Options tab

 

This is where all the options available in PCGen are contained. These house the main character creation options as well as options that allow advanced character options to be used. Again most of these are for ease of use and are not mandatory to run or increase performance, these are simple ease of use options used to help speed up creation and maximize your PC creating experience without having to click around the program for everything. The options allowed are : Purchase Method, Use Default Monsters, Stat Roll Methods, Max Hp at first level, Max Starting Gold, Hp roll methods, Show tooltip text, Show preview Tav, Skill increment before leveling, Equipment Auto Creation, Apply Weight Penalty to skills, Apply Load Penalty to AC and Skills, Treat In Hand Weapons as Equipped for Attacks, and Source Display.

 PCGen will by default use the 4d6-drop-the-lowest stat rolling method, but if you check the Purchase Method box PCGen will use the purchase method and record the cost of your character using Purchase points. You can set the amount of purchase points in the program itself. There is no default amount of purchase points. Usually the purchase points are given out by the DM.

The Use Default Monsters option gives all monsters created with PCGen their default feats, skills, and other options associated with the Monster Manual put out by WOTC.

The Stat Roll Methods options allows you to chose which method you wish to use when "rolling" your character's stats. This is done automatically with PCGen and this option allows you to pick which method you wish to use: 4D6 drop lowest, 3d6, 3d6+5, 4d6 drop lowest reroll ones, 4d6 drop lowest and reroll 1's and 2s, 5d6 drop lowest and middle,  and 5d6 drop two lowest. The default option is 4d6 drop lowest.  The All the Same option allows the user to select one number and that be the default number for all stats, the range of numbers is from 3-18.

The Max Hp at first level option gives you maximum Hit Points at first level when you are creating your character.

The Max Gold at first level option gives you maximum gold pieces at first level when you are creating your character.

 The Hp roll methods consist of different ways that your character can gain hit points every time they level. The options are: Standard, Always max , Percentage, Living City, Living Greyhawk.   Standard is rolling the default hit dice for your class i.e.: a fighter gets 1d10 hit points, you would roll a d10 every time to determine hit points.  Always max give you max hit points at ever level: the same fighter gets 10 hit points every time they level.  Living City and Living Greyhawk  are the two options used for the RPGA Live Role-playing Tournament sponsored by WOTC.

Show Tooltip text allows pop up messages to appear over names of options and files, giving a basic description of said item.

Show Preview tab displays the Preview tab when you are creating the character. This allows you to preview the character under PCGen's own preview window.

The Skill Increment before leveling allows the character's skills to be incremented before new skill points are added, allowing the skills to have higher allowed ranking before adding in skill points during leveling and character creation.

The Equipment Auto Creation option allows the user to select what types of equipment that can be selected when creating the character. The options for displaying equipment with the following options when creating the character are: Racially resized armor and shields, Masterwork, Magic (+! to +5), and Adamantitie/Darkwood/Mithral. These are all options that can be selected and deselected at any time.

The Apply Weight Penalty to Skills  automatically applies any weight penalties when using the PC when there is encumbrance. This will automatically reduce certain skills (swim, climb, jump, etc.) by the set amount on the PHB and DMG when encumbered.

The  Apply Load Penalty to AC and Skills  applies AC and Skills penalty when the PC's load is medium or higher.

The Treat In Hand Weapons as Equipped for Attacks option treats all weapons that are equipped on the PC as being weapons used to attack. This will reflect on the character sheet when viewed as giving the proper to hit and attack bonus' that are appropriate for the PC.

The Source Display Displays the different formats for the SOURCE tag

Long: WotC - Core Rulebook I - Players Handbook
Short: Wotc-PHB
Web: www.wizards.com

Page: WOTC-PHB pg. 97