Character Creation Time


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I just made my first Pathfinder Playtest Character. I made a human fighter, and it took about 2 hours from start to finish. I know it's a first character and I had to look a lot of things up, but I saw the video on character creation with Jason Bulmahn, and he claims that it will eventually only take about 15 minutes. I don't see it ever going that fast. I'm thinking 1 hour minimum.

Silver Crusade

It will be interesting to find out how long it takes to Level Up a character down the road.

Ironwedge did you type it up or hand-write it by pencil?

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

My first character, a rogue, took about an hour. I did it by pencil, on my first read-through just to be sure I came at the books with as little knowledge as possible. About half the time I spent was on gear, so... your mileage may very.

Silver Crusade

Cydeth do you create a new character sheet each time your character goes up a level?

Do you do it by hand or type it up?

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

I've only built the one character so far (a level 1 halfling rogue) and plan to build three tomorrow, and time each of them. I intend to build an elf cleric, a dwarven sorcerer, and a human fighter. I'm mostly curious how quickly I can reasonably create characters without much system experience.

I haven't leveled any characters yet, but from the looks of things, including erasing and jotting down new numbers (by hand), non-casters will take me about 5 minutes, while casters might take 15-20 while I agonize over spell selection.


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...I just made a first level bard in 20 minutes. Hardest part was picking spells, since I had to look them all up individually with no short description of what the spells actually do. Also that I was doing it by pencil. If I had a spreadsheet, I could have done it faster. Mind, my approach to equipment was "sword, armor, bell, coins."

Bother. I'm going to be making a spreadsheet for this, aren't I? Oooh, I could add in a random number generator and make it spit out characters with their ancestry, classes, feats and spells already selected.

Silver Crusade

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AnimatedPaper when you do that: would you please post that here?
I would LOVE to have something like that!


Of course.

Attribute allocation will be a pain to randomize, I think. It's super easy to do it in your head, less easy to make Excel do it in an intelligent manner (excel is very not intelligent).

Silver Crusade

AnimatedPaper can you fix the Playtest Material Character Sheet so that I can type data into it?

(Hand writing a character sheet once is time consuming enough. For each character Level is VERY time consuming...)


I'm afraid that one is beyond me, although I'm sure people are working on it. I'd be surprised if it took more than a day or two for someone to put up a fillable character sheet form.

I'm a decent spreadsheet mechanic, but beyond that my technology skill is fairly limited.

Silver Crusade

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AnimatedPaper thank you for your honesty.
Do you think and feel that when someone posts a fillable character sheet form, that they might do it so that VISUALLY IMPAIRED players might be able to do it in LARGE & BOLD FONT ?
(You know those of us that are no longer 17 years old, but maybe just maybe much older?)
LOL !

Silver Crusade

I am praying to the Computer Wizards for this request...


I think my first one, 4th level, was done in 2 hours, but some of that time was spent chatting with a friend and frantically looking up certain things (like, we know from the pregen that everyone's trained in unarmoured. But where is that in the book? So far as we can find, nowhere.) I also rebuilt him quite a bit halfway through.

My second one, at 12th level, was done in 1.5-2 hours, and that was after picking spells. As I get the hang of it, it'll be smoother.


This is the sheet I used. Credit to the author, /u/Airurandojin on reddit.


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1 1/2 hours for my Dwarven Cleric and I'm extremely disappointed how the character turned out. For all the talk about making Dwarves even dwarfier in PF2, he's not nearly as dwarfy as a 10 minute PFOriginal creation.

Dark Archive

Hythlodeus wrote:
1 1/2 hours for my Dwarven Cleric and I'm extremely disappointed how the character turned out. For all the talk about making Dwarves even dwarfier in PF2, he's not nearly as dwarfy as a 10 minute PFOriginal creation.

Dwarfiness comes from Living longer(level)


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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

i tried to build a wizard and had a non-traditional idea so i ended up having to go back and change everything 2 times when I realized my concept wasn't supported. It took me 4 hours to make the character. Picking spells and cantrips took a really long time since I couldn't look through spell descriptions for spells on one level very easily.


