[3.5] My friend wants to learn D&D

[The Rabbler]

My friend has a base knowledge of D&D (played a blaster sorcerer years before and hasn't even come close to making what these boards would call an effective character. After watching one of my characters do his thing (with very little resources) a couple of sessions ago, he wants to learn how to play D&D with the same effectiveness that I do.

My question to the playground is this: How do I teach my friend optimization/effective character building?

[RaggedAngel]

I think the best way is to have him play a number of characters, honestly. Optimization comes with time. It's hard for any newbie, no matter how smart they are, to see into the game with great clarity; it's a rather complicated game. My first character was a summoner sorcerer; not at all optimized, but I loved playing her.

Another good thing to do is to make several characters with him for fun. Talk him through the process; you may need to explain why a Sorcerer doesn't need any Wis, or why Dex is so excellent for a caster. More so, however, you should make sure he looks at optimized characters, and make sure that you explain exactly what makes them 'good'.

Or, you could play the game the old-fasioned way. The sorcerer in the PHB has a CHA of 15. :smallwink:

[The Rabbler]

I think the best way is to have him play a number of characters, honestly. Optimization comes with time. It's hard for any newbie, no matter how smart they are, to see into the game with great clarity; it's a rather complicated game. My first character was a summoner sorcerer; not at all optimized, but I loved playing her.

Another good thing to do is to make several characters with him for fun. Talk him through the process; you may need to explain why a Sorcerer doesn't need any Wis, or why Dex is so excellent for a caster. More so, however, you should make sure he looks at optimized characters, and make sure that you explain exactly what makes them 'good'.

Or, you could play the game the old-fasioned way. The sorcerer in the PHB has a CHA of 15. :smallwink:

He knows the basic rules, but he doesn't know how to make things work well together. He originally thought that arcane strike and power attack on a duskblade didn't work well together because one gives you a bonus to attack and the other takes it away.

What I'm really looking for is ways to teach him to think like an optimizer. I learned what I know from reading this forum and doing a lot of research. Then memorizing some of the things that popped up along the way. I don't think that's the right way to get him to learn, so I want to hear of a better way.

[JeminiZero]

Have him read guides?

The thing to keep in mind is that optimization *tends* to be class-based in D&D. You might know how to make a reasonably good wizard after reading TLN's guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104002) (and by extension maybe a sorcerer), but you still know zip about making a Binder.

Therefore, as a start, ask him to pick a class, focus on it and around it, and then move on to another class.

[Amphetryon]

In addition to focusing on a Class, your friend will need to focus on a strategy. If he likes blaster Sorcerers, well, There's an app a build (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19868534/The_Mailman:_A_Direct_Damage_Sorcerer) for that, and, by extension, tools from which to learn blaster op-fu. If battlefield control is the thing that you did which made him go 'oh, wow!', there are other guides, like the one JZ linked.

TL;DR: Find out what your friend wants to do, then point him to threads on how to do that.

[The Rabbler]

Guides it is. Thanks guys.

[Gavinfoxx]

Have him read the guides on brilliantgameologists. Really!

[ClockShock]

Pet Peeve: Brackets being opened but not closed.

Guides are fine, but they're not a way to learn how to optimise.
A guide will show you how to build one effective character, learning how to optimise will help you build ANY character effectively.
If he WANTS to learn how to optimise (and not just, say, play a powerful character) then all you need to do is provide him with the rules, and some time to play about with building characters (as suggested above, play time with each will help)

Truth be told, the kind of person who wants to optimise will do it themselves.

Once you start optimising, guides can then be used to open you up to new tricks.