Recovering from Beginning Player Mistakes

[Zampanó]

So I have had the chance to try out a game (3.5) with some friends after wanting to play DnD forever. They had a party slot open and a need for a healer, and I had a month before moving out of the state. Seemed like a chance to try out the game with some new friends in a low-stakes situation. I know two members of the group of five very well, and have met the others a few times before.

I've made it to two sessions now, playing as a cleric (lv. 10) from the city's church. In game, we have just made it to the gates of an old temple, after being given roughly unconditional support from the rulers of the city. The trouble is, as a beginner I had very little time to really dig into the things that I could have asked for from the government as help. Over the last week I've had more time and only just now got through the list of all the cleric spells I could have chosen in Complete DivineSpells Compendium. But, I've selected my spell list for the adventure and I know you can't exactly re-write your spell list on the fly (as a cleric). The adventure is time-sensitive so we can't just set up camp for 24 hours to let me regain spells, either.


In particular, I found the spell "favorable sacrifice (http://therafimrpg.wikidot.com/favorable-sacrifice)" that lets you sacrifice gems for a buff. The DM has already given me a pass on spell components once: I used Revivify (cost 1000 gp worth of oils) to save another player from death. So I don't exactly feel comfortable asking to just spend money from my purse to get to use this spell that isn't even on my list. BUT, it would be a great spell for the situation, something that I could totally have asked for from the ruler when asked "is there anything else you need," and something that I would have selected if I'd known about it.


In general, what sorts of accommodations do you make for new players as they learn the rules? What is appropriate for me to ask for?

[Flickerdart]

Firstly, I wouldn't give a new player a 10th level spellcaster, but I digress. Hell, the spell's not super great either (and I'm not sure what you mean by asking the ruler for help. Asking for gems to use with the spell?)

Do you know about fast-time planes? They are planes where time flows faster than on the material plane. Your DM could drop a scroll of plane shift in an encounter for you keyed to such a plane, you could go there to re-prepare spells, and then prepare a casting of plane shift yourself to return to the material plane where only seconds have passed. It doesn't seem like an unreasonable thing to do for a newbie player who messed up on preparing spells for a quest where he can't easily fix that mistake the next day. As long as you don't abuse this plane (perhaps its inhabitants could be convinced to let you camp out for one night due to your important mission, but usually they frown on people just hanging out on their lawn to prepare spells faster) it shouldn't pose any problems.

[OldTrees1]

Um. Clerics know all cleric spells not a limited spell list, you are not stuck preparing tomorrow with what you prepared today. So while the adventure is time sensitive, you just have to hold out long enough with your poor spell selection until you get to prepare for a new day. Also remember that clerics prepare spells at a certain time of day as dictated by their faith so perhaps that time is closer than you initially thought.

As for what I do as a DM: I allow reasonable retcons. This helps close the player vs character knowledge gap that new players tend to suffer worse from.

[Zampanó]

Firstly, I wouldn't give a new player a 10th level spellcaster, but I digress. Hell, the spell's not super great either (and I'm not sure what you mean by asking the ruler for help. Asking for gems to use with the spell?)
Right, that wasn't super clear. We were given a budget of some thousands of gold to buy items or components or whatever, and I have some gold left from character creation (Wealth by level at Lv10 is a lot of resources to spend without knowing the item lists very well.) With access to the city vault I should have been able to buff everybody without taking a personal $ hit.



Do you know about fast-time planes? They are planes where time flows faster than on the material plane. Your DM could drop a scroll of plane shift in an encounter for you keyed to such a plane, you could go there to re-prepare spells, and then prepare a casting of plane shift yourself to return to the material plane where only seconds have passed. It doesn't seem like an unreasonable thing to do for a newbie player who messed up on preparing spells for a quest where he can't easily fix that mistake the next day. As long as you don't abuse this plane (perhaps its inhabitants could be convinced to let you camp out for one night due to your important mission, but usually they frown on people just hanging out on their lawn to prepare spells faster) it shouldn't pose any problems.
This seems like a reasonable course of action. Thanks for the advice!