Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Player Character Folio

I showed my copy to my group last night and they all had the same impression that I had: Great portfolio, but it'd be cool if this were available as a Hero Lab export.

Overall I think this thing is great, it has tables on it that SHOULD be on the GM's screen which makes it useful to have at the table. But it has 2 folder pockets that are too small to fit a standard 8.5x11 sheet of paper. Making the folder aspect useless. I hope this is corrected in the next print of these.

Sketch I could not agree more. I would LOVE this as an Hero Lab Output :)

But it has 2 folder pockets that are too small to fit a standard 8.5x11 sheet of paper. Making the folder aspect useless. I hope this is corrected in the next print of these.

I can fit multiple 8.5 x 11 pages in mine. They're tight, but they do fit...

So, I bought a copy today at the local store, and I have some things I would love to see changed.

1) Double the space available for Spells, and make the spaces larger. I am not sure I could read my writing anymore if I cram everything into the little spaces.

2) A dedicated Class Features section.

3) Slightly larger cover so they hold 8.5x11 pages .

4) A heavier weight paper would make it so much easier to write on/erase.

5) At least 5-6 slots to add extra skills. (Bard taking Performance Oratory, Performance Dance, and Performance Comedy, along with a Craft skill, and a Profession, and you will have no room!)

6) 3-4 pages for note taking and general stuff.

I am amending the above as follows, because late at night I am too vague!

Good:
1) Fighters will be happy to know there is room for a whopping 28 feats!

2) Companion page (10) for Companion, Cohort, or Eidolon.

3) Two Familiar/Follower/Mount tabs, which I think is more than adequate.

4) 41 line adventure record makes tracking PFS adventures easier!

5) vanity achievement section (tracks interesting things like most damage done, highest AC achieved, most gold held at once, etc.)

6) Tables everywhere! (well, inside front cover (twice!), last page, and paper holder part of folder inside back cover) So about 3.25 pages of tables. All the tables refer you to the Source, which is GREAT.

Bad

1) Inside the front cover, there is a flip out section for the Character Stats. This is the paper that is too hard to write on. I would like to see this moved to page 1 of heavier stock paper to withstand multiple erasures (Hp tracking is done on this page).

2) There are 2 slots per each Perform, Craft, and Profession. So if you dont transplant your spare performance skills into Craft and Profession, there is not enough room. It would be nice if there were either blank spaces to add more Performance spaces, or add blank spaces to the bottom of the Skills to allow more skills. (p4)

3) There are seven (7) lines for Traits, (p5) (in general you can only have 2, 4 if you take the Feat), but only eight (8) spaces for Offensive Abilities AND Class Features (A combined block of 8 lines...) (p3)

4) There is room for 23 SLAs, but only room for 46 spells prepared (no big deal if you stay level 12 ish or less.) but for the last 8 levels, it would be nice to have extra space! (p6)

5) Folio is supposed to be level 1-20. I don't know any wizard who will only have 41 ish spells in spell book. This should be doubled.

6) There are 41 slots for Adventure Tracking. Unless you are getting everything right every time, you will run out of room if you use this for PFS tracking..

7) 7 weapon slots might be too few if you are like me, and golf bag your warriors.

8) same for potions/wands.

9) Personality, history, appearance, etc. section (2 pages) is simultaneously overdone, and yet too small. Appearance, Personality, Family, History, and Hideout section is broken in to 36 separate sections, including: Age, height, weight, gender, eyes, hair, ethnicity, nationality, tattoos, piercings, marks, but then, you have 5 lines (at less than half page width) to actually write! The same problem occurs under family, where you check box Parent, Parent, Spouse, Sibling, Sibling, Sibling, Sibling, each eith a checkmark gender, and a name, a race, and a class bubble. Then you have Children, Extended Family, Family Notes, and a little box to draw a family crest (Which is larger than the space allotted for writing a description down...).

10) There are NO notes pages at the back of the book.

In short, the book falls short in several respects, over extends where it need not over extend, and puts dozens of minutia details in that might be better served by adding notes pages.

There are minor inconsistencies. For example, there are 4 slots on page 9, then 2 slots to record mount information on page 11..

Ideal Changed:

1) 1 extra page for Spells.
2) 4 extra pages of Notes.
3) put the table on the last page inside the front cover, and move the main character sheet to a nice quality card stock as page 1. Put the art areas (Family crest picture, character picture, home/hideout picture) on to the other sides of the card stock used for page 1 so they can withstand erasures. Get the main character statistics page off the semi gloss card stock regardless. Address the issues above.

While I do agree with a lot of that; I think having the front page of the character sheet view-able while flipping through the rest is a great idea. I bought 4 of these for my players and made them paste copies of their character sheets to the front, it has definitely increased their organization (most used Notebooks instead of character sheets) and having the condition info at hand has been very handy for all players.

Have been using this, the hard copy I bought at an FLGS, for 3 new game sessions (RotRL BTW... Gunslinger). Concept is great but there are some flaws:

1)The "gloss" of the first page with all the major info is both hard to write on (#2 common Ticonderoga and a Bic mechanical job)and impossible to write on again after I erased stuff like hit points.It just don't take kindly to lead?