I basically had my first character made before the playtest book was available, I just needed to figure out which background gave me the right stat boost (I just needed one that fit that gave either Con or Wis), and to double check that there wasn't a class feat or an ancestry feat I liked better than the one I had penciled in.

So < 5 minutes, all told.

Shadow Lodge

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There's nothing preventing folks from sharing characters right?

Perhaps in Spoilers here?

It would be great to see "Here's what I made in 5 minutes" or "Here's what I made in 2 hours" along with some commentary on where the time sink went (i.e. ancestry selection, equipment, etc).

I have players who can spend 2 hours on gear regardless of the game system.

FWIW, it took me ~30 minutes to crank out a human rogue given I already knew the concept I wanted and rushing through it as quick as I could.

Human Rogue:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Locke Lamora-esque Rogue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Str 10 Dex 10 Con 10 Int 10 Wis 10 Cha 10

Step 2, Ancestry: Human (+2 Dex +2 Int)
Str 10 Dex 12 Con 10 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 10
Pick one of 7 feats: Natural Ambition (gain a class feat)

Step 3, Background: Street Urchin (+2 Dex +2 Cha)
Str 10 Dex 14 Con 10 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 12
Also: Pickpocket skill feat, Trained Underworld

Step 4, Boost 4 abilities (+2 Str +2 Dex +2 Con +2 Int)
Str 12 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 14 Wis 10 Cha 12

Step 5, one class boost (+2 Dex)
Str 12 Dex 18 Con 12 Int 14 Wis 10 Cha 12

Final:
Str 12 (+1)
Dex 18 (+4)
Con 12 (+1)
Int 14 (+2)
Wis 10 (+0)
Cha 12 (+1)

Perception (Expert)

HP: 8 (race) + 8(class) + Con mod (+1) = 17hp

Saves
Fort (Trained)
Reflex (Expert)
Will (Expert)

Weapons: All simple + hand crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow and shortsword
Armor: Light

Skills: 10+Int(2)=12

1. Acrobatics
2. Athletics
3. Deception
4. Diplomacy
5. Intimidation
6. Society
7. Stealth
8. Thievery
-
9. Survival
10. Medicine
11. Occultism
12. Nature

Other Class Features
------------------
Finesse Striker : Add Dex to damage instead of Str
Surprise Attack : On the first round of combat, creatures are flat-footed if they havent acted
Sneak Attack : When striking flat-footed with agile/finesse, +1d6 extra precision dmg
Rogue Feats (x2, pick one of 4):
* Nimble Dodge (reaction? to gain +2 circumstance to AC)
* Trap Finder (+1 Percept, AC and saves vs traps; disable Traps as master in Thievery)

Thinking:
.. Passed on Bludgeoner (didnt want to use maces/clubs) and You're Next (not an Intimidator)

Skill Feat
Wanted the character to be a good Bluffer.. what are Bluff/Deception feats?
Only two choices - Charming Liar or Close Match
* Charming Liar by default as Close Match is basically choosing to disguise gender

Charming Liar: When critical success at Bluff, improve attitude by 1 step

=====================================================

Brocke Lamora
Human Rogue 1 (Street Urchin)
HP 17
AC 15
Fort +2 Reflex +6 Will +2

Skills:
Acrobatics +5
Athletics +2
Deception +2
Diplomacy +2
Intimidation +2
Society +3
Stealth +5
Thievery +5
Survival +1
Medicine +1
Occultism +3
Nature +1

Feats: Nimble Dodge, Trap Finder, Charming Liar, Pickpocket

Armor:
Leather +1 AC

Weapon:
Rapier +5 (1d6 Piercing)
Deadly d8, Disarm, Finesse


Honestly it'll probably take me longer to type than it took to write, but here you go:

Memorio, Human Bard, Pathfinder Hopeful (1)

Spoiler:
Str 12, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 18
Saves: Perc +2, Fort +1, Will +1, Ref +4
AC 14, TAC 13. HP 16

