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I have a friend and a player in the game I'm DMing. My friend is not very bright. My friend frequently forgets how his class functions.
In a previous game, he played a ranger. He never once cast a spell. His animal companion was never present. I asked if he wanted to change his hunter's bond, but he said that he liked having a t-rex, even if it was as present as most player's familiars.
Now he is playing a magus. For the most part, he gets spellstrike. Spell combat is something else entirely. He almost always forgets to use his arcane pool points. I don't hold much hope for him remembering spell recall.
tl;dr: My friend has a hard time with choices and remembering to use class features. He does not want to be a fighter. What class would be easy to play and be effective, but "cool" enough to keep him happy?
And I do want him to be happy, but the rest of the party is less enthused about his less effectiveness.
Barbs are fairly user friendly
I rage
The end?
Not sure what more to tell you
The New Fighter options makes the Fighter pretty decent now.
However a few easier to play classes that he might like:
Bloodrager (One of my favorite martial classes and always the most badass guy at the table.)
Slayer
Unchained Barbarian (Made the class even easier)
Unchained Monk (Made the class easier to play due to front line survivalist boost. d10 HD and full BaB with fun abilities that are cool thematically.)
Paladin (Tho this comes with a Alignment restriction..but if your a cool GM who doesn't look for or try to get the Paladin to fall then this might be fun for him.)
If he found magic too much to handle with a ranger I'd be surprised if he didn't with a bloodrager. Same goes for Paladins.
Unchained monk might be a good idea.
Unchained barbarians are even easier than regular.
Kineticist may not be a bad option. You can build one where your bonuses can be expected to be there almost all of the time.
Honestly, it sounds like he'd like a blaster sorcerer. His problem seems to be more with classes that have too many class features, that he can't remember them all at the same time. With the sorcerer he could just focus on a few spells that he doesn't use at the same time.
Sorcs are fairly user friendly, I kinda got the impression he wants tot be in melee though just based on the other classes he played.
Urouge. Easy to run. And the vast majority of his abilities are automatic.
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Amplifying information: The party consists currently of a bloodrager, a blaster wizard, a zen archer monk, a 3pp sphere-user that is primarily the healer, and the magus.
The above is relevant because I am fairly sure he'll want to be a unique class, if not a unique role.
My hope would be to talk him into playing a tempered champion Paladin. No spellcasting and a combat badass. He'll probably never use divine bond, but that's not the biggest loss.
That or a bard. I don't know of a non-spellcasting bard, but as long as he's inspiring courage, he's doing enough. Problem is, I think he'd find being the support boring, and would be over-shadowed in combat.
For inspire courage could look at the paladin that gets it or the exemplar brawler. Getting inspired courage and then punching people to death. That'd be a unique role and class, but also provide support.
The only feature to remember/ for him to forget is martial flexibility. Everything else is just static bonuses.
Does he like the features of magus that he does use? Maybe you could let him do a free retrain into a different magus archetype that replaces spell combat and spell recall. The two that I could find were Myrmidarch and Skirnir, both in Ultimate Combat.
I'm curious what other people here think of those archetypes' effectiveness for this I-want-it-easy player.
As for the arcane pool, can you sit down with him out of combat and work out a default arrangement? Like, "I will always spend a swift action on my first round of combat to give my weapon a +1 enhancement bonus and shock." (Or whatever enhancements he likes, assuming of course that he's high enough level.) Now all he needs is a separate line on his character sheet for the weapon stats with the enhancements (and you may have to insist on that) -- plus a coach among the players to remind him to use that line in the thick of combat. He can indicate his arcane pool points as lines under Ammunition, to be crossed off as he uses them each day, or something similar. Assuming he doesn't need swift actions for other things, it's easy-peasy.
And once he gets that down, the coach can be primed to remind him that "shock" is flexible, and if they're up against a Cold monster who likely is vulnerable to fire, "flaming" can be granted instead -- using the same line on the character sheet. Yes, maybe it would be better to tactically withhold using the ability sometimes so as to have more arcane pool points when they're really needed. Or to spend them on arcana. But it's clearly better if you can't use an ability because you've run out of points (from using it earlier) than to not use it because you just won't. And maybe an easy way to use the ability to an extent -- and seeing its effectiveness -- will help him grow in system mastery for a great class ability.
For inspire courage could look at the paladin that gets it or the exemplar brawler. Getting inspired courage and then punching people to death. That'd be a unique role and class, but also provide support.
The only feature to remember/ for him to forget is martial flexibility. Everything else is just static bonuses.
I'll Mention Paladin with VMC Bard.
He will only need a hand full of feats but will get Inspire Courage during his career. He can Swift action LoH heal himself and deal lots of damage to Evil things. On top of that he can make a decent face with Diplomacy.
I recommend Keeping the Spell casting just because he needs to understand that part of the game. Luckily he can make a set List if he wants so he does not need to constantly change it for simplicity. But it is still a major aspect of the game he will need to come to understand.
Human Paladin X VMC Bard:
Str: 17, Dex: 10, Con: 14, Int: 10, Wis: 8, Cha: 16
Traits:
(Pick Something) Reactionary is good so is picking up another face skill. Another good pick is Dangerously Curious as UMD is a godsend for things like Mirror Image/Stoneskin scrolls and Wands of False Life.
Feats:
1: Fey Foundling, Power attack
5: Greater Mercy
9: Improved Critical
13: Ultimate Mercy
Abilities gained through VMC:
3: Bardic Knowledge
7: Bardic Performance- Just the Inspire Courage and Competence
11: Versatile Performance
Skills:
Diplomacy
Perform (Pick for Versatile @ 11..remember he can reassign skills via this Level so he did not waste skill points.)
I'll Mention Paladin with VMC Bard.For inspire courage could look at the paladin that gets it or the exemplar brawler. Getting inspired courage and then punching people to death. That'd be a unique role and class, but also provide support.
The only feature to remember/ for him to forget is martial flexibility. Everything else is just static bonuses.
No not VMC bard. But like martyr or oath of the people's counsel, (really it's the oath of the people's counsel that is the better one).
I'll Mention Paladin with VMC Bard.For inspire courage could look at the paladin that gets it or the exemplar brawler. Getting inspired courage and then punching people to death. That'd be a unique role and class, but also provide support.
The only feature to remember/ for him to forget is martial flexibility. Everything else is just static bonuses.No not VMC bard. But like martyr or oath of the people's counsel, (really it's the oath of the people's counsel that is the better one).
I'm not a fan of Giving up Smite Evil or Divine Grace myself so I did not mention those.
Kineticist
There are very few choices needed once in combat. They still have some instagib potential. Utility is somewhat something that comes up as needed.
The biggest choice once in combat is if he needs to hit AC or Touch AC.
Or if it wants to move.