Berin Kinsman

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Character Change Log, Asparagus Jumpsuit’s first product for that game system, has garnered good reviews and I’m pleased with how it’s selling. A lot of people love it, but I do get questions about what it is, what it does, and why you’d need it.

There are 20 worksheets in the book. The first is a step-by-step walk though of character creation at 1st level. I made this with my current group in mind, as well as past players who seem to struggle with the process. There’s a lot to keep track of in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. New players can get confused or overwhelmed, and even experienced players (like me) forget things sometimes. Having a checklist that goes along with the official character sheet, reminding me of little things like adding a +3 bonus to class skills with at least 1 rank, telling me where to look things up in the Core Rulebook, and pointing me to where on the character sheet that information is recorded, is useful.

The other worksheets take you through each level. They tell you things like whether or not you gain a new feat at this level, or an increase to your ability score. It reminds you how skill ranks work, something some of my players forget as the characters get higher in level and the time period between leveling up gets longer. Instead of flipping though the book, you run down the list. You can record and calculate things on the worksheet before adding it to your character sheet; for me, writing it twice helps me remember, and if I waffle on some decisions (what new spell should I take?) I can keep the eraser marks on the worksheet and keep my character sheet tidy.

As a gamemaster — and I’ve had other GM’s say this to me as well — the worksheets are also useful for keeping track of when the character got what. One gamemaster told me he’s going to make them fill out a worksheet and then hand it in to him. That way, have has a record of what they can do, and plan encounters around newly-gained abilities. One said that this is a good way to work opportunities to use new class abilities into an adventure.

The Change Log is a simple thing, but it offers a lot of utility and is the kind of aid that can be helpful in multiple ways. We’d like to hear more about how other people are using it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, we hope you’ll go download a copy from RPGnow and give it a try.