Spell +5
Longsword +2 1d8 s/p
Shortbow +3 1d6 p (deadly 1d10)

Spell pool 6
Trained skills: Arcana +3, Deception +5, Diplomacy +5, Intimidation +5, Lore (Pathfinder) +3, Lore (Galt) +3, Nature +1, Occultism +3, Perfomance +5, Religion +3, Society +3, Bardic Lore +3

Spells
Cantrips: Inspire Courage, Daze, Detect Magic, Message, Shield
Powers: Counter Performance (1), Lingering Compostion (1)
1st: True Strike, Soothe

Equipment: Longsword (10), Disguise Kit (20), Bell (8), Leather Armor (15), Short bow + 10 bolts (31). 66 silver


backstory:
1. Scion of the house Sorbonne, it was Memorio's destiny to be a fine courtier in a palace of intrigue and delights. Sadly, the revolution came when her parents were children, and they relocated with other noble families one step ahead of the mob to Taldor.
2. Both parent entered Taldor's military, and were drawn together by their shared background. Neither is sure if they like each other, but mutual respect runs very deep.
3. Rather than join the military, or get married off to another Galtan in Exile family, Memorio ran away at the earliest conceivable opportunity to join the pathfinders. She still intends to do so one day.
3. Memorio is female, but presents as male when she feels like it. It helps throw off the people Dame Admiral Madeline Sorbonne née Glacé (her mom) set to find her.
4. Memorio wandered through Avistan, even briefly entering Galt, but quickly moved on through to Varisa.
5. A lore bard, Memorio prefers to make her living writing stories that romanticize the kingdom's earlier history, including the early revolutionary days and the nobles in exile. Oddly, they sell decently enough to pay her expenses.
6. This has led to her third identity (Musette Sorbonne being the first, "Memorio" the second) of Citizen Souvenier.
7. Now in Maginar, she hopes to trade on that name in order to find fresh story matter and perhaps an introduction to the pathfinder society.
8. Her instrument of choice is a band of bells.
9. Her father was the one to teach her how to use a sword, her mother the bow. She thinks of them while she fights. She taught herself to weave the spell daze into her strikes.
10. She never fully understood how to move in heavier armors, but she's been practicing and hopes to be able to figure out how to move effectively in it soon (intention to multiclass fighter).

Edit: to be clear, I only did the sheet earlier. The background I wrote out fresh, but its an old character so I knew it before I started.


It took me just over half an hour to make a half-elf wild druid level 1. When leveling it up for DD, I'm not sure how I'll count the time I spent idly looking up feats for Druids before actually working on it. And I consider myself to be a fast character builder, and that's not counting the hours I spent trying to familiarize myself with the rules first.


Can't playtest until 1/2 the group gets back from GenCon (and we reach our regular session day) so for the next while I'll be practicing character creation and getting it down pat.

First character took me a while because I was reading the bard class for the second time (and was actually looking at all those powers/spells). Didn't quite turn out how I wanted it to in the end though, mostly because the new stat generation is different than the 20 point buy I know by heart. Second character, a fighter, was much quicker because I already knew I wanted to go for the shield feats and try the awesome new shield block mechanics. My biggest hangup here was picking a weapon and skills. Feels like there aren't enough raw skills on fighters so I had to make some tough choices. Going to work on a wizard and redo that bard attempt tonight, might post the final results like some of the posters above.


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I have no idea how long it took me. I would get distracted and start reading entire sections of the book, totally unrelated to the thing I was looking up. Oh a squirrel. I made a level 1 Goblin Thief.


I was able to slapdash a Sorcerer together in about 30 minutes, although I didn't spend much time reading spell or equipment lists.


Paradozen wrote:

Can't playtest until 1/2 the group gets back from GenCon (and we reach our regular session day) so for the next while I'll be practicing character creation and getting it down pat.

