Complete Noob

[Craig Maxwell]

Right, I'll put it out there, right off the bat..

Myself and the group of mates that intend to play a bit of Pathfinder are complete and utter noobs to Tabletop RPGs so some of the questions will sound really ruddy stupid, but please bear with me.

After about a decade and a half of Wargaming, we've become somewhat disenchanted by a certain company [No prizes for guessing which] and whilst we're taking to other wargaming rule set/games like Hail Caesar, we've decided to take the plunge into RPG's.

I Have the CoreRulebook. and the Bestiary is on the way. Trouble is
We all live in the arse end of nowhere, and as such there aren't any existing groups/players that we know of that we can go see join in and learn from.
We're having a little trouble with Character Creation.. or more, we have some idea, but we're hoping to 'confirm' some points.

We used the '4D6 minus the lowest' method for ability scores,
I've chosen a Half-elf Rogue as my character..

The first question comes with Skills.
[I know some forums don't like to many 'rules' listed in posts, if i have i appologise, @Mods - edit away, or tell me to]
In the 'Class' section for Rogue, it lists a whole series of Class Skills, now do i have access to all of the Skills right off the bat?
i.e. I put a tick in the box next to each of these on my Character sheet?

Next 'Skill Ranks Per Level'
As a Rogue, I get 8 + Int Modifier. I have INT-15 [so +2 mod if im correct?].. Making a grand total of 10 skill ranks per level..
So each time I Level up i get 10 'points' that i can distribute across the skills i have access to?

And these tally up in the 'Ranks' section of skills list on my character sheet?
i.e. Disable Device
Total Bonus = Dex Ability Bonus + Ranks + Misc Mod..
If i put 2 of those 10 points into the 'Ranks' for that skill, along with my Dex bonus of +3 [DEX16] I'd have;
Total Bonus = 3 + 2 + 0 -> Total Bonus of 5 when I try and 'Disable Device'?

Sorry again for the noob questions, Just want to make sure we're playing it properly..
Also, sorry for the long post.

[Slaunyeh]

Skills: You have access to all the skills in the book. The list for the rogue entry is the list of class skills that you have a special affinity for. Class skills get a +3 bonus when you use them. It is generally recommended to take the majority of your skills from your class list first, but depending on character concept and whim, you can pick any skills you feel like.

Skill ranks per level: That's correct. You get 10 skill points each level that you can distribute among any skills you want. You can't have more ranks in a skill than your total character level (for an extra complication, there's also the bonus from your favoured class, but I wouldn't worry about that yet).

Skill bonus: The total bonus for any skill is Ability Mod + Ranks + Misc Modifiers (such as class skills, racial abilities and feats). For your specific example, your total bonus to Disable Device is 2 (ranks) + 3 (Dex) + 3 (class) = +8 (but note that you have to be level 2 to put the second skill point into disable device).

Hope that helps.

[Hama]

First of all, your character has access to ALL skills, but if he puts ranks in class skills, he gets a +3 bonus on those because he is better suited for those.

Additionally, you cannot put more ranks into a skill then you have in levels, so level 1, 1 rank.

And, yes, the math works that way.

[Loengrin]

Craig Maxwell wrote:

[I know some forums don't like to many 'rules' listed in posts, if i have i appologise, @Mods - edit away, or tell me to]

Well, you're in the rule forum so there's a lot of rules here ;)

Ok let's go to the skills part :

You're almost right, you tick the skills on your list. You have effectively 10 skills points per level.

What you forgot : you can put points even in skills you haven't ticked. The first point you put in a ticked skill grant you 3 bonus points.

So, as a rogue, if you put a point in Knowledge:Religion you have 1+Sag Mod+0, but if you put a rank in Disable device you have 1+Dex Mod+3.

Last : you can't have more rank in a skill than your level. So at level one you can't put 2 points in disable device.

Think it cover it ;)

Hope it'll help :)

Edit : Double Ninja'ed :D

[Craig Maxwell]

Thats perfect. Just the information I needed. Cheers!