Making my Character

[ShinsouBlue]

Hey all.

I made a character for Pathfinder for the first time and wanted to make sure that I did everything right. So here's my methodology. (Note: This is only using the core rulebook)

I decided I wanted to become a Half-Elf Cleric. First, I rolled my ability scores using the classic method which I then aligned as follows:
Strength: 12 (Mod 1)
Dexterity: 11 (Mod 1)
Constitution: 9 (Mod -1)
Intelligence: 7 (Mod -2)
Wisdom: 18 (Mod 4) (yes, I rolled a natural 18)
Charisma: 12 (Mod 1)

Thanks to me being a half elf, I added my +2 Ability score to Charisma, bringing it to 14 and my modifier to 2. After that, I listed all my specials from being a Half-Elf and gave my skill focus to Heal, giving it a +3 modifier.

As a Cleric, I checked off all my class skills. I decided to have my deity be Sarenrae and have my domains be Sun and Healing. This also follows as I am a Neutral Good Character. When I go to my spell slots, I can cast 3 0 Level Spells and 2 Level 1 Spells + 1 Domain Spell (2 Level 1 Because 1 Base + My Wisdom Modifier).

Going to skills, due to intelligence modifier, I could only get one skill point, which I put onto Spellcraft. So Spellcraft gains 1 rank putting it at 1 and, because it is a class skill, it gains a further +3 modifier to it.

For feats, I gave myself Selective Channeling.

Buying equipment: I rolled for gold and got 8, giving me 80 GP. I took Cleric Vestments as a free item, then I bought one leather armor, one buckler, one backpack, one silver holy symbol, 10 rations, one bedroll, two torches and a scimitar. In the end, I was left with 17 GP, 8 SP and 8 CP.

I calculated my AC to be 14, my initiative as 1, Fortitude as 1, Reflex as 1, Will as 6, CMB as 1, CMD as 12, Speed is 30, With Armor Speed is 30.

And that is how I made my character. Please let me know if I missed anything for the character creation and, if I did, what I should do. And if you have advice on how I built my character, please let me know as well.
Thank you!

[Fruian Thistlefoot]

When you roll stats you can plug them how you wish.

Never...I repeat NEVER have a 9 con.

Put the 12 into con and 9 into CHA.

Rule of thumb. Most channeling and healing is done between combats. It is better in Pathfinder to prevent damage than try to heal every bit of damage. Damage out paces healing. A touch up heal is not a bad thing but most the time your actions are better spent elsewhere.

Read the cleric guides and the guide called The Forge of combat.

[ShinsouBlue]

I see. Thanks for the advice Fruian.

Though, the main idea of my thread here was making sure I went through the process of character customization correctly, as in I followed all the rules of creating my character right.

I did find one error though. My Dexterity Modifier is actually 0. Read the table wrong. :p

[Matt2VK]

With your correction to Dex, everything looks right.

I do suggests that since this sounds like the very first time playing for you, that you check with your GM on how he handles character creation. There are a number of different methods out there for character creation and your GM might be using something different.

The guides Fruian suggested can be very helpfully...but, most of them are written with high end play in mind. If you're playing in a low level game, there can be a big difference.

[nicholas storm]

I would add the +2 race bonus to wisdom. With those stats, you aren't going to be effective in fighting, so the best option is to optimize your casting.

[ShinsouBlue]

I made a character to make a character mainly. I honestly don't have anyone to play the game with around me locally and I haven't found any methods to play with anyone, so, yeah. I just wanted to get a feel for character creation.

[magispitt]

I second the motion to add the bonus to wisdom, as it is your primary casting stat. The main advantage from this is that you will get twice as many bonus first level spells, but in addition to that the save dc's for all of your spells, not to mention the usages of your domain powers will increase as well. Typically one should never put constitution below ten (some would say twelve), as its directly related to HP. As they say in WoW, the DPS of a dead rogue is zero. It doesn't matter if your charisma is higher if you're dead (is a blunt way of putting it admittedly). I'd recommend at the very least switching your dex and con modifiers, clerics take no penalty for casting in armour, and heavier armours will compensate for lower dex scores nicely. Feat-wise, you did forget something I think. Half elves get skill focus as a feat, so if you choose spellcraft (which is a really nice choice btw, good job on that) you get another +3. For your other feat, what selective channel does is let you choose a number of creatures equal to your cha mod to not be affected by your channels. Even if you bumped cha to 14, you'd still only be able to exclude two combatants from your healing - which like Fruian said isn't a very effective option in combat anyway. I'd recommend something like improved initiative to compensate for your dex, or heavy armour proficiency for the armour like I said above, or combat casting for when you get in a tough spot. Hope this helps! Good luck!

