Org Play characters must follow a set of rules, which are more restrictive than “homebrew” or PC game rules for character creation. The point of these restrictions is to give players an equal footing when designing their characters for Society, and to provide a sort of “meta-progression” system, allowing you to design increasingly rare and exotic characters the more you participate in Org Play.

Once you give your character a name, and register them on the Org Play website, you will need to decide several things about your character, including:

• Starting equipment (you can purchase a certain amount of equipment based on your starting gold, which is defined by Society rules);
• Character Options (Ancestry, Class, Heritage, Feats, Skill training, etc.) — these have a mechanical effect on how well your character can perform difficult or risky actions (they affect the results of your dice rolls);
• Roleplaying Features (Gender/Sex, Age, Height, Languages, accent/speech patterns, appearance, reputation, background, deity beliefs, etc.) — these have a mostly non-mechanical effect (they don’t affect dice rolls) but may still affect the outcome of a game. Roleplaying features help you to immerse yourself in your character at the table.

When selecting your Starting Equipment and Character Options, the exact rules you must follow depend on which game you are playing:

Pathfinder 2e Society (PFS2)

The premiere Paizo Org Play game in 2024 is Pathfinder Society for 2e, abbreviated PFS2. The rules of Society character design (and other Society rules) are available at Paizo’s Lorespire site. It is recommended to follow along with the Character Creation guide while building your PFS2 character, especially if it’s your first time doing so.

PFS2 Character Design Approaches

There are two main ways to design your character for PFS2: on-paper, or using a website or app. Some people prefer to print out the paper character sheet and work from that. Others prefer to use their phone, a laptop or a tablet to access an interactive, digital character sheet online during the game.

If you wish to take the paper route, download the character sheet here and print it out. You will need to fill in the blanks in accordance with both PFS2 rules and the core rulebook of Pathfinder 2e itself (plus any add-on rulebooks you own). You can purchase core rulebooks from Paizo here or digital copies from Demiplane here.

If you wish to take the digital route, some of the major websites folks use for online, interactive character design include:

• Demiplane’s Pathfinder Nexus – partner site of Paizo; their system is kept up-to-date with the latest rules/books, and you can purchase books through them that will automatically sync with your Paizo account.
  • On the plus side, you can easily track your hitpoints, status effects on your character, gold, equipment, etc. using the interactive app.
  • One potential downside is that the app is fairly slow on low-end devices such as tablets and phones, and requires a constant Internet connection while at the table.
• Hero Lab Online – another full-featured character builder.
• PathBuilder 2e – yet another full-featured character builder. Frequently used in conjunction with online virtual tabletop systems such as Foundry and Roll20 due to its character export/import capability.

PFS2 Legality

The main restriction you will need to keep track of, over and above the PF2 rulebooks, is the PFS Legality of any given item, character option, feat, character ability, etc. Most items with a Common rarity are fine, but Uncommon/Rare items, or those introduced in later books, may not be available in PFS at all, or may only be available if you spend Achievement Points (AcP) you’ve earned from previous play.

For convenience, tools such as Pathbuilder and Pathfinder Nexus contain PFS2 legality and rarity information for most character options and items.

Starfinder 2e Society (SFS2) Playtest

As of September 2024, Starfinder Second Edition (2e) is in a Playtest phase. That means some early scenarios and adventures are available, but the rulebook is not complete or final. Paizo intends to release Starfinder 2e in 2025 according to the latest information on their website.

Because the rules are not final, SFS2 play does not have all the features and polish of PFS2. Rules that are missing or unclear are up to GM discretion at the table. Many unwritten rules about Starfinder 2e simply defer to the latest rules of Pathfinder 2e, or in the case of Society-specific rules, PFS2 rules.

The most featureful Starfinder 2e Playtest digital character builder, as of this writing, is Demiplane’s at https://app.demiplane.com/. The freeware site Hephaistos (which is funded by donations) also provides a Starfinder 2e Playtest character builder. Feel free to use the one you prefer the most.

You can find the Starfinder 2e Playtest character sheet PDF and free Playtest Rulebook here: https://paizo.com/starfinderplaytest

When you complete a Starfinder 2e Playtest scenario or adventure, you should provide feedback to Paizo about your experience to help make the final Starfinder 2e system better. Several Paizo surveys are available part-way down the page here: https://paizo.com/starfinderplaytest

The First Edition (“1e”) Systems

The Pathfinder 1e and Starfinder 1e systems and Societies are still active, and experience an ongoing interest from players. Reasons you may see players opting to choose the 1e systems include, but are not limited to:

• A preference for the 1e mechanics. For instance, the action economy of Pathfinder and Starfinder 1e may be more familiar to players of other TTRPGs.
• GMs or players may be attached to characters, scenarios or adventures designed for 1e.
  • A table of friends who meet on a regular basis may want to run their 1e characters or adventures to completion, so they will keep running them even though the second edition system is out.
• GMs or players may prefer to avoid incomplete “Playtest” systems in favor of a more polished and complete system, such as the case of Starfinder 1e, which has many more character classes and options than Starfinder 2e Playtest.

The homepage of the Starfinder 1e Society is here on the Paizo website: https://paizo.com/starfindersociety (This page may be updated with the Starfinder 2e Society information in the future.)