| Brian Iverson 900 |
honestly, in a party with that much melee potential, bard will keep the new player the busiest, but I will say that bard can be somewhat of a challenging if we are talking about a new player, as there are lots of disconnected parts. Bardic magic seems lackluster to some newer players, and frequently gets overlooked except for the buff spells. It really depends on what your sixth man (or Woman) is comfortable with. Have they played before in a d20 system game? If so, do what type of character do they prefer? One thing I have noticed with Introducing new players, or even players that have not played anything but 1st and 2nd, the best bet is to see what kind of character the want to play, then base any suggestions on that. I do not suggest fighter, it is not the training wheels that it was long ago. There are just too many options available, and too many new players try to get them doing too many things at once. If he wants to go ranged, the suggestions above are best. Btw, Having run most of the Jade Regent, I can tell you that a heavy caster is not likely to be all that needed, though an alchemist or a magus might be a good fit. Bard might be great for the melee characters, but as you get further into the campaign, the ability to produce every element on command is definitely going to be needed. My Party had a Monk of the 4 winds as our primary melee, and it helped greatly against all the oni. Depending on the experience of the player in question, a sorcerer or alchemist with multiple elemental attacks of different elements would keep your 6th player quite busy, and fairly fulfilled.