Oops, a shy Paladin

[Alex Stolar]

When my friends and I started our campaign a few months ago, everyone was making their characters, and by the time our final player started, I was very tired. She had never played an RPG, let alone a table-top RPG. She decided on the Paladin, and I thought it would fit well with the group. So we did the ability scores, skills, and went through everything.

Apparently my mind blanked.

For some reason, we didn't put a high ability score into her Charisma, and normally I wouldn't normally think it's a big deal. The issue is, I was more or less telling her how everything worked, and completely blanked that Paladins are a Charisma class.

So my question is this:

Would it be unfair to let her re-roll her Charisma? Seeing as it was more or less an error on my part, I have no problem with it. I've been pretty firm as far as re-rolls go, but for this I'm not sure.

What do you guys think?

[Fleshgrinder]

I see no issue with the re-roll, or just move Charisma based checks to a different stat.

If she has a high wisdom, just make her some sort of paladin that relies less on force of personality and more on force of will.

I never see an issue with modifying a character if a player isn't having fun.

[GeraintElberion]

Just tweak the stat array, I think that is reasonable.

Players respect a GM who says: "I got that one wrong, I don't want to screw the new player. Let's tweak this."
Very few people respect anyone who says: "I may have messed up but someone else is going to have to live with it."

[Azten]

I agree with Fleshgrinder, though I would check to see if she would want one first. I could see a 'shy paladin' being fun to play.

[Guardianknight]

If it is as you say then I my only question is, have you explained this to her now? I'm not sure what this Paladin's charisma is currently at but having a high score is not always necessary if your player actually wants to play a "shy" paladin. I would let them know this would mean several of their powers are weaker and if they would rather have those powers or a more forceful personality, then I see no issue for a re-roll in this case.

The first time a person plays any tabletop game, I always try to make sure they are having as much fun as possible and make the learning curve as shallow as I can. After all, if their first experience is not what they hoped for, they may not want to have a second experience. As they get more used to the game then start introducing greater difficulty and up the challenge.

[TriOmegaZero]

I see no reason not to allow her to swap stats or re-roll. I had a player build a fighter and take Shield Proficiency, forgetting that Fighters get all shields automatically. I let him pick another feat when he realized his error.

[mearrin69]

I almost always let people tweak their characters, within reason, when they find out something isn't working for them. A low CHA pally isn't going to be very effective...unless you tweak the class somehow, and that's probably not advisable for a new player.
M

[Alex the Rogue]

Tweaking the players stats should not be a big deal. Especially since its the start of the game and she is not level 7. The players I game with would not care as long as you don't give her an 18 Charisma.

[Porphyrogenitus]

When people are learning the game or even just getting the feel of their character IMO it's always more important that they be able to enjoy playing it than being stuck with early choices. It's one thing to prevent people from abusing "retraining" opportunities (in those cases, don't), but here its just a matter of helping someone who is new to the game enjoy it and not suffer from early mistakes.

Of course if, after explaining how important CHA to Paladins is, she still thinks it'll be fun playing a "shy Paladin," then have fun. That's what it's all about anyhow.

[DeathSpot]

e). All of the above.

Seriously, don't make a new player play a badly-built character. You're in this to have fun, and while many folks would enjoy the challenge, I don't think that's the best way to introduce someone to Pathfinder.

[Ascalaphus]

In my experience, in a new character there's always small mistakes and glitches - an ability that doesn't quite work the way you think it does, and ability that isn't nearly as good as you thought, an ability you didn't know you needed.

I let my players shift things around fairly freely on a new character for a couple of sessions, after that I want things to become stable.

So in your case, I'd say let her move around her attributes a bit if she wants to.

[ImperatorK]

Shy Paladins are the best kind.

[Paladin of Baha-who?]

Fluttershy paladins are even better.

[TriOmegaZero]

Fluttershy?