Pathfinder Character Generators

More tools for players! Now With Reviews!

FREE - PFRPG Character Generator by Venture Captain
http://venturecaptain.com/
It's got potential for an early beta generator, but needs to be developed further.  The parts that are more complete are fairly well automated.
Here's three things:

1. Equipment and Spells tabs are merely placeholders in the current form.  There's really nothing there, yet.

2. Some useful information isn't present in the finished PDF.  An example is the inherent bonus column has no information, where you would see racial modifiers to the final ability scores, even though that information is clearly presented in the entry form.

3. Space is a premium, which not all character sheet authors take to heart.  In the finished PDF, here, the fields are relatively large and the black bordered titles take up an unnecessary amount of paper.

FREE - 3.75 Pathfinder Character Generator (BETA 0.9.6) by Treasure Trove
http://www.trovetokens.com/pathfinder.html

Pretty clean form, if you like things compacted into one screen.  Data entry utilizes a fluid interface, but provides less guidance, requiring more knowledge of the character creation rules.

Here's three things:

1. Unlike Venture Captain's generator, this one doesn't highlight or gray out items based on previous selections, such as bonus feats for a given class.

2.  No automated equipment or spell selections, but at least you can enter the information, unlike Venture Captain.

3. You can't see all of the effects of your selections, such as modified skills, until you generate the character sheet.

FREE DEMO - The highly praised Hero Lab by Lone Wolf
http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=hero_lab

This review only covers the demo, the limitations of which will not figure.  To begin, you have to install it, so no instant access advantage as with the above options.  It's integrated with a variety of game companies' output to the point that it wants you update it whenever applicable.  It's also relatively complex, a bit like comparing images created from Windows Paint and Adobe Photoshop; you get what you put into it.

Here's three things:

1. Well-automated and extensive selection processes, though I was unable to enter material not available in their database, such as an official Trait from one of the Adventure Paths.

2. A few minor errors, such as penalizing the attack roll of a gnome using the otherwise Exotic Gnome Hooked Hammer [see next thing for fixing].

3. The software permits editing of data that goes beyond simple user input, allowing for customized selections.  So, if you know and enjoy tinkering behind the scenes, this may be for you.