Cyrad's Style Guide Notes

[Garrick Williams]

Last year, I posted a style guide I compiled when studying the game in a previous year. It has served me as a great tool, and I hope it does the same for you. If you would like to add to the list, please do so!

1. Spells should be italicized and lowercase, such as fly, invisibility, and black tentacles.

2. Magic items and properties should be italicized and lowercase, such as flaming and bag of holding.

3. Magic weapons/armor are PREFIXED by their enhancement bonus, such as a +1 flaming longsword and +2 spell storing leather armor.

4. Magic items with varying bonuses are POSTFIXED by their bonus, such as headband of vast intelligence +2.

5. Feats should be capitalized, such as Weapon Focus, Arcane Strike, and Cleave.

6. Skill names should be capitalized while subskills in parenthesis should be lowercase, such as Sleight of Hand, Knowledge (arcana), and Profession (sailor).

7. Size categories should be capitalized, such as Large, Tiny, and Medium.

8. Almost all game mechanics except spells, magic items, feats, skills, and size categories should NOT have any special formatting.

9. Measurements should be empirical (feet, inches, miles) and NOT be abbreviated unless it's part of the item's template. For example, the template abbreviates the item's weight as "lb" or "lbs." However, you must use "pounds" when describing weight in the description text.

10. Construction requirements should be in the following order: feats, spells, other requirements, cost.

11. If the item requires more than one feat or spell, order them alphabetically.

12. Alphabetize list items in the text when possible. For example, if your item's text lists energy damage types, it should be in the order "acid, cold, electricity, and fire."

[Garrett Guillotte]

Garrick Williams wrote:

2. Magic items and properties should be italicized and lowercase, such as flaming and bag of holding.

Except in the title, where they use title case (Bag of Holding). If the item contains a proper noun, it's always capitalized (bag of Rovagug containment).

Also, the second word of a hyphenated item name in the title is capitalized. For instance, the title of a spell-eating staff would be Spell-Eating Staff.

Garrick Williams wrote:

9. Measurements should be empirical (feet, inches, miles) and NOT be abbreviated unless it's part of the item's template. For example, the template abbreviates the item's weight as "lb" or "lbs."

Don't forget the period after lb. Fractional pounds are written like this in the Weight part of the statblock:

1/10 lb.
1-1/2 lbs.

But spelled out in the description: "three-fourths of the elephants"

I'd also add:
13. You make attacks, and attempt or succeed at saves and checks. (Note that combat maneuvers are checks, and you get bonuses on combat maneuver checks, not bonuses to CMB.) You do not make saves, attempt attacks, or make attack actions.

14. A modifier to a dynamic value, like something you roll, is applied on something ("a +4 bonus on attack rolls"). A modifier to a static value, like a stat score or DC, is applied to something ("a +4 bonus to your Strength score").

15. Spell out numbers less than 10 ("five elephants") unless it's in rules text ("a +5 bonus against elephants"), measurements ("5-foot-tall elephant"), or stat blocks ("5 elephant hides").

16. Use en dashes (–) for negative values ("–5 penalty against elephants") and ranges ("18–20 Strength"). Use em dashes (—) very sparingly to set off clauses ("the elephant—a massive beast—stomps on the Submit button").

17. If you're referring to something in Golarion, make sure you get your adjectives and demonyms right. For instance, something from Cheliax is Chelish, but a person from Cheliax is a Chelaxian. When in doubt, check the Inner Sea World Guide or PathfinderWiki, which list adjectives and demonyms for many things like nations, ethnicities, and religions.

[Anthony Adam]

18. Deal points of type damage, dont inflict them or hit them. If the damage has no type, lose only that word. Paizo style is like this... 2d6 points of damage.

If you say 2d6 damage, your word pruning went too far :)

If i can think of more... Oh yeah....

19. Know your errata. Example, With the 5th printing, slot dash became slot none;