With all the different play styles and current ways to customize characters with archetypes, it can be overwhelming enough to do a straight-up 1-20 level class. Even more so if one is using one of those really cool 15-20 page character portfolios that spread out and detail all the facets of the PC. Do any player characters still use prestige classes? Or better yet, do any players still multiclass? For those who do, consider taking a look at the tools supplied with this blog post. But first, let’s go over more on these tools!

Because some of the focus of a character can be muddled when multiclassing, this type of character development can be antithetical to power players and/or min-maxers. This is not to dissuade or promote a specific type of play, but multiclassing can be more the purview of the PCs (and/or GMs) who wish to either delve into the outré/weird, for campaign flavor, or just to see what happens when you mix stuff up.

Stat sheets and revised (multi-)class sheets, such as the ones linked to below, can be invaluable aids for any types of characters that deviate from the standard single 20-level class. These can also be useful with game systems where standard class paths have options that can differentiate from other characters in the same class. It can even be beneficial in other systems that allow for multiclassing, but the amounts of levels may not be equal betwixt the various classes.

The benefit in using the class sheet (Sorceress_shadow_hoplite.pdf) lies in consolidating information that might be spread among various sources. You don’t have to get rid of that awesome tome for when your character retires, but it can be really handy to have a one-page reference that has everything about the character (especially as the levels progress past the first few).

To clarify the usefulness of the tools, a sample character (Hecate_Barnacle_CR9.pdf) shows the benefit of the tools. This character is in a home-brew campaign that uses Pathfinder rules and more than loosely emulates ancient Greek lore and history integrated with the game’s fantasy races and classes. One thing that is common to all PCs is that they have their first level in Hoplite fighter. This is a small variation of the fighter class that includes various Hoplite shield feats that are integral to its flavor and design. The character’s main class is sorceress (with some minor campaign variations–Arcane Armor Training instead of Brew Potion) and the prestige class is shadowdancer.

With two different base classes and a prestige class, there’s a lot going on. The first tool shown is the class sheet. This details all the class features and most of the feats (some may prefer to work out every feat in advance) from 1-20. The front side details the progression and back side defines all the specific class abilities/powers. Afterward is the stat sheet, which is an immensely useful tool to make sure nothing is missed when trying to stay on top of things during the game. It is highly likely GMs are already used to using stat sheets with modules or even in their home-brew games. PCs… maybe not so likely. When PCs use a stat sheet, it’s a nice gesture to provide the GM with a copy that they’ll likely appreciate.