Need advice on what to suggest to a first time player trying to come into our campaign

[Grond]

Our group is level 3 almost four and has the following:

Inquisitor built as archer
Fighter built as archer
Sorcerer with infernal bloodline not sure the rest of how she's built
cleric with travel domain and is a straight healer
Myself as a polearm fighter going to Hellknight (my brother's HK made me build my own frankly)

The new player is a female friend of my wife and one of the other players from work. She has never played any kind of role playing game and she will be at our next game to observe us and see if she wants to play. Just based on conversations it seems she will almost certainly join us with a character.

And here's where the advice is needed: what class should we suggest for her and what direction for said class? Obviously we have zero rogues or something along that lines and we also only have myself as any kind of melee tank or melee damage.

I don't know if a completely new player could handle a rogue or a rogue like class to fill that hole for our party but perhaps I am wrong? Any suggestions on helping to ease her into playing and what class to play would be welcome.

[Grond]

No suggestions at all?

[Hzardus]

simple melee like fighter would be good, or the rogue as long as someone is willing to help without taking control of the character, the rogue will give a good base for understanding different concepts while giving some rp flair.

"Search for traps pooky"

[MightyK]

How could anybody suggest anything?
Its up to her.
She is new to RPGs, that means its all about getting her hooked!
Let the veterans fill a role that is needed by the party.
The newbies need to be able to play what they feel like playing.

Try to explore her interest: Fighting with Weapons or with Magic?
Brute or Dex? / Divine or Arcane?

Or just ask her about fantasy characters she likes!

Or let her tell you a backstory she comes up with and you go together exploring what class this person she tells about might have become.

[Hzardus]

MightyK wrote:

How could anybody suggest anything?

Its up to her.
She is new to RPGs, that means its all about getting her hooked!
Let the veterans fill a role that is needed by the party.
The newbies need to be able to play what they feel like playing.

Try to explore her interest: Fighting with Weapons or with Magic?
Brute or Dex? / Divine or Arcane?

Or just ask her about fantasy characters she likes!

Or let her tell you a backstory she comes up with and you go together exploring what class this person she tells about might have become.

this too

[Grond]

MightyK wrote:

How could anybody suggest anything?

Its up to her.
She is new to RPGs, that means its all about getting her hooked!
Let the veterans fill a role that is needed by the party.
The newbies need to be able to play what they feel like playing.

Try to explore her interest: Fighting with Weapons or with Magic?
Brute or Dex? / Divine or Arcane?

Or just ask her about fantasy characters she likes!

Or let her tell you a backstory she comes up with and you go together exploring what class this person she tells about might have become.

We will definitely let her play whatever she wants if she decides to play but she's already been asking about what we would like her to play if she does make a character. The only thing I know about her likes in terms of fantasy is that she really loves Elves and LotR.

The suggestions I was looking for is what would be a good learning class for her. I also had thought a melee fighter as a straight forward choice but was looking for ideas. No one is going to tell her deny her from playing what she wants but if she's looking for advice I'd like to be able to give her some idea of what to do.

[TheSideKick]

i would say a trapspringer, or bring in a melee beat face.

i would suggest a barbarian, they are easy to play.

if she likes elves she could run an elven double blade TWF fighter they are pretty fun and girly, i mean elvish...

a ninja could be fun for her, stealthy and only slightly complex. she would need to manage her ki pool but other then that i think she would have fun with it.

Grond wrote:

The only thing I know about her likes in terms of fantasy is that she really loves Elves and LotR.

oo have her play a version of that elf from LOTR, legolas or something...

twf and archery switch hitter, she would have fun with that

[Aravar Eveningfall]

I think with a new player you want to get them interested more than you want to make them plug a perceived hole in the party. Like others have said I would keep it simple. A melee class or a spontaneous caster without many spells to keep track of.

[Sir Thugsalot]

CRB gnome bard with good dex and no strength; carries a repeating crossbow.

STR-10 INT:12
DEX:14 WIS:12 ...20PT
CON+14 CHA+17

[ChainsawSam]

The Ranger class seems tied up in a nice pretty little bow to deliver a package perfect for new players:

1. Combat Feat "suggestion list" to guide them in their selected combat style as they level.

2. Good hit dice and respectable saves which will make mistakes more forgiving. Full BAB progression makes combat more likely to be rewarding despite an unoptimized build.

3. Smattering of spell casting which contains a bit of buffs, utility, and battlefield control. Enough to introduce them to casting mechanics and keep themselves self sufficient at worst, or actively changing the flow of the battlefield at best.

4. Solid assortment of skills and skill points which will allow a new player to take agency in their character's development and participate in non-combat events.

5. Favored Terrain and Favored Enemy are not complicated. Essentially binary features, ether you get the bonus or you don't and it is easy for even new players to recognize when these bonuses should be active. Selection can be a bit of a problem, but a bit of DM guidance works that out.

Everything a player needs to build a successful character and ease themselves into the game while contributing to their team's success. Everything a player needs to have fun during most of the game's aspects without having to make a blind choice about what they "think" they'd enjoy. The Ranger is a sampler platter perfect for a person's first character.

The issue becomes Hunter's Bond at 4th level. Companion Bond is pitiful, and the Animal Companion is overwhelming for new players which can be struggling to decide a course of action for only one character each round.

There is the Spirit Ranger Archetype which replaces Hunter's Bond with a form of spirit divination for some limited augury. Not great, but it does allow the new player to essentially ask questions or seek guidance about things that veterans already have the answers to.

[DM Under The Bridge]

Grond wrote:

No suggestions at all?

Ask her if she is interested in a ranger.

Up close and dual weapons or safer at ranged. That sets the build (just stick to the simple stuff at this stage). Int will determine how skilled and how many options she will have. You could spread out her skills and fudge dcs a bit.

[Yan Grorson]

I just had a new player join our RotRL game last week. I tried picking his brain about what he wanted to play, but the options can be overwhemling for people who have never even played a video game rpg, much less tabletop, so I rolled him a human rogue with high strength and dex, so he could feel useful in combat while still having a big pool of skills to pull from. To my surprise, he took to Pathfinder really quickly, with an emphasis on RP, and couldn't wait to continue. lucky him, he joined just in time to assault Thistletop.