Step Five: Skills and favored class<br/><br/>Skills in Pathfinder provide a structure for challenges and interactions outside of combat.  I think Pathfinder is the most advanced version of the D&D based systems, but it's a lot more basic than some other systems both in scope and variation.  Skills are broad categories; characters have a number of skill points which are spent on ranks in skills.  Those are adjusted by a couple factors and result in a fixed modifier to a die roll for each skill.<br/><br/><strong>Number of Skill Points:</strong><br/><br/>Every class description lists a base number of skill points gained each level (it's 2 for both fighters and wizards).  A character's Intelligence ability modifier is added, and humans gain one additional point for their racial trait Skilled.<br/><br/>Another way to gain points is the Favored Class Bonus.  Every time a character gains a level in their Favored Class (chosen at character creation) you have the option to gain 1) an additional skill point, 2) an additional hit point, or 3) the option listed under your Race for your class (note that many of those are listed as fractions - like 1/3 - meaning you have to take it multiple times before gaining the effect).<br/><br/>Each skill point can be spent on one rank in a skill; characters may never have more ranks in a skill than their level (so in our case, as first level characters, we can only have 1 rank in any skill).<br/><br/><strong>Types of skills:</strong><br/><br/>Some skills are considered basic enough they may be used Untrained; others cannot be attempted unless a character has at least one rank.  This is listed for each skill in its description.<br/><br/>Each class description also lists a selection of "class skills" that are fitting for the general concept; these gain a +3 bonus when the character first gains a rank in each skill.<br/><br/>Each skill is also modified by one ability score modifier; the ability set for each skill doesn't change as in many other systems.<br/><br/><br/><strong>A chart of skills, with links to their descriptions, which are class skills (C) and which may be used untrained is located here (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/coreRulebook/skillDescriptions.html). </strong><br/><br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Homework</span><br/>Choose your Favored Class bonus and calculate your number of Skill Points (Class base of 2, plus Intelligence modifier, plus 1 if human, plus 1 if you choose that as your Favored Class bonus)<br/><br/>Make a note on your character sheet of which skills are Class skills (check the box next to the skill if using Mythweavers), select skills and spend your skill points, then calculate your total modifier for each skill you take (1 rank, plus ability modifier, plus 3 if a class skill, plus any racial trait that might apply).<br/><br/>Example:<em>Elona gets 2 skill points for being a wizard, plus 3 more for her intelligence.  She's not human and I decide to get one more hit point for her favored class, to give her a bit more survivability.  <br/><br/>I give her Appraise and Diplomacy for some bargaining and socializing, important to a barkeep, and Profession: Innkeeper to cover the other aspects of her work - anything from making drinks to keeping her accounts in order.  In her travels, and speaking to guests, she's picked up some Knowledge: Geography and Knowledge: Local.  </em><br/><br/>Character sheet (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1373704)<br/>