Making my own character.

[MadOverlord]

I went to two Pathfinder Society meetups at a local game store. I was given pregen characters both times. That was fine. However, both times I asked what it would take to make my own character. I was told that it's a long process, and the pregens should work okay. I guess I am not brave enough to say, no really, I don't want pregens.

Is there some protocol for making a new character I'm missing? Should I not ask them to give up what could likely be a lot of time to make one? Do people make them on their own? That would seem weird to me.

[Chris Ballard]

You will need the core rule book and the PFS guide. The guide is a free download on the PFS page. The guide will give you the additional rules needed for PFS play.

[MadOverlord]

Chris Ballard wrote:

You will need the core rule book and the PFS guide. The guide is a free download on the PFS page. The guide will give you the additional rules needed for PFS play.

Ok thanks. I can manage that. What I really need to know is how do I actually do it? Does a GM need to help? Do I just do it at home without telling anyone, and show up saying "here's mine"? etc.

[Jericho Graves]

Yes. you pretty much just do make the character on your own. As long as you follow the guidelines in the PFS guide you'll be fine, though there are alot of people who post their characters on these messageboards for people to check over, so that's an option.

[Nebten]

MadOverlord, see if there is somebody kind enough to either stay after the game or come in early to help you create your own PC. You don't want to try to create a character right before you start to play. Creating your own character for the first time can be a daunting task.

Besides, after your third game, you are going to need your own character, otherwise you'll just keep playing level 1 PCs.

Welcome to PFS!

[Kyshkumen]

Here is a link to the guide everyone is talking about. It is a free PDF download that explains the rules for PFS. If you go to the character creation section it will take you through the process step by step. It does a very good job of explaining everything so you can make your character on your own time from the comfort of your home. It even has a printable character sheet so you'll be ready for your next game day. You can even apply those two chronicle sheets you earned with pregens to give yourself some extra gold and be one game away from level two.

[Greg Hurst]

If you do want some help you can email your coordinator ahead of time and see if you can workthrough a character with them. I've done that a few times, but if you don't give them a heads up then they may not be able to accommodate you. As long as you're not wanting them to sit and tweak your character you can reasonably get something going in ~30 minutes. You might also want to try a demo of HeroLab since it'll sorta walk you through the process. I feel like you can't save the character, but that should be ok since you're just wanting someone to doublecheck your numbers.

[Starglim]

You may have had some discouraging answers here and from your local group. It takes longer than is available at the start of a game - I have seen it done while the GM started The Confirmation and wouldn't recommend that. The character creation section in the Guide is helpful and it's ideal if you can get an experienced player to work with you for an hour or so (reasonably quick if you think about what you want to build and it doesn't require delving into multiple sources) or to check your result. You don't need the GM unless you want a ruling or signature on something.

[Disturbed1]

Mad, might I ask if you showed up shortly before the game was supposed to start? That tends to be the most frequent time that new players show up, and in situations like that, I cant say I would handle it much differently.

Once the game was done, if the player was interested and time permitting, I would be more than happy to assist the new player in building their own character, but it definitely can be a LONG process.

If you showed up a half hour or so before the game was supposed to start, I dont really know why they couldnt have helped you work on a character then, even if it might not be ready to go in time.

As for building your first character, like others have said, just follow the OP Guide, and you should be fine. One thing to take into consideration if you just arent sure which way to go, is that as long as you havent played the character at level 2 yet, you can completely rebuild the character, so you wont be forced to stick with an option that you think isnt going to work out how you want it to.

Good luck with your character creation!

[BigNorseWolf]

Just do it here in between sections. What kind of character do you want?