I have a friend who struggles with D&D. I just tutored him on how attack rolls and damage rolls work, and I think he FINALLY gets it. He's 99% D&D illiterate.
I want him to make a new character for the campaign we're playing, but I need the character to be idiot proof. What are the simplest classes possible?
I was thinking barbarian, fighter or ranger without an animal companion. Any other opinions?
I have a friend who struggles with D&D. I just tutored him on how attack rolls and damage rolls work, and I think he FINALLY gets it. He's 99% D&D illiterate.
I want him to make a new character for the campaign we're playing, but I need the character to be idiot proof. What are the simplest classes possible?
I was thinking barbarian, fighter or ranger without an animal companion. Any other opinions?
Fighter with vital strike is about as simple as it can get. walk up deal damage.
Fighter. Fighters can be horrendously complex to use, but very simple too. Depends from the built.
Just go Two handed fighting and take power attack, and the weapon focus/spec line for a weapon he likes to use. Done.
Maybe furious focus so he can move and don't even bother to subtract the power attack malus :P
Another idea is an Archer. pew pew pew.
Another good option if you are starting at first level is a Ranger with the bow style. At level one they mostly stand back and fire arrows... but as the character levels he gets a pet and a small amount of spells. It is a good way to keep it simple for the first few sessions and then let him grow into a more complex character over time.
Not only does he just have the basics of shooting a bow every round in combat... he has some good out of combat skills that are easy to use for tracking or finding food in the woods for the party. A simple dice roll with an obvious benefit without too much extra RP or creativity required.
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Low level sorc is pretty easy. Just pick his starter spells for him.
^^^I agree. Sorcerer with aoe save or suck spells. They'd only ever have to roll spell penetration, the DM has to do the rolling for saves.
All physical damage dealers have a built-in fiddliness. Circumstantial modifiers, did he power attack? Oh he was flanking? I forgot about Bless. It's rolling a lot of dice and doing a lot of low level arithmetic.
Play a sorcerer and he's just "I walk up and color spray" or "I glitterdust those guys there" or "I slow those 5 guys there" etc. With a limited selection of spells and not being able to swap them out day by day like a cleric he can spend more time getting to know HIS character's specialty, not just how to play the class.
I would say ranger personally. Give him a 2 handed weapon and weapon focus, and as time goes on, you can continue to keep it simple by selecting archetypes and options that stay within his understanding, or start to introduce new options as his understanding increases.
Non combat maneuver Fighter is the way to go. The hard part of playing a fighter is character generation- sifting through piles of feats and books for the best option. Since that part is taken care of by you, all your new friend has to do is roll the dice. Nothing to look up, no spells to ration. Just don't try and give them a maneuver fighter or they'll get confused in a hurry.
Barbarians are also a good choice- like the Fighter, there is little to memorize. The only real budgeting that a barb. needs to do is with rounds of rage per day, but that's no hard. I would advise picking rage powers for the new player which have constant effects, reducing the memorizing even further.
Good luck, and welcome to the game (to your friend).
just a thought? might be best to start simple w/ 3.5 or a warrior. Then after a test drive, introduce pathfinder options. Or maybe vanilla fighter. Improved initiative and toughness. later power attack. Why? Power atack is an active ability that you have to calculate. Toughness is simply "more hit points"
melee/ranged alchemist DJ,MH build bro.
I have a friend who struggles with D&D. I just tutored him on how attack rolls and damage rolls work, and I think he FINALLY gets it. He's 99% D&D illiterate.
I want him to make a new character for the campaign we're playing, but I need the character to be idiot proof. What are the simplest classes possible?
I was thinking barbarian, fighter or ranger without an animal companion. Any other opinions?
Either a blasty Sorceror or a Fighter, honestly. Lots of passives on the fighter (WF/WS, imp init, toughness, etc.). If you do the Sorc, a lot can be said about Magic Missile's simplicity.
Cleric. Stay in the back and heal everyone, don't worry too much about battle tactics :-)
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Cleric of Calistira. Doesn't get easier than that.
while fighter is probably the very easiest choice (with easy feats), I would go with the witch.
Make her spells be 99% healing, and 1% spells that are easy to grasp. For the rest just use hexes, you don't even have to roll attack and saves are for the ennemy to roll.
Whatever you take, consider looking into feats that let you "ignore" rules. Endurance is a good example, because you don't have to track whether or not you sleep in armor. Others exist with the same premise.
While I'm going to suggest fighter, I'd recommend going in a different direction. A new player wants to be both effective and not die. He also needs a "hook" to be able to roleplay his character. I'm going to recommend a sword and shield fighter, with a high fortitude and the iron liver trait. I also suggest no negative stats, so that the player doesn't think the guy he is playing is stupid or ugly.