Edit: just saw the skill focus now, ignore what I said about that

[ShinsouBlue]

magispitt wrote:

I second the motion to add the bonus to wisdom, as it is your primary casting stat. The main advantage from this is that you will get twice as many bonus first level spells, but in addition to that the save dc's for all of your spells, not to mention the usages of your domain powers will increase as well. Typically one should never put constitution below ten (some would say twelve), as its directly related to HP. As they say in WoW, the DPS of a dead rogue is zero. It doesn't matter if your charisma is higher if you're dead (is a blunt way of putting it admittedly). I'd recommend at the very least switching your dex and con modifiers, clerics take no penalty for casting in armour, and heavier armours will compensate for lower dex scores nicely. Feat-wise, you did forget something I think. Half elves get skill focus as a feat, so if you choose spellcraft (which is a really nice choice btw, good job on that) you get another +3. For your other feat, what selective channel does is let you choose a number of creatures equal to your cha mod to not be affected by your channels. Even if you bumped cha to 14, you'd still only be able to exclude two combatants from your healing - which like Fruian said isn't a very effective option in combat anyway. I'd recommend something like improved initiative to compensate for your dex, or heavy armour proficiency for the armour like I said above, or combat casting for when you get in a tough spot. Hope this helps! Good luck!

Edit: just saw the skill focus now, ignore what I said about that

Actually, I thought the stats couldn't go past 18. Can they? I guess this is what happens when you play Baldur's Gate for a bit. :p

[Lamontius]

looks like you did everything pretty much right
at least depending on how a GM wants characters rolled up

if you are looking to play and you cannot find a game near you
definitely check out the Play-by-Post (PbP) forums here on the site

[ShinsouBlue]

Lamontius wrote:

looks like you did everything pretty much right

at least depending on how a GM wants characters rolled up

if you are looking to play and you cannot find a game near you
definitely check out the Play-by-Post (PbP) forums here on the site

I was not aware of the PbP forum's existence. Definitely a look into things. Heck, I printed a second character sheet anyway, so I could make another character.

Also as a point out, I've never played a Pen and Paper RPG ever. I've understood concepts, but never actually done a play of it.

[nicholas storm]

You may want to practice making some characters with the point build system, since I would guess most pbp games use that.

Pathfinder Society uses a 20 point buy. And there may be some of those games in your area.

[Selvaxri]

If you wanted, look into "Variant Channeling" maybe dabbling around in that.

I tend to agree that Healing is most effective outside of combat.
The only reason to use Healing in combat is when you have a member down and they're failing their stabilizing checks.
in one of my latest games, a fighter was knocked down to it's negative con- and would have died his next turn, if the Paladin hadn't tromped through three AoO's and Lay on Hands the bloke.

You could use healing in combat only if you have nothing else to contribute to the round. too far away to hit something, but that character is looking ragged?
if not, there's the handy "Aid Another" action, that people tend to forget about.

Remember: Clerics have the ability to turn any one of their spells into a Cure spells. Never prep Cure spells.

[Moospuh]

I Would Swap your Strength and Your Con, and taking Guided hand as a feat, which allows you to use your Wisdom to attack, instead of your strength, with your deity's favored weapon.

I wouldent go with any of the varient channeling feats, as it halves your channel energy healing factors with a majority of them. instead, i would focus on healing outside of combat instead of in it. In Combat, preventing damage is ofen the best way to heal. Aid another for AC is your friend(Once again, with guided hand, you would use your wisdom for this check), Spells like Protection from evil, Sanctuary, and other spells like that with your high Wisdom will go a long way for you. higher spells will be stuff like barkskin and other protective spells.

