Need help with a new player

[Starchild7309]

I am just starting a campaign and I have a new player that's coming in and he has played before, but its been awhile. He is looking to build a Melee/Arcane Caster. The campaign is fairly low optimization.

This is what he said about his idea for the character. "I want it to be a spell caster that can wear armor and handle himself if he is cornered, but most of the time I wanna be able to hang back and blast stuff. I am thinking like 2/3 caster/1/3 melee."

What I am here for is all your collective knowledge. What can I suggest to him for a build going from levels 1-15, we will say, thats feasible and not nerfed to the point of uselessness. He originally wanted to go straight blaster mage but showed me basically the character sheet for the mailman.

After shooting that down I want to be able to give him a reasonable suggestion for a direction to move forward.

All the main books are available, along with faerun campaign setting, BOED, BOVD, and the completes. Pretty much anything thats not 3rd party and no dragon magazine with the exception of Dragon Compendium(we do have that).

So what can you guys come up with?

[Waker]

Mostly focus on blasting, but can wear armor and sometimes wade into the melee? Warmage can work fairly well for a low-op blaster. Perhaps dip a little bit into a martial class to provide a tiny bit more melee ability, perhaps Fighter or Paladin.

[Grizzled Gryphon]

Battle Sorcerer from UA? Focus on Evocation spells for the blasty bit, and there ya go. WAY sub-optimal from what I have seen here on the boards, but sounds like what he wants.

Or, you could go Duskblade.

A Warlock with Eldritch Glaive could do it, as well.

Hexblade is similar to the Duskblade, but the Duskblade is better at being Blasty, I think.

A Psychic Warrior might work as well, but a bit limited on the blasty part.

[Fates]

I'd go with battle sorcerer. It's a much better combatant than a warmage is (better HD and BAB, proficiency in a martial weapon) and you're not limited solely to blasting, though you don't get as many spells/day or, even worse, spells known as a regular sorcerer. Warlock could do the job as well, particularly if you go into hellfire warlock.

[ngilop]

I second the Warmage it fits what he wants pretty well, and it is perfect for low Op and new players.. instead of having to seclet spells to know like a battle sorc he just looks at his spells list anbd go YEAH i want this spell!


or if we wants to mellee more then id suggest Duskblade

[(Un)Inspired]

I never thought I'd say this but I too recommend battle sorcerer. Check out the raumathari (sp?) battle Mage for a prestige class. Low op right?

[6thEdition]

Take Druid or Cleric. Yes, they are divine casters, but did you know there are no major differences between arcane and divine casters? Yes, big surprise.

And since blasting is fairly sub-optimal, this works in low OP. Plus, they are good for new players, because if he messes up spell preparation, he can just wait a day.

I'll also third Warmage if they really want an arcane caster.

[Gamereaper]

Battle Sorcerer is a nice choice, but if he doesn't want to sacrifice spells, then a regular Sorcerer should do nicely. An Abjurant champion has a full BAB and increases your CL at the same time with a nifty D10. I'd say look into that.

[Telonius]

On the topic of Battle Sorcerer - if he wants more than Light armor, you can point him to the Battle Caster feat from Complete Arcane. Sorcerer usually wouldn't qualify, but the Battle Sorcerer would.

[Zweisteine]

Battle sorcerer is probably good, as it's not very complicated, and accomplishes the objective quite effectively.

The Battle Caster Feat would let them wear heavier armor without arcane spell failure affecting them. You could houserule the feat to also grant battle sorcerers proficiency with the next set of armors as well (they only have light be default).

Just as a suggestion, because the sorcerer is hurt next to the wizard because of the slower spell progression, you could also bump the spells known and spells per day of the sorcerer up a level (learn 2nd level spells at level 3, 3rd at level 5, etc). Especially in the hands of a new player, and a blaster, this won't be horribly overpowered, and will allow him to be a bit more effective.
The Stalwart Sorcerer Variant (Complete Mage) could go well with Battle Sorcerer.
It sacrifices one of your top-level spells known (minimum is still one, though), which changes as you get new spell levels. You also get Weapon Proficiency and Weapon Focus with any one martial weapon, and two extra hit points per level (with battle sorcerer, that makes your HP about as good as a barbarian's, before constitution modifiers).1. Use the weapon proficiencies granted by both ACFs to get one Exotic weapon proficiency instead. Combine with the intended use of the Gnome Quickrazor: to attack while leaving your hands free immediately before and after, so you can always cast spells.

Also, here is the table for a Stalwart Battle Sorcerer's spells known, for conveience, if you use it.
{table=head]Level | 0th | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th
1st | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
2nd | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
3rd | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
4th | 5 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
5th | 5 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
6th | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
7th | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
8th | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
9th | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
10th | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
11th | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
12th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - |
13th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - |
14th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - |
15th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
16th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - |
17th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - |
18th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
19th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
20th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
[/table]{table=head]Level | 0th | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th
1st | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
2nd | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
3rd | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
4th | 5 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
5th | 5 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
6th | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
7th | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
8th | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
9th | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
10th | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
11th | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
12th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - |
13th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - |
14th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | - |
15th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - |
16th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - |
17th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - |
18th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
19th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
20th | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
[/table]
Warmage is probably less effective than Battle Sorcerer, as stated above.
Hexblade is more of a fighter with some sorcerer abilities. Your player seems to want the opposite.
Duskblade, the gish-in-a-box, is also more focused on melee, using magic to improve his combat effectiveness. This diesn't seem to be what your player wants, either.


Also, if he wants to take Combat Casting, don't forget to tell him that Skill Focus (Concentration) is better, because it isn't as situational, and provides a bonus only slightly smaller.

[Petrocorus]

Maybe Paladin 2 / Warmage 6 / Eldritch Knight 12. Quite low op. Fit the description. And better saves are always good for new players.