New player needs a class.

[Bloodgruve]

Hi Playgrounders,

So I am helping a friend of mine create his first D&D character and I am looking for some advice. As much as I don't like to see WoW references in this forum I will have to use one. He said 'Well, I know the Warlock' in reference to his character online. In an effort to ease him in I would like to find a class that has a kind of feel similar to a WoW Warlock and I have never messed around with arcane casters so I don't know that much about them.

So, i am thinking of two builds but any suggestions are fine. I don't think the mechanics of the game will be any trouble for him but maybe something easier to start.

*Spell caster raining down fire with an familiar doing some ranged support damage.

*Spell caster throwing out diseases or damage over time effects with a familiar chewing on people.

I would also like to give him a few out of combat skills for social situations. Most likely neutral or evil aligned. Preferably tier 3 to 5.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, I am hoping to presenting him his options next weekend.

TYVM for your input.

Blood~

[Wings of Peace]

It sounds like he wants to be a ranged nuker casting style. I'd reccomend he play a DnD Warlock and then prc into Hellfire Warlock for that. It can be done on a regular caster but it's not as efficient and if he's new then Invocations would be fairly uncomplicated.

[Gwendol]

Agreed. Going from WoW to D&D arcane casters can be a bit daunting. Make sure he takes the "Obtain familiar" feat!

[Flickerdart]

Looks like he'd enjoy a Druid - they have some very potent blasts, a hearty pet, and are very difficult to screw up.

[Yora]

I'd also go with a druid. They are not all forest hippies and have pretty much all the things the player wants.

[Provengreil]

another option is a simple blasting sorceror. slightly more complex than warlock, but it works at all levels with no CON damage, which can be problematic without multiclassing into binder or grabbing certain magic items. for extra goodies if you hit higher levels, try importing the lesser and greater missile storm spells from the neverwinter nights games. as for tiers, straight damage is considered to bring it down a level or two, but you can still pick a few lower level spells for noncombat areas, like charm person, grease, or knock.

the feat improved familiar can make his familiar actually kinda combat worthy, as well.

[Seerow]

Worth noting, if he likes Warlocks because they're a DoT based class he's probably going to be disappointed with D&D, there's very few damage over time abilities in the game (In fact I can't think of any offhand.)

[Flickerdart]

Worth noting, if he likes Warlocks because they're a DoT based class he's probably going to be disappointed with D&D, there's very few damage over time abilities in the game (In fact I can't think of any offhand.)
Power Word: Pain and Thunderhead come to mind. Creeping Cold, too.

[Bloodgruve]

I was thinking sorc, warlock or druid to start. I know how hard druids can be to deal with because I am playing one in a current campaign, and the DM is experienced but very rusty. Is there any way to give a druid an infernal pet?

TYVM
Blood

[Provengreil]

idk about as a companion, but maybe the planar shepherd PRC can summon some?

[Shpadoinkle]

If you're looking for a blaster type a warlock is a decent choice, but a dragonfire adept (Dragon Magic p. 24) might be closer to what you're looking for. He can even take the Endure Exposure invocation so he can use his breath weapon every round without having to worry about hurting his allies.

[Flickerdart]

There's a Planar Ranger ACF that makes the companion Fiendish, among other things. You could easily adapt it to the Druid. Or, you could get a vermin (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040705a) instead, or take the Tainted Druid feat.

[DoctorGlock]

If he wants to be a ranged damager introduce him to psionics. With power points instead of spells/day and plenty of damage mods, heck, even a way to regen your mana, they make the best CRPG/MMORPG analog. I recommend Ardent for dominant ideal and give him SU transformation so that he can spam reformation when he inevitably gets bored of just blasting. Note that you need substitute power ACF. Frankly I recommend the Ardent for almost everything because the Ardent is all that and a bag of chips.

[Bloodgruve]

I do love the ardent, it is my personal top pick. As for the best class for him, I'm going for more flavor than actual 'mmo mechanics'. I will submit it to him, IDK why I didn't think about it. Throw energy mantle and creation mantle and go to town...

I like warlock because it looks simple and dependable. Maybe a little too simple though.

Appreciated,

Blood~

[Krazzman]

Stay with him while creation and introduce him to the warlock. It's not easier than a fighter or something like that.

The first character doesn't have to be uber or something like that, it just have to be fun.

Ask him what he wants to do? If he really wants to play something like his WoW Warlock: either do the Spellpoint variant and let him be a caster or introduce him to the warlock.

Hope this helps.

[DrDeth]

Druid is very complex due to all those options and shapes. Also, Evil is not a good idea for a newbie.

