What's too much to give a new adventurer?

[yellowrocket]

I'm limited to dmg phb1 and mm 3.0.

Trying to make the encounters more interesting down the road for a level 1 paladin and Wizard.

Would a +1/+1 long sword from the order be too much to raise the cr to maybe 1/2 for the party of 2?

Was going to give her a symbol from the order that gives her +2 to cha to make Her a better face. That way if/when it's taken its a big deal that she lost the orders symbol.

For the wizard I'm kind of lost. I've given her alchemy and herbalist as past of her background story. Any other healing ideas?
She picked magic missile, ghost sounds, ghost lights (not positive on the name at the moment) and something else that helped her hide for her spells might have been color spray. Anything else i should give her to make her hearty enough to survive a 1/2 to 1 cr regularly?

combat isn't going to be a big part of their campaign but id like to make it interesting when it happens

[Honest Tiefling]

1) Try Gestalt if you need to up CR. A paladin/Bard (Refluff to be lawful) or Paladin/Cleric would be awesome. If you have already started, perhaps they discover some artifact that gives them the knowledge and abilities of old spirits to explain it or tie it to the plot. If that does not work, toss out some ideas for your campaign, please.

2) If you need healing, let the Wizard have UMD as a class skill. Drop in that they fight another healer who is buffing an army/small group. Give some wands of Cure Light Wounds for out of combat healing.

3) The wizard's main weakness is spells. Extra scrolls to learn or cast, wands, and Pearls of Power (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#pearlofPower) are going to extend that spell list for all of the encounters.

4) If Gestalt is not an option, let them hire some NPCs. Perhaps at higher levels, give the wizard free Improved Familiar and buff it up. The paladin's mount could be a pegasus or another intelligent creature that could aid the party without stealing the spot light. With a good aligned party, I assume Animate Antics are off the table. They could discover a doo-dad that summons the spirit of a powerful cleric of the Paladin's religion. The NPC could have a personality, but since they are dead and only around 1/hour a day or whatever, they aren't going to replace a the player characters.

5) Perhaps the wizard stumbles upon some trick that allows them to brew higher level potions. A forgotten ritual or unknown power, etc. If you want crafting to be big, consider the Pathfinder rules in place of 3.5, but do be aware it could make the wizard a bit...Much. If you go Gestalt, perhaps she could go Warlock or Artificer to help make items.

[newb]

Belt of healing will cover all healing needs till 4th or 6th level

[yellowrocket]

1) they have started. And I need to keep the mechanics simple. The players have avoided my story lines far. Blended human elf village. Destroyed. Humans to human city. Elves to elf urban city or typical "wood elf" city. Their choice was to follow the group to the wood elves but stay far enough away to be safe if the group was attacked. Then try to make potions and make shift weapons to sell to them to support the group and themselves. I have a trip to either major city planned or a trip to an outpost half way to the silver mine to try to solve a dispute between the elves and dwarfs or a trip to the other outpost to pick up and escort iron back to the village to help the order rebuild their Academy.

2) "If you need healing, let the Wizard have UMD as a class skill. Drop in that they fight another healer who is buffing an army/small group. Give some wands of Cure Light Wounds for out of combat healing." Like those ideas.

3) "The wizard's main weakness is spells."
So wands and scrolls really are the best options for powering her up.

4) I like the more powerful mount. That's big help if can find a way to make it an attractive option to a girl that doesn't like unicorns.

5) crafting more powerful potions is not a bad option except that was another plot line. The berries they need for healing potions are already gone and they'll need to go find more somewhere.

