<b>NEW USERS NOTE:</b> In the <i><b>Settings</i></b> menu the <i><b>Game/Mode Campaign Setting</i></b> determines what sources/books you can load.
Make sure that <b>all</b> of your preferences are set to what you want for your campaign in the preferences dialog box. This is under the Settings--&gt;Preferences menu item.
Trying to find how to output your character?  use the File--&gt;Print Preview command
PCGEN doesn't always deal with leveling down perfectly.  So before you level up a character, make sure that you back up the pcg file first. That way if you choose the wrong class etc., you can go back and do it properly.
Don't forget, in 3e and 35e mode, bonus skill points from intelligence are only applied at the time, not retroactively, so if you increase your intelligence later on, you will not get bonus skill points from your previous levels.
If you have a positive Intelligence modifier remember to choose your bonus languages at first level, selecting them after first level is not allowed unless you enable the house rule to bypass this restriction. Click the 'Lang, Weap Prof &amp; SA' button on the Summary Tab to select Languages. See the preferences for House Rules options.
The deity editor is in the Tools--&gt;List Editors menu.
Confused about gold in your inventory?  Remember to purchase coins, gems etc. with your pooled gold to get them shown on your inventory. Ideally the pooled gold should always be at 0.
Don't forget to choose your alignment straight away in the summary tab! That way all of the classes that you are eligible for will be available.
On the summary tab, the abilities column is actually editable, you can enter your ability scores directly instead of using the +/- buttons.
Using the Miscellaneous--&gt;Qualify option in a filter is often a great way to cut down a list to make it readable. But don't forget to switch the filter back off when you're looking for the prestige class you're trying to get to!
PCGEN is not necessarily a real time tool. So it may be best to note changes on your character sheet and enter them into PCGEN after every session. DM's can have sheets handed to them if they can't trust their players ;p
You will see small &gt;, &lt;, &lt;up&gt; and &lt;down&gt; arrows on the panes of the PCGEN windows. You can click on these to get one of the panes to expand to its full width/length.
The -2 circumstance penalty for not having thieves tools is a temporary bonus you can apply in the Temporary Bonus Tab which is a subtab of the Inventory Tab. Other circumstantial bonuses such as riding without a saddle or having your familiar within 5' are available in this tab as well.
The Barbarian Rage is a temporary bonus as well.
Don't forget to spend <b>all</b> of your skill points when you go up a level (as per the rules).
The Include Skills drop-down allows you to select the Untrained option which then shows all of the skills you are trained in and the skills that you don't need to be trained in but can still use.
When you get to the domains tab you'll need to use the deity editor to create your specific deity first.
On the Spell Tab you'll see SpellBook textbox.  You can add new spell books (in reality sets of spells you have memorized) by adding a new name in the text box and clicking on the Add button.
On the Spell Tab to see the number of spells you can cast in a day you need to select your spell casting class in the left-hand pane.
The Gear tab on the Inventory Tab shows all of the gear you own.  Use the Equipping tab to set up groups of equipment that you'd use (e.g. City, Party, Combat).  You can then print these sets out showing the changed affects on your movement and skills!
Remember the help section (F1) can answer many of your questions!!
<b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Introduction</span></b><br><br>This document explains how to find, download and install &quot;skins&quot; for <i>PCGen</i> to provide a different &quot;look and feel&quot; to the interface. These &quot;skins&quot; are provided by third parties not related to the <i>PCGen</i> team or <i><a href="http://www.codemonkeypublishing.com/">Code Monkey Publishing</a></i>.<br><br><b>Enabling skinning capability in <i>PCGen</i></b><br><br>Download the skins.zip file from the following location: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=25576">http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=25576</a>. Unzip the file into the \pcgen\lib directory.<br><br><b>Finding some &quot;skins&quot;</b><br><br>Merton Monk has provided several links on the <i>Yahoo! Groups</i> page: <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pcgen/links/PCGen_001013180345/">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pcgen/links/PCGen_001013180345/</a>. I found some of the best ones at: <a href="http://javootoo.l2fprod.com/plaf/skinlf/index.php">http://javootoo.l2fprod.com/plaf/skinlf/index.php</a>, however YMMV.<br><br>Placing the &quot;skins&quot; where <i>PCGen</i> can find them</b><br><br>The easiest is in the \pcgen\lib\ directory however you can use your own directory format as you will. There is no need to unzip the themes/skins as they are applied from the zip files.<br><br><b>Applying &quot;skins&quot; in <i>PCGen</i></b><br><br>1 Open <i>PCGen</i><br>2 Choose Settings...<br>3 Choose Preferences...<br>4 Under Appearance, Choose Look and Feel<br>5 Choose the Skinned option and use the &quot;...&quot; button to browse to the location of the skin zip files<br>6 Choose OK and the Theme/Skin should apply. However on some systems you need to exit and restart <i>PCGen</i> for this to take effect.<br><br>Hope this helps!<br><br>Michael Beaver <a href="mailto:michael@tripleknot.com">michael@tripleknot.com</a><br><a href="http://www.tripleknot.com/">www.tripleknot.com</a><br>
To reduce the options in races and classes on the 'Summary' tab, you can use Filters (click on the magnifying glass icon) - Try TYPE&gt;PC and TYPE&gt;Humanoid with the Match&gt;Any option selected.
Select Templates on the 'Race' tab
Click the 'Lang, Weap Prof &amp; SA' button to see Languages, Special Abilities and Weapon Proficiencies
If you ever see something that doesn't make sense to you, look on the trouble-shooting preview. To get to that, click on the "Character Sheet" tab. Select the "Troubleshooting.htm" sheet. You will see all the various abilities, skills, hit points, saving throws, and the like all expanded with a tag in [] showing where it came from. Very useful for tracking down that strange -1 that shows up.