Revision as of 09:26, 30 July 2013

Online Character Creation Instructions for Pathfinder

Basic Instructions

Upon joining the Wold, the Powers That Be (PTB) will have ensured you have contact with your DM, access to the Woldian Address List, and access and posting permissions. It is time to create your hero!

1. Getting Started. Use the 25 point buy method listed in the Pathfinder Core Rules to assign your stats and set up a Character Concept. Character concept includes their class, race, and personality: what makes your hero more than a bunch of numbers? What makes your hero alive?

2. Fleshing Out and Approvals. Send your DM an email with your hero’s ability scores and character concept. Your DM will approve, disapprove, or begin a discussion with you concerning your concept until you come to an agreement that matches your wants and the game board. During this time, complete your hero using Pathfinder Core Rules and Woldian House Rules to include equipment and other abilities. Note the cost for any item or organization on the Character Sheet for DM approval. Certain classes, dieties, and abilities require PTB approval prior to play. Work with your DM for assistance.

3. Starting Above 1st Level. If you are starting at higher than 1st level, you will receive a starting XP total and GP total from your DM. Woldian Games uses the medium XP track. Complete your hero using Pathfinder Core Rules and Woldian House Rules to include equipment, magic items, and other abilities. Note the cost for any item or organization on the Character Sheet for DM approval. If you choose item creation feats, please consult your DM for crafting rules before play starts.

Note that after your character is in play, further magic item purchases are done through the Catacombs Message Board. (See the Catacombs policy.)

4. Uploading to Googledocs. Once your hero is ready you'll need to upload it onto GoogleDocs and email your DM with the document URL. Then, either you, your DM or some other kind soul can add a link to it from your game's Woldipedia page. Your DM may ask for some changes, when she or he scrutinizes the character, but that can come after you begin to play.

Here are approved formats for Woldian Character Sheets. Please follow the forms as precisely as possible as it applies to your character.

Detailed Instructions

• Classes: There are a few Class options available in addition to the standard classes in the Core Pathfinder rules. These are available for play subject to your DM's approval. There are also a great many Woldian Prestige Classes for higher level play. Note that most DMG Prestige Classes are available for play, with a few exceptions and modifications.

• Clerics in the Wold: Priests must worship one or more Woldian Gods or Immortal Powers. Only the Gods of Wold are available for worship without permission. If you want to worship one of the Gods of Testing or an Immortal Power you must have special permission from the Campaign DM (Jerry).

• Races: Surface Drow and the Taur (centaur, minotaur, liontaur) races have been approved in addition to the standard Core races. These are generally available without restriction, but check with your DM to see if they are allowed in a particular game. We do not use subraces, except as a role-playing device. All members of a race receive abilities etc. as described in the PF Core Rules. Full details of Woldian races can be found here.

• Alignment: All characters must be good in alignment unless special permission is granted by the Campaign DM (Jerry). Note that Woldian druids may be lawful good and chaotic good.

• Level: All characters, including taur races, begin at 1st level unless the DM states otherwise. (There are special "House Rules" for playing drow and taurs (and a very few other "monsters") with no level adjustment so that they are not more powerful than the other races.)

• Money: 1st level characters receive maximum starting money. Characters starting beyond that are given an amount of gold from the Game DM.

• Hero Points: All characters begin with 1 Hero Point. See the Combat Guidelines for more details on Hero Points. We also want to mention that we usually give folks half rounded down of max hero points, up to three, when starting a character that is not 1st level.

• Hit Points: 1st level characters receive maximum hit points. When rolling for levels after the first, you may re-roll all 1's. Hero points may NOT be used to re-roll hit points. See the Combat Guidelines for more details on Hero Points.

• Unique to the Wold: All characters must be original to The Wold. They cannot have been used at some other time or in some other campaign.

• Background': Please consult the Woldipedia for other rules and campaign information that can affect your character once it is in play. It is up to you to take advantage of what is there.

• Hit point advancement: As your character advances, please list his or her "hit points trail": i.e. the number of hit points rolled at each level.

• Starting characters, whether 1st level or higher, must use only the Pathfinder Core Rules and Woldian resources. Alternate sources for characters may NOT be used with Woldian characters. There is only one exception: You may apply to the Campaign DM for permission to use rules from the Advanced Players Guide. Traits and base classes are never allowed. Other rules might possibly be allowed if they are not more powerful than corresponding Core options and if they fit your character concept. After your character is created, you may visit the Black Genie Center Message Board and work with fellow players to develop original material for your character and others. There are a number of guidelines for developing new Woldian content.

Example Character Sheet and Templates

Here is a link to a GoogleDoc Template of the official blank PC sheet. You can make a copy of this from GoogleDocs and edit your copy, or download it for your own use, and re-upload it to share with others.

Here is a link to the same template as a Word document. You can download this, edit it in a word processor, and upload your version.

When you detail your character, please follow this sheet as closely as possible. No character sheet is perfect. Neither is this one, but it is formed correctly enough for your kindly DMs to follow. It is helpful for all sheets to be of the same format when you deal with 70+ players as we do. Please note if you do wish to include a character sketch it must not be a copywrited image.

Here is an example Pathfinder Character Sheet.

At the bottom of your sheet make sure you note details of your character's appearance and history. Here are some guidelines on how to complete these sections.

• Appearance

This section is the key to how other players will see your character, so please try to make it as complete as possible. Essential things to include here are features, build, skin color, clothing, armor, weapons, key equipment, and overall appearance. You might want to include how your character moves ("clumsy as an ox", or "She moves with a grace and elegance that belies her 22 stone frame"), if they have any distinguishing features (scars, tattoos, body piercings, missing limbs etc), and anything else you think will help other players conjure an instant mental image of your character. Please complete this section in prose rather than points. An example of how it might read can be found on the sample page.

• History

Your character's back story. Detail how they were brought up, key events in their early lives, significant figures (family, friends, foes), how they came to join with their current party, and if applicable a brief summary of their adventures so far with the party. Some will want to really flesh this section out. You can write in the third person, the 1st person, as a tale told by a wandering bard: be informative, but have fun if you wish! Try to write something that you will be happy to leave as your character's back story for the foreseeable future.

In your Appearance or History, you should also detail your personality. Here you need to cover such intangibles as Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma, but try to do so in a manner that doesn't simply read "He is clever, not very wise, and of average charisma". How does your character relate to others? Are they reserved, chatty, an optimist, pessimist, a practical joker, a dour servant of a grumpy God or a drooling village idiot? What are their beliefs? Their motto? Do they have a particular creed they live by? Does they have pastimes and interests outside of adventuring? What motivates them, makes them angry, or sad, or happy?

These are the mandatory sections. You can also add optional sections, for example to give details of an animal companion, or a description of an alias for characters that operate under assumed identities.