So I'm starting up a Serpent's Skull campaign for a group of 5-6 players who are entirely new not just to Pathfinder but also to tabletop RPGs. A few of them have some scattered experience with video game RPGs, but for the most part this is all new territory.
As such, I've been having a pretty major role in their character creation. Problem is, I've been playing d20 in some incarnation or another for 15 years, so my sense of what's easy to learn and play is pretty skewed. I'm trying to help them all design characters that are effective and relatively easy to play. Their build constraints are basically open material, 25 point buy, and a pretty liberal hand with house rules and minor freebies, since they're not going to be the cheesemonger players I'd normally have to limit more.
So far, we've built a half-elf ranger that's set up to progress along a generic Treantmonk switch-hitter build. It's piloted by the player with the most gaming experience, so there should be no problems there.
We've also got a halfling bard, with no archetypes. I couldn't think of much to do with her, so I had her take the Warslinger trait and Point Blank Shot and gave her proficiency with a halfling sling staff so she could at least contribute some ranged damage.
The third character built so far is an aasimar (garuda-blooded) druid. Again, no archetypes. Her first level feat is currently Celestial Servant, because she really liked the idea of a celestial panther pet. Given the racial Dex bonus, I'm tempted to also help her become a ranged fighter, but the druids lack of decent ranged weapon proficiencies limits that. I'm tempted to basically make a custom starting trait that gives her at least shortbow proficiency, given the archer nature of her celestial heritage.
The rest of the players are as of yet undecided. I'd like to nudge them towards one more martial melee character (possibly with healing ability), a primary arcane caster, and something skill-based like a rogue. Making a BSF for someone is pretty simple, but arcane casters are notoriously complex and rogueish types aren't much better.
So I'm looking for suggestions for particular class builds that are mechanically effective while being relatively simple to play. Some improvements or tweaks on the three already built characters would be nice, too.
My thoughts are maybe a paladin or melee cleric, a sorcerer (because smaller spell list means less complex gameplay), and maybe an Unchained rogue or some other class that gets trapfinding. Thoughts?
Honestly, I would severely limit the amount of source material for a group of newbies. Flipping through one book is a lot easier than flipping through 3 or 4 books, and WAY easier than flipping through a few dozen books.
Spontaneous spellcasters are the way to go. Oracle for healing, Sorcerer for blasting.
I would reserve the ranger for the player with the least experience. They're the best introductory class.
Maybe use a barbarian, fighter, or slayer for the tank. Paladins can be kind of complex, and have a lot of roleplaying baggage. Then again, your newbies might not know about that baggage... :-)
This is just a thought, and is weighted by my own preferences, but I would encourage two or more of your players to use teamwork feats. Not only are many of the teamwork feats much more powerful than regular feats, but they also encourage cooperative play. One of the biggest issues I've had with video game players is the general woeful lack of cooperative play. If a few of them have the right teamwork feats, it could go a long way toward getting them in the proper mindset.
Also, talk to them about what they want to do in combat.
Do they use a weapon or a spell?
Weapon: melee or ranged?
Spell: Direct attack or something else (charm, sleep, summon, buff?)
Are they tough or quick? Steady or dynamic?
Stuff like that.
Honestly, I would severely limit the amount of source material for a group of newbies. Flipping through one book is a lot easier than flipping through 3 or 4 books, and WAY easier than flipping through a few dozen books.
Spontaneous spellcasters are the way to go. Oracle for healing, Sorcerer for blasting.
I would reserve the ranger for the player with the least experience. They're the best introductory class.
Maybe use a barbarian, fighter, or slayer for the tank. Paladins can be kind of complex, and have a lot of roleplaying baggage. Then again, your newbies might not know about that baggage... :-)
I like the idea of a paladin for another healer. The bard and druid can provide some triage, but Lay On Hands is hard to beat. Most of the paladin mechanics are based around stuff like immunities resistances, which is nice, though it's a fair point about complicated roleplaying. Though having someone so connected to a deity could provide an amusing plot device for me as the GM to let the players know that something might be a bad idea.
The ranger player also expressed some excitement over the summoner class, so it's possible he might opt for a summoner and hand off the ranger role/idea to someone else less experienced.
Also, talk to them about what they want to do in combat.
Do they use a weapon or a spell?
Weapon: melee or ranged?
Spell: Direct attack or something else (charm, sleep, summon, buff?)Are they tough or quick? Steady or dynamic?
