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I'm off to a gaming convention in a few days and I'm packing up my stuff. I'm bringing some Pathfinder Battle miniature for new players to use at the table. I have mini's for almost everyone of the iconic classes. However, I only have room for 16 (foam tray). Which 16 should I take? I guess the real question is which iconics are the current crop of new players most interested in trying out?
So far I'm thinking ....
1) Kyra
2) Lini & Droogami
3) Valeros
4) Meresiel
5) Seoni
6) Ezren
7) Damiel
8) Seltyiel
9) Adowyn
10) Lertn (Adowyn's wolf)
11) ??
12) ??
13) ??
14) ??
15) ??
16) ??
Thanks for your thoughts!
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Wow, an RVC and 2 VCs already weighed in! (Congrats on that 5th Star Hilary!!!!!)
My lowly input would be:
11) Crowe or Oloch - well built, hard hitting, but with some other interesting mechanics, too.
12) Quinn - cause when the party needs a skills guy....
13) Amiri - Well, it's Amiri. What more do I need to say?
14) Hakon - the best Diplomacy bonus of any pregen
15) Yoon - some kids seem to identify more easily with her
16) Liriane - I've had quite a few people immediately want to play a gunslinger once they hear that it's an option
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In my experience new players gravitate towards Lini, Harsk (!), Liriane, and Valeros. Kyra and Amiri are often suggested for new players, particularly Amiri. Experienced players running pregens or picking a pregen for a table of three tend to go almost exclusively with Kyra, Crowe/Oloch/Amiri, or Quinn.
I'll second Adowyn, which is what I'll often suggest for players who want to play Lini.
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Popular choices at tables I've run are Crowe, Oloch, Amiri, Quinn, Seelah, and Yoon. Liriane is also about as popular as Yoon, but not so great at 1st level and so I try to clarify for new players her playability in the 1-2 Tier and that she gets better in the higher tiers. I've seen almost zero interest in Seltyiel, so I might recommend switching him out for one of the others, unless your experience differs.
Venture-Captain, Online—VTT
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I'll echo Crowe, Oloch, Hakon and Quinn as all interesting and especially well built for new players to get to grips with and feel like they can contribute a bunch.
I'd also say Harsk, but that's just because I love that awful little guy and his terrible crossbow skills :D
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Updating with suggestions so far (Great BIG Thanks!)
1) Kyra
2) Lini & Droogami
3) Valeros
4) Meresiel
5) Seoni
6) Ezren
7) Damiel
8) Seltyiel - Dropped
8) Seelah
9) Adowyn
10) Lertn (Adowyn's wolf)
11) Zadmir
12) Crowe
13) Amri
14) Quinn
15) Oloch
16) Hakon
Alternate) Harsk & biter - I also like Harsk, just haven't seen much use.
nope) Yoon I just don't know the rules for the Occult Adventures classes.
I was thinking of just new players. Thanks for reminding me of experienced players filling out the table.
What do you think of Alahazra? An alternate choice for healing instead of Kyra? (not replacing the Kyra mini though).
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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The set I'd take would probably be:
Some arcane casters...
- Enora - for experienced players. Extremely optimized arcanist, can provide full-scale arcane support to a party, also has strong knowledges. Makes Seoni and Ezren look bad.
- Seoni - for beginners. Has items and spell/per day that can keep her going all day long, and has decent firepower spells.
Some melee classes...
- Crowe - fairly straightforward ultra-heavy hitter with a few tricks up his sleeve.
- Zadim - a good "heavy rogue" that can fight quite well, makes 2WF look good, but also has a good heap of skills. He has some difficulty with DR, but he's not a liability in stealthy missions like most melee heavy pregens are. He's also nice and simple as a 4th PC that has to be run by someone on the side.
- Jirelle - competent warrior, also socially and acrobatically skilled
- Oloch - heavy hitter with all the versatility of the cleric spell list
- Seelah - Straightforward paladin. A bit slow-moving but very resilient; good for a party that needs a tank more than it needs a jet fighter. Seelah is not especially optimized but there's also nothing wrong with the build, and paladins are a very solid class to begin with.
Skillz & Gishes...
