Character Recommendation for Veteran (New to 5e)

[Alchemyre]

Hey guys,

I'm new to 5e, veteren 3.5 and Pathfinder player. What are some tips I can use to help adjust to the new system? I typically play social or support magic users. The game I'm joining are first party WotC only. Any recommendations for someone who is used to the mold but learning this system?

Thanks!

[kladams707]

Lore bard. Full caster, built for social & support (can choose spells from a different class at certaij levels), etc. Spell system is largely similar, but you can cast a lower spell at a higher level & depending on the spell, it offers more benefits at the higher level.

You could always just go champion fighter. That one is built to be new-to system friendly. Not terribly many options for a player though mechanically.

[PeteNutButter]

Bard is full caster now so its great for support, else you can go cleric or druid. Paladins and rangers are half casters, paladins especially get a lot of support spells as well.

Biggest Changes I noticed for 5e:
-Understand advantage and disadvantage.
-Know you can only have 1 concentration spell up at a time, putting a big limit on buffing.
-Keep in mind its pretty hard to get Opportunity Attacks in 5e, pretty much running is it.

[EvilAnagram]

Everyone else has the basics covered, but I would add that Abjuration Wizards provide solid support, and a Sorcerer with Twin metamagic can maintain potent buffs like Haste on two separate characters at once.

[bardo]

The bard class changed for the better, it's a full caster now, more capable and more fun. It will be a nice surprise for a player familiar with 3.5 or Pathfinder bards.

The ranger and druid classes changed for the worse. The druid is still good, just not the powerhouse it used to be in 3.5 and Pathfinder. The ranger... some say it's the weakest class in 5e, it's easy to build an ineffective ranger and regret it. So if you're familiar with rangers and druids from 3.P, better stay away from these classes in 5e or prepare to be underwhelmed.

Wizard and Cleric are excellent, as always. A lot of the spells kept the same name but do something entirely different now (Chill Touch has a 120ft. range, srsly). Prepare to read through a lot of spell descriptions. Sorcerer now the only class with meta-magic, so if you like meta-magic there you go.

Straight up melee like Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Rogue, all have some options that make them more interesting to play than the old roll-to-hit-roll-damage. Ask your DM if you're playing with the optional Feats or not. Some of the straight up melee classes kind of need feats.

If you want to play something completely different try Warlock. Who am I forgetting, Paladin? Paladins are powerful and no longer have to be lawful good.

Charisma is the casting stat for four (4!) classes. If you wanna be social go with one of those, and you can always multiclass to another one of those later and get good synergy.

Bardo.

[Specter]

As was said, Lore Bard brings everything you mentioned in your post post. If you want to play a simple class and still do social, go Champion Fighter with 1 Rogue level for Expertise in two skills of your choice.

[Alchemyre]

Looking into Warlock, what exactly is it trying to be? It screams PF Magus to me, but it has something else to it that I can't quite put my finger on. I'm really disappointed that Illusionist wizard doesn't seem to be nearly as effective at lower levels as it used to be. I'm leaning toward a Warlock with social skills, but I need to know how it's supposed to be built.

[Belac93]

My advice:

If you are a barbarian, don't go Berserker. Frenzy isn't worth the exhaustion.
A bard can be anything (melee, spellcaster, archer, face, healer, all of the above).
Moon druids are extremely good, for an enormous amount of hit points. Overall, it's a good character from level 2 and on, but is pretty weak at level 1.
For a fighter, anything is good (except kinda two weapon fighting), and action surge is your new best friend.
If you are a monk, elemental path is way too weak for actual play, see if you can get a fix.
Paladins have no more alignment restrictions, and there aren't really any bad options for them. Very high damage dealers.
Rangers are a little lackluster, I wouldn't recommend them if you want a good character (although they can keep up fine).
Rogues (except for arcane tricksters) can go all day without having to rest, until they get damaged. Sneak attack is really easy to get with advantage, so you can just stab people all day.
Sorcerers get metamagic, but a small spell list. Be wary of this.
Warlocks are probably the most unique class. You can be blaster, utility, or melee. Less spell slots, but they refresh their slots on a short rest, and all are the highest level you can cast. This means you can have 25 temporary hit points, and 25 unavoidable damage whenever you lose those, twice between every short rest. So, possibly 150 temporary hit points between every long rest, and at least that much damage. For a blaster, agonizing blast is great.


