Character Creation

Once you’ve developed your character’s concept, jot down a few sentences summarizing your ideas under the Notes section on the third page of your character sheet. Record any of the details you’ve already decided, such as your character’s name, on the appropriate lines on the first page.

The attribute boosts and flaws listed in each ancestry represent general trends or help guide players to create the kinds of characters from that ancestry most likely to pursue the life of an adventurer. However, ancestries aren’t monoliths. You always have the option to replace your ancestry’s listed attribute boosts and attribute flaws entirely and instead select two free attribute boosts when creating your character.

Sometimes, it’s fun to play a character with a major flaw regardless of your ancestry. You can elect to take additional attribute flaws when applying the attribute boosts and attribute flaws from your ancestry. This is purely for roleplaying a highly flawed character, and you should consult with the rest of your group if you plan to do this! You can’t apply more than one flaw to any single attribute modifier.

One of the most important aspects of your character is their attribute modifiers. These numbers represent your character's raw potential, and they influence nearly every other statistic on your character sheet. Determining your attribute modifiers is not done all at once, but instead happens over several steps during character creation.

Attribute modifiers are split into two main groups: physical and mental. Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are physical attribute modifiers, measuring your character's physical power, agility, and stamina. In contrast, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are mental attribute modifiers and measure your character's learned prowess, awareness, and force of personality.

Excellence in an attribute modifier improves the checks and statistics related to that ability, as described below. When imagining your character, you should also decide what attribute modifiers you want to focus on to give you the best chance at success.

Strength
Strength measures your character's physical power, and is important if your character plans to engage in hand-tohand combat. Your Strength modifier gets added to melee damage rolls and determines how much your character can carry.

Dexterity
Dexterity measures your character's agility, balance, and reflexes, and is important if your character plans to make attacks with ranged weapons or use stealth to surprise foes. Your Dexterity modifier is also added to your character's AC and Reflex saving throws.

Constitution
Constitution measures your character's health and stamina, and is important for all characters, especially those who fight in close range. Your Constitution modifier is added to your Hit Points and Fortitude saving throws.

Intelligence
Intelligence measures how well your character can learn and reason. A high Intelligence allows your character to analyze situations and understand patterns, and it means they can become trained in additional skills and might be able to master additional languages.

Wisdom
Wisdom measures your character's common sense, awareness, and intuition. High Wisdom helps your character detect hidden things and resist mental effects. Your Wisdom modifier is added to your Perception and Will saving throws.

Charisma
Charisma measures your character's personal magnetism and strength of personality. A high Charisma modifier helps you build relationships and influence the thoughts and moods of others with social skills.

Each attribute modifier starts at +0, representing the average. As you make character choices, you'll adjust these modifiers by applying attribute boosts, which increase an attribute modifier, and attribute flaws, which decrease an attribute modifier. As you build your character, remember to apply attribute modifier adjustments when making the following decisions.

• Ancestry: Each ancestry provides attribute boosts, and sometimes an attribute flaw. If you're taking any voluntary flaws, apply them in this step (see Optional Voluntary Flaws).
• Background: Your character's background provides two attribute boosts.
• Class: Your character's class applies an attribute boost to their key attribute: the attribute modifier most important for that class.
• Four Free Boosts: After the other steps, you apply four more attribute boosts to attributes of your choice to finalize your starting attribute modifiers.

Attribute Boosts
An attribute boost normally increases an attribute modifier's value by 1. However, if the attribute modifier to which you're applying an attribute boost is already +4 or higher, instead mark “partial boost” on the character sheet for that attribute. If the attribute already has a partial boost invested in it, increase the modifier by 1 and uncheck the box. At 1st level, a character can never have any attribute modifier that's higher than +4.

Whenever your character receives an attribute boost, the source indicates whether it must be applied to a specific attribute modifier, to one in a limited list, or whether it's a “free” boost that can be applied to any attribute of your choosing. For example, a Vesk character receives an attribute boost to their Constitution modifier and their Strength modifier, as well as one free attribute boost, which can be applied to any other attribute of choice.

When you gain multiple attribute boosts at the same time, you must apply each one to a different modifier. This means you can't apply a partial boost to an attribute modifier and apply another boost simultaneously to increase it.