First character took me a while because I was reading the bard class for the second time (and was actually looking at all those powers/spells). Didn't quite turn out how I wanted it to in the end though, mostly because the new stat generation is different than the 20 point buy I know by heart. Second character, a fighter, was much quicker because I already knew I wanted to go for the shield feats and try the awesome new shield block mechanics. My biggest hangup here was picking a weapon and skills. Feels like there aren't enough raw skills on fighters so I had to make some tough choices. Going to work on a wizard and redo that bard attempt tonight, might post the final results like some of the posters above.

So, piecing together the first level bard that worked for me took about 45 minutes with a passing familiarity with the class, mostly because I was working against type and my pdf reader is acting up (darned search function is glitching).

Flachstarn, Gnome Bard:

Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 16
Perception +2

Defenses:
HP 17
AC 15 (17 with shield raise action), TAC 14 (16 with shield raise)
Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +2
Shield Raise (action): +2 to AC and TAC for 1 round
Shield Block (Reaction, when struck by melee attack) block physical damage up to 5.

Offense:
Size: Small, Space: 5'
Melee: Whip +3 1d4+2 nonlethal, reach, trip, disarm, finesse
Longsword +3 1d8+2 S, versatile P
Trip +2, Demoralize +4

Ranged: Javelins (4) +3 1d6+2 P 20' range, thrown

Spells (3 spell points):
Cantrip--Inspire Courage, Detect Magic, Light, Message, Sigil
1st (2/day)-- True Strike, Soothe
Power: Counterperformance, 1point.

Skills:
Acrobatics, Athletics, Crafting, Lore (Warfare), Occultism: +2
Performance, Diplomacy +4

Feats: Animal Accomplice, Quick Repair, Bardic Lore, Versatile Performance

Animal Accomplice: Staval the Hedgehog (Tiny Animal, Minion)
AC 13 TAC 13 Speed 25' Perception, Acrobatics, Stealth +4, Other Skill -1, HP4, Low-light Vision, Empathic Link
Typical Abilities: Darkvision, Speaks Sylvan

Tactics and Note:
In Combat, most rounds are inspiring courage as well as trying to apply a debuff to enemies. The Whip can be used to trip and reach can help with flanking. Versatile Performance makes demoralize the best attempt at debuffing. Raising a Shield is a common tactic if the main target at the moment is already debuffed, but striking is more common.

Staval serves no real role in combat, and in fact hides in Flachstarn's backpack when danger crops up. His real strength is out of combat, serving as a valuable ground scout. Some days flight or scent are chosen over darkvision. Speaking in sylvan is always chosen during daily preparations.

Was a bit tough since I was working against type, making a melee gnome bard (these do not mesh it turns out), but I think the end result is an acceptable backup combatant, if only because he provides a bit of backup healing.


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I gave up on my sample character for the time being after I hit a snag with regard to the bonus feats from Background. To be fair, I probably could have continued on as usual, but he wasn't to play - I just want to make sure I understand the rules myself before I introduce them to my players tomorrow.


I think my biggest struggle with making my first char - about 1.5 hours for an elf fighter... was not the rules but the character sheet itself. That thing is awful really and guaranteed I'll likely be making one of my own.

For the rest of it - the rules crunch and looking things up, all went pretty fast. Had I been more comfortable with the sheet (literally it was the thing making me second guess everything), it likely wouldn't have taken more than 35 min or so.


Agree with the Char Sheet being rough. I expect it to be much more streamlined by the time release happens.

Sovereign Court

45 min for a level 1 rogue. I think it will be quicker next time.

Sovereign Court

20 min first character paladin, wanted to transfer my first level paladin from 1E so had a rough idea of what I wanted but it felt pretty quick.


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I think much of the time spent depends on how familiar you are with the ancestry/background/class of choice, and how high of a level. My lvl 4 Halfling storm druid took a LOT longer than the bard (like an hour longer), because I was less familiar with the options and kept getting distracted. Hopefully the level 7 crafting cleric will be shorter.


Roughly an hour, for a Barbarian, but that was largely due to building a level 8 character, rather than a level 1. The main issues I found were in determining Skill and General feats, which at 8th level accounts for 6 decision points (Plus I guess the background feat and the decision whether to go for a General feat from my Human feat). If the feat section was organized better, I could probably have been done considerably faster, since there was a lot of jumping back and forth to see what options I could take, looking at the feat description, and deciding that didn't really fit.

