These supplies can be found at your local hobby shop or online at various sites such as opengamingstore. Before creating your first character or adventure, you should understand a number of basic concepts used in the game. New concepts are presented in bold to make them easy to find. PCs are the protagonists— the narrative is about them—while NPCs and monsters are allies, contacts, adversaries, and villains.
Level is one of the most important statistics of the game, as it conveys the approximate power and capabilities of every individual creature. As the characters overcome challenges, defeat foes, and complete adventures, they accumulate Experience Points XP. Every time a character amasses 1, XP, they go up a level, gaining new abilities so they can take on even greater challenges.
A 1st-level PC might face off against a giant rat or a group of bandits, but at 20th level, that same character might be able to bring ruin to an entire city with a single spell. There are six ability scores in the game.
Finally, Charisma indicates charm, persuasiveness, and force of personality. Ability scores for ordinary folk range from as low as 3 to as high as 18, with 10 representing average human capabilities. High-level characters can have ability scores that range much higher than This adjustment is called an ability modifier. Your player character is also defined by some key choices you make.
In addition to these key choices, player characters also have a number of feats — individual abilities selected during character creation and as the character increases in level. Every feat has a type to denote where its explanation can be found for example, elf feats can be found in the elf ancestry and its theme wizard feats , for example, grant abilities that deal with spells. Finally, characters have skills that measure their ability to hide, swim, bargain, and perform other common tasks.
Aside from characters and monsters, the world itself can be a force at the table and in the narrative. While the presence of the larger world can sometimes be an obvious hazard, such as when a powerful storm lashes the countryside, the world can also act in subtle, small ways.
Traps and treasures are just as important in many tales as cunning beasts. To help you understand these game elements, many of them use the same characteristics as characters and monsters. For example, most environmental hazards have a level, which indicates how dangerous they are, and the level of a magic item gives you a sense of its overall power and impact on a story.
Characters and their choices create the story, but how they interact with each other and the world around them is governed by rules. The GM determines the premise and background of most adventures, although character histories and personalities certainly play a part.
Once a game session begins, the players take turns describing what their characters attempt to do, while the GM determines the outcome, with the table working together toward a specific goal. The characters might track the trolls to a nearby swamp—only to discover that the trolls were driven from their swamp by a fearsome dragon!
The PCs then have the choice of taking on an entire tribe of trolls, the dragon, or both. Whatever they decide, their success depends on their choices and the die rolls they make during play. A single narrative—including the setup, plot, and conclusion—is called an adventure. A series of adventures creates an even larger narrative, called a campaign. An adventure might take several sessions to complete, whereas a campaign might take months or even years!
Three modes of play determine the pacing of each scene in the story. The world abounds with danger, however, and characters often find themselves in an encounter , fighting savage beasts and terrifying monsters.
Throughout an adventure, game play moves between these three modes many times, as needed for the story. During the game, your character will face situations where the outcome is uncertain. A character might need to climb a sheer cliff, track down a wounded chimera, or sneak past a sleeping dragon, all of which are dangerous tasks with a price for failure.
In such cases, the acting character or characters will be asked to attempt a check to determine whether or not they succeed. A check is usually made by rolling a single sided die a d20 and adding a number based on the relevant ability. In such cases, rolling high is always good. Once a check is rolled, the GM compares the result to a target number called the difficulty class DC to determine the outcome.
If the result of the check is equal to or greater than the DC, the check is successful. If it is less, the check is a failure. Beating the DC by 10 or more is referred to as a critical success , which usually grants an especially Positive outcome.
Similarly, failing the check by 10 or more is a critical failure sometimes called a fumble. This sometimes results in additional negative effects.
You also often score a critical success by rolling a 20 on the die when attempting a check before adding anything. Likewise, rolling a 1 on the die when attempting a check often results in a critical failure.
Note that not all checks have a special effect on a critical success or critical failure and such results should be treated just like an ordinary success or failure instead. For example, in pursuit of the wounded chimera, your character might find the path blocked by a fast-moving river. You decide to swim across, but the GM declares this a dangerous task and asks you to roll an Athletics skill check since swimming is covered by the Athletics skill.
Rolling the d20, you get an 18, for a total of The GM compares this to the DC which was 16 and finds that you got a critical success since the result exceeded the DC by Your character swims quickly across the river and continues the pursuit, drenched but unharmed.
Had you gotten a result less than 26 but equal to or greater than 16, your character would have made it halfway across the river. Had your result been less than 16, your character might have been swept downriver or, worse, been pulled under the current and begun to drown!
Checks like this are the heart of the game and are rolled all the time, in every mode of play, to determine the outcome of tasks. While the roll of the die is critical, the statistic you add to the roll called a modifier often makes the difference between success and failure.
Every character is made up of many such statistics governing what the character is good at, each consisting of a relevant ability modifier plus a proficiency bonus , and sometimes modified further by other factors, such as bonuses or penalties from gear, spells, feats , magic items, and other special circumstances. It is broken into five different ranks: untrained , trained , expert , master , and legendary. Each rank grants a different proficiency bonus. Proficiency ranks are part of almost every statistic in the game.
Most of the time, your character will explore the world, interact with characters, travel from place to place, and overcome challenges. This is called exploration. Game play is relatively free-form during exploration , with players responding to the narrative whenever they have an idea of what to do next. Throughout this mode of play, the GM asks the players what their characters are doing as they explore. This is important in case a conflict arises. View all held items.
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Archives of Nethys. New to Pathfinder 2nd Edition? Click Here! This month brings a new AP and some items from the recently released Fumbus comic, links to both can be found below.
Choose from ancestries like elf, human, and goblin and classes like alchemist, fighter, and sorcerer to create a hero of your own design destined to become a legend! Based on more than 20 years of active development and playtest feedback from more than , gamers, the new Pathfinder rules are easy to learn and exciting to master!
This indispensable volume contains all rules for players and Game Masters, and is your first step on a heroic new journey! This deluxe special edition is bound in faux leather with metallic deboss cover elements and a bound-in ribbon bookmark. Unleash your hero! Newest Paizo Blogs Read More.
New Releases. Save on select Pathfinder Campaign Setting and Player Companion volumes, Adventure Path bundles, and more awesome first edition products.
Get Pathfinder and Starfinder adventures, rulebooks, and accessories—benefits range from digital copies, discounts, and more! The number of updates is already astronomical, and I think it will be very difficult to keep up with the pace with Paizo without help. The new version has shortcut links on each page reference in the book so that you can just click on the page and it will take you to the page that they reference.
There are also links in the Table of Contents and the Index. I made shortcut links in the spells lists.
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