So the most unexpected person has shown an interest in D&D

[thethird]

One of my oldest friends, from when I went to primary school, has just texted me with "hey man, do you wanna play some D&D"? Apparently he is strongly, only reason why he didn't is because I sternly told him not to, buy everything. Like boards and stuff. We've had a lengthy conversation about D&D not being a board game. And he has finally heed my advice to give it a shoot first.

Since we are going to be playing an introductory solo game he has agreed to delegate on me character building and stuff. I have also asked about several of his expectations for the game.

I've got the following.

He wants to use two characters, mostly mundane but with some magical/supernatural aid. One is to be a demon hunter carrying a bow with a dog. The other is going to be somehow who can go into melee and take names while holding the fire at itself. They are to go into a ruined city and look for a relic while most enemies are going to be demons.

So after several questions to help me pin down the characters he wants to play. We've decided to start playing at 6th level (where my group currently is) with all books open (he has explicitly asked for this, he is probably going to have a lot of reading to do eventually):

A crusader // binder with savnok and dahlver-nar. A ranger // psywar focused on ranged combat. His pet is going to be a dog, with the warbeast template given for free. I'm looking into making the ranger spells into powers, a spell to power erudite did it, and giving them to the psywar chasis (he is familiar enough with videogames to grasp mana easily). Help with powers/spells there is appreciated too.

While I haven't finished fleshing out what his characters are going to be (I meet with him this afternoon to keep pushing that). I need help with encounters, that are dinamic, intuitive, and easy to grasp for a new player.

I was thinking about having several low level warlock tieflings be the ones that initiated the whole thing but are ultimately out of their depth when dealing with the actual demons.

All books are on the table, as my group plays with all of them, and pathfinder could be open too (as we use it on a case by case basis).

Enemies don't necessarily need to be demonic. But they will be refluffed as demonic.

[Bobby Baratheon]

A shadesteel golem could be a cool boss, especially if you refluff it as a shadow demon or something. Heck, you could even keep the magic immunity.

[ksbsnowowl]

I would strongly advise starting a total newb at 1st level. STRONGLY. D&D, especially 3rd ed, is a fiddly game with lots of moving pieces. He will learn the system a lot better if he starts at lower level. JMO.

Even if you do a series of short side quests, advancing up one level a week, he could likely come in with your main group at 7th level (I'm assuming that's why you were intending to make him 6th, just like your other party), after several one-on-one sessions, and he'll have a much better understanding of the game, his character, and the mechanics of his character.

[fishyfishyfishy]

When teaching new players the mechanics, I like to flip through the combat chapter and specifically pick out monsters/enemies that make use of the various combat options and design encounters based on each. Examples include an opponent who grapples as their primary strategy, or a flyer with ranged attacks. Give a nice mix of terrain features, environmental effects, and traps to spice things up a bit during fights.

I also think it is better to start off at a lower level with new players so they have the chance to learn from their mistakes early, before things get really out of hand at higher levels.

[TerrickTerran]

it's also easier to handwave potential death. "Well he could have slayed you but he decided to capture you instead." I remember teaching newbies when 3rd ed. started, and they did well when it was low levels, but had trouble when they had higher options for a bit.

[thethird]

I strongly dislike low level, specially first level. Because it's swingy as hell. I will talk to him though, he can take the decision. Seven sessions one at each level is a lot more of a time investment.

On Shadesteel golems mh, yeah, I could probably use one as a culmination to low level warlocks using shadow a more shadowy enemy sounds like a potential good idea.

[HammeredWharf]

I'd start with a more vanilla setup. No gestalt or houserules. 3.5e is confusing enough as it is.

[Necrov]

I back the 'Start at first level, or it will be too fiddly and you'll lose your friends interest' campaign

[RollynT.Glal]

First level is a bit rough, especially for someone who doesn't know what they should be doing yet. The trick when introducing someone to the hobby is giving them one piece of the game at a time. If your friend isn't going to be involved in the character-building process as well as being brand new to gaming the best option - in my opinion - would be to start him off at either 4 or 5 with simple (usually lower-tiered) single class characters.