20 pt buy:
str 18 (16+2) dex 14 con 14 int 10 wis 10 cha 10
Feats: Weapon Focus: Longsword, Great Fortitude, Dodge
Traits: Resilient, Iron Liver
Equipment: Longsword, Heavy Shield, Chain Shirt, sling
Skills: Swim, Climb, Survival
His base AC is 19, High enough to be able to evade most attacks, while still able to move 30'. Favored class bonus into HP, so 13 Hit points. Fortitude is +7, +9 vs poison, +11 vs. alcohol. +6 to hit with the longsword, 1d8+4 damage, good enough for most low level creatures. His tactics are mostly move up into the face of his enemy, and hit him with his sword. At range he can use his sling at +3 to hit for 1d4+4 damage.
More importantly, he has a character trait. He can drink alcohol nearly all day. He is practically immune to many poisons. (Most low level poison are in the DC 11-13 range.) With the survival skill, he has a good chance to survive in outdoor conditions, and even if fails the roll, he has a high enough fort to keep going for a while.
I would go half-orc axe and board fighter with lots of "static bonus" feats. Dodge, Toughness, Iron Will, Improved Initiative, Shield Focus, Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, Lightning Reflexes, Ironskin, Deepvision, Vital Strike, Great Fortitude, Fleet, Skill Focus, etc. etc. There are a ton of these in the CRB and APG.
If his AC is high enough, he won't even have to worry about tracking hit points!!!! Dodge, Ironskin, and Shield Focus give him +3 to his AC!
I chose axe because all he has to worry about is a natural 20 and x3 damage. (I figured mace was just too cruel!) Maybe exotic weapon proficency dwarven axe.
For gear, just give him straight up bonus items: weapon, armor, cloak of resistance, ring and amulet of AC, stat boosting item.
I made a sample 10th level half orc fighter like this, and it worked out great! Well, it looks great, anyways. Nice and simple.
EDIT: I would trade out Orc Ferocity for Sacred Tattoo. If he makes all his saving throws, he is less likely to have to worry about tracking negative conditions and modifiers.
Also, a 3.5 warlock is fun and easy, and a sorcerer and oracle can be almost as easy and just as fun.
I would go half-orc axe and board fighter with lots of "static bonus" feats. Dodge, Toughness, Iron Will, Improved Initiative, Shield Focus, Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, Lightning Reflexes, Ironskin, Deepvision, Vital Strike, Great Fortitude, Fleet, Skill Focus, etc. etc. There are a ton of these in the CRB and APG.
If his AC is high enough, he won't even have to worry about tracking hit points!!!! Dodge, Ironskin, and Shield Focus give him +3 to his AC!
I chose axe because all he has to worry about is a natural 20 and x3 damage. (I figured mace was just too cruel!) Maybe exotic weapon proficency dwarven axe.
For gear, just give him straight up bonus items: weapon, armor, cloak of resistance, ring and amulet of AC, stat boosting item.
I made a sample 10th level half orc fighter like this, and it worked out great! Well, it looks great, anyways. Nice and simple.
Yeah. THIS. Static bonuses with a knack for splitting skulls. What's not to love.
I would let him choose one of the four major "fields" of character classes:
Warrior - Fighter as mentioned above
Expert - Rogue, try to take things that just add bonuses instead of extra abilities
Divine - Oracle, probably Battle-Mystery
Arcane - Sorcerer
+1.
Offer him this choice and explain in-depth what each option actually feels like — taking care not to let cliché govern his expectations, but actually explain the flow of the class.
Be careful about fighter, though. Ranger and Paladin are possibly better choices.
I say give the new player access to all the character options. Its a lot more fun when you choose what race and or class you are yourself.
Some people have their own favored weapons or playing styles.
But be ready to assist with a lot of questions :P
I remember when I started playing D&D. I was handed a players book and built a character myself (checked by the DM afterwards). Sure I had misunderstood a lot of my later abilities, but it was a fun learning experience. ^_^
But if I had to choose a class for a new player, I would support the fighter. Possibly also a Paladin. That way they get to have hp, armour, a decent weapon selection, healing and a brief introduction to magic a little later on.
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But if I had to choose a class for a new player, I would support the fighter. Possibly also a Paladin. That way they get to have hp, armour, a decent weapon selection, healing and a brief introduction to magic a little later on.
No, no, no! Paladins, poorly played, can kill entire campaigns. Don't go there for a newbie...
I would give him what I call "no option" feats. Things like weapon focus, and toughness that are always on. The less choices you have to make the easier it gets.
One thing I have noticed with newbies who haven't quite mastered the rules is that they feel like they can try anything.
AND THAT IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even if he's just a fighter with an axe, he might ask if he can chop off a head, or foot, or chop down a tree, or can he throw the axe and then wrestle the BBEG, etc. etc.