2) Folder pockets do not fit common printer paper. About 1/32" too small (or all my printer paper at home and work is too big?). Since there is not room for game notes in the formated pages it'd be nice to be able to fit some blank or rule paper in the pockets.

I like the organization and format. Especially having the base info on the folder art while all the details are in the pages. The rules charts are handy as heck too.

I might be able to work the pdf better if I printed the sheets I wanted and stuck them in a binder.

ETA: Form fillable pdf would be REALLY nice.

Just noticed a small mistake while filling it.

On p.10, in the Offense section of Animal Companion/Cohort/Eidolon, CMB is listed as being equal to 10 + BAB and other modifiers which is incorrect. It's just BAB + other modifiers.

I saw this asked somewhere a long time ago, but I can't seem to find the answer. In PFS play, do you actually need to use the Folio as a character Sheet for the "Shirt" Reroll?

I really like the folder section, but I do not like the actual character sheet, and really didn't plan on using it, so just curious.

You have to "use" it, but don't have to actually write in it. My players are expected to do a "Vanna White" display of the product when they want a reroll. I'll lend my copy to them when needed, but they are required to show off the folio "game show" style...

So essentually using the folio as a folder for a normal character sheet (I am playing) is good to go?

It will be for me if nothing else.

I'm honestly just curious, I don't care too much. I have shirts and other things too, I just wanted to see if there was an official answer.

So essentually using the folio as a folder for a normal character sheet (I am playing) is good to go?

Yes

Thanks Mike! :)

One of my players raised a question about the spells section. Under Spellcasting there's lines for the classic save DCs, Spells per day, Spells Known, etc. What confused them was the column titled Ability Bonus. I said that it's probably there for your Primary Casting Attribute bonus so you can figure out the DC, but it seemed too easy and superfluous for that to be correct. I was just wondering if it was put there for the purposes of people figuring out that level's save DC. If so why was it put between Spells Per Day and Bonus Spells. Also why include it if there's already a column for Save DCs? I'm just trying to determine it's purpose so I can best guide my players.

If you look directly above that at the line for calculating concentration, they call the primary casting attribute bonus "ability mod". Given the context, it seems more likely to me that "ability bonus" refers to the number of bonus spells per day from table 1-3 on page 17, while "spells per day" should be the number with that name -- e.g. for a sorcerer, table 3-14 on page 72 -- and so "bonus spells" refers to everything else (cleric domain spells, wizard bonded objects, pearls of power, etc.).

That way, you keep everything clear and simple. If two of the spells-per-day numbers are straight off of tables, then you only have to remember the unique circumstances involved with one number; and it wouldn't be helpful to total it up, because non-ability bonus spells may come with specific conditions (such as a wizard's arcane school).

The PDF version of the Player Character Folio will not be fillable. Form fields and saving options are not compatible with the security settings used for our pdf products. Should Adobe adjust their security features to provide finer control options, we'll revisit that feature.

This brings me sorrow. While I love the artwork, I would be more willing to pay the higher price for a reusable full featured (image free) PDF than for a single use, can-you-read-my-chicken-scratch-I-mean-writing, piece of paper, no matter how beautifully illustrated.

In fact, I might even be willing to pay the higher price for a folio with the reference material while using my (typed up) fan-sourced character sheets, assuming it was the same size as the two pocket standard business sized folios. Example from Staples

The more I think about it, the folio would be more like a player's version of the GM screen, and the PDF of that has been a good on-the-tablet reference doc.

So, are the reference tables all on the covers, or interspersed throughout the character sheet? Basically, if you didn't want to use the pages, would it be worthwhile to unstaple them and use the folio that way?

That is a really low review average.

That is a really low review average.

If you go through them, most are basically saying "good layout, but the PDF is protected", so they mark it as one star. I wish they'd separate the PDF reviews from the hard-copy reviews, honestly. (As for the most recent review, that's just silly. I hold an 8.5"x11" piece of paper in the pockets just fine.)

It's not the PDF, it's the character sheet that is pretty bad. Rediculous amounts of wasted space and terrible design. The cover is nice, but the character sheet inside is terrible. As is, it's a one use sheet that is difficult to right on/erase, and has things all over the place. You kid of have to photo copy or print it out just to use it.

The cover is nice, containing a lot of useful info. The cover earned it the 1 or 2 stars, and the rest took away the other stars. As a PDF, in my opinin, it might be slighty better, but I would simply print out the cover sheet info and use a regular character sheet, not the one that comes with this.

Just to confirm, if I buy a hard copy, I get to download the PDF as well.

Just to confirm, if I buy a hard copy, I get to download the PDF as well.

Nope.

If you would have been a subscriber to the RPG line when it came out, you would have gotten the PDF when your physical copy shipped. Now they're separate purchases for physical or PDF format.

So I am not sure where to place this, but I have a very simple product idea that I think would do quite well. I hope Paizo reads this.

