Newbie Game: Which class should I play?

[Breakdaddy]

I would definitely think about going with a Cleric. The healing magic will be necessary, but the Cleric has good HP and fighting ability as well. You give that cleric a martial weapon with a decent
melee weapon and she will be a force to be reckoned with. I also like the thought of the Paladin and Cleric being from the same order, which would give you better story continuity. Alternately, I might go for a rogue targeted towards trap removal and use magic device. This would give you the ability to use almost any class magic item for any class, which would be a great boon since you are very limited in class dispersion with your 2 person group.

Good gaming!
-B

 

[Creamsteak]

A cleric is too short-sighted. Eventually, you will be able to afford wands of CLW and then the paladin will be all you will need in the way of healing. I would recommend a bard or rogue. If magic was really important, you could go bard with an emphasis on Use Magical Devise. Oh yeah, and bards have healing too.

A rogue would be the good ultility character to get around locked doors and traps.

All your healing needs are solved by a wand? Your DM is a softie . Clerics can do a lot more than heal nowadays, doncha know?

I'd say go with Cleric still. If your fond of 'em. I know I am .

 

[Lamoni]

I haven't played Sunless Citadel either. Maybe for that campaign a cleric would work the best, but generally you want to have several capabilities. You will most likely want to continue your characters through other adventures so what works best in one adventure isn't the best in another. That is why I would recommend being as well rounded as possible.
The Paladin has the following abilities:
Melee
Good saves
Diplomacy
Undead turning
healing
Possibly some tracking with the help of a mount

The Cleric adds one new ability to this list. Offensive divine spellcasting. I realize that a cleric has better turning and better healing while still helping with melee, but what about other important abilities?

You are still missing:
trap finding and searching
trap disabling
Picking Locks
Stealth (move silently and hide)
Wilderness Lore (finding your way and tracking)
arcane spellcasting
Information gathering.

For this reason I would recommend the rogue first. With all the skill points they get, they can cover all the bases including arcane spellcasting to an extent with use magic device. The bard is also a good choice and adds more magic ability. The ranger can offer stealth and wilderness lore. The druid would also help a little. I would even consider a wizard. With the high intelligence score, wizards get a few extra skill points and arcane magic helps a lot. The problem is that they have very few hit points and it would be difficult for a single Paladin to protect the wizard very well.

The classes that I would recommend not choosing are fighter, cleric, monk, and barbarian. That just leaves you with too many things that you can't do well at all.

 

[Chasmodai]

If she's really that interested in roleplaying, then it'd be great fun if you play a Barbarian. Heh.

But that wouldn't promote too much party survivability. Cleric or Druid is a good choice, although Rangers come in a close second (or third, depending on how you look at it).

Whatever it is, play a class that has a good Fort save, cos those twig blights have a really irritating poison.

 

[Manzanita]

I think an ugly dwarven rogue is the only way to go. The uglier the better. : )

 

[Nightfall]

Druid, Cleric or Ranger. Rogue/Wizard multiclassing isn't a bad idea, but you do loss a lot in spellcasting. So probably stick with one class. So probably rogue or wizard. Bard is a possibility...

 

[Emerald]

Well, I decided to play a rouge with max out use magic device so that I can use wands. We do not have the module yet, but we tried a couple random encounters. Poor her, she died in the very first round of her very first encounter (up against 4 goblins). Since we were just teaching the combat rules we just back tracked and tried it again with 3 goblins and we did okay. Then we went up against 2 ghouls and I am certain there was some major DM fudging to keep us alive (we both had 1 HP left), so I am definetly hoping we will get one or two NPCs to travel with us through our module, or I think we are definately toast.

Thank you all for you input, she had a blast though and was not too upset by the early demise. She is still coming back next week, so we must not of scared her too bad.

Emerald

 

[orchid blossom]

I think an ugly dwarven rogue is the only way to go. The uglier the better. : )

Of course, I was writing this as Emerald posted. Oh well, I'm glad to hear your friend is still coming back, and you got a handle on how you want to go. Have fun. Advice still below even though it's no longer needed.


Those Dwarven rogues can be pretty nasty. Our DM threw a group of them at us last session, and they were a handful. That Dwarven con bonus is a plus too. If you decide to go rogue, I would seriously consider a Dwarf.

While I agree a rogue would be a good choice, I wouldn't take it with the thought of taking advantage of Use Magic Device to help cover spellcasting. The difficulties start at 20 for the skill checks, so even with a high INT modifier you will succeed about one third of the time.

If you are concerned about magical firepower, I'd suggest Druid. I've used them before in parties without any other magic, and they have enough versatility to fill a lot of gaps. Plus the animal companion puts another body in the party.

Whatever you choose, make it a character you can love. There are few things worse than making a character to fill gaps, and ending up hating them 3 sessions into the game because you made a character you have little interest in playing.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

Other things to consider.

Because of the # of talents you need, and that your group is shorthanded, you will probably need at least 1 NPC.

If you decide to play a cleric/druid, then the NPC should be a bard/rogue.

If you decide to be a bard/rogue, then the NPC should be a cleric/druid.

If you want a rogue to be tolerated by the paladin I suggest the character be a "locksmith/trapmaker" by proffession. Someone uses who his skills to protect peoples goods, (or occasionally recover goods for the righfull owners.)

If you decide to play a Bard, the race should be elf, or gnome. Elven senses help make up for limited spells at 1st level. A gnome's racial spells almost double the # of spells (cantrips) a bard has at 1st level.

A Druid's "Animal Companion" could help with how shorthanded the group is.

>>>Note to self, in the future read to the end of the posts before replying<<<