I'll try this again with a bard (probably with the same 8th level goal, since that tends to give me a good idea where the character may be headed), and I expect to find similar problems with the spells, but it might be easier, simply because I have a rough idea what many of the spells do already.


I have been making 4 and a half lvl 1 characters at the same time (human fighter, human alchemist, half-elf druid, and an elf fighter with a variant as an elf wizard to test the differences between fighter/wizard and wizard/fighter multiclassing). I'd say it took me 5 to 6 hours, without selecting gear nor the druid's and the wizard's spells, but with selecting the alchemist's formulas.

I had only red up to the Background chapter at the time, and did not read non-first level feats, but red the different rules applying to the classes while creating the characters. I also jumped to the forum from time to time to report typos/weird feat behaviours. I also have to note that these characters were characters I created for PF1, so I already know what kind of skills and abilities they would tend to have.

If I had to make a guess, I would say I will need at least one hour to make a character with a class I am not familiar with, and maybe longer if I want to optimize my build (I am slow at creating characters). But it may become pretty quicker once I get to know what kind of feats which class tend to have, if I have a concept in mind.

I will try to get my players to create characters and collect datas I will share with the forum later, probably on a separate thread :)


Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

It took me about 3 hours all said to make my character (Goblin Barbarian). About half of that was spent re-reading sections and running around in the book though so not horrendous for a first character.

Character number 2 (Dwarf Monk) took about 40 minutes. Again, a large chunk of time was spent re-reading sections and running around in the book.

Character number 3 is actually a conversion of one of my 1e bards and is already up to an hour t only half way done. Biggest time sinks are - again - re-reading and running around in the book, big suprise. That and finding the correct equivalent, which I expect to take a bit to make sure happens. I'm expecting another hour to hour and a hlaf on this character.

Biggest frustrations: I'm spending considerably more paper on these characters than I do on 1e characters and too much time ofn the character sheet. I'm only down to 2.5 pages in a spiral to figure everything for one of these characters - with trying to keep things as rows rather than my usual columns - and this is without a rough sketch of the actual character. I managed to get everything but spells on a single page with an initial sketch for my 2nd 1e character so I imagine I'll be increasingly annoyed with this.

Also, putting everything on the character sheet takes 10+ minutes. It's a completely different set up than most other RPGs and not really intuitive to players who don't have experience in other systems either I don't think? (I'm likely going to try and have my little cousin try building a character to figure out how intuitive it is).

I plan to build a character of each class and try to cover each ancestry as well as to see where my biggest time sinks are. Assuming the character creation is as easy as they claimed it would be, by character 4 I expect to be down to 30 minutes for martial characters and 40 minutes to an hour for spell casters (10 minutes each for running around the book, 10 minutes for the character sheet, and then 10 minutes for actual creation/decision making, with an extra 10 to 30 minutes on spell selection depending on the class).

That's...still more than I'm really comfortable with for a game that's supposed to have quick and easy character creation. I imagine once we have reference docs up that'll drop to about 3 minutes spent on locating information and double checking it's all correct, and I can see the character sheet eventually (at least 10 sheets later) dropping to 5 minutes. But that's still more than the 15 they claimed...for someone who currently spends about 5 minutes on a bard. -_-'


I am making another character now. Human Cleric. I began over an hour ago. Just now to spells. Won't be much longer. maybe 1:20 to 1:30 I find myself flipping back and forth a lot. one thing affects another that affects another. wish i had my physical book copy along with the pdf...


Made my first char in about 20ish minutes. I always play a cleric of a war god for my first character of an edition. Decided to go dwarf. Gorum hates poison, so hardy made sense. Skimmed background names, warrior fit. Wanted to heall, so positive. Out of two domains that work with great sword I like zeal more. Trained skills except diplo cause resolving combat with words is anathema. Intimidate and survival made sense. Armor and great sword.

