Philosophies for pregenerating characters for new players

[JustPlayItLoud]

Whenever I've had to teach 3.0/3.5 to a new player(s), I've always had the luxury of teaching either only having to teach one person, or having a significant amount of time (specifically not constrained by the timeframe of a "session") to do so. In this case, I like to be able to sit down one on one and help with character creation. I like to visit the race and class chapters of the PH first to help them create a basic concept, then roll and assign ability scores, and then go through the PH chapter by chapter until they've built a complete, serviceable level 1 character.

But tonight I got to thinking, what if I were trying to teach an entire group on new players at once? It wouldn't be my ideal situation, but it could happen. In that case I figured pregenerated characters are the way to go. Make a few basic characters, then give a new player the sheet that best matches their (very) basic character concept I've asked them to decide on. And then that got me to thinking about how I would write up the pregen characters, and I came up with a few ideas. And then I figured I could pick the Playground's collective brain and perhaps come up with a basic "handbook" or sorts for pregen characters.

First let me start with some of my thoughts:

1. Standard array for ability scores. 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 is definitely good enough to illustrate the differences between higher and lower scores while putting everyone on a level playing field at first.

2. Assign ability scores in a somewhat "optimized" fashion (e.g. fighter with 8 charisma or wizard with 8 strength) without explaining my reasons for doing so. After some play I would probably ask players to try and explain why I chose to assign scores as I did. Assigning ability scores is a vital part of character building (unless you're a ridiculously SAD build) that seems to be oft overlooked (it seems like I see a lot of people I game with make sure they have a couple of important stats and then assign the rest however it looks good with little actual thought put into it)

3. Everyone's a human. With skills, feats, class abilities, saves, etc. the new players will have enough to worry about with a whole other (potentially quite large) list of abilities. If a player very strongly objects for some reason, consider changing.

4. Keep skills pretty basic by putting max ranks in as many skills as can be done. Each character will have at least one "social" skill (diplomacy, bluff, sense motive, intimidate), at least one "action" skill (jump, tumble, climb, sleight of hand, use magic device), and the rest of their skills in skills most thematically appropriate to their class. Probably no craft/profession for now. Perform only for bards and knowledge probably only for primary casters.

5. At least one active use feat. Something like power attack, etc. that the player can get familiarized with making the choice to use or ignore on a case by case basis. For human bonus feats I'm torn between either giving them all a simple, passive feat (I find myself very frequently taking improved initiative because it's a good feat and sometimes I prefer waiting until more exciting feats start opening up at higher levels) or giving them free reign on picking a feat they think sounds good. It isn't likely to matter if they pick a bad one, and I would likely ask at the end of a session if they thought the feat was useful or not, whether it was a good/bad choice then or in general, and perhaps discuss a little bit about some of the better and worse feats.


This is really all I have so far, and really these are just my opinions on how I would pregenerate characters for a party of new players. Now I really want to hear all your thoughts on the matter, especially in regard to spell selection for any new players brave enough to play a spellcaster. Also your thoughts on what classes to make available to new players.

P.S.: It's late and I'm fading, so if someone comes up with a snappy thread title to replace the humdrum one I came up with, feel free to submit it.

[zlefin]

all sound like good ideas. Isn't there already a pile of pre-genned characters somewhere? it seems like something that would be online, a pile of pregenerated characters.
As for spells - i'd focus on spells that are iconic, fairly straightforward in application, and most importantly - do what they sound like they do. i'm reminded of the design philosophy behind magic 2012 and such; but i don't have a link handy to those articles rosewater did.

[Eldariel]

I'd use 16 instead of 15 in the array; it's closer to the average result of 4d6b3 and gives characters a clear "best stat" instead of two stats tied for the same value.


I also find using "archetypal" races for each class to work out pretty well; Half-Orc Barbarian, Dwarf Fighter, Halfling Rogue, Gnome Bard, Gray Elf Wizard (have to use it to make it mechanically sensible), Whatever Druid, Human Cleric, Human Sorcerer.

I've found players pick up Races really fast since it's really just a static array of non-changing attributes; boost to a stat important to the class, penalty to a stat less important to the class and an array of minor abilities. In no case do racial abilities really overtake class abilities but at the same time the Elf-player will be slightly more observant, the Dwarf-player will be at home underground and in stone environment and so on; basically, anybody who's read Lord of the Rings will feel right at home in the game immediately.


Other than that, I agree with all points; only maxed skills (aside from maybe Wizard/Bard and their One Rank In All Knowledges).

Spells, I go with a purely pregenerated list and a simple, suggested daily spell selection for every level. The players can branch out as they learn the system more but initially I like to offer one of everything the class does; a buff spell, a save-or-X spell, a direct offense spell and a utility spell. This way the player gets a hang of what kinds of effects the class has available and what way he wishes to go. Of course, keeping to the relatively simple spells; Grease does a lot of things but e.g. Color Spray is quite simple far as effect goes (Save-or-Stun).

A level 1 pregen Wizard's spells prepared might look like "Color Spray, Magic Missile", and add Magic Weapon or some such on level 2. This way there's that damage spell, that save-or-X spell and that buff spell. If there were room for a fourth spell, I'd add e.g. Silent Image; while the spell might be frighteningly open-ended, Illusions are by nature very intuitive as you can literally create any image you can think of and it has no game-mechanical effects other than being there.