Character Creation Steps

As a player of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, the first thing you need to do is create a character. This is the in-world individual you’ll be playing during the game, and it’s up to you to create her background and personality. You’ll also want to build the character using the game’s mechanics to determine her starting capabilities at various tasks and the special abilities she can use during her adventures.

CHARACTER SHEET

For each step in the character creation process detailed below, fill in the necessary information in the appropriate field on your character sheet. You can find a blank character sheet at the back of this book or available as a free download at paizo.com.

The following instructions assume you’re building a 1st-level character. These steps are presented in a suggested order, but feel free to complete them in the order you prefer.

Many of the steps below instruct you to fill out fields on your character sheet (see pages 520–521), but note that the character sheet is arranged for ease of use in gameplay rather than character creation—for instance, several fields listed at the top of the character sheet are finishing details you’ll determine at the end of the character creation process.

If you’re creating a higher-level character, it’s a good idea to begin with these instructions before progressing to page 26 for instructions on leveling up characters.

Step 2: Choose a Race

Your character’s race, or species, is one of her most important characteristics. Chapter 3 and the sidebar on page 15 detail Starfinder’s core races—many of them quite alien—while Chapter 13 details legacy races iconic to sword-and-sorcery roleplaying games. Your character’s race grants her abilities and languages and determines a portion of the Hit Points (HP) she has when you begin play (HP represents how badly she can be hurt before she falls unconscious or dies). Her class will also impact her starting HP total, as described in Step 6.

Your character’s race also modifies her ability scores. These are important values that affect many of your character’s statistics, but you won’t finalize them until Step 5.

CHARACTER SHEET

Step 4: Choose a Class

At this point, you’re almost ready to finalize your character’s ability scores, which are key values you’ll need to calculate many of her statistics. First, though, you need to choose your character’s class. This affords her access to a suite of heroic abilities, determines how well she can attack, and governs how easily she can shake off or avoid certain harmful effects. Chapter 4 details the seven classes you can play in Starfinder, and the sidebar above provides an overview of the classes’ functions and roles.

You don’t yet need to note all of your character’s class features. You simply need to know which class you want to play, which will tell you the ability scores that will be the most important to you. Each class notes its key ability scores, as well as other particularly helpful ability scores, but for easy reference, Table 2–3 on page 19 lays out the key ability scores for all classes.

CHARACTER SHEET

Step 5: Finalize Ability Scores

Now that you’ve made the most important decisions about your character, it’s time to fill in her statistics. Your character’s ability scores determine a wide array of her capabilities and consist of six values: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. To learn how to calculate your ability scores, see Ability Scores beginning on page 18. That section will also tell you how to determine your ability score modifiers, which affect the calculation of many of the values described on your character sheet and later in this section.

CHARACTER SHEET

Record your ability scores in the appropriate fields on your character
sheet. Next to the scores, write down each score's modifier.

Step 6: Apply Your Class

Now, determine the powers, special abilities (called class features), and other key statistics your character gains from being 1st level in her class. The table at the beginning of each class section includes your character’s base attack bonus, which helps determine how good she is at attacking. You’ll add this base value to her melee and ranged attacks; see Chapter 8 for more details on combat. That table also indicates your character’s base bonuses for her Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saving throws. See Step 9 for more information on saving throws.

Additionally, your character’s class affects her total Stamina Points (SP). Stamina Points measure how much punishment she can absorb before it begins to really hurt her and reduce her Hit Points. At 1st level, you gain the number of Stamina Points listed in your class + your Constitution modifier. At 1st level, you also add the number of Hit Points indicated in your class to the number of Hit Points you gain from your race. (See page 22 for more about Hit Points and Stamina Points.)

Finally, your character’s class influences how many skill ranks she can assign per level (see Step 7), and determines her armor and weapon proficiencies (see Step 8).

CHARACTER SHEET

Step 7: Assign Skill Ranks and Choose Feats

Next, figure out what skills you want your character to be good at, whether it’s using technology or surviving in the wilderness. At each level, she gains skill ranks, representing her growing know-how and training. The number of ranks she gains at each level equals her Intelligence modifier + an amount determined by her class (but she always gains at least 1), and you can allocate the ranks to any skills you want. Some skills are called out as class skills in your class entry—these are skills tied to your class, and you automatically get a +3 bonus if you put a skill rank into them. (You can still put ranks into skills that aren’t class skills; you just don’t get the special +3 bonus when you do.) For more on skills and how they work, including information about trained-only skills and penalties for wearing armor while using skills, see Chapter 5.

Once you’ve assigned your character’s skill ranks, choose her feats. Most characters begin play with one feat, though humans gain a racial bonus feat. Feats are a good way to boost an element of your character that might be lacking. For example, Toughness grants extra Stamina Points, while Bodyguard lets you protect nearby allies from attacks. See Chapter 6 for more information.

CHARACTER SHEET

Step 8: Buy Equipment

At 1st level, your character has 1,000 credits to spend on armor, weapons, and other supplies (though your GM may give you alternative instructions for how to choose your gear). Armor and weapons are often the most important—keep in mind that your character’s class determines the types of weapons and armor that she is proficient with. Your character’s weapon determines the damage she can deal in combat, while armor affects her Energy Armor Class (EAC) and Kinetic Armor Class (KAC)—see Step 9 for more on Armor Class. Additionally, there are other staples that can help your character during play. For more on the equipment available and how much it costs, see Chapter 7.

CHARACTER SHEET

Once you’ve spent your character’s credits, note the equipment she
owns as well as any remaining credits. Record your weapons on the
appropriate lines, as well as their relevant details, including how
much damage each weapon deals (see page 240 for details about
how to calculate damage).