It pretty much wrote itself.


just got a text from one of my players who made his char for the playtest. he dicded to make a human rogue, it tokk him over 2 hours
and he had to look up his starting money online because he couldn't find it in the book

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Hythlodeus wrote:

just got a text from one of my players who made his char for the playtest. he dicded to make a human rogue, it tokk him over 2 hours

and he had to look up his starting money online because he couldn't find it in the book

Page 15, step 8 of the step-by-step character creation guide.


thank you, Gorby, I know that. He didn't and couldn't find it.

I guess - but I don't know for sure, because I didn't ask him - because his instinct told him, that this information can be found where it always was, in every iteration of the game.

I'm pretty sure, Newbies will have an easier time finding that information, because they don't come equipped with the experience of earlier iterations


I took about an hour or two in order to draw up the character.

I will however say I had to draw up my own sheet as the side ways nature of the PDF made it hard to fill in and can't print it out till Monday. So I had to draw up my own sheet to the point I could make a character. Side note, how dead or not am I for not having 18 STR? The book really seems to push you into "Hey you need 18 STR" during creation.


Yeah, it's hard to imagine many players not starting with an 18 in their primary ability. You get so many ability points at the start, it's like, why wouldn't you put 18 there?

I didn't see gear purchases in the examples posted here. If we're trying to trim time to make a character, why not make the 5e approach to starting gear an option? Super quick and easy. That's often where I get bogged down making a new character.


An 18 in your main stat is very important, right?
You can't catch up and there aren't many sources of bonuses.
Except...
At 5th-9th & 15th-19, there's minimal difference and the same argument extends to the other stats too: they can't catch up later either (unless you're willing to get a big stat leap to 18 out of your one potency item.)
So a 16 means your PC becomes a bit more well-rounded, but it could be that extra skill, save bonus, Resonance Point, or whatnot makes an important difference elsewhere or elsewhen.

As for the creation guide & player sheet, using both can speed up the process a lot. Heck, I can't recall the last time I used a character sheet because I like my own designs which are PC-adjusted, but Paizo's PF2 one shows the clear progress of a PC. Makes it quite easy once we understand our choices and for a person making a higher level PC to build toward it, especially in these playtests!

As somebody mentioned, likely the PF veterans skipping the char-gen walk-through are the ones taking longer. Also, veterans tend to rely on system mastery a bit more, which most won't have. So they take time reacquiring it and end up looking up all those options to weigh them against each other. Or looking up all the cheap magic or alchemy. Or every domain ability rather than run with one. Etc.
The system is a snap if you just run with an idea with few worries. Since there are fewer traps in PF2 plus retraining, and it's a playtest (!), one might as well.

I could make a 1st level PC w/ basic gear in 10 minutes.
Or I could deliberate over all my options, both current & future, as well as all my party's options, plus all the possible monsters I may need to overcome, plus all the non-combat trials I might face, plus...
And I often do. :)

As far as I can tell, it's not the creating that's an issue, it's the finessing, the developing of system mastery, that's taking so long.


Probably going to be somewhat hampered (my goblin paladin rogue is using DEX and has 16 in that), but we'll see. Speaking of which:

Kal Sunblazer, Goblin Paladin (Rogue) 4:

Ancestry Goblin Background Scout Class Paladin 4
Alignment LG Deity Sarenrae
Language Common, Goblin Perception +3

Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 16

Defenses
HP 54
AC 21, TAC 19
Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +5

Actions
Stride 25 ft.
Melee Strike expert dogslicer +8 (agile, finesse, backstabber), Damage 1d6+2 slashing
Ranged Strike fire ray +7 touch (evocation, fire), Damage 2d6+3 fire
Ranged Strike composite shortbow +7 (range 60 ft., deadly 1d10), Damage 1d6+1 piercing

Spells
Spell Roll +7, DC 17
Champion Power lay on hands (3d4+3)
Domain Power fire ray (Fire domain)
Spell Points 4