Looking into Warlock, what exactly is it trying to be? It screams PF Magus to me, but it has something else to it that I can't quite put my finger on. I'm really disappointed that Illusionist wizard doesn't seem to be nearly as effective at lower levels as it used to be. I'm leaning toward a Warlock with social skills, but I need to know how it's supposed to be built.

Warlock is an archer with spellcasting, who can either be a better archer, utility, or melee. Take suggestion, and the mask of many faces invocation. Any patron is great, but archfey is a great social character, fiend is tougher and more hurty, and great old one is control and social stuff.

This is all assuming you only have the Player's Handbook. If you also have the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, take Booming blade or Greenflame blade if you want to be any sort of melee spellcaster.

[EvilAnagram]

Looking into Warlock, what exactly is it trying to be? It screams PF Magus to me, but it has something else to it that I can't quite put my finger on. I'm really disappointed that Illusionist wizard doesn't seem to be nearly as effective at lower levels as it used to be. I'm leaning toward a Warlock with social skills, but I need to know how it's supposed to be built.

A Warlock is a short rest caster that specializes in ranged DPS (through Eldritch Blast), but has useful control, blasting, and social abilities. The big difference between the Warlock and other casters is that a great deal of his utility comes from invocations rather than simply coming from his spells. I have a guide to it in my sig if you're interested.

Personally, I think that setting up area spells like Hunger of Hadar and Cloud of Daggers, then using the Repelling Blast invocation to push creatures into these areas is a powerful and underutilized strategy.

[Ogre Mage]

Looking into Warlock, what exactly is it trying to be? It screams PF Magus to me, but it has something else to it that I can't quite put my finger on. I'm really disappointed that Illusionist wizard doesn't seem to be nearly as effective at lower levels as it used to be. I'm leaning toward a Warlock with social skills, but I need to know how it's supposed to be built.

Two 5e Warlock Guides at EN World worth reading:

The Power of Patron Persuasion: a warlock guide by mellored (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?488619-GUIDE-Power-of-Patron-Persuasion-A-warlock-guide)

Blade, Book, and Chain: the Warlock Guide by Mephi1234 (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?469128-GUIDE-Blade-Book-and-Chain-the-Warlock-Guide)

[beargryllz]

Make a fighter. Pick DEX or STR as a primary stat and play any race you want. I slightly prefer battle master over champion/EK.

Contrast the 5e fighter with earlier iterations of the fighter. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how badass a 5e's fighter feels, even with no optimization whatsoever.

You're used to 3.5e, where non-magic users were ~worthless past level 5 or so. I think you'll really like how balanced this edition is.

If you're dedicated to optimizing, make a human (duh)

[ruy343]

The other big change between 3.5-5e is the addition of more "always on" abilities as well as ritual spells, which can be cast with 10 minutes more time without spending a spell slot (!). If the suggestions that you've seen thus far don't really appeal to you, I highly recommend playing a utility wizard. Only take one damage cantrip and one damaging first level spell, and have the rest be ritual spells or battlefield-control spells. Your team will love you for all of the ways you can interact with the game outside of battle.

Which school? Those who min/max would recommend that you play a diviner because of their ability to force rolls. However, I personally enjoy playing more utility schools like conjuration and transmutation.

The best part is: you don't really have to min/max anymore. You can actually just play the game without worrying about whether you built a pidgeonholed character - which is a wonderful change from previous additions. Sure, transmuters don't get to do additional damage, but they do get some awesome abilities for out-of-combat situations, which can change the game and make you, as a player, feel awesome.

[MrFahrenheit]

Whatever class and subclass you pick, remember this: if you don't MC, your overall play style should go by your class, not subclass. Don't expect to get great results from a trickery cleric if you play him like a sneak, a valor bard if you play like a fighter, an eldritch knight, four elements monk or arcane trickster if played like a caster.