I'm using the Beginner Box to introduce my kids to gaming. My son is 10 and my daughter is 6. He's playing a rogue. My wife is stepping in to play a fighter and provide support. My daughter probably isn't ready to play a full character so I was thinking she could be their special pixie friend and help fill in the two biggest holes in the party: lack of healing and lack of ranged attacks.
This is my first time running Pathfinder, too. So, does anyone have any ideas on how to build a Beginner Box friendly pixie with healing and long distance attack abilities for a six year old girl?
Appreciate the help!
You could try the Lyrakien. While it's not technically a fairy, you could easily give it a bow and some more castings per day for the CLW spell.
The rules are just guidelines. Its your table, you can play it how you want. She can be a 'cleric', that just happens to fly around to her friends when they are hurt. you can probably hand-wave over the details, as they aren't going to matter for the 6 year old.
My 6 year old girl played a fighter, my 8 year old girl played a wizard, and my wife player a cleric. The 6 year old had the easiest time, simply running up to the bad guys and rolling the dice. Less thinking involved, and not having to track spell uses and such.
The best way to do things like this is to reskin existing stuff. Instead of 'cure light wounds' it is 'pixie touch'. Instead of 'channel positive energy' it is 'pixie light'. Instead of 'gnome' it is 'pixie'. You don't have to touch any mechanics or get into concerns about balance, just type of a modified version of the character sheet and call it a day.
I did something similar as my daughter wanted to play a sabertooth cat. Just made her a fighter in hide armor with claws and teeth that that did 1d8 damage.
No need to stat her up or give her hitpoints. Just ask her what she does as she flies around. If one of the spells she makes up sounds like it would heal someone, have her roll 1d4 for the amount. Same with damage, whether she says "I cast a spell that shoots spiders and leaves at it" or "I fly up to it and sting it with a pixie kick!", just have her roll 1d4.
If she's too young to understand arithmetics, you can also subtract some fixed amounts from her die rolls if she's doing something too much without telling her. Like it becomes 1d4-2 for example. And with this you can introduce the bigger die types, 1d12-8 would be an interesting contribution.
She's affecting the game but doesn't have to follow the rules (beyond taking turns, which is hard enough for some children to learn).
In the end, I went for a balanced approach. A simplified character but still one who had to follow the rules and roll dice. That lets her practice her counting skills and her "following the rules while interacting with others" skills. Very important for kids.
Here's what I came up with. This is Sparkling Magic Shining Wing the pixie. She's also the party healer, magic detector and light source. This is her "level 2" form.
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In the end, I went for a balanced approach. A simplified character but still one who had to follow the rules and roll dice. That lets her practice her counting skills and her "following the rules while interacting with others" skills. Very important for kids.
Here's what I came up with. This is Sparkling Magic Shining Wing the pixie. She's also the party healer, magic detector and light source. This is her "level 2" form.
Technically speaking, if she has a fly speed, she has an inherent +8 to fly, +5 from her dexterity, whatever skill ranks she has, and can take 10 on it even in circumstances that normally one wouldn't be able to. I'd be comically missing the point though if I didn't say that this is something manageable by a six year old. As your group levels up (and your daughter grows better with the system) add some extra Spell Like Abilities. Glitterdust is a good option. Easy to see a fairy do something like it, and it's one of the more useful spells in the system.
Technically speaking, you're absolutely right. :) However, my daughter still counts on her fingers and we're using the game to teach her how to add bigger numbers to smaller ones (roll a 15, add that to her +6). Having to add 15 and 18 would be a bit much for her right now. :)
And she'll be gaining more spell-like abilities. She started with Cure Light 3 times per day and unlimited Detect Magic. At 2nd level her Cure Light's gone up to 5 times per day and she's gained unlimited "Glow" (a light spell centered on herself).
She's also the only one in the group who can use wands so she's taken to collecting them.
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Some day she may make a halfling ranger... and you will know fear
Best of luck, and don't forget to grant Cure Moderate Wounds at 4th level. Remove Sickness will be useful too if you face them against anything that inflicts sickened or nauseated.
Dot
This is awesome. I love this community and I am proud to be apart of it.
Thank you. Father of the year award pending.
Thanks. :) Bumping her up to Cure Moderate is a very good idea. Thank you.
And that was kind of you to say, Shane.
As a teacher, i'm going to ask you to add a number line across the bottom of her character sheet. It's good practice for her, and will help her to develop number sense and a feeling of independence.
That is an excellent idea! Thank you!
Thank you!