Step 3: Select an Ancestry

Source Player Core pg. 19

Select an ancestry for your character. The ancestry summaries on page 27 provide an overview of Starfinder's core ancestry options, and each is fully detailed in Chapter 2. Ancestry determines your character's size, Speed, and languages, and contributes to their Hit Points. Each also grants attribute boosts and attribute flaws to represent the ancestry's basic capabilities.

You'll have four decisions to make when you choosing your character's ancestry.

Pick the ancestry itself.
Select a heritage from those available within that ancestry, further defining the traits your character was born with.
Assign any free attribute boosts and decide if you are taking any voluntary flaws.
Choose an ancestry feat, representing an ability your hero learned at an early age.

Write your character's ancestry and heritage in the appropriate space at the top of your character sheet's first page. Adjust your attribute modifiers, adding 1 to an attribute modifier if you gained an attribute boost from your ancestry, and subtracting 1 from an attribute modifier if you gained an attribute flaw from your ancestry. Note the number of Hit Points your character gains from their ancestry—you'll add more to this number later. Finally, in the appropriate spaces, record your character's size, Speed, and languages. If your character's ancestry provides them with special abilities, write them in the appropriate spaces, such as darkvision in the Senses section on the first page and innate spells on the fourth page. Write the ancestry feat you selected in the Ancestry Feat section on your character sheet's second page.