Creating a Character

Choose Your Heritage and Training
Choose your species, bloodline, and training from the available lists. Species and bloodline are genetic qualities, the circumstances of your birth. Training represents your personal combat style as well as any professional pursuits you may have. These should all be chosen at the same time because some combinations have more synergy than others.

Write your species, bloodline, and training selections on your character sheet.

Buy Ability Scores
All ability scores start at 8. Take 28 points to spread out among all abilities, your DM may select a different number of points. For ability scores of 14 or lower, you buy additional points on a 1-for-1 basis. For ability scores higher than 14, it costs a little more.

Apply any species and bloodline adjustments after your abilities have been selected.

Record Your Heritage and Training Features
Your species, bloodline, and training will give you specific powers and bonuses aside from any ability score adjustments. Some of these are automatic, others involve making choices and thinking ahead about upcoming character creation steps. Feel free to look ahead or backtrack and do something over if you need to.

Select Skills
Your character's training and intelligence determine how many skill points you have to buy skills. You may also gain some skill points from your species and bloodline.

Skills are measured in ranks. Each rank adds +1 to checks made using a specific skill.

At first level, you can buy as many as 4 ranks in a tagged skill (a skill on your training list of skills) for 4 points, or 2 ranks in any non-restricted skill for the same cost. You get more out of purchasing tagged skills.

Buying skills goes faster if you spend 4 skill points (your maximum) on every skill you buy.

Once you've selected your skills, add all your modifiers from the previous steps to your ranks in each skill and write the total on your character sheet. Remember to add the ability modifier from the ability associated with the skill.

Select Feats
Each first level character starts with one feat. You may also gain bonus feats from your species, bloodline, and training. Many feats have prerequisites that must be met before they can be selected.

Select Prestige Classes
Select one prestige class from the ones your DM has approved. If your DM wants you to select more than one then do so. Each prestige class has it's own tagged skills, and they are considered to be permanently tagged for as long as your character maintains that class.

What this means is that, while you cannot spend skill points gained from prestige classes on skills gained from training at the tagged rate, you can always spend skill points at the tagged rate for prestige class skills. Spend the skill points gained from your prestige class.

You may also gain feats from your prestige class. Select any feats you have gained.

Consider Your Character's Personality
Look over your character and consider your character's style and motivations. Get a rough idea of the type of being your character is. Choose an alignment that you feel describes your character. Choose a name, gender, age, and appearance. There is no need to develop your character fully, part of the fun is developing your character's personality based on their adventures.