Repost, then new stuff. This is all for our
Pathfinder campaign, which is a third-party expansion/revision of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition.
Ability Scores
The first thing to think about before you start playing D&D is what sort of character you'd like to have. Do you want to be fast or tough? Smart or wise? Would you rather talk your way out of trouble or fight? These traits are quantified as ability scores, of which there are six.
Strength: How physically strong you are. It helps you swing melee weapons harder, carry more stuff, and jump, climb, or swim.
Dexterity: How nimble you are. You act sooner in combat, you're more accurate with ranged attacks, and you're acrobatic and stealthy.
Constitution: How physically tough you are. Determines how much health you have and how good you are at shrugging off things like poison.
Intelligence: How logical and adaptable your mind is. Intelligent characters are better at learning skills, speaking languages, and casting certain kinds of arcane magic.
Wisdom: How perceptive and insightful you are. More intuitive than the sort of mental abilities governed by intelligence, wisdom gives you keener senses, deeper understanding and common sense, and a closer connection to nature and the gods.
Charisma: How strong-willed you are. You're charming, influential, and passionate, and you channel arcane magic in a more intuitive way than people who use intelligence.
Now for the numbers. Each of these six scores ranges from 3 to 18, with 10 or 11 being average for the random peasant you'll meet on the road. There are several ways to determine what numbers you get (including rolling randomly), but we will be using "
point buy." That means you start with all 10s, and you get a pool of points you can use to improve them. Use
this calculator, and choose "
High Fantasy (20 Points)." If you want a good spread of stats, try this:
16, 14, 13, 12, 10, 10. Bear in mind that there are diminishing returns, so if you want an 18, you'll be sacrificing a lot in other areas. That might be a good idea for someone like a Wizard, who really only needs Intelligence and enough Constitution and Dexterity to survive. In general,
even ability scores are better than odd ones because of the way modifiers work.
Speaking of which, every skill has a modifier associated with it. Usually, you don't use the full score when determining bonuses to things like attack rolls and skill checks.
3: -4
4, 5: -3
6, 7: -2
8, 9: -1
10, 11: 0
12, 13: +1
14, 15: +2
16, 17: +3
18, 19: +4
20, 21: +5
For example, if you've got 14 Dexterity, you have a +2 Dex modifier, which you would write in the box next to it. You add +2 to all initiative checks, ranged attack rolls, and Dexterity-based skill checks.
So, pick two or three of these stats that sound like they would describe your character, then try to match them up with the eleven available classes. If you see one of the "Advanced" base classes that appeals to you more (Cavalier, Summoner, Magus, Gunslinger, Oracle, Alchemist, Witch, Inquisitor), talk to me and I might make an exception. I'll warn you now that Gunslinger is not a very good class, and I don't really want to deal with guns in this campaign.
Classes
A class is a collection of abilities that you can use to approach the various problems presented to you throughout your career as a Dungeons & Dragons character. Most of those problems involve monsters' faces, and most of your abilities involve applying pain thereto. I'll divide the class list according to how much magic is available to each. Remember, a decent Constitution is important to everyone.
Pure Martial Classes
These classes have no spellcasting capability. They may have some powers that border on the supernatural or have a mystical flavor (like the Monk), but none of them will be shooting lasers out of their brains. They are typically simpler to use, start out stronger, and grow in power linearly.
Barbarian: HUEG MUSCLE SMASH THING. You're a powerful warrior with a connection to your bestial nature, and you can work yourself into a mindless rage to get really powerful for a short time. You'd rather take a hit than dodge it. One big difference; Pathfinder changed it so that your rage ends when you fall unconscious. Because this is potentially lethal, I am waiving this change.
Abilities: Strength, Constitution.
Fighter: Instead of pummeling things with pure force like a barbarian, fighters pummel things with
finesse. Your training manifests in the fact that you get more feats than anyone else, which are small passive boosts like traits in GW2. There's nothing saying you have to be Swordy McSwordguy, either; you can easily build a ranged fighter, for example. While you do have more raw combat ability and versatility than other classes, that only goes so far; the Fighter is notorious for being one of the most underpowered core classes. To that end, I'll be judiciously applying some improvements. If anyone decides to make a fighter, I'll be more specific.
Abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution.
Monk: You don't need weapons or armor. You just punch, kick, and wrestle your way to victory, using quick flurry attacks instead of a single heavy blow. You're incredibly agile, and your disciplined spirit gives you access to
ki to enhance your attacks. Like the Fighter, the Monk is also currently kind of lackluster, so I'll be improving it too. For now, I definitely know that I will be granting Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat and letting you use Wisdom instead of Strength to boost your melee damage. I will probably also make
the Qinggong variant standard.
