In this lesson, you will learn how to choose the right foundation for your gameplay objects by evaluating whether to use a simple Actor, a Pawn, or a full Character class.
When building in Unreal Engine, choosing the base class is like choosing a foundation for a house: you want exactly enough support without carrying unnecessary weight.
The Actor: The Blank Slate
The Actor is the base class for everything that can be placed in a level. Use this when your object doesn’t need to be "driven" by a player. Think of a treasure chest, a light fixture, or a trigger volume. These objects exist in the world, but they don’t require possession or movement logic. If it doesn't need to move under a player's command, start here.
The Pawn: The Controllable Entity
The Pawn is a specialized Actor that can be "possessed" by a PlayerController. This is your go-to when you need an object that a player can move, but doesn't necessarily need human-like movement features. Think of a controllable tank, a spaceship, or a floating camera drone. A Pawn gives you the hooks for input processing and possession without the overhead of complex physics-based animation logic.
The Character: The Specialized Humanoid
The Character is a Pawn with a powerful extra: the CharacterMovementComponent. This class is pre-configured for walking, jumping, falling, and swimming on uneven terrain. If you are building a player avatar that needs to interact with gravity, slopes, or ladders, the Character class handles the complex math for you.
Choosing the right tool:
- Actor: "It exists, but I don't drive it." (e.g., A door)
- Pawn: "I drive it, but it doesn't need to jump or walk." (e.g., A turret)
- Character: "It needs to walk, jump, and handle gravity." (e.g., A player avatar)
Avoid the temptation to use a Character for everything. Using a Character for a simple, non-animated prop adds unnecessary complexity to your project, which can impact performance and make your object hierarchy difficult to manage.
Key Takeaway: Choose your base class based on the minimum functionality required—start with Actor for simple items, move to Pawn for controllable objects, and save Character for humanoid-style entities that require built-in movement physics.