I recently got the Character Folio and really loved the folder. I loved the table layout, the high gloss finish, and all the references I would no longer need to look for in the core books.

But I burn through characters and the price point is just too high to stay caught up with all my different characters in the different campaigns I am playing/dming. Also, I don't need all the sheets in the Folio for all characters, and some characters need more sheets, like spells.

I was going to use my character folio as a folder (keeping all the reference/table stuff, and take the staple out so I can replace the character specific sheets. HOWEVER, the inside cover is where the main character info is.

Paizo...can you PLEASE PLEASE make a simple folder we can buy to put our characters in? Something like the Folio, but without any character specific information. A folder to hold our character, campaign notes, spells, etc.

If you sold a hard copy of a folder, then I could get one for each campaign I am in. As they wear out or as I start new campaigns, I would be happy to buy more folders. Surely they would be cheaper then $10.

I could then use cutePDF to print only the pages I need from the pdf version of your Character Folio. I could have my custom character sheet for every campaign AND all the benefits of the high quality folio.

Please can you make a character folder to hold our characters....? The Player Character Folio was so close to being perfect--great quality and lots of pages, but the sheer number of pages makes lots of it a waste for many of my characters, and the permanency of the Folio coupled with its' price makes it not an option for me.

I just can't spend $10 every time a character dies. But I could buy lots of folders, print only the pages I need for my characters, and continue to be a happy paying customer.

Thanks,

I agree with leem so very much that I am now wondering why no one produced this kind of product before.

the ogl+s Extended character sheet was a way beter than this one!!
shame on you paizo!!
bad paizo!!
bad paizo!!
-Again-

Does anyone have any idea when there will be more of this product available? My FLGS distributors don't have any, and it's listed as on backorder here?

Thanks!

Does anyone have any idea when there will be more of this product available? My FLGS distributors don't have any, and it's listed as on backorder here?

Thanks!

We're expecting a reprint, but I don't have an ETA as of yet.

Any chance of making the cover just a little bit wider so that the pockets actually hold paper without folding them? That was my biggest complaint about the product. Other than that I thought it was great, but the narrow pocket was definitely a turn off for me.

jasonm777 wrote:

Does anyone have any idea when there will be more of this product available? My FLGS distributors don't have any, and it's listed as on backorder here?

Thanks!

We're expecting a reprint, but I don't have an ETA as of yet.

Any changes with the reprint?

Any chance of making the cover just a little bit wider so that the pockets actually hold paper without folding them? That was my biggest complaint about the product. Other than that I thought it was great, but the narrow pocket was definitely a turn off for me.

I have fit pages into that pocket with out folding them...mostly more printed out copies of the spell sheet...but It is pretty tight and not easy.

jasonm777 wrote:

Does anyone have any idea when there will be more of this product available? My FLGS distributors don't have any, and it's listed as on backorder here?

Thanks!

We're expecting a reprint, but I don't have an ETA as of yet.

OK, thanks for your response, Liz!

Does the PDF count for a reroll? (I searched the posts but did not see.)

Does the PDF count for a reroll? (I searched the posts but did not see.)

Nope, the reroll is only for the actual folio from Paizo, not the PDF.

Has the reprint occurred yet? There is a thread over in the Rules forum about a typo in the Animal Companion page, where the CMB shows a 10+ that it shouldn't have.

RyanH wrote:

Does the PDF count for a reroll? (I searched the posts but did not see.)

Nope, the reroll is only for the actual folio from Paizo, not the PDF.

Has the reprint occurred yet? There is a thread over in the Rules forum about a typo in the Animal Companion page, where the CMB shows a 10+ that it shouldn't have.

Heh ... thanks! Forgot I even asked the question!

Form Fillable? Nope. Sigh.

Any thoughts on PF2 Character Folios, or am I probably good to go ahead with this one for the future edition?

These are the PF2 equivalent

They look less extravagant but perhaps more functional(?) There’s a class-specific sheet for each of the twelve classes.

These are the PF2 equivalent

They look less extravagant but perhaps more functional(?) There’s a class-specific sheet for each of the twelve classes.

Thanks! Not exactly what I was expecting, but I'm guessing four months before release is a little early. Worse comes to worse, there's always Staples.

kinevon wrote:

RyanH wrote:

Does the PDF count for a reroll? (I searched the posts but did not see.)

Nope, the reroll is only for the actual folio from Paizo, not the PDF.

Has the reprint occurred yet? There is a thread over in the Rules forum about a typo in the Animal Companion page, where the CMB shows a 10+ that it shouldn't have.

Heh ... thanks! Forgot I even asked the question!

It's funny. I own two physical copies of this. One with a nice laminate cover, the other just heavy card stock. The nice laminate cover has the 10+ on the companion CMB, the card stock one does not. It's 2020 and I just ordered the PDF so I could print my own and it has the 10+ error, and my digital downloads page says that this product was last updated August 2012. Both physical copies are copyright 2012 as well. I wonder how the one is different than the other and why this seems to have been overlooked for 8 years.