Looking for advice from more experienced players

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I also have to recommend an armor-wearing melee combatant or possibly a ranger who strikes from afar with his bow. Like a lot of the others posters said, you have to think a bit more tactically especially if you are a cloth-wearing "squishy" caster who can't survive very many hits. Try to stay at the edge of combat and not wade too far into too many enemies reducing your chances of dying to multiple attacks and hits. Hope that helps!

 

[jedavis]

Dwarf barbarian with dwarven waraxe, breastplate, and large shield. AC17+Dex isn't bad at low levels, fast movement plus dwarf "no armor speed loss" puts you on par with the humans at 30 feet (and faster than an equivalently-armored human), your damage is great for sword-and-board at 1d10, and you're made of HP between the barbarian d12 and the dwarf Con bonus. Dwarf save bonus vs spells is great, too. At higher levels, you can swap out the waraxe and shield for a two-handed weapon for more power attack damage, but the early defensive focus helps you survive to get there.

 

[Myest]

Okay, I've been talking with my DM and actually now have some answers to the questions given.

The campaign is not limited in regards to melee.
Magic is odd. Think concentration camps where mages are forced to mass-produce magic items.
He's still trying to decide what starting level will be..
He usually chooses 1 to 3 but is still debating how high to start us out.
As for ability generation? I'm guessing you mean stats.. That was roll 4d6 drop lowest, re-roll all 1's.
As for house rules, I can't think of any off the top of my head.

There is usually 3 or 4 of us playing when we do play. Depending on who actually had the setting idea is who DM's.
The last time, I had rolled up a Blue Mage variant as I recall..
Where instead of creature abilities he could copy spells used on him.. If he made the skill checks.
We started at 3rd lvl, and right off the bat we got seperated from each other.
I wound up in a cave with 4 or 5 Kobolds, with very few spells and a crossbow.
Needless to say it did not go well for me.
After I failed all my saving throws and died, I was brought back by a deity who professed he was only testing us..
The real kicker was where I died to the kobolds, one of the other players managed to con his group of them into making him their leader.

As for the suggestion of running a game myself.. Been there before.. was not a fun place.
I'm barely competent as a player.. As a DM? Yeah it didn't go well at all..

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Again, this time around pick yourself a much more survivable melee character. Skip the magic using until you become better as a player and learn to think more tactically (i.e. like your fellow player did with his becoming a kobold leader) or think outside the box with what your class can do with various skills.

As far as getting separated from your party, that's rule #1 in my book when I play, I never split from the party if I can help it. There is strength in numbers and one of the greatest generals in history said this little tidbit, "Divide and conquer." If you can do this to your enemies, you will win, if they do it to you, they win. It's pretty simple and it works to great effect.

Great DM's are not made overnight, it takes practice and it takes learning the ins and outs of playing. If you think you aren't very good, just continue playing and learning the game, when you are comfortable enough to give it a shot again, go for it. Some people are never comfortable enough to DM and rather play, that's a person preference and no one should ever be forced to DM if they rather play.

The bottom line here is just to have fun and enjoy the time you spend at the table with your friends.

 

[Argyle King]

Try doing the first 2 levels of fighter to give yourself a handle on how the game works without being bogged down with too many options.

If you get to the point where it's time to level up to 3, and you feel as though you understand the game better, branch out into a different class via multiclassing at 3. For example, you might do the first 2 levels of fighter as a sort of "tutorial," and then decide to pick up cleric or paladin at level 3 instead of continuing to take fighter levels.

Another piece of advice I'd give is to ask someone in your group to help. Tell them what you're telling us -that you're struggling with the game and would appreciate some help from someone more experienced.

 

[Ahnehnois]

As for the suggestion of running a game myself.. Been there before.. was not a fun place.
I'm barely competent as a player.. As a DM? Yeah it didn't go well at all.

No need to get down about this. D&D is an extremely sophisticated game. It is one of those things that is very easy to do but very difficult to do well. Not everyone can or should be a DM, but I'd suggest keeping an open mind about it as most of us who are DMs went through tough times at the beginning,


As to the actual issue, it sounds like the campaign style favors a fighter-type character so I definitely think would be wise.

I'm not clear on the relationship between DM and players here, but if you aren't satisfied with the style (because it is too difficult or deadly), the DM needs to know that, and a good DM will listen and have a response.

D&D has a social contract-you are committing your time and energy to play in a game controlled by someone else, who should be making efforts to ensure that the game is worth your time and energy. If this is not the case, there may be other DMs, within or outside your group, who can provide an experience that satisfies you.