In the beginning, give them lots of static feats (toughness, iron will, weapon focus), then, when the character grows, and the player is more experienced, they can try out the more complicated feats.
And definitely try to make a character that fills a role the player wants to fill. A player that wants to play a Robin Hood, Legolas-type archer will probably not have as much fun playing a sword and board fighter or easy-as-pie sorcerer. Work a little with player so he has fun. Even if you have to "cheat" a little and give him an "always on" version of Point Blank Shot, just to be easy for the first few sessions or so....especially since it's a lot easier if he can have Precise Shot too (take away a penalty, ignore a whole set of rules!).
If he wants to play a martial character go for a straight Fighter. The Barbarian has rage powers that he may have trouble keeping straight especially the ones with limited uses per day. The problem with the Ranger is he has a lot of abilities that will make it hard for someone not familiar with the rules to deal with. The Ranger also has a ton of skills that the player is going to need to be familiar with.
If he wants to play a caster then go for a spontaneous caster so he only has to learn a few spells and does not need to worry about memorization. Probably a Sorcerer is going to be the easiest for him to deal with. Avoid any divine spell caster other than maybe an Oracle. Having access to his complete spell list and having to chose what to memorize is going to be a problem. Which would be another reason to avoid the Ranger.
He should be focusing on his own character instead of the other party members so avoid any support characters. Also avoid any skill monkeys as he would have to learn to many things.
Most of his feats should be kept simple, but don't totally nerf the character. Power attack would be a good one to give him. This gives him a chance to start learning more complex ideas but at the same time is fairly simple.
Seriously, all of you suggesting spellcasting classes are just out of touch with reality. Do you just not have friends outside of RPing? If someone had trouble understanding basic attack mechanics, you don't give them spells. Geez, you guys. Pathfinder was clearly not designed with beginners in mind - that's why it's awesome.
I was in a similar situation with a friend of mine, so I made him a Warrior that focused on archery. One of the guys took Leadership so we could keep his character even if he decided he didn't like playing. His job was to stay back and shoot stuff. Understanding line-of-sight wasn't too difficult when using miniatures. He gradually got the hang of things and never felt too much pressure since he was a secondary character. It let him learn at his own pace until he graduated to a real Fighter.
I dunno, a sorcerer with Magic Missile is pretty simple.
I dunno, a sorcerer with Magic Missile is pretty simple.
I think he wants his friend to be effective also over the course of his career.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Alchemist... give him some simple extracts to work with and he can just bomb things and feel pretty effective. As he gets more experienced there are lots of other options to explore in the class but at low levels just bombing, shooting a crossbow, and taking the occasional extract is pretty solid.
I dunno, a sorcerer with Magic Missile is pretty simple.I think he wants his friend to be effective also over the course of his career.
Ok, so let him cast Magic Missile twice and...
I still think the 3.5 warlock is the best "intro magic-user." At 1st level, they have to worry about eldritch blast and 1 invocation, both of which can be used at will, which reduces bookkeeping. And their skill selection is relatively flexible, so you can make a scary warlock, a bookish warlock, an athletic warlock, etc. etc.
Ranger I would say, especially if you're starting at level 1 (Which you should be for a newb!!!)
Ranged Combat style.
By the time you get to 5th level you can ask him if he want's to try spells, if not you make him a skirmisher and select a trick for him.
Choose his own companions for his Hunter's Bond.
Barbarian1/Bard1/Cleric1/Druid1/Fighter1/Monk1/Ranger1/Paladin1/Sorcerer1/W izard1/Witch1/Magus1/Summoner1/Alchemist1/Ninja1/Samurai1/Gunslinger1
Obviously.
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While I'm going to suggest fighter, I'd recommend going in a different direction. A new player wants to be both effective and not die. He also needs a "hook" to be able to roleplay his character. I'm going to recommend a sword and shield fighter, with a high fortitude and the iron liver trait. I also suggest no negative stats, so that the player doesn't think the guy he is playing is stupid or ugly.
THIS.
I also recommend not playing a raw combat type, because they are relatively pigeon-holed in role.
-- Nothing sucks worse than watching a promising player given a lackluster combat droid, futilely attempt to roleplay with a horrible skill set, get bored, then get killed in combat when it's finally time to shine. Next week, he doesn't come back.
Why? Because he was lent the impression that Pf is a fussy, tactical wargame in which, if you don't do the right thing every turn in combat, you get splattered. While that might actually be representative of The Lord of the Rings (which is what most new roleplayers are envisioning when introduced to these types of games), it wasn't the experience he was looking for. So, he moves on.
And more often than not, it's a she rather than a he.
= = =
Give noob-to-RPG players a bard; and they can do anything.