- Hakon - very very very well-rounded pregen. Has good social and knowledge skills, reasonable warrior, good spell selection. Can be added to almost any party.
- Quinn - a very good skill monkey with many tricks up his sleeve, adequate as a secondary combatant
Healing / divine support...
- Shardra - versatile divine caster with both offensive and defensive options
- Alahazra - Can heal but also blast, so useful if someone wants something more active than a healbot
- Kyra - Can heal so much and so fast that she can sometimes just exhaust end bosses' spells per day. Resilient and efficient.
Ranged firepower...
- Adowyn - the only serious archer pregen.
- Yoon - pretty tough girl, fun RP potential, and well-geared. Good for a party that needs ranged firepower.
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Venture-Agent, Minnesota
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Shardra is definitely a well-built pregen, but is better at higher levels. I’m not sure I would ever use her with a brand new player but I do think she’s one of the strongest pregens. In the hands of a savvy player, she’s a terrific addition to any party. Alahazra is a fun alternative to Kyra. Zadim is whom I hand to people who want to TWF.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I apologize if this is a rude question, but what are the current rules about needing additional materials to play?
1) If a new player picks up Lini-4 or Lini-7, are they allowed to Wild Shape without access to any other material? Are they allowed to spontaneously convert prepared spells to summon nature's ally spells without the stat blocks for the summoned critters?
If not, then I wouldn't recommend bringing Lini.
2) If a new player picks up the first-level version of an iconic, what are the rules about continuing to play the character after the first session? If Ruby the Newbie liked playing Quinn, can she take the gold reward from the first game, pay for Quinn's equipment, and continue to play him as her -01 PC character with 1 XP?
If so, does she need to own a copy of the Advanced Class Guide?
[Aside: Or can Ruby play the character again, resetting all his equipment, as an iconic, and assign both sessions to the same character? (And if Ruby is worried about losing the accumulated XP, does she need to assign the second session to her -02 character?)]
If a new player *does* need to own copies of all the non-Core material, then it would be better to have as many of your 16 iconics be Core classes as possible.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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I apologize if this is a rude question, but what are the current rules about needing additional materials to play?
1) If a new player picks up Lini-4 or Lini-7, are they allowed to Wild Shape without access to any other material? Are they allowed to spontaneously convert prepared spells to summon nature's ally spells without the stat blocks for the summoned critters?
If not, then I wouldn't recommend bringing Lini.
I don't think these rules are explicitly spelled out, so expect some table variation.
My personal take is that since this is a pregen that relies on Bestiary 1 a lot (SNA), and that book is on the PRD, it's reasonable for the pregen player to use it even without owning it. Because pregens are supposed to be functional without buying extra books.
That's different from a player building a druid PC himself - he would need to own Bestiary 1. The pregen gets a free ride because it's a pregen and it's intended to be functional.
2) If a new player picks up the first-level version of an iconic, what are the rules about continuing to play the character after the first session? If Ruby the Newbie liked playing Quinn, can she take the gold reward from the first game, pay for Quinn's equipment, and continue to play him as her -01 PC character with 1 XP?
If so, does she need to own a copy of the Advanced Class Guide?
Pregens are sort of frozen to the exact state they're in on the paper. You could make a character that is very similar to the pregen and play on as if it was him, but it's no longer a pregen.
Exact duplicates are hard because the pregens often have bits of gear that aren't normally available (partially charged wand), or break other rules (Yoon is a kid, Quinn starts with Weapon Focus despite not having BAB +1). We tolerate these deviations from pregens, but not from regular PCs.
[Aside: Or can Ruby play the character again, resetting all his equipment, as an iconic, and assign both sessions to the same character? (And if Ruby is worried about losing the accumulated XP, does she need to assign the second session to her -02 character?)]
You can play pregens three times and assign the XP to the same level 1 character (or six times on slow track). But that means you start every session with a fresh pregen. You can't use the gold you earned last time.
The best way to understand this is that the pregen functions as a stunt double for your real PC. The pregen is not you, he's representing you with his own gear/gold/stats.
If a new player *does* need to own copies of all the non-Core material, then it would be better to have as many of your 16 iconics be Core classes as possible.
No, pregens are intended to function with just the piece of paper in your hand.
