New Player Guide
Written by one of our players, the lovely Krargan, this guide helps you get through the initial stages of creating a character for VLC with plenty of illustrations and step-by-step instructions, making things very simple! Many thanks to Krargan for making this!
Quick Character Creation Rules
Start with a concept!
This is the easiest way I can explain to start. What do you want your character to do? Are they a caster? Maybe a thief? From there you can decide on race and class, but it helps cement the idea. If you are unsure what is available take a look at the classes and races first before coming up with your concept. If you ever need help with anything, there are multiple ideas you can find online, or you can ask a fellow player or GM to assist you. But you must have a Backstory.
Backstory
Your backstory must be appropriate for a level 1 character. They should not be Gorgland, Slayer of Giants, but Gorgland, Slayer of Maybe a Goblin or Two. Do not expect them to have a very large amount of knowledge because of their locale. If you do want to do something special with your backstory, it needs GM Council approval. While GM approval is fine for the rest, any kind of extensive backstory needs to be approved by me. How can you tell when your backstory requires one or the other? See below for the checklist:
- Does your character gain knowledge on a faction that is not open about their ways?
- Is your character from a noble or other such prestigious birth?
- Did they grow up as a part of a race that is illegal or requires permission to play? (Adopted by Orcs or similar)
- Do they have a name for themselves, such as being well known for a particular talent or ability?
- Are they suffering from mental illness such as Amnesia, Multiple Personality Disorder, or similar?
- Are they related to a well known or famous person in the world?
- Do they come from Sandpoint?
- More to come as I think of examples for them.
If you had any of these, please speak to me in either a PM or when I am online.
The Actual Stats
- When creating a character you start at Level 1 with 200 gold and 3 point of downtime. Next up, you have a 25 Point Buy, but you may not dump a score below 10 or raise above 18 before Racial Modifiers. While first level HP is still full HD + additional modifiers (Constitution, Toughness, Favored Class, Etc.), subsequent levels reduce the HD amount to half + 1 HP, as well as the usual modifiers. You can use Downtime to increase that up to a Full HD.
- Animal Companions, Eidolon, and Similar Creatures differ from players in that even their HP are always 1/2 HD +1 and never gain full HD unless using the training options in Downtime.
We use the Pathfinder Unchained Background Skills. You can read that here.
Perform is a Class Skill for everyone, because it used to be, and that way was much better.
Crafting items such as wondrous items and other magical gear, is prohibited. This also means [Item Creation] feats, such as Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, and Craft Wondrous Item, are prohibited.
You must at least meet the Minimum Adult Age for your race nor can you exceed the Maximum Age. Furthermore, if you are within Middle age or older we use PFS rules and you do not get any negatives or bonuses for your age.
Also you may start play with one free language based off of Homeland, but this language must not be one such as Common, Dwarven, etc. This language is your regional language. If you are unsure what that means, Varisia has the regional language of Varisian. Tian from Tian Xia and etc. If you are unsure what language you would get feel free to ask. But they should be listed in Inner Seas World Guide for those who have it.
You get 2 traits on creation and you cannot take a drawback to get more though you are free to Roleplay having a drawback.
In order to count as following a deity for the purposes of Class Features, Feats, Traits, and any other effect, you must be within one step of the Deity's alignment and have it selected as your deity. If at any point your alignment shifts away from this, you lose access to those features as described by the rules of the class or until you meet them again for the purpose of feats, traits, and the likes.
At first level you get a free revive if you die, as more explained on the Death page.
You cannot be evil.
No 3rd Party or Homebrew Materials unless explicitly stated here on this wiki!
You may edit any part of your character at level 1 for free, but you need to get re-approved by a GM.
Height and weight beyond a race's usual ranges may or may not be approved, at the discretion of the GM doing the approving, in accordance with backstory justification
Inventory Logs
We use inventory slots to cover Loot Log, Experience Log, Item Access Log, Transaction Log, and Downtime Logs (Downtime Log and (Re)Training Log). Loot Log will keep track of Loot Points and Bonus Points (You may also keep this separated into a separate log called Bonus Point Log) which are accredited to you when you complete an ER. More information about Loot Points and Bonus Points will be on the Encounter Rewards Page as well as a chart detailing the value. Experience Log is similar to the loot log, but it is where you put the Experience gained for ERs. Amount of experience needed to level will be on the Encounter Rewards Page. Another reward from ERs is Item Access. Item Access allows access to Gear not Always Accessible; this will be further explained on the Encounter Rewards Page. Transaction log tracks the amount of money spent and gained from selling (50% Base cost when selling). Downtime keeps track of Gained Downtime and also how it is spent, detailed on the Encounter Rewards Page.
To help our GMs keep track of your Encounter Rewards and Downtime, we use a system of logs and Encounter Reports (ERRTs). Examples of what we expect from these logs are on the Examples Page. THESE ARE REQUIRED TO GET YOUR CHARACTER APPROVED.
Point Buy Calculator
I suggest this nifty little tool for easy calculation: Point Buy Calculator .
Archives of Nethys
This is something that will be of the most use to you while creating your character. Archives of Nethys is a website that contains 99% of what is legal to play in VLC. It is marked by this symbol or this symbol if there is an amendment to it's use, displayed when hovered over the mark. However, that is markings for the Legality in Pathfinder Society, so it is best to also make sure to check our Rule Changes Page.
Additional Characters
To receive an additional character follow the chart below. Once you reach the prerequisites for each slot, they remain unlocked, even if you stop meeting said prerequisites in the future, with the exception of the GM Bonus Slot on a case-by-case basis (Edit: 11/09/2017). These are considered a bonus, and can be taken away as a disciplinary action
| Character | Requirements |
|---|---|
| 1st | Join Varisia |
| 2nd | Reach Level 4 on 1st Character. |
| 3rd | Reach Level 8 on 1st Character or level 4 on second. |
| 4th | Be a GM. |
Races
Available races include most of the races in the Advanced Race Guide; however, not all are legal. Also, with the added races the bonuses from the legal splat books has also become mostly legal. Make sure to consult a GM before selecting one. Any race that does not start with Common (Also known as Taldane) automatically gets it as a Bonus Language without needing to expend a Skill Point or boost their Intelligence. Furthermore, if your starting region speaks a language, besides one of the major languages like Elven, you would gain one of those languages as well. Some of those languages are listed here.
Legal Races |
|---|
| Dwarves |
| Elves |
| Gnomes |
| Half-Elves |
| Half-Orcs |
| Halflings |
| Humans |
| Catfolk |
| Dhampirs (And Variants) |
| Fetchlings |
| Ifrits |
| Kobolds |
| Oreads |
| Ratlfok |
| Sylphs |
| Tengus |
| Tieflings (And Variants) |
| Undines |
| Changelings |
| Gillmen |
| Grippli |
| Kitsune |
| Nagaji |
| Suli |
| Vanara |
| Vishkanya |
| Wayang |
| Skinwalker (And Variants) |
| Ganzi |
The below races need to have their backstories approved by the GM Council.
Races That Need Permission |
|---|
| Aasimars (And Variants) |
| Drow |
| Goblin |
| Hobgoblin |
| Duergar |
| Merfolk |
| Samsaran |
| Strix |
| Gnoll |
| Lizardfolk |
| Android |
| Gathlain |
| Shabti |
| Syrinx |
| Wyvaran |
This has been amended to only show the changed rules. For further clarification please see PFS Additional Resources.
6/8/16 Edit: Android is no longer a valid playable race.
12/01/17 Edit: Android is a valid playable race once more