Skills
Acrobatics +4, Athletics +6 (+7 to maneuvers), Diplomacy +7, Lore (scouting) +4, Stealth +6, Thievery +6
Skill Feats: Forager, Quick Jump, One-Handed Climber, Hobnobber

Options
Ancestry Feat: Weapon Familiarity (goblin)
Class Feats: Deity's Domain (fire)
Class (Archetype) Feats: Rogue Dedication, Sneak Attacker
Class Features: champion powers, code of conduct, deific weapon, retributive strike, righteous ally (blade)
General Feat: Fleet

Gear
expert dogslicer
+1 expert scale mail
hat of disguise
backpack, belt pouch, bedroll, rations (10 days)
thieves' tools
silver religious symbol of Sarenrae
holy water


Ronnam wrote:

Yeah, it's hard to imagine many players not starting with an 18 in their primary ability. You get so many ability points at the start, it's like, why wouldn't you put 18 there?

I didn't see gear purchases in the examples posted here. If we're trying to trim time to make a character, why not make the 5e approach to starting gear an option? Super quick and easy. That's often where I get bogged down making a new character.

Exactly re: equipment. It was the one thing I stressed to my players to have done before we meet because it's so much more a timesink than making a 1st level PC's stats is.

Prepackaged bundles of adventurer gear would have been a good addition!


Ronnam wrote:

Yeah, it's hard to imagine many players not starting with an 18 in their primary ability. You get so many ability points at the start, it's like, why wouldn't you put 18 there?

I didn't see gear purchases in the examples posted here. If we're trying to trim time to make a character, why not make the 5e approach to starting gear an option? Super quick and easy. That's often where I get bogged down making a new character.

In my case it's;

Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10

Least I think that's what I have.
Human (Str and Dex +2)
Background (Got me Con and Wis +2)
4 Free points (Str, Dex, Con, Wis)
And Monk gives me 1 more STR.


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Castilliano wrote:
As far as I can tell, it's not the creating that's an issue, it's the finessing, the developing of system mastery, that's taking so long.

So much this.

One of my players, for whom I usually select the mechanics for the character they want to play, is actually able to create their own character now, just by going through the step-by-step instructions.

But they aren't trying to find any "best" selection amongst the options. They're only trying to create the character they want to play.


MerlinCross wrote:
Side note, how dead or not am I for not having 18 STR? The book really seems to push you into "Hey you need 18 STR" during creation.

Having a 16 instead of an 18 puts you down a single +1 bonus for half of your career, due to the "Ability bonuses from leveling is only +1 if you have 18 already".

So from levels 1-4: 16 vs. 18 (down 1)
From levels 5-9 18 vs. 19 (even)
From Levels 10-14 19 vs. 20 (down 1)
From levels 15-19 20 vs 21 (even)
Level 20 21 vs. 22 (down 1).

My 1st playtest character is a Dwarf Monk with 16 Dex, Wis, and Con.


PossibleCabbage wrote:
MerlinCross wrote:
Side note, how dead or not am I for not having 18 STR? The book really seems to push you into "Hey you need 18 STR" during creation.

Having a 16 instead of an 18 puts you down a single +1 bonus for half of your career, due to the "Ability bonuses from leveling is only +1 if you have 18 already".

So from levels 1-4: 16 vs. 18 (down 1)
From levels 5-9 18 vs. 19 (even)
From Levels 10-14 19 vs. 20 (down 1)
From levels 15-19 20 vs 21 (even)
Level 20 21 vs. 22 (down 1).

My 1st playtest character is a Dwarf Monk with 16 Dex, Wis, and Con.

On paper I'm behind by 1 point.

How much is that point going to be in the long run because with the lack of bonuses it seems that 1 static point could be rather important.

This is however why we playtest.


