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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 2208400" data-attributes="member: 13966">1. My favorite combination, if using the core rules, would be a human monk from a style perspective, or an elven druid from a more useful (read: playable) perspective.  My monks are always screwed by poor ability scores (oh how I loathe point-buy) and a lack of decent AC-boosting or Constitution-boosting items in the campaign, both of which result in my monks getting knocked unconscious or nearly so within the first one to three rounds of combat, against any sort of appropriate-CR foe.  I truly want to love the monk in design and in concept, but alas, the system fails to make monks survivable without forcing the cleric to do double-duty on the monk alone, 24/7.  Elven druids though can be fun to play, though not so much as monks, and at least druids are a strong class that doesn't suffer so much fatality.2. I'd suggest a newbie to start with a 1st-level halfling sorcerer, carrying a tower shield, a dagger or two, a spell component pouch or two, and having Magic Missile and Charm Person (or alternatively, something else useful like Spider Climb or Expeditious Retreat or Mage Armor) as his initial 1st-level spells.  Even if forced into something so cruelly pathetic and average and decidedly anti-heroic as 25-point-buy (which I would never dare to impose on anyone when I DM), such a character could start with a 20 Dex and 15 Cha, being reasonably hard to hit (20+ AC to start with) and capable of contributing plenty during any typical combat, and even in several combats a day, without worrying about the complexities of melee combat and the woes (or distracting tactical considerations) of sundering, bull rushes, trips, grapples, disarms, and whatnot.  It's quite easy to figure out how to have a character cast Magic Missile each round and pick the right targets, while keeping away from melee.  The other 1st-level spell chosen will help them be useful in other situations too, depending on what it is, while their skills, halfling bonuses, Charisma, and Dexterity will help with general situations.  They won't have to worry about attack rolls and such for a while, if they stick to their Magic Missiles and their save-or-suffer spells like Lightning Bolt. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />3. I dearly want to like two-weapon fighting, but it's such a poor and pathetic little thing most of the time, hardly given any consideration, a whipped dog just because the designers must be sick of Drizz't Do'Urden clones.  I don't even read most D&D novels (just a few here and there amongst the settings), so I don't care.  But damnit, I want my twin longsword-wielding half-elf fighter to actually hit things for a change.  I want my monk to actually get some use out of Flurry of Blows, Ambidexterity, and Two-Weapon Fighting to rain down a series of cool punches and kicks like I describe him doing in play (except that in play, the majority of attacks miss terribly from TWF penalties) (mind you I'm a 3.0 guy and in 3.0 the rules didn't forbid FoB+TWF+unarmed, because in 3.0 the rules generally made sense).  So.  I would prefer two-weapon fighting with pairs of swords or axes, or with quarterstaves or two-bladed swords, but from a practicality standpoint, since I can't get the blasted style to work in play (friggin' absurd penalties, that are only potentially worthwhile as-is if you use twin bastard swords or dwarven waraxes).......  I'd have to choose the good ol' reliable sword-and-board, or better yet a flail and shield, seeing as flails can do some nifty tricks.  And there's less around the Monster Manual with particular resistances to bludgeoning.</blockquote>

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