Attribute Flaws
Attribute flaws are not nearly as common in Starfinder as attribute boosts. If your character has an attribute flaw—likely from their ancestry—you decrease that attribute modifier by 1. Vesk, for example,receive an attribute flaw to Wisdom.
* Any character can choose to take two free boosts instead of the listed boosts and flaws (Alternate Ancestry Boosts).
** A character receives an attribute boost to their class's key attribute.

Write your character's ancestry and heritage in the appropriate space at the top of your character sheet's first page. Adjust your attribute modifiers, adding 1 to an attribute modifier if you gained an attribute boost from your ancestry, and subtracting 1 from an attribute modifier if you gained an attribute flaw from your ancestry. Note the number of Hit Points your character gains from their ancestry—you'll add more to this number later. Finally, in the appropriate spaces, record your character's size, Speed, and languages. If your character's ancestry provides them with special abilities, write them in the appropriate spaces, such as darkvision in the Senses section on the first page and innate spells on the fourth page. Write the ancestry feat you selected in the Ancestry Feat section on your character sheet's second page.

Record your character’s background in the space at the top of the first page of your character sheet. Adjust your attribute modifiers, adding 1 to an attribute modifier if you gained an attribute boost from your background. Record the skill feat the background provides in the Skill Feat section of your character sheet’s second page. On the first page, check the “T” box next to the name of the specific skill and for one Lore skill to indicate your character is trained, then write the name of the Lore skill granted by your background.

Write your character’s class in the space at the top of the first page of your character sheet, then write “1” in the Level box to indicate that your character is 1st level. Next to the attribute modifiers, note the class’s key attribute modifier, and add 1 to that attribute modifier from the attribute boost the class provides. Don’t worry about recording the rest of your character’s class features and abilities yet—you’ll handle that in Step 7.

Write your character’s starting attribute modifiers in the box provided for each on the first page.

Write your character’s total Hit Points on the first page of your character sheet. Use the proficiency fields (the boxes marked “T,” “E,” “M,” and “L”) on your character sheet to record your character’s initial proficiencies in Perception, saving throws, and the skills granted by their class; mark “T” if your character is trained, or “E” if your character is an expert. Indicate which additional skills you chose for your character to be trained in by marking the “T” proficiency box for each skill you selected. Likewise, record your character’s armor proficiencies in the Armor Class section at the top of the first page and their weapon proficiencies at the bottom of the first page. Record all other class feats and abilities on the second page. Don’t worry yet about finalizing any values for your character’s statistics—you’ll handle that in Step 9.

Once you’ve spent your character’s starting wealth, calculate any remaining credits they might still have and write those amounts in the Inventory section on the second page. Record your character’s weapons in the Melee Strikes and Ranged Strikes sections of the first page, depending on the weapon, and the rest of their equipment in the Inventory section on the second page. You’ll calculate specific numbers for melee Strikes and ranged Strikes with the weapons in Step 9 and for AC when wearing that armor in Step 10.

For Perception and saving throws, write your proficiency bonus and the appropriate attribute modifier in the boxes provided, then record the total modifier in the large space. Record the proficiency bonuses, attribute modifiers, and total modifiers for your melee Strikes and ranged Strikes in the box after the name of each weapon, and record the damage for each, along with the traits for that attack. For skills, record the attribute modifier and proficiency bonus in the appropriate box for each skill, and then write the total skill modifiers in the spaces to the left.

If your character has any modifiers, bonuses, or penalties from feats or abilities that always apply, add them into the total modifiers. For ones that apply only in certain situations, note them next to the total modifiers.

Many characters can learn a few cantrips or focus spells, but the mystic and witchwarper gain spellcasting—the ability to cast a wide variety of spells. If your character’s class grants spells, you should take time during Step 7 to learn about the spells they know and how to cast them. The fourth page of the character sheet provides space to note your character’s magic tradition and their proficiency rank for their spell attack modifier and spell DC. It also gives space to record the spells in your character’s repertoire. Each class determines how and which spells a character can cast, but the spells themselves and detailed rules for spellcasting are located in Chapter 7.