Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Zarkas Apr 09, 2015 9:49:49	I may be assisting a player with no DnD or tabletop roleplaying experience with building a character. I was wondering if anybody knew of some character builds that are effective but easy to understand and use for a first time player. My instinct was a Fighter or Barbarian, but the game has evolved quite a bit from the AD&D days of attack....wait for turn...attack for the fighter.
#2 SterlingRat Apr 09, 2015 9:57:30	Zarkas wrote:
#3 mellored Apr 09, 2015 10:17:23	A human LG life cleric is, IMO, the easiest from an RP and tactical point of view. i.e. "I'm comming along in case anyone is hurt.".   And it doesn't fully lock him into anything.  If he want's to do more, he can simply swap for bless, spritual hammer, blade barrier, ect... He just needs to get over the level / spell level / preperation hurdle, and he's fine.
#4 Tempest_Stormwind Apr 09, 2015 10:36:22	Fighter (Champion) is expressly designed to minimize your tactical choices from round to round - you basically just have to decide when it's Hero Time (trigger your Action Surge or Second Wind) and that's it. Drawback? This is as close as 5e gets to the "wake me when we fight something" fighter of editions past.   Barbarian (either) similarly only really has two choices to make - Rage or not, or use Reckless Attack. The class itself is also very straightforward (arguably moreso than the fighter) and very, very good at what it does - including teaching players the importance of mobility, Initiative, and how offense can itself be a good defense. These are not immediately clear to new players.   I'd avoid Rogue unless the player's got a keen mind - i.e. the sort of player who favors more technical playstyles in other games. The reason for this is that rogues have a more diverse movement/stealth action set thanks to Cunning Action, and have to keep the rules of Sneak Attack in mind all the time - they'll be looking to line those up. Still, rogues are good tutorial characters no matter what route you take with them (Thief is the simplest, Assassin is very satisfying when it works but requires more thought on the player, and Arcane Trickster is a spellcaster, albeit a simple one that you eventually grow into, and one who can use that magic to simplify the Sneak Attack game).   Another oddball choice that I think is forgiving for new players, but definitely wouldn't have been seen as such by an AD&D player, is paladin. They have a relatively straightforward playstyle, particularly early on, and they have easy ways to use their spell slots without actually knowing the spell rules (Divine Smite). Since you can use Divine Smite after you know the result of an attack (i.e. if you hit, and if it's a critical), this edition took a lot of the risk out of using it. The cool part is, until the high levels, paladins still play similarly to fighters, except with an emphasis on defense instead of the technical artistry of combat (they have fewer fighting styles and more focused class features). You even grow into learning how to cast spells as you level up, but unlike the others you don't have to worry about which spells you "know", which saves new players the hassle of picking spells to learn.   If they're ambitious and really do like magic, Warlock (any, but avoid Chain) and Cleric (Light or Life) are straightforward, but subject you to a different set of pressures. They do have relatively few resources to manage and are rather forgiving on how those work. Warlock has the hassle of having to learn specific spells, but is easier on how you use them. (Drawback: It's the only pact magic class, so what you learn as a warlock player isn't transferrable to the rest of the game.) Cleric is super forgiving on which spells you know and how you use Channel Divinity, but relies on their depletable spell slots.   I would not suggest Druid, Wizard, or Sorcerer for new players. Classes other than these that aren't mentioned here are still learnable, but they might take a bit of effort.       EDIT: I'm speaking mechanically, here. As usual, the assumption is that the player crafts their story. You might want to ask a few "what do you do?" questions to the player first, and then point out the background and class that lend themselves closest to their answers - that way, their first character has the same personality but a different set of abilities as the player themself, which is one of the easiest ways to enter roleplaying.
#5 AaronOfBarbaria Apr 09, 2015 10:44:46	My advice: Don't try to force the new player into an "easy class" on account of their being new.   Give the player a rundown on what each class is about in very simple terms (i.e. "barbarians are super-tough and use rage and wilderness themed stuff to kick butt, fighter is a class for any kind of highly-trained warrior types, wizards use a wide variety of utility and combat magic and get to choose what kind of magic they are especially good with, sorcerers have less variety of magic than a wizard does but have special abilities due to their natural connection to magic," and so on) and let them pick out whatever class they are actually interested in - and once they have done that, you help them build their character focusing on it being one they are excited to try out, rather than it being one that is easier to understand.   It's far better to help an excited player through the hiccups of learning to play their complicated character than it is to fail to keep a new player interested through the absolute BS process of forcing them to believe the game is so amazingly difficult that you can't just dive in and learn to play any character - at least if your goal is to have them come back for more, anyways.
#6 TheNovaLord Apr 09, 2015 12:46:42	Something like sorcerer. They can shine out of combat then with a few social skills
#7 Patron1972 Apr 09, 2015 12:55:11	mellored wrote:
#8 Zarkas Apr 10, 2015 11:26:07	As some have talked about, I couldn't exactly force a new player into a class. I asked them questions to narrow down what they would like their character to be able to do. Ultimately they wanted to play a gnome out of the race options, and they wanted magic to be their primary means of combat and dealing with the world, so they have ended up with a Gnome Level 1 wizard. Not ideal, but I told them to just tell me what they'd like their character to do, and I'll let them know if the mechanics work or how to word it in game terms.
(Reply to #8) AaronOfBarbaria	Zarkas wrote:
#10 mellored Apr 10, 2015 11:43:41	Patron1972 wrote:
#11 Tempest_Stormwind Apr 10, 2015 11:42:53	Zarkas wrote:
#12 Coredump00 Apr 10, 2015 14:43:57	I would use a hybrid... talk to the player about the races/classes, and see what he finds interesting/fun.  From that short list you may be able to steer him towards one that is less complex.    OTOH he may *like* the complexity.... so talk to him about that too.  Let him decide how he wants to approach the game.  And really, none of them are very complex at low levels.
#13 Kentus Apr 11, 2015 1:51:53	AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
#14 Eggnogfool Apr 11, 2015 5:50:38	I would just give your player a heads up that wizard is going to feel relatively ineffective in combat for a long time.  I wouldn't be worried about class complexity much in 5th, but there's a significant disparity in baseline combat relevance in 5th that can be frustrating for new players, and wizards (and bards, clerics, land Druids, sorcerers somewhat) are in that situation.
#15 BRJN Apr 14, 2015 17:38:13	Try out a Monk, if you want a one-shot character to use while learning the mechanical rules of combat.  Your basic shtick is to multi-attack, so you end up doing something useful every turn, even if you miss with one or the other try.  (Granted, you will never one-hit-KO anybody.)  You can run into the danger zone, and run back out if Team Monster gangs up on you.  Your AC is good enough that you dodge about half the swings taken at you. With Stealth trained, you can be a sneak.  Or train Sleight of Hand and disrespect BBEG to his face (steal component pouch). Train Acrobatics so you can play Jackie Chan and The Matrix combined, if you have a vivid imagination and like Theatre of the Mind.