Level 2, First time 5E player

[Vaz]

Hi guys, I'm looking at joining a playing group, and I've been told my first campaign will be a 5th edition game, rather than a 3.5, which I'm more used to.

I'd maybe like either a half elf, or an Aarakocra (which is similar to the Raptoran, which along with the Half-elf were both two of my most enjoyable races to roleplay in 3.5, even if they weren't particularly impressive stat wise).

The party as I know are;

Variant Human Defensive Fighter with Hammer and Shield. Unsure about Archetype it's likely to go though
Half Orc Ranger, again unsure of what Archetype
Another unknown

I have two concepts for my character; either a Pokemon Master style summoner or a wind/weather/shadow based magician (either Shamanic, Priestly or Arcane). Can I have some help please with either of these concepts?

For feats, I'm thinking either Elemental Adept, War Caster or Ritual Caster.

[Gritmonger]

Hi guys, I'm looking at joining a playing group, and I've been told my first campaign will be a 5th edition game, rather than a 3.5, which I'm more used to.

I'd maybe like either a half elf, or an Aarakocra (which is similar to the Raptoran, which along with the Half-elf were both two of my most enjoyable races to roleplay in 3.5, even if they weren't particularly impressive stat wise).

The party as I know are;

Variant Human Defensive Fighter with Hammer and Shield. Unsure about Archetype it's likely to go though
Half Orc Ranger, again unsure of what Archetype
Another unknown

I have two concepts for my character; either a Pokemon Master style summoner or a wind/weather/shadow based magician (either Shamanic, Priestly or Arcane). Can I have some help please with either of these concepts?

For feats, I'm thinking either Elemental Adept, War Caster or Ritual Caster.

If you're not talking variant human, you needn't worry about feats for second level. As for the rest, summoning isn't really there at the levels it used to be - most of your summoning starts at 4th level spells, rather than at very low levels like it did in previous (3.x and before) editions - gone are Monster Summoning I-IX.

[Madfellow]

I have two concepts for my character; either a Pokemon Master style summoner or a wind/weather/shadow based magician (either Shamanic, Priestly or Arcane). Can I have some help please with either of these concepts?

For feats, I'm thinking either Elemental Adept, WarCaster or Ritual Caster.

Sounds like you want to play a druid. It could go in either direction; summoner or wind/weather magic. Or perhaps a ranger if you want a permanent animal companion. The aarakocra works well for both of them, given its Dex and Wis bonuses. The only problem is that your DM might not allow it (at-will flying at level one might cause headaches).

Most builds don't require feats in order to work properly. If you think one of them looks cool or useful and you want to take it, go ahead, but don't feel like you need to.

[Drakefall]

Hi guys.
Hi!


I'd maybe like either a half elf
Half-elves are awesome!

, or an Aarakocra
There seems to be quite the kerfuffle over these aarakocra going on in a couple of threads around here, so I'd advise you check with your DM as to its availability before picking it.


The party as I know are;

Variant Human Defensive Fighter with Hammer and Shield. Unsure about Archetype it's likely to go though
Half Orc Ranger, again unsure of what Archetype
Another unknown

Well melee seems pretty well covered.


Pokemon Master style summoner
Hmmm...

Well, conjuration wizard and druid would probably the two top choices for this. To a slightly lesser degree sorcerers and bards could presumably pull it off based on spell selection.

I'm away from my book, but I believe the wizard, and similar, summons aim more towards one big dude, require concentration (The higher level summoned elementals go all cray cray and attack whatever they damn well please, most often you, if you lose concentration), and have casting times of one minute. The druid ones seem geared towards summoning a bunch of animals/little fey things, take an action and may or may not require concentration, I'm afraid I can't remember off hand.


or a wind/weather
Druid works well for both of these, especially with the new spells from the Elemental Evil supplement. Tempest cleric might work as well, depending what you're going for.


/shadow based magician
There aren't really any shadow based mages. The closest you could get I think would be an illusionist wizard or a bard and fluff your illusion magic as shadowy. Maybe?

There is a shadow monk, but he's more of a ninja with a few specific, cool shadow powers,


For feats, I'm thinking either Elemental Adept, War Caster or Ritual Caster.
War Caster is a good choice for any spellcaster.

Elemental Adept is useful if you're going with a build that allows the frequent use of blasty spells of the appropriate element.

I don't think you'll need Ritual Caster. All the full casters can cast rituals, though if you're a non-wizard the feat could save you some prepared slots (I think?).

At any rate, you could pick any race/class combo and be fine. Obviously a race that increases your classes main attribute/s is mechanically stronger 9 times out of 10, but it doesn't really seem to make that much of a difference. You don't need the most optimal combo to have a perfectly useful character. You can feel free to pick the race and class that best fits the concept you're going for.

Just put your highest stat in your spellcasting ability, have a not-terrible constitution score and try to have an decent AC (Whether through armour, shields, magic, high dexterity or any combination of these things) and you should be good to go.

This thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?377491-Guides-Tables-and-other-useful-tools-for-5E-D-amp-D) has a bunch of links to class guides if you feel like reading up on them.