For the first character (the bowman with a dog) I'd suggest a Human Ranger with a wolf (fluffed as a regular dog if that's a sticking point). Focus on his martial ability but give him a Wisdom of 12 or 13 so he can use a spell every day. Keep his spell list short (between 5-7) to avoid him being overwhelmed by choices.

For the second character I'd suggest a Half-Orc or Human Barbarian with feats aimed at making his rage even more powerful. While there are few options for drawing aggro in D&D, a 6 to 7 foot tall mountain of muscle roaring and charging toward me with an equally large piece of sharpened steel would certainly have my undivided attention.

Level 4 or 5 gives you a decent amount of abilities without there being so many that finding the right one is a life-or-death decision. Keeping the characters below level six means he can move and attack without worrying about trading off damage for mobility. Finally I'd make both characters one-trick ponies and have the first few enemies fall quickly to those tactics. Have an underboss that can resist their tricks so he has to think about how he can make his tricks viable again. Finally have the boss both be able to resist the tactics and/or have a decent counter-tactic of its own.

An example might be to have the archer use his wolf/dog to keep mooks away from him while he takes out bigger threats, the underboss could be a monk with Deflect Arrows, and the boss could have an magic item that allows for short-range teleports allowing them to bypass the wolf and get at the ranger.

The barbarian could be an ubercharger, the underboss could be in a room with inconveniently placed support columns so charging is harder to pull off, and the boss could be a rogue with UMD and a wand of grease with a few charges left.

More than anything remember that you're playing a game, just have some fun. Good luck bringing your friend into the fold!

[Quertus]

Having taught numerous people to play, including several 7-year-olds, I advise against starting at 1st level. A single hit can far too easily kill a character at first.

Interesting idea, having his first experience involve running multiple characters. That way, he can a) tell you which one he liked better, and why; and b) if one is unconscious / paralyzed, he is still playing the game. Kudos!

I always try to run a couple of encounters, to give the new player experience with the various actions and terms: movement, flanking, standard actions, full attack, etc. Encounters are designed to showcase Attacks of Opportunity, casting on the defensive, saving throws, skill checks, and anything else I feel the player will need to know to run their character. Starting high enough level that the character actually had iterative attacks on a full attack is a good thing for learning purposes, IME.

For someone new to role-playing, at least one sample encounter will not have an obvious answer. Rather, it will be a scenario ending in, what do you do?

I usually try to cram this into two to four quick encounters, until the player feels comfortable with the system and with finding things on their character sheet.

Hope that helps! :)

[Barstro]

I would strongly advise starting a total newb at 1st level. STRONGLY. .

I, however, advise to start at a low level to keep options limited, but at least level 3, to prevent a quick death from an unlucky roll and to make characters not too boring.

[thethird]

Thank you guys for the advice. We have talked some more and we have decided to stick with the original plan of the characters. The characters are settled. He is not building them. I am building them. He trusts me to give him something that can familiarize him enough with different systems and powers so he can later choose. He understands gestalt and thinks its a good idea to give him an opportunity to try more things before going for a particular character. Other points were more or less pointed out by Quertus already.


Having taught numerous people to play, including several 7-year-olds, I advise against starting at 1st level. A single hit can far too easily kill a character at first.

Interesting idea, having his first experience involve running multiple characters. That way, he can a) tell you which one he liked better, and why; and b) if one is unconscious / paralyzed, he is still playing the game. Kudos!

I always try to run a couple of encounters, to give the new player experience with the various actions and terms: movement, flanking, standard actions, full attack, etc. Encounters are designed to showcase Attacks of Opportunity, casting on the defensive, saving throws, skill checks, and anything else I feel the player will need to know to run their character. Starting high enough level that the character actually had iterative attacks on a full attack is a good thing for learning purposes, IME.

For someone new to role-playing, at least one sample encounter will not have an obvious answer. Rather, it will be a scenario ending in, what do you do?

I usually try to cram this into two to four quick encounters, until the player feels comfortable with the system and with finding things on their character sheet.

Hope that helps! :)

I've got the following encounters.

Tiefling rogues and warlocks (2 of each). The rogues will try to sneak upon them and make use of grease or other stuff to get them flat footed. The warlocks will use their eldritch blast to target touch ac. This should help me show the differences on AC while at the same time giving several targets to attack. The warlocks will have frightful and sickening blast, targeting will and fort.