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Made a Barbarian, took about 2 hours to do, though most of that time was spent trying to cross-reference rules from different parts of the book and figure out if some of the stuff was a keyword or a word being used like a keyword, and I was still picking some of the more boring and bland options just to keep the time spent looking at options down. I expect character 2 to take about the same amount of time, though that'll probably be more down to learning the options and less trying to navigate the terrible layout of the playtest.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

After downloading the PDF and spending a few hours trying to get familiar with the rules (even with the previews, there's a lot to absorb) yesterday, the first character took a couple hours. Some of this was reading and re-reading the relevant sections and options, then going back and revising earlier choices in some cases. Which is typical for me when first creating characters in a system. This character was made using the Playtest Rulebook only (including background), so would need to be advanced to a higher level for one of the later scenarios in Doomsday Dawn; however, that's OK since it fits in with the direction I was thinking for the character.

Mallin Silverharp:
Ancestry: Elf; +2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Int, +2 Cha
Ancestry Feat: Otherworldly Magic (ray of frost)
Background: Entertainer; +2 Dex, +2 Con
1st Level: +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Cha
Class: Bard. +2 Cha, Lore muse
12 Str, 16 Dex, 10 Con, 14 Int, 10 Wis, 16 Cha

Spell Repertoire: daze, detect magic, mage hand, shield; magic missile, true strike (from Lore muse)
Compositions: inspire courage, counter performance

Trained Skills: Acrobatics, Arcana, Crafting, Deception, Diplomacy, Lore/Entertainment, Occultism, Performance, Society, Stealth
Feats: Bardic Lore, Fascinating Performance, Otherworldly Magic

Planned Advancement (not final or complete): Versatile Performance and Arcane Sense at 2nd, Skill Increase in Crafting (to expert) at 3rd, Fighter Devotion and Magical Crafting* at 4th, Esoteric Scholar at 6th, Basic Maneuver (Point Blank Shot) at 8th, Weapon Expert (Bows) at 12th.

Basically, this is an "arcane archer" type of character, that also can be the party "face" and "loremaster."

* to craft spellstrike ammunition, among other nice gear (like celestial armor)

The second and third characters went faster, as I became more familiar with the process. These two are using the backgrounds for the first scenario in Doomsday Dawn.

Ersto:
Ancestry: Goblin, +2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Wis, +2 Cha
Ancestry Feat: Very Sneaky
Background: Goblin Renegade, +2 Dex, +2 Wis
1st Level: +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Wis
Class: Ranger, +2 Dex
14 Str, 18 Dex, 10 Con, 12 Int, 12 Wis, 12 Cha

Trained Skills: Acrobatics, Crafting, Lore/Criminal Lore, Medicine, Nature, Stealth, Survival, Thievery
Feats: Double Slice, Quick Repair, Very Sneaky
Equipment (3 bulk, plus 7 L): Studded Leather, Short Bow, 20 Arrows, 2 Dogslicers w/Sheaths, Light Mace, 2 Daggers w/Sheaths, Backpack, Basic Crafter's Book, Bedroll, Belt Pouch, Clothing (Ordinary), Crowbar (Expert), Flint and Steel, Mug, Rations (4 days), Repair Kit, Signal Whistle, Thieves' Tools, Waterskin, 5 sp, 2 cp

Planned Advancement (not complete): Rogue Dedication, Snare Savant, Sneak Attacker, Quick Snares; possibly Basic Trickery (Trap Finder), as well

Ingva:
Ancestry: Dwarf, +2 Str, +2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Cha
Ancestry Feat: Weapon Familiarity (Dwarf)
Background: Budding Osirionologist*, +2 Dex, +2 Wis
1st Level: +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Wis
Class: Druid, +2 Wis, Storm order (tempest surge)
14 Str, 14 Dex, 12 Con, 12 Int, 18 Wis, 8 Cha

Trained Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Lore/Ancient Osirion, Nature, Stealth, Survival
Feats: Storm Born, Terrain Stalker (rubble), Weapon Familiarity (Dwarf)
Equipment: <still need to select>

Will probably take Weapon Cunning (Dwarf) at 5th level. Considering Wild Shape at 8th and Elemental Shape at 10th.

*- fascinated by the Ouat caste

Starting on a human (undecided on half-elf or half-orc, yet) sorcerer next.

One of the main things slowing me down is looking things up.

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