Best Character For A New Player?

[moritheil]

One of the OP's players is the person in question - and he or she settled on Cleric, whatever the advice might have been.

Yes, but I'm talking of the OP's intent. Not his player's intent.

I guess it depends on the build, but if it's anything even slightly like a 'CoDzilla death machine', Divine Feats sure won't harm their prospects.

In case it wasn't clear, I'm really not arguing against the power of it - only stating that if your sole priority is simplicity, then this complicates things.

IOW: Normal build advice is concerned with power. But this thread was started to ask about simplicity.

I'm about to start a new campaign with a player that is completely new to D&D. He has roleplayed a bit before (a bit of Shadowrun and Star Wars) so he should be ok from that perspective. As such I was thinking of starting him out with a nice simple character, at least until he get the hang of the rules a little more. Once we have been playing for a bit and he knows what he's doing I'll let him change to a different PC if he wants.

What do you think about that? A good idea or too restrictive? And what character class would you give him to begin with. I was thinking something like a Human or Half-Orc Barbarian.

I also plan to team the new guy up with one of my more experienced players and get that him to help the new player out with things, both in making his character and during the game. Any other suggestions for dealing with a player that is new to D&D, but not necessarily roleplaying?

Olaf the Stout

I don't see anything there that suggests the OP cares about the char being underpowered or overpowered.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Yep, I'm well aware of what was said in the OP, and since.

Suggestions that might increase a starting player's character's capability, without unduly complicating matters for them, are ones that I believe may be of value in this context. I made a judgement call, based on my experiences on both sides of the DM screen with 3e, and posted accordingly.

Sufficient power tends to be a good thing, and on a number of levels (hur hur), for someone's first PC - I believe. Well, in D&D, at any rate. I've seen it act as something of a compensating factor for those highly probable mistakes, or questionable decisions. And it's nice to feel that you can be involved without it being too likely that you die. And that you can contribute to the team effort, effectively, more of the time.

Anyway, there's my reasoning. I suggested a couple of most likely far simpler routes (IME) eariler in the thread, but, given that Cleric seems to be thing, I thought I'd see if I couldn't be of help and suggest something I've found personally, and seen on more than one other occasion, to be rather advantageous for Cleric-kind.

I am biased, yes: I really like some of those feats, don't see them as complicated - even for newbies - and believe they might help in the given context. That's all.

 

[Quartz]

For a beginner with a martial character, for 1st level, I'd choose a human Knight with a reach weapon, Combat Reflexes and Power Attack. Great HP, good roleplaying schtick too, and less mathematically complex: no flanking bonuses.

Power Attack lets him hit harder if necessary. And he gains 2:1 with the 2H weapon.
The reach weapon means he can do more; no shield makes the AC calculations easier.
Combat Reflexes makes things simpler - no issue of being flat-footed - and gives him an opportunity to do more.
The high HP let him contribute in combat.

 

[Kheti sa-Menik]

I have 5 players in my game at the moment. I really don't think that 2 Clerics are a problem though. I do understand what you're saying though.

I have a no-evil PC's rule in my game. If your PC becomes evil due to your actions it becomes an NPC. I've had a couple of experiences with evil PC's ruining campaigns so I'm extremely wary about players wanting to play evil characters.

Olaf the Stout

FWIW, I agree with the two clerics thing. It's never a problem.

I've gamed with two players who both played clerics. One made his cleric a more knowledgey, spellcasting scholarly type while player two created a martial, buttkicking, evil smiting warrior type cleric.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Since this thread has been resurrected, I figure I may as well post and update everyone on the situation. The player in question ended up choosing to play a LG Half-Elf Cleric of Heironeous (with the Good and War domains).

I've printed out spell cards for him (from The Other Game Company) to help him to pick and learn his spells. Basically there is 1 card per spell and each card has all the details for that spell written on the card (i.e. level, duration, range, etc.). This has made selecting spells a bit easier as he has his options right there in front of him.

The other players in the party are a Ranger, Conjurer, Hexblade and a Favoured Soul. We've played 2 sessions so far and he has gone ok. Although there is a bit of role overlap with the Favoured Soul I don't think they are stealing the other's thunder as such.

As for the Divine Feats, once he gets a bit more experienced with the rules and his character I'll show the Divine feats to him and let him decide for himself if he wants to take them. There aren't a lot of opportunities to use the Cleric's turning ability in the SCAP so it would be good if he could put that ability to some other use. I'm not too worried about confusing him with extra mechanics. I don't think the Divine Feats could be any more complicated than the Turn Undead mechanic!

Olaf the Stout

 

[Aus_Snow]

I don't think the Divine Feats could be any more complicated than the Turn Undead mechanic!

Indeed.

Certainly geared the right way for those feats, what with the War domain and stuff. Sword 'n Board, eh? Cool.

Yeah, those spells cards are a godsend (heh). Same with the other cards (for status and buffs, f'rex.)