diff --git a/builtin/providers/pagerduty/config.go b/builtin/providers/pagerduty/config.go
index 00f55e71c..d8b083bfc 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/pagerduty/config.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/pagerduty/config.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package pagerduty
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"log"
 
 	"github.com/PagerDuty/go-pagerduty"
@@ -8,13 +9,40 @@ import (
 
 // Config defines the configuration options for the PagerDuty client
 type Config struct {
+	// The PagerDuty API V2 token
 	Token string
+
+	// Skip validation of the token against the PagerDuty API
+	SkipCredsValidation bool
 }
 
+const invalidCreds = `
+
+No valid credentials found for PagerDuty provider.
+Please see https://www.terraform.io/docs/providers/pagerduty/index.html
+for more information on providing credentials for this provider.
+`
+
 // Client returns a new PagerDuty client
 func (c *Config) Client() (*pagerduty.Client, error) {
+	// Validate that the PagerDuty token is set
+	if c.Token == "" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf(invalidCreds)
+	}
+
 	client := pagerduty.NewClient(c.Token)
 
+	if !c.SkipCredsValidation {
+		// Validate the credentials by calling the abilities endpoint,
+		// if we get a 401 response back we return an error to the user
+		if _, err := client.ListAbilities(); err != nil {
+			if isUnauthorized(err) {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf(fmt.Sprintf("%s\n%s", err, invalidCreds))
+			}
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+
 	log.Printf("[INFO] PagerDuty client configured")
 
 	return client, nil
diff --git a/builtin/providers/pagerduty/config_test.go b/builtin/providers/pagerduty/config_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f43d736c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/builtin/providers/pagerduty/config_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package pagerduty
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// Test config with an empty token
+func TestConfigEmptyToken(t *testing.T) {
+	config := Config{
+		Token: "",
+	}
+
+	if _, err := config.Client(); err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected error, but got nil")
+	}
+}
+
+// Test config with invalid token but with SkipCredsValidation
+func TestConfigSkipCredsValidation(t *testing.T) {
+	config := Config{
+		Token:               "foo",
+		SkipCredsValidation: true,
+	}
+
+	if _, err := config.Client(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error: expected the client to not fail: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/builtin/providers/pagerduty/errors.go b/builtin/providers/pagerduty/errors.go
index 2e8efee5b..fc9d579d6 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/pagerduty/errors.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/pagerduty/errors.go
@@ -9,3 +9,7 @@ func isNotFound(err error) bool {
 
 	return false
 }
+
+func isUnauthorized(err error) bool {
+	return strings.Contains(err.Error(), "HTTP response code: 401")
+}
diff --git a/builtin/providers/pagerduty/provider.go b/builtin/providers/pagerduty/provider.go
index 55dc01819..96a2f338e 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/pagerduty/provider.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/pagerduty/provider.go
@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@ func Provider() terraform.ResourceProvider {
 				Required:    true,
 				DefaultFunc: schema.EnvDefaultFunc("PAGERDUTY_TOKEN", nil),
 			},
+
+			"skip_credentials_validation": {
+				Type:     schema.TypeBool,
+				Optional: true,
+				Default:  false,
+			},
 		},
 
 		DataSourcesMap: map[string]*schema.Resource{
@@ -40,7 +46,11 @@ func Provider() terraform.ResourceProvider {
 }
 
 func providerConfigure(data *schema.ResourceData) (interface{}, error) {
-	config := Config{Token: data.Get("token").(string)}
+	config := Config{
+		Token:               data.Get("token").(string),
+		SkipCredsValidation: data.Get("skip_credentials_validation").(bool),
+	}
+
 	log.Println("[INFO] Initializing PagerDuty client")
 	return config.Client()
 }
diff --git a/website/source/docs/providers/pagerduty/index.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/providers/pagerduty/index.html.markdown
index ca834d6e0..5b34c7c2f 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/providers/pagerduty/index.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/providers/pagerduty/index.html.markdown
@@ -39,3 +39,4 @@ resource "pagerduty_user" "earline" {
 The following arguments are supported:
 
 * `token` - (Required) The v2 authorization token. See [API Documentation](https://v2.developer.pagerduty.com/docs/authentication) for more information.
+* `skip_credentials_validation` - (Optional) Skip validation of the token against the PagerDuty API.