should consult your GM and the Wealth for Higher Level PC’s table to determine your starting gold. See Table: Character Wealth by Level for details. You may use a magic item's crafting cost if you have the appropriate feats to craft them.
Table: Character Wealth by Level
| PC Level | Wealth |
|---|---|
| 2 | 2,500 gp |
| 3 | 7,000 gp |
| 4 | 15,000 gp |
| 5 | 27,500 gp |
| 6 | 45,500 gp |
| 7 | 70,000 gp |
| 8 | 102,000 gp |
| 9 | 142,500 gp |
| 10 | 192,500 gp |
| 11 | 253,000 gp |
| 12 | 325,000 gp |
| 13 | 409,500 gp |
| 14 | 507,500 gp |
| 15 | 620,000 gp |
| 16 | 748,000 gp |
| 17 | 892,500 gp |
| 18 | 1,054,500 gp |
| 19 | 1,235,000 gp |
| 20 | 1,435,000 gp |
10) Determine Saving Throws, Initiative, and Attack Values.
Determine all of the character’s other mechanical details, such as his or her saving throws, initiative modifier, and attack values. All of these numbers are determined by the decisions made in previous steps, usually determined by your class choice.
11) Description & Personality
Choose or make up a name for your character (or generate one randomly!), determine his or her age, alignment, and physical appearance (such as height, weight, eye and hair color etc). It is helpful to think of a few unique personality traits as well, to help you play the character during the game.
Middle-aged, old, and venerable age categories no longer give bonuses to Intelligent, Wisdom, and Charisma. Age penalties to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution still apply.
12) Character Background
The following is optional, but will really help flesh out your character, give a direction for your character, and provide plot hooks for the GM to develop into the story.
- Write a short background for your character (about 3 sentences minimum, more if you like).
- Write out 3 beliefs that your character has. This is your character's core philosophy. Example: "all creatures should live free", "dark elves are irredeemably evil", "everyone has their price", "death before dishonour".
- Write a short-term, medium-term, and long-term goal for your character:
- Short-term goal: A goal that is precise, and that you know exactly how to accomplish it in the foreseeable future. Example: "get promotion from private to corporal", "earn enough gold to buy magic sword", "defeat bandits preying on my village". Be prepared to develop new short-term goals as previous ones get completed.
- Medium-term goal: A goal that you know how to accomplish, but that would take time and a lot of work. Example: "establish a thieves' guild in a known city", "eliminate the evil sorcerer in the neighboring nation", "get married".
- Long-term goal: A goal that would take a lifetime to accomplish, the eventual ending point to your character's career. Example: "rule over a multi-nation empire", "craft an eternal artifact", "establish a world-renown school of martial arts".
13) Fate Aspects and Points
Create 5 character aspects for your character (see Fate System for an explanation on aspects and the Fate system in general). You start with 5 Fate points.
14) Other (Starting Spells)
If your character is a wizard (or any class that uses spellbooks) then you need to pick spells. A wizard begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level wizard spells (except those from his prohibited schools, if any; see Arcane Schools) plus three 1st-level wizard spells of his choice. The wizard also selects a number of additional 1st-level wizard spells equal to his Intelligence modifier to add to the spellbook. At each new wizard level, he gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that he can cast (based on his new wizard level) for his spellbook. At any time, a wizard can also add spells found in other wizards’ spellbooks to his own (see Magic).
Creating a New Character for a Pre-Existing Party
New characters joining a pre-existing party start at the level of the lowest level character in the group.
Allowed Material
- All Paizo Pathfinder 1E material. (Source: Archive of Nethys)
- All Wizards of the Coast/Paizo D&D 3.5 edition material. (Source: DNDTools)
- Dreamscarred Press Psionic, Path of War, and Akashic material.
- Spheres of Power and Spheres of Might material.
- Legendary Games PF1 material in general (check with GM).
- For any other 3rd-party material, check with GM.