Simple Introduction Character?

[metabolicjosh]

My girlfriend, jenny, wants to learn to play D&D 3.5, and so i'm going going to teach her. She needs a simple start character. However it needs to have enough to teach her a little of the more difficult concepts. I also need to make 3 NPC's to be her party members. She may control them at some point.

My thoughts are: Jenny's Character, Dwarf Fighter, Elf Rouge and Human Sorcerer.

Any Suggestions? Remember, simple to understand yet a little of everything.

[Amphetryon]

If you're starting from 1st level, Ranger offers a pretty good-sized sampling of 'How to Play 3.5' that increases in complexity as the Character levels up in ways that most other core Classes don't.

I'd also recommend a Cleric or Druid in lieu of the Fighter, particularly if you take the above advice, in order to cover all "traditional" bases better.

[metabolicjosh]

I like that suggestion :smallbiggrin:

[sabelo2000]

I find that Druid is one of the best classes for new players, because when the player asks "ooh! Can I do this?" the answer, for a Druid, is usually Yes. Or at least, "Yes, when you hit level [x]."

[metabolicjosh]

Well that can be said of the wizard to... but i see why new player would prefer druid.

LOL i remember that my first game was a level 5 campaign, i played a wizard.... Lets just say i got killed really quick...

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'd ask what archetype she wants to play, and then make an appropriate character-- or, ideally, do it together, so you can fit it more closely to her vision. Build NPCs afterwards to cover the other bases.

If you really want to cover a lot of bases, gestalt would be good-- something like barbarian||druid, rogue||wizard, or something along those lines.

[AttilaTheGeek]

Though I usually love gestalt, I wouldn't recommend it to a new player. Ranger is good, and Paladin can also be good. I'd stay away from full casting, because it can be kind of daunting.

[supermonkeyjoe]

The best way to engage her in the game is to let her play the character she wants to play, sit down with her throughout character creation, go through each part of the character sheet a section at a time to explain how each part works and do a mini-encounter for each section. go through a solo adventure of a few encounters before adding any other party members into the mix.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Though I usually love gestalt, I wouldn't recommend it to a new player. Ranger is good, and Paladin can also be good. I'd stay away from full casting, because it can be kind of daunting.
Well, if he wanted a character that could cover all the bases so he could introduce them...

Favored Soul might be a good intro character, now that I think about it-- spontaneous casting to introduce you to that, but enough armor, BAB, and health to hit things with a mace to keep things forgiving.

[Prime32]

Dragonfire adept (with the Entangling Exhalation feat) makes for a pretty solid character that's simpler than a spellcaster but introduces some of the concepts.

[Kerilstrasz]

Well.. i d bet on fighter...
those feat selection will engage her to some reading and maybe have some
nice questions about things she might find interesting... although you should limit
the sources she can find those feats enough so she wont be overwhelmed.
maybe YOU could find some feats from any books YOU think best for the
situation and make a list for her.. she ll have the options to create a character
about however she likes, leaving out spellcasting, but getting familiar with
melee & ranged combat as some advanced (for a new player)things as grapple
disarm trip etc... the very 1st thing you should do though is to have her watch
some movies (or remind her of movies you may have watched together) and
let her understand the roles, so she could pick what she likes, so she enjoys the
game even though she might "fail" to be an uber dmg dealer...