[Honest Tiefling]

Choices for mounts...
1. Black unicorn with studded leather barding. Okay, I know they're techincally evil. But think more heavy metal looking. Think something like this... (http://th03.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2011/066/7/e/black_unicorn_by_el_grimlock-d3b54rx.jpg)

2. Pegasus. Or is that too unicorn-y?

3. Griffons/Hippogriffs are also a good standard choice.

4. A bear. Maybe lacking in power, but always stylish.

5. If your setting has them, a dinosaur.

6. Dragons? Perhaps not the true dragons, but something dragon-like. A Dragonne might be a good choice, but I don't know if they can be riddden.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Dragonne's can be ridden, they are called out as paladin mounts, but they are insanely expensive to buy and train. You would need to give one as a quest reward.
Edit: I was thinking of dracosteed, sorry, which might be a decent choice. It is like a pegasus with less good flavor and more dragon flavor.
Double edit: Limited to MM1. I would vote against dragonne. You need to be far away from them to avoid their roar and they cannot fly for any real length of time.

[Honest Tiefling]

I thought the lack of flight would be best for a 1st level adventurer, until the wizard gets flight.

[big teej]

I'm limited to dmg phb1 and mm 3.0.

Trying to make the encounters more interesting down the road for a level 1 paladin and Wizard.

Would a +1/+1 long sword from the order be too much to raise the cr to maybe 1/2 for the party of 2?

Was going to give her a symbol from the order that gives her +2 to cha to make Her a better face. That way if/when it's taken its a big deal that she lost the orders symbol.

For the wizard I'm kind of lost. I've given her alchemy and herbalist as past of her background story. Any other healing ideas?
She picked magic missile, ghost sounds, ghost lights (not positive on the name at the moment) and something else that helped her hide for her spells might have been color spray. Anything else i should give her to make her hearty enough to survive a 1/2 to 1 cr regularly?

combat isn't going to be a big part of their campaign but id like to make it interesting when it happens

before I bother with my usual verbosity (thus protecting everyone's time and sanity)

I pose the question

do you mean what is too much for a new player or a new (assuming, 1st level?) character?

[yellowrocket]

They are both new players as well as level one characters so what ever tools they get they need to know how they work.

[big teej]

They are both new players as well as level one characters so what ever tools they get they need to know how they work.

based on my experience of coaxing a number of newbies into dnd 3.5

my advice is to start small and start simple. take as much work off of them as they are okay with you doing.


I recommend you point them in the direction of passive feats (like improved Initiative) rather than feats that require you to remember to use them (power attack)

dnd has *a ton* of stuff to remember and learn when compared to some game systems (Savage Worlds)

I also, to save on time, just said "here, here is your armor/shield, here is an appropriate weapon, here is a small list of adventuring gear you would likely want or need"

as they become more comfortable with the game, take the training wheels off, let them build a character from scratch, only answering questions that arise as they go. then, as they begin to master the system (or at least come definitively proficient) take off the kids gloves, slowly introduce sub-systems or elements of play that were too advanced for them (Incarnum, Psionics, uber-chargers, whatever)

this way you can also coach them up to (and no further) than the optimization level you feel is healthy

I'd also recommend, if the players have/had no opinion on what to play, that you steer them away from The Paladin, and any full-casters.


but that's been my experience trying to babystep people brand new to RPG games into a complicated hobby.


my approach has varied almost person to person, this is an oversimplified summary


EDIT: as for equipment, I would go with the basics, backpack, food, light source, a few healing potions, etc. I'm away from my laptop but I can post my "standard" purchase list later, if it'd help

[yellowrocket]

I've got the standard stuff already. That came almost item for item or of the phb. My girl picked the paladin because if what it stands for. A fighter that can user some magic and fights for good and order.

She idealized it and I'll keep her magic simple. And we've already started

[Karl Aegis]

If you want your first level party to survive it might be a good idea to limit their enemies to wild animals like dogs or coyotes or vermin such as monstrous spiders. Try to avoid enemies with special abilities like flight, spellcasting, swarm traits or ranged attacks as your Paladin can get quickly overwhelmed. For boss monsters you can use multiple creatures like a pack of dogs or fiendish variations of normal creatures. An old favorite was the Fiendish Dire Weasel.