STR:10
DEX:17 ...halfling [warslinger]
CON:12
INT:12
WIS:12
CHA:16
But, start him off with fighter:
01 fight1 [Unbreakable:Endurance,Die Hard], Quick Draw
-- Now the noob doesn't have to worry about various rule annoyances related to equipment and hitpoints.
02 bard1
03 fight2 Weapon Finesse, Piranha Strike
04 bard2 [DEX>18]
05 bard3 Deadly Aim
06 bard4
...while spellcasters, bards are really easy to play: you know spells you have, and can cast them whenever you want so long as you have uses remaining. You have lots of skills and abilities useful outside of combat, while having a high AC and high attack bonus during fights. You can buff, heal, and bug the Eff out of Dodge with Invisibility.
The theme fits the LotR expectation (you're a brave hobbit on a dangerous quest traveling with a troop of more seasoned adventurers), and the build "protects" the player from reckless impulsiveness by placing him in a archery/spell/song-support role -- meaning he is more likely to survive low-level combats than charge-monkeys who run face-first into axe crits.
This is why I think there should be an official Pathfinder version of the warlock. It's a super easy magic-user, with very little book keeping, a tiny list of known magic tricks, and a consistent ranged attack. Boost its skill ranks per level to 4 + Int modifier, and you have some really interesting non-combat actions you can take: Acrobat, Scholar, Party Face, Scout.
Also, as the warlock gets more powerful, it introduces new rule sets, like damage reduction, energy resistance, fast healing, magic item creation, etc. etc.
It's almost as good as the ranger for an introductory character.
I was thinking about this some more a while ago.
Hospitaller Warrior of the Shining Light Paladin.
No fussy spells to deal with. High defenses. Can heal well. Can smack people well.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I made a PFS character for my wife, and while working on it, I realized there are things in the execution that can matter more than the class itself.
For instance, having her STR and DEX be the same (both 16) means that she has the same attack bonus regardless of whether she's swinging a sword or shooting a bow. Using a longsword and a composite longbow meant she was rolling the same damage either way. And having Quickdraw meant she didn't have to plan out when to draw which weapon and manage her move actions.
So basically, she can be standing anywhere and say "I attack it", and roll 1d20+6 to hit and 1d8+3 for damage. It's always the same.
Make sure you look into details of "user friendly" operation, even if it would otherwise be sub-optimal (I don't know many people who take quickdraw).
I made a PFS character for my wife, and while working on it, I realized there are things in the execution that can matter more than the class itself.
For instance, having her STR and DEX be the same (both 16) means that she has the same attack bonus regardless of whether she's swinging a sword or shooting a bow. Using a longsword and a composite longbow meant she was rolling the same damage either way. And having Quickdraw meant she didn't have to plan out when to draw which weapon and manage her move actions.
So basically, she can be standing anywhere and say "I attack it", and roll 1d20+6 to hit and 1d8+3 for damage. It's always the same.
Make sure you look into details of "user friendly" operation, even if it would otherwise be sub-optimal (I don't know many people who take quickdraw).
Great point!!!
And I've seen some very effective Quick Draw switch hitters in play.
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Fighter seems the easiest.
Another approach would be to just invite him to play, ask him to name his character, describe what he looks like, and tell you his intentions.
That's all the game is really about. You can tell him which dice to roll, and just describe the result.
Learning the game for some folks can take time - - - so rather than set ceilings above him, introduce him to the game, allow him to watch others. Some people learn by listening, doing, watching others, etc.
Treat him as an equally valued player, present a fun game, and watch him grow over the next year into a competent gamer. Have patience, and enjoy your friends creativity and imagination - that's all you really need to be a great player. The rest of the math can always be taught over time, but gaming talent can be put to use immediately. Set the rules aside, introduce one thing at a time. Explain as you go. Have fun. Make sure to answer his questions with short answers at first. Be attentive to his questions - and answer those things he finds most interesting.
Too many times gamers clobber new players over the head with the rules. Rules are just the written expression of how the game works, and the as a player, his actions and choices, and roleplay and fun is not limited by how many rules he knows.
hope that helps as an alternative approach if you need it.
Pax
I have a friend who struggles with D&D. I just tutored him on how attack rolls and damage rolls work, and I think he FINALLY gets it. He's 99% D&D illiterate.
I want him to make a new character for the campaign we're playing, but I need the character to be idiot proof. What are the simplest classes possible?
I was thinking barbarian, fighter or ranger without an animal companion. Any other opinions?
I tend to agree with earlier posters on the Ranger Archer.
Starts out easy and progresses into a more complex class.
As an archer he can stand back and shoot without being worried as much about positioning.
Has a decent skill list and number of skills per level.
And most importantly a Ranger is a flavorful and fun class from 1st to 20th. They do decent to high damage, and they have a very nice set of abilities and skills to help outside combat. You add in the pet and the small spell list and your newb friend will get a taste of what Pathfinder is.
Just my 2 cents.