Your other feats,(if your DM allows them) would be channeling force, and then followed by Extra Channel, Extra Channel, Extra Channel. thus, when you do have to be in melee, you can smack them with the Power of Sarenrea.

[ShinsouBlue]

Moospuh wrote:

I Would Swap your Strength and Your Con, and taking Guided hand as a feat, which allows you to use your Wisdom to attack, instead of your strength, with your deity's favored weapon.

I wouldent go with any of the varient channeling feats, as it halves your channel energy healing factors with a majority of them. instead, i would focus on healing outside of combat instead of in it. In Combat, preventing damage is ofen the best way to heal. Aid another for AC is your friend(Once again, with guided hand, you would use your wisdom for this check), Spells like Protection from evil, Sanctuary, and other spells like that with your high Wisdom will go a long way for you. higher spells will be stuff like barkskin and other protective spells.

Your other feats,(if your DM allows them) would be channeling force, and then followed by Extra Channel, Extra Channel, Extra Channel. thus, when you do have to be in melee, you can smack them with the Power of Sarenrea.

For the point on Guided Hand, you have to bear in mind I did all of this with the Core Rulebook only. As I know, Guided Hand was added in the Ultimate Combat Book, so I wouldn't have known of its existence at the time. Though reading it, I do like it, and I'm gonna add it to my character. Any changes I should be aware of if I use other rulebooks for my characters?

[Fruian Thistlefoot]

ShinsouBlue wrote:

For the point on Guided Hand, you have to bear in mind I did all of this with the Core Rulebook only. As I know, Guided Hand was added in the Ultimate Combat Book, so I wouldn't have known of its existence at the time. Though reading it, I do like it, and I'm gonna add it to my character. Any changes I should be aware of if I use other rulebooks for my characters?

A cleric's Soft Capstone Ability The Best Level 11 feat for a Cleric.

Sacred Summoning Feat is really strong feat.

I like the Evangelist Archetype myself. Gaining Bardic Performance means I hardly need to Prepare a Buff. Taking Flag-bearer and buying a Banner of the Ancient Kings makes buffing pure easy street. Then you spells can be dedicated to removal of conditions and other spells you typically do not take due to Loading up on Buffs. But You might just want to stick to a Normal cleric you first run at it.

Flag-bearer feat is a nice one for a cleric. It is a Buff in Feat form.

I like the Traits: Birthmark (Unstealable Holy sysmbol), Transmuter (this better than a feat), Fate's Favored (you can make luck bonuses), Reactionary (go sooner, Buff sooner), Save Boosters (Making saves, saves lives), Armor Expert (ACP sucks in medium armor...go Mithral and you can have it at -1 or 0), Perception added to skill list (Wisdom based class + Perception= I see everything)...just to name a few.

[Moospuh]

ShinsouBlue wrote:

Moospuh wrote:

I Would Swap your Strength and Your Con, and taking Guided hand as a feat, which allows you to use your Wisdom to attack, instead of your strength, with your deity's favored weapon.

I wouldent go with any of the varient channeling feats, as it halves your channel energy healing factors with a majority of them. instead, i would focus on healing outside of combat instead of in it. In Combat, preventing damage is ofen the best way to heal. Aid another for AC is your friend(Once again, with guided hand, you would use your wisdom for this check), Spells like Protection from evil, Sanctuary, and other spells like that with your high Wisdom will go a long way for you. higher spells will be stuff like barkskin and other protective spells.

Your other feats,(if your DM allows them) would be channeling force, and then followed by Extra Channel, Extra Channel, Extra Channel. thus, when you do have to be in melee, you can smack them with the Power of Sarenrea.

For the point on Guided Hand, you have to bear in mind I did all of this with the Core Rulebook only. As I know, Guided Hand was added in the Ultimate Combat Book, so I wouldn't have known of its existence at the time. Though reading it, I do like it, and I'm gonna add it to my character. Any changes I should be aware of if I use other rulebooks for my characters?

Mechanic wise? no. other books open more options for your character. I still Suggest channeling force from the advanced class Guide for your character to add your # of channel die to your damage for 3 rounds as a swift action.