D&D 4E Introducing someone to 4e, RPing in general

[djdaidouji]

So in my 4e campaign in a month or so, I'm going to be having at least 2 people who are brand new to RPing in general, let alone DnD. One of them reads fantasy books, so she is at least a bit knowledgeable, but the other one watched Lord of the Rings years ago and that's about it.

What do you think would be the best race and class for newbies? I am thinking the best race would be human; it allows them to be very all-around, though I guess it might be better to change it depending on the class.

So best class? Please note that I don't know as much about the classes as most people here, not seeing anything about KotS.

-Cleric may be good, if they were focused on healing, as it is fairly straightforward and doesn't have much as much danger, being in the backline.
-Fighter could work. I don't know much about their powers, but I don't see it being a very difficult class.
-Paladin... I'm a bit worried. It wouldn't be wise to put them in a leadership position, and having to focus in str, wis, and cha, might prove confusing.
-Ranger seems best to me. They seem fairly straightforward, though I'm not positive.
-Rogue is probably out. What I've seen, they move a lot, and might be intimidating to someone new to tactical games. Plus they'd be needed for lots of non-combat tasks, which would be great, I guess, but other classes have non-combat abilities as well that don't need to come up so often.
-Warlord is also probably out. The role seems to be entirely leadership and high tactics.
-Warlock is the same thing as the rogue, I'd guess.
-Wizards...Again, I don't know. In 3e I would say no, just because there would be too much to remember for someone not used to remembering it, but I don't know how wizard spells work in 4e.

 

[Surgoshan]

I went with the fighter, ranger, and rogue. I'm thinking that new player has enough to learn with movement, mechanics, and everything else in what is now a very complicated situation from the get-go for every class. It used to be fighter was nice and simple, but now he's got multiple powers. Anyway, those three are nice and tightly focused as to purpose, and their interaction with other characters is as minimal as this system allows. Clerics, warlords, and paladins have a lot of powers that influence other PCs' actions, the wizard has to choose his daily every day, and the warlock mixes a touch of controller in with his striker role.

The martial classes don't have to choose their powers every day and what they have mostly involve themselves.

You say the rogue is out because he requires movement... I can see that. A similar argument is a blow to the warlock. However, since there's so much more movement in general... Still, that makes the fighter a more attractive option for first time players.

 

[djdaidouji]

Yes, limited interaction is probably best. I will probably allow them to kill off their characters after a few sessions to try the other classes if they look better, after they've tried the game out. Ranger might be better then Fighter, as it allows them to do more at a long range, though I don't know the exact powers. I think I should find those premade sheet scans, so I can look at some of the powers more, they were posted here somewhere, right?

 

[Rechan]

I would say ask the player what appeals to them the most: being a big bad guy with a big bad weapon smacking something around, using magic to blow enemies away, being a bad mofo who throws around curses, being Legolas, or a guy who jabs knives in the kidneys of monsters.

The player will be more interested in what excites them the most, rather than what is Simplest.

I'd teach them how everything works, and give them a general "Crash-test in roleplaying" before the first real session.

 

[zoroaster100]

I am going to run a game for five players in a couple weeks, NONE of whom have ever played D&D or any other roleplaying tabletop game. I like to consider myself a good DM, but I am slightly intimidated by this task. I am hoping they will all enjoy themselves and that at least some will find that this is a game they'd play again. They are all either comic book fans, sci-fi fans, Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings fans or some combination of the above, so they at least fantasy is not alien to them. I am creating pregenerated characters for them, so this topic is interesting to me. Although I am hoping they will create a variety of characters, I will pay extra attention to those running characters that seem especially difficult to run.

I think the ranger and warlock seem the easiest and most straightforward. Then after that I think the rogue and paladin (the rogue requires more tactics to get into combat advantage, and the paladin requires judicious use of many powers and selection of a good foe to mark). Then I think the cleric, wizard and fighter are probably the most complicated except for the warlord, which may be the most complicated of all, since you have to know how to coordinate the whole team effectively.

 

[djdaidouji]

(I should have added a "Don't be picky" option in the poll.)

I think I agree with you two. With a good tutorial beforehand, I'm sure all of the classes would be okay to try out. The problem is that I don't want any of them to get intimidated and decide to leave. I already know that one of them isn't too keen on the idea, but is going to be playing two sessions for a favor to me.
So which has more weight. Simplicity or interest. To me, all of the classes are fairly equal in both regards, so letting them choose whatever is probably the best road.

 

[Logan_Bonner]

Let them attempt any class they like (a good place to start is figuring out which power source most appeals to them), but point them toward straightforward powers. A wizard with magic missile and burning hands will be simpler than one with cloud of daggers and force orb.

If they don't really care what they play, start them off with an archer ranger.

The defenders might be tougher for a newcomer to understand, both in terms of what they're expected to do in the battle and in understanding how marked mechanics work.

 

[djdaidouji]

*After recovering from swoon. Wow, a WotC reply!*

Let them attempt any class they like (a good place to start is figuring out which power source most appeals to them), but point them toward straightforward powers. A wizard with magic missile and burning hands will be simpler than one with cloud of daggers and force orb.

If they don't really care what they play, start them off with an archer ranger.

The defenders might be tougher for a newcomer to understand, both in terms of what they're expected to do in the battle and in understanding how marked mechanics work.

Okay, I understand power sources a bit more now. I didn't think earlier that the classes would probably all have simpler abilities as well, though it makes a lot of sense. I think that the archer ranger would be the best as well, though a wizard now seems a bit more like a viable choice, especially with magic missile being at-will. It would be like being an archer, only you don't need to keep track of your arrow supply, plus I can see access to light being very useful.

Thank you everyone, for your help, by the way!

 

[Rechan]

Let them attempt any class they like (a good place to start is figuring out which power source most appeals to them), but point them toward straightforward powers. A wizard with magic missile and burning hands will be simpler than one with cloud of daggers and force orb .

What's this, burning hands, cloak of daggers?

 

[Sojorn]

What's this, burning hands, cloak of daggers?

WotC_Logan float like butterfly, spoil like bee.

I'm curious too.

HURRY UP JUNE.