A Voor (MMIV) on a dark room or corridor. It looks like predator. Is scentless giving some trouble for tracking and doesn't care about light and stuff. It shows other forms of sensory input and has reach. This is a monster that will use its surroundings cleverly and will require some cleverness on his part. It's also going to be the most similar thing to a melee brute that I'm going to throw at him.

Some Mane (FC1) They explode upon death on an acid cloud that targets reflex, which hadn't been used before. Said explosion also encourages to keep away from melee, and this is the only combat that does that.

A gladacro (MMV) it flies! it's small! it blinds! it has a punny damage :smallamused:

[Jay R]

Don't worry about avoiding over-used ideas. He hasn't seen any of them. So goblins, kobolds, orcs - it's all new to him.

[Quertus]

Glad I could help. :smallbiggrin: You've certainly given me some food for thought.

I don't usually bother hitting all 3 saves - something that targets a single save is usually enough to introduce the idea, show why saving throws are important, and make sure the player knows how to roll them, and where to find them on the character sheet. But if saves are big at your table, then showing all three could be good.

AoO are big at my table. I don't see anything to allow him to test out AoO's, unless the melee character has some way to gain flying, and the flyer has less than perfect maneuverability. But if AoO's aren't big at your table, maybe don't bother teaching them.

Since you said he was the most unexpected person, if he is unfamiliar with RPGs, I'd include some kind of choice that matches the tone of the table.

But I can only tell you how to make the encounters match what he's likely to encounter at my table. If it matches what he'll see at your table, then looks good. Ideally, be ready to improvise additional encounters (which can be entirely separate from this series of encounters) if there is anything he seems to have trouble with.

Hmmm... Thinking about it, I realized I always exclusively used individual, unrelated encounters. Your way has the added advantages of showing flow, and teaching conservation of resources.

[ksbsnowowl]

Don't worry about avoiding over-used ideas. He hasn't seen any of them. So goblins, kobolds, orcs - it's all new to him.

Very true. All those cliche tropes we groan at (meeting people in a tavern, monster steriotypes, etc)... he hasn't seen them, or at least, not as much as we have. Sure, there will be cross-contamination from pop culture, but that's true with anyone.

[Barstro]

Very true. All those cliche tropes we groan at (meeting people in a tavern, monster steriotypes, etc)... he hasn't seen them, or at least, not as much as we have. Sure, there will be cross-contamination from pop culture, but that's true with anyone.

OR; you could go completely the other way. You can make all Dwarves evil summoners, give elves laser vision...

One last bit of advice; He knows nothing. Because of that, his PCs have a lot more knowledge of the world than he does. Please tell him things that his characters would know or notice. I'm still a bit bitter about a character of mine dying 25 years ago because everyone else (including my character) knew what a certain symbol meant, but since I personally did not know it, I had him keep walking down a hallway without averting his eyes.

[thethird]

Guys he asked to fight demons. He asked to fight demons so he is fighting demons.

On AoO rogues should get some if his guys move to reach the warlocks or they can make a mistake and give him some.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Guys he asked to fight demons. He asked to fight demons so he is fighting demons.

On AoO rogues should get some if his guys move to reach the warlocks or they can make a mistake and give him some.

You could throw in a vrock at some point if you think he can handle it. Vrocks have a wide variety of options and would help expose him to some different aspects of the game.

[ksbsnowowl]

You could throw in a vrock at some point if you think he can handle it. Vrocks have a wide variety of options and would help expose him to some different aspects of the game.

I nearly killed a 9th level party of four PC's with a single vrock. The only reason he didn't succeed is because I broke off his attack; the party was scrambling for a way to stop his attacks and escape, and came up empty. I would suggest not putting a single player with a pair of 6th level PC's up against one.

[Bobby Baratheon]

You can always nerf it and say it's a baby vrock or something. I suggest it because it would function well as a climax boss - it's a demon, and has lots of different abilities to kind of wrap up everything the new player learned in his first few encounters. It wouldn't be that hard to make it level appropriate while maintaining its ability diversity.