Companion Characters for New Players

[Retreater]

I'm in a bit of an unusual situation. I've just started running a 6th level campaign of Gardmore Abbey at my FLGS (just suffice to say that no one can host at their houses). I have five players in the group, but the occassional extra player or two shows up and wants to play D&D with the expectation that we're playing D&D Encounters.

Since the FLGS is not currently running Encounters, would it be feasible for me to make a simplified companion-style character for the newbies to play? (Perhaps once they get the rules down and show that they can come regularly, they can play a regular character?)

If so, how much do companion characters add to the party's XP budget?

Retreater

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

They count as a full character for XP budget. Although they're generally not going to have the options of a PC they also are usually built custom to fit well into the party, so it kind of balances out, and they're plenty tough.

 

[Evilhalfling]

My group has generally found that companion characters are about half the value of a PC. They do fine with attack rolls and an at-will but,

at lvl 6 - companions will lack:
racial/skill/theme encounter powers.
1 encounter attack
2 dailies.
1 utility
Magic item synergy/daily/encounter/utility

defenders cant punish mark violation, strikers extra damage is very limited,
leaders lack enough utilities/ feats to be effective in their roles.

you might be better off just making a few essential characters with simple feats and inherent bonuses.

 

[S'mon]

I think this can work well, but design the companion PC to be of comparable power to the regulars, eg:

1. Give them Action Points.
2. Give them a Daily attack power.
3. For Defenders use a Knight-style aura rather than marking: "You can OA anyone adjacent to you who shifts or moves, and a hit stops them moving".
4. Make sure their average damage output is comparable to a full PC of that level & role. Eg well built Strikers average about twice monster damage (L+8), even a weak Striker averages about 1.5 times the regular L+8.

 

[Herobizkit]

I'd say just let them run an Essentials character. For one adventure, it's not going to be a big deal. You could also run a separate game for the folks who straggle in.

 

[S'mon]

I'd say just let them run an Essentials character. For one adventure, it's not going to be a big deal. You could also run a separate game for the folks who straggle in.

Only problem with that approach is that I've now seen two players in a row find the online charbuilder's character sheets indecipherable, when presented with an Essentials pregen. This was for two different Knight PCs, not the most complicated class. For that reason I tend to think that rebuilding a Knight PC in monster/companion format might be the best approach.