Regular Warlock would work, but also Sorc or Warmage.

[DoctorGlock]

I do love the ardent, it is my personal top pick. As for the best class for him, I'm going for more flavor than actual 'mmo mechanics'. I will submit it to him, IDK why I didn't think about it. Throw energy mantle and creation mantle and go to town...

I like warlock because it looks simple and dependable. Maybe a little too simple though.

Appreciated,

Blood~

The warlock is dirt simple and my first D&D character was a warlock... but in the end, without heavy optimization, it is a severe disappointment. I expected an all day damager with tricks and what I got was a one trick pony without even a good trick. The damage is low, the invocation are far too few and in the end he will feel lame compared to the rest of the party. Even with hellfire (unless you go legacy champion) your are far under par for damage. Ardent is probably top, sorcerer for second place. Go metamagic focus and grab repeat spell for damage over time.

[gorfnab]

*Spell caster throwing out diseases or damage over time effects with a familiar chewing on people.

I would also like to give him a few out of combat skills for social situations. Most likely neutral or evil aligned. Preferably tier 3 to 5.

Dread Necromancer + Stitched Flesh Familiar feat + Spellstitched template

[Venger]

Carc's warlock is very wowish. complete arcane was one of the books that really began to herald the changes coming in 4.0 with the warlock's at-wills which were (and still are) among the only ones in the game. since MMOs don't limit the number of times you can beamspam attacks, I agree that it would be best to start him out with a character that works the way he's used to playing. the spell slot system is pretty counterintuitive and is probably the hardest part of getting a noob to understand playing a caster.

once he's got the magic mechanics down, start him out with a beguiler/dread necro/warmage in the next game he's in so he can try out the whole "spell slots" thing without having to look at every book ever to pick spells since their spell lists are all pre fixees. beguiler20 is also a solid build so he doesn't have to minmax/multiclass as much as sa a DN. DNs are probably best for his 3rd or 4th game since you gotta make skeles of monsters and that implies a certain system mastery. of these 3, warmages are the best choice to start out, especially since they're the most wowish of the three, beamspamming lasers and fireballs all day every day. beguilers, being more social/diplomacy oriented might also be difficult for a player who's new to tabletop games because I've found when I DM it's the RP aspect that takes the longest for them to pick up and wow players mostly just want to blow things up, which is fine, but you want to find a character who's good for that so they can have fun.

tl;dr

warlock this game to unlock understanding of basic mechanics

warmage next game to unlock understanding of spell slots
beguiler down the line to unlock understanding of role play and nondamaging effects

DN further down for number crunch/monsters mastery

by then he ought to get it and be able to play just about anything.

[Campbellk8105]

Going off of the Tier 3-5 you said, I'd say a Warmage might not be bad for a beginner player. Especially since it's just a blaster primarily.

Warlock as previously mentioned would be a good choice as well, since invocations aren't too difficult to understand, and he can be a blaster.

Druid IMO, would possibly be a little more to work at for a beginner, although if you help him through it, it should be fine.

As for Planar Shepherd, I'd say dont go into that, just for the sheer fact that depending on what plane you choose, there's the obvious Game Breakers. If you can withdraw from exploiting those, then Planar Shepherd will be fine. Regardless though, depending on the group, for a beginner to be a Druid with or without help can still be accidentally good and out power your group.

Although I think it just depends on how the person really wants to play.

[Bloodgruve]

Warmage is looking very interesting. I like that PrC'n is a good option for the class.

TY
Blood~

[Venger]

Warmage is looking very interesting. I like that PrC'n is a good option for the class.

TY
Blood~

glad you think so, you're quite welcome :smallsmile:

as far as PrCs go, the rainbow warsnake (warmage6/rainbow servant 10/xx4) is a very popular choice (or warmage4/rainbow servant 10/ xx6 w/ versatile spellcaster) to allow spontaneous access to the entire cleric list. this would also let him gradually draw from a wider pool of spells at his own pace (find a spell or two he wants to "try out" in between games and use them when they come up in the adventure) there's an error in the book and it's 10/10 casting not 6/10 casting. whether you suggest this to him or not is up to you. if you're new to DMing it might not be the best idea since even new players can break games with the cleric list, but really any arcane casting PrC is a decent choice for warmage

edit: saw you edited your OP. dread necros get a quasit (little demon) familiar at level 7, since it's a CE demon, I'm sure it would like to chew on people. DN's intimidate is also somewhat amusing in noncombat situations and is one of their few useful class skills. since they don't cast off int, they'll always be somewhat skillstarved. dread necromancers are also forbidden RAW from being good-aligned, so that will work with your player's intentions in that respect.