Introduction
Proficiency is one of the most important mechanical parts of a character. It is a central part of any character or creature’s statistics, and it’s a defining part of what they are good at. Proficiencies come from several different sources, and apply to the vast majority of checks in PF2.
You will gain proficiencies from your character’s ancestry, their class, their background, and occasionally from some other sources like feats. Your skill proficiencies can be Trained at 1st level and improve via “Skill Increases” which your receive as class features. Your other proficiencies (weapons, perception, etc.) advance based on your class features and sometimes from feats.
Table of Contents
Proficiency Bonus
Proficiency is based on your character’s level and how proficient they are with that specific proficiency. For any given proficiency, your proficiency will advance through 5 steps.
| Proficiency Rank | Proficiency Bonus |
|---|---|
| Untrained | 0 |
| Trained | Your level + 2 |
| Expert | Your level + 4 |
| Master | Your level + 6 |
| Legendary | Your level + 8 |
Proficiency in anything will provide you some mathematical benefit. For example: proficiency in armor will add your Proficiency Bonus to your AC when wearing the appropriate variety of armor (such as a character proficient in light armor wearing leather armor).
Note that your Proficiency Bonus is not added to damage with attacks.
Types of Proficiencies
- Armor (Light, Medium, and Heavy)
- Class DC
- Perception
- Skills
- Spellcasting (each tradition individually: Arcane, Divine, Occult, Primal)
- Weapons (Simple, Martial, and Advanced weapons)
