Helping a new player out

[Quickleaf]

A new player joined our group - been gaming with us 2 sessions now, and he came from a D&D skirmish game background with a bit of 3e experience too. He's been simultaneously overwhelmed with adjusting to the rules and fiddly bits, and bored at his options playing a pre-gen Thief. He enjoyed the massive damage but it wasn't biting his D&D bug.

Turns out his favorite class in 3e was the wizard. He's been working some brutal hours and said he doesn't have the energy (or system mastery) to make a new character just yet.

I offered to make a pre-gen mage for him, and he seemed to brighten up at that prospect. Recall he had trouble understanding/finding things on the character sheet from the Character Builder, I tried something different (benefit to insomnia, heh ).

Take a peek at the attached PDF character sheet and let me know what you think. How does it read? And any build advice is welcome too.

Thanks!

EDIT: Theme is Oghma's Faithful and background is Born Under a Bad Sign (with its hit point ridiculousness).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Oh nice.

I noticed you did all the math already, in a simple easy-to-understand format. (The Character Builder does the math three times, and it's only accurate once.)

I think the character sheet has a little too much information on it though. There's no need to have the "select the next feats" area on it. That doesn't need to be shown to the new player until they gain a level.

The encounter and daily powers have a box beside them to show which has been selected for the day. I would recommend adding another box (a circle, actually) to show that the power has been used for the encounter/day.

His Will defense is pretty high. I don't know how that came about.

I don't understand Staff Expertise, by the way. I thought only (and all) ranged and area spells provoked OAs, and others don't. (That's not really a character sheet issue.)

 

[Quickleaf]

Oh nice.

I noticed you did all the math already, in a simple easy-to-understand format. (The Character Builder does the math three times, and it's only accurate once.)

Heh. And you can't even make a mage and select core wizard powers! Glad I'm borrowing a friend's sub to do this.

I think the character sheet has a little too much information on it though. There's no need to have the "select the next feats" area on it. That doesn't need to be shown to the new player until they gain a level.

Good point. That was more for my reference when I was building the character. I've actually NEVER played a wizard in any edition of D&D, so it was a learning experience for me.

The encounter and daily powers have a box beside them to show which has been selected for the day. I would recommend adding another box (a circle, actually) to show that the power has been used for the encounter/day.

I thought about that...couldn't figure a way to make it clear which box is which and why there are two. Good advice though, I'll think on it.

His Will defense is pretty high. I don't know how that came about.

Let's see... Wisdom +1, level +1, human +1, wizard +2, iron will +2...so 17. Yep it's right.

I don't understand Staff Expertise, by the way. I thought only (and all) ranged and area spells provoked OAs, and others don't. (That's not really a character sheet issue.)

Staff Expertise says your ranged/area spells no longer provoke OAs. It's an awesome feat. But close attacks don't provoke either, so it's basically my shorthand to remind the player that NONE of his spell attacks provoke OAs.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I missed Iron Will. That's why. I even remember seeing it. Must be morning.

 

[Quickleaf]

I missed Iron Will. That's why. I even remember seeing it. Must be morning.

Yeah, it's 5:00 over here, haven't slept at all. Whooboy, here comes Monday!

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Personally I think it is a good idea to outline the most likely options for feat selections upcoming (or other similar types of choices). It gives the player and the DM a chance to consider which things would be useful as they go through play "gosh I could have used that enlarge spell feat right there!". Another nice thing about it is the player can aim for a feat and work things into the story a bit. WHY does he suddenly gain a new skill? Well, maybe the player will provide some explanation for that if he's already planning on getting that feat.