Abilities: Dexterity, Wisdom.
Rogue: Your weapons may be a lot smaller, but they sure hurt a lot. As long as an enemy is distracted by your giant friend, you get a massive damage bonus when you bury your dagger into his kidney. Do you also want more skills than anyone else? Sure, here you go. Sneak, flip, trick, and burgle everything.
Abilities: Dexterity, Intelligence.
Partial Spellcasting Classes
These classes either don't get magic immediately, or they get it more slowly than their full casting counterparts. They're a decent mix if you want to get a taste for how combat works, but would rather save the complicated stuff for later.
Bard: Can't decide what you want to do? Then be a bard, and do everything. Skills, support spells, and a unique ability called bardic music that inspires everyone around you to do what they do better. The spells you cast are arcane (i.e. like a wizard's), but they're generally the least flashy kind. Illusions and mental compulsions are the order of the day, not fireballs or demon summoning.
Abilities: Charisma, Dexterity, Intelligence.
Paladin: Lawful Good is Lawful Great.™ As a holy warrior chosen by your god, you seek out injustice and smack it with your massive glowing sword. Heal wounds and disease with a touch, stand as a bastion of courage for your allies, and smite evildoers. And hey, free magic horse.
Abilities: Strength, Charisma, Constitution.
Ranger: You're a hunter, tracker, and survivalist. Pick a suite of fighting abilities that fits your lightly-armored style. Your affinity with nature gives you a few magical abilities and an animal companion.
Abilities: Dexterity or
Strength, Wisdom.
Full Spellcasting Classes
You get new spells every level, and they get as powerful as they can possibly get. These classes tend to start weak, but gain power quadratically until they're world-breakingly strong. If this campaign gets to high levels, I will keep a close eye on your capabilities so that you don't overshadow your non-magical allies. I'd rather this be fun for everyone than just have the wizard show off.
Cleric: You're not a squishy cloth-wearing priest. While Pathfinder has attenuated the combat abilities of clerics somewhat, you still have enough mettle to hold your own on the front line. Don't feel like you have to be a heal-bot, either; you are one of the most powerful spellcasters in the game.
Abilities: Wisdom, Charisma.
Druid: Instead of the gods, your divine spells are drawn from the power of nature itself. Not only does this let you call down lightning bolts and summon animals to fight for you, but you also have the power to transform into an animal of your choosing. This works slightly differently in Pathfinder than 3.5, so don't neglect your physical ability scores.
Abilities: Wisdom.
Sorcerer: You don't study arcane magic; it's literally in your blood. One of your distant ancestors was a magical creature, and you tap that latent energy to produce magic through sheer passion. While you can't learn as many spells as a wizard, you can cast what you know more often and on the fly.
Abilities: Charisma.
Wizard: You're not some cocky sorcerer with magic blood; your command of magic comes through years of rigorous research. You carefully prepare spells ahead of time for a given day, and the breadth of your knowledge means that with appropriate forethought, you can do almost anything.
Abilities: Intelligence.
What if you can't decide on one class? Every time you take a new level, you can pick a different class. So after one level as a bard, you can choose to take the second-level abilities for a bard or the first-level abilities for a sorcerer. Some classes like Monk and Paladin require you to maintain a lawful alignment, while Barbarians cannot be lawful. It's hard to make some combinations work (arcane casters have trouble with armor), so some hybrids might have alternatives (the Magus is like a Fighter/Wizard). Try to stick to two or three classes total, otherwise you end up diluting yourself. This can get complicated, though, and there's nothing wrong with sticking with one class all the way; Pathfinder encourages it.
Race
The next big thing that determines what sort of character you have is your race. Pathfinder gives the standard complement of Tolkien-esque races, but I might make alternatives. We'll do a poll.
Humans, Half-Elves, and Half-Orcs get a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice. Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, and Gnomes have set ability score adjustments, but they get +2 to two and -2 to one. That's in addition to whatever you put into the point-buy calculator, so you can have one ability score as high as 20. Beyond that, each one gets some unique options. When in doubt, go with a human; you can excel at anything you choose. Otherwise, Half-Elves are good multiclassers, Half-Orcs are bruisers, Dwarves are tanks, Elves are casters, Halflings are sneaks, and Gnomes are crafters.
