Any advice for something to help me build a pc?
Hero Lab or PCGen.
HL costs money (more money for more books) but is more up to date. PCGen is free, but falls out of date more quickly because it's all volunteer work.
Neither will be 100% accurate at all times, so knowing how to build properly is essential.
Thanks, I'll look into those!
If you are willing to pay for it, Hero Lab is amazing. I find it an invaluable GM tool.
Hero lab is fantastic.
Notepad. ; )
Things like Hero Lab are, IMHO, a trap. Once you're really familiar with the rules you can make characters very quickly and easily. When you're not familiar the process can be daunting, but diving into it and doing it yourself is the best way to learn. I say Hero Lab is a trap because it tries to do all the learning for you, but a) the system is so complicated it will get things wrong if you're not on top of it and b) you'll never really learn the system so long as you rely on it.
Notepad, it's the jogging and broccoli of gaming. Not too fun, harder work, but good for you in the long run.
This is definitely a danger, but it can also be a helpful learning tool by flagging errors that you make. Also, you can try to build something manually yourself and then see what you might have done wrong after you transfer it to Hero Lab.
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I started using Hero lab 5 years ago. I spent the 25 years prior to that making characters by hand and I'll never do that again. HL saves me a lot of time and that is hugely valuable at this point in my life (career, kids, etc).
HL stays pretty up-to-date; they're usually about 1 month behind Paizo on content (in other words, last month's Paizo book are usually in this months HL update). As someone would expect, H: does have some bugs and errors. Lone wolf does a good job of squashing the bugs and monthly updates help to eliminate errors once they're identified. The character sheet errors I've caught have never been anything egregious.
HL is expensive if you try to buy the whole thing up front. My advice would be to try out the demo version first. If you like it, buy the basic package, then start adding books as you need them or only buy the books that contain the options you want to use.
Lastly, if you're a GM, HL is invaluable. If you're a player only, it might not be as useful to you because there will be so much utility you won't use.
-Skeld
I use HeroLab and love it, even though I was very skeptical at first. But I've gone from being a "but paging through a dozen hardcovers and a stack of Player Companions is part of it!" guy to being an own-every-single-expansion true believer. That said, I invest in a heavy triple library. I think I have pdfs of every single Pathfinder product (and the 3.5 stuff in what became the Modules, Player Companions, and Campaign Setting lines), I have all the hardcovers and an ever growing number of Player Companions, Campaign Settings, and Modules in print, and I, as stated, purchase every update HeroLab puts out. These days I go for an integrated approach using all three libraries as sources when designing/rolling up characters, supplemented by visits to the Archives of Nethys. There are simply so many options out there, it would be impossible for me to "see" everything at once without the software.
Now, that said, I also greatly dig occasionally playing or designing with nothing but the Core Rulebook, which I can almost wrap my head around in its entirety. In those cases, I use a Rhodia notebook and a Mirado Black Warrior #2 pencil.
In other words, it's all good.
Tried them both and i must say i really like Hero lab... It is indeed pricy :-(
I am in doubt what I should take... The ranger and Druid classes.. 60 dollars... Or different books.. For 60 dollars I can buy a lot of books and have all options open...
Being a broke college student, I prefer to use the 3.75 Character Generator. It's not perfect, and woedfully out of date (the creator stopped working on it back around the Advanced Player's Guide), however I find it an invaluable tool in creating NPCs. By getting the basics out of the way quickly (stats, skills, # of feats, etc), it frees up a lot of time to help me figure out the more personalized mechanics of each NPC I make. Again, the program isn't perfect and requires some getting used to, but it is free. If you like it enough to use it often, you can buy a code at the bottom for $7 which allows you to save and load loadouts.
Hero Lab is worth the investment. You just missed out on a major sale where they gave away most of the packages at a very low price.
Does Hero Labs do anything for GM's beside NPC/character creation? (Not that that isn't helpful. :-) ) For example: Does it have any tools for adventure design? Can the character files be exported to other software? (I'm thinking stat blocks in an adventure.)
Thanks in advance!
No tools for adventure design (for that you need Realm Works, by the same company, but that's more a campaign management tool and has a pretty steep learning curve), but yes it's quite capable of exporting a statblock.
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Does Hero Labs do anything for GM's beside NPC/character creation? (Not that that isn't helpful. :-) ) For example: Does it have any tools for adventure design? Can the character files be exported to other software? (I'm thinking stat blocks in an adventure.)
Thanks in advance!
Hero lab does not have a lot of tools for creating adventures other than the encounter builder. What it does have is tools to run the actual encounter. The tactical console allows you to keep track of the combat. Hero lab also allows you to apply conditions, spells and just about any other game effect to any participant in the combat. This is an incredibly valuable tool for a GM running complex encounter with spell casters on both sides.
It also has a dice roller so you can make multiple rolls with a single click of the button. This can really speed up combat. I just ran an encounter where the party faced over a hundred opponents. Normally this would be a nightmare leading to bored players. Because of the dice roller the monsters turn took less time than the players. Try making a 50+ saves with dice and figuring out the results. It also allows you to make rolls without the players realizing it.