# What is the purpose of DefaultPawn class? **URL:** \ **Category:** Blueprint\ **Tags:** unreal-engine\ **Created:** [July 29, 2018, 8:03am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-defaultpawn-class/114295 "2018-07-29T08:03:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rawalanche](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/rawalanche/32/906578_2.png) [@Rawalanche](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Rawalanche)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 8:03am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-defaultpawn-class/114295/1 "2018-07-29T08:03:21Z")
Hi, I’ve playing around with the DefaultPawn class, this one: [ADefaultPawn | Unreal Engine Documentation](https://api.unrealengine.com/INT/API/Runtime/Engine/GameFramework/ADefaultPawn/index.html) I’ve based my game character off of it, but then I found out that I can actually just add “FloatingPawnComponent” to a Pawn class, and get pretty much the same thing without the annoying inherited sphere collision and sphere static mesh present in the DefaultPawn class, which is way more convenient. So looking at the DefaultPawn class, it is pretty much a Pawn class which has built in FloatingPawnComponent, a sphere collider, and a sphere static mesh. I am confused about what would such a specific preset be good for, when it takes literally a few clicks to recreate it from scratch. What is the purpose of having such a specific yet such a simple to recreate class built right into the engine? I can understand character class, that one has quite a lot going on under the hood, but this one seems quite redundant. Am I missing something? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Raildex](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Raildex](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Raildex)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 8:09am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-defaultpawn-class/114295/2 "2018-07-29T08:09:54Z")
Well, it is a \*\*\*Default \*\*\*Pawn. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > A **default** , in [computer science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science), refers to the preexisting [value](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_(computer_science)) of a user-configurable setting that is assigned to a [software application](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_application), [computer program](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_program) or [device](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_device). I.e. you are meant to override this value. ---
**Author:** ![Rawalanche](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/rawalanche/32/906578_2.png) [@Rawalanche](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Rawalanche)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 8:42am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-defaultpawn-class/114295/3 "2018-07-29T08:42:17Z")
> [@Raildex](#): > > Well, it is a \*\*\*Default \*\*\*Pawn. > > I.e. you are meant to override this value. I don’t think that makes sense honestly. Overriding it pretty much means using a Pawn instead of DefaultPawn. My question was about if there are any cases where I’d want/It’d make sense to use DefaultPawn over a Pawn, since DefaultPawn offers no clear advantage over a Pawn with movement component added. ---
**Author:** ![r2ysxu](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@r2ysxu](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/r2ysxu)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2026, 5:09pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-defaultpawn-class/114295/4 "2026-11-11T17:09:55Z")
Your first mistake was trying to ask a legitimate question on this forum. Every single person on this forum gives these non-answers. If anyone tries to give a somewhat helpful answer. They will come back and berate the guy. From what I understand looking at the source, Default pawn just a Pawn subclass that has basic movement, input and mesh component setup so you don’t have to write those code if you’re just using out-of-the-box features. **Now watch me get berated for necro’ing a dead threat followed by “you’re wrong” with zero further explanation** ---
**Author:** ![Rev0verDrive](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/rev0verdrive/32/907214_2.png) [@Rev0verDrive](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Rev0verDrive)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-defaultpawn-class/114295/5 "2026-11-11T18:51:50Z")
The Game Mode “Classes” section… Note the slot for the “Default Pawn Class”. This is where you tell the GM what pawn class to use. If one is not applied and the Level doesn’t have one defined in override then the DefaultPawn.cpp class is the fallback. ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/8/2/4/824b6f90b025130b704e242091b93f05ecacb34d.png) ---
**Author:** ![Countsie](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/countsie/32/1194632_2.png) [@Countsie](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Countsie)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2026, 11:59pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-defaultpawn-class/114295/6 "2026-11-11T23:59:03Z")
Sorry you have had this experience here. There are some very knowledgeable developers on this forum that take time out of their day to help others, sometimes it’s a bit of a roll of the dice as it’s no guarantee someone with a solution will catch the post. I don’t think necroing posts is a problem on this forum (aside the recent rash of AI vibecode spammers), Epic devs do it all the time. I do agree the initial response to the OP was snarky as heck.