Stuff like that.
I've been asking them general roles like whether they want to hit stuff or cast spells, then running down a list of classes that can fill that role and describing them. It's worked out so far, though it might be a problem if it turns out everyone wants to play stuff that doesn't quite mesh together. Not that it would matter much, I suppose, since a party of 6 25 point buy PCs, even played by newbie characters, shouldn't have too many problems with a Paizo AP.
Ooh, Druid? I would make that a Hunter instead. Prepared casters, especially prepared divine casters, are not noob-friendly.
Ooh, Druid? I would make that a Hunter instead. Prepared casters, especially prepared divine casters, are not noob-friendly.
Hmm, I kind of like that suggestion, especially if I can get someone else to play a primary divine caster. It keeps the animal companion, adds more cool animal themed things, and plays much better with an archer concept given that it actually gets the proficiencies. I hadn't suggested the class because I've never actually played one, but the player might be into it.
The final party ended up as; Half-Elf switch hitter Ranger, Aasimar Druid, Halfling Bard, Gnome Draconic Sorcerer, and Human Grenadier Alchemist. Not quite a simple or core party, but hopefully they won't have any major issues. The only real problems I can see is a relative lack of easy access to healing, but the Bard, Druid, and possibly Alchemist can offer some form of healing in a pinch.
Eventually even the ranger can cast CLW, which means s/he can use a wand of CLW too. And UMD is a class skill for sorcerers, so even s/he will be able to heal in a pinch.
My main concern is the lack of tanks. The druid's animal companion will help with that. At least alchemists, bards, and druids make decent secondary tanks.
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The final party ended up as; Half-Elf switch hitter Ranger, Aasimar Druid, Halfling Bard, Gnome Draconic Sorcerer, and Human Grenadier Alchemist. Not quite a simple or core party, but hopefully they won't have any major issues. The only real problems I can see is a relative lack of easy access to healing, but the Bard, Druid, and possibly Alchemist can offer some form of healing in a pinch.
I've been running a Serpent's Skull campaign for 3 people entirely new to RPGs (tabletop, all experienced video gamers), and one person who had played 5e and 4e, but not Pathfinder before. I let them pick what they wanted to play, and adjusted some things around it.
They chose a Swashbuckler, an Unchained Rogue, and two archer-focused rangers (one animal companion focused too, the other teamwork focused). Both Rangers proceeded to trade out any spellcasting.
It's been interesting.
At this level, the Ranger is decently tanky, at least in regards to AC and relative HP for a 1st level character. He's probably going to at least carry a shield just in case. The Druid picked up Celestial Servant, so her panther companion gets to have the Celestial template, which will help a bit with resistances and eventual DR. It's also wearing leather armor, so it's AC isn't terrible. The druid will also likely end up going a summoning route later, for extra meat on the field.
On the bright side, having 4 out of 5 of them being strong ranged attackers means hopefully they'll be able to thin out the threats before melee tanking even ends up being relevant.
They're lacking access to the stronger divine spells by not having someone with the Cleric list, but by the time that really matters they can probably get scrolls and such. We might also be getting a sixth player joining us later that I'll probably nudge into a melee-oriented Cleric.
That's a relief!
Arcaian: I ran a group with a half-orc monk (who did amazing Matthew-McConaughy-from-Reign-of-Fire-like jumps with a greataxe), tiefling rogue (two-weapon fighter), human gunslinger pistoleer, elf archer rogue, and a dwarf inquisitor with a dorn-durgar and always forgot she had spells.
So I've run a (virtually) spell-less party. It's... interesting....
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Yeah, the spell-less party is good fun. Crazy stuff happens frequently, and I've been giving them some fun things to make up for it, but they've just hit level 6, and they're starting to get to the point where the martial-caster disparity is getting more obvious. I offered a one-time change (a certain deity blessed them with a chance to change their form), and one of the rangers changed over to hunter - so we have actual casting now.
And yeah Deth- I've experienced a similar thing. With two strong ranged attackers, a lot of the fights would have the hard-hitters down before the rogue and swashbuckler could take too many hits.
I'm about to run a 5th Edition party with a halfling Trickster cleric, Knowledge cleric/shadowcaster (wizard variant), an elf (elemental) monk, a swashbuckler rogue, an Archfey-pact warlock, and an aasimar wizard (evoker-like variant).
So no real tanks. I'm even considering giving everyone a +2 to Constitution for zest.