5ePointBuy

Pathfinder 1e point buy calculator

Every ability begins at 10 rather than 8, scores below that hand points back into the pool, and the budget is a campaign setting rather than a fixed number. Pathfinder 1st Edition shares a name with the 5e method and almost nothing else.

Buy your scores

20 of 20 points remaining

20 of 20 points unspent

Ability Score Modifier Point cost
STR 10 +0 0
DEX 10 +0 0
CON 10 +0 0
INT 10 +0 0
WIS 10 +0 0
CHA 10 +0 0
Points spent 0

The purchase table

The purchase table runs from 7 to 18. The negative figures at the low end are not a discount but a refund: dropping an ability below 10 returns points for spending elsewhere, which is the mechanic that makes the system so much swingier than its 5e counterpart.

Pathfinder 1e ability costs, 7 to 18, measured from a starting score of 10.
Score Cost Modifier
7 -4 -2
8 -2 -1
9 -1 -1
10 0 +0
11 1 +0
12 2 +1
13 3 +1
14 5 +2
15 7 +2
16 10 +3
17 13 +3
18 17 +4

The three campaign budgets

The budget is chosen by the GM to set the campaign power level rather than printed as a single number. Pathfinder Society, the organised play programme, standardises on the 20-point High Fantasy line so that every table in the programme starts from the same place.

What each power level buys, computed from the table above rather than described in general terms.
Power level Points Highest single score Flattest spread it affords
Standard Fantasy 15 18 12 across all six (12 points)
High Fantasy 20 18 13 across all six (18 points)
Epic Fantasy 25 18 13 across all six (18 points)

Because five abilities dumped to 7 refund 20 points, an 18 is affordable at every one of the three budgets — even the 15-point line. What the budget actually controls is how wide a character can be, not how high one score can go.

Why a Pathfinder 20 is not a 5e 20

The two tables price the same scores differently at every step, so a budget carried across from one system to the other buys something else entirely. The 5e column below is blank under 8 because that table does not sell those scores at any price.

The same score, priced by both systems. 5e spends 27 from a base of 8; Pathfinder spends its budget from 10.
Score Cost in 5e Cost in Pathfinder 1e
8 0 -2
10 2 0
12 4 2
14 7 5
15 9 7

Pathfinder 2e does not use point buy

Pathfinder 2e does not use point buy at all. It builds ability scores from a sequence of boosts — from ancestry, background, class and free choices — with no budget to spend and no purchase table to consult. Nothing on this page applies to a 2e character.

Pathfinder point buy questions

How does point buy work in Pathfinder 1e?

Every ability starts at 10 and you spend a budget set by the GM. Raising a score costs progressively more, from 1 point for an 11 up to 17 for an 18, and lowering one below 10 refunds points into the pool.

How many points is Pathfinder Society?

Pathfinder Society organised play uses 20 points, the High Fantasy line. The Core Rulebook also names 15 points for Standard Fantasy and 25 for Epic Fantasy, and a home game uses whichever the GM picks.

Can you get an 18 with 15 point buy in Pathfinder?

Yes, though it costs almost everything else. An 18 is 17 points, and dropping five abilities to 7 refunds 20, so the 18 is affordable on any of the three budgets. The result is a character with one excellent score and five poor ones.

Does Pathfinder 2e use point buy?

No. Pathfinder 2e replaced the purchase table with ability boosts granted by ancestry, background and class, applied in a fixed sequence. There is no budget to spend, so a 2e character cannot be built with the table on this page.

Why does Pathfinder 1e start abilities at 10 instead of 8?

Because the system prices movement in both directions from an average human score. Starting at 10 is what allows a 7 or an 8 to return points, and it is the reason a Pathfinder budget of 20 buys a very different character from 20 points spent under the 5e table.

  • Build your own variant — The same three levers Pathfinder exposes — budget, floor and curve — with a 5e starting point.
  • The 5e purchase table — The other system with this name, for comparing the two cost curves side by side.