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kpenguin
2007-07-31, 02:34 AM
I'm starting to teach my cousin about D&D and we'll be playing a game soon. It'll just be him, so I'm planning on bringing in two DMPCs to help him out. I want suggestions for what class/race combo and build I should use.

To help with your ideas, the PC is a Human Fighter 1. His ability scores are:

Str 16
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 9

He wields a warhammer, holds a light steel shield, and wears scale mail. He's picked Power Attack, Toughness, and Combat Reflexes as his feats. I let him build his own character, so the build may be a suboptimal.

I want the DMPCs to be useful, but not overshadow him. They should be built with 25 point buy, be 1st level, and start out with equipment typical of a member of its class at 1st level.

Yechezkiel
2007-07-31, 02:40 AM
Unless you think healing will be a problem, another fighter with similar feats/equipment would be a good way to show him the ropes.

Early on they'll probably be able to handle most fights and whenever you want him to not shine just roll lower, (maybe have less Con) or make tactical mistakes to educate your cousin.

It'll also teach him about natural healing and downtime, and show how amazing/necessary a healer is later on.

Funkyodor
2007-07-31, 03:29 AM
What you might want to try is a Rogue with high hide, spot, and listen. So that right before an encounter starts, the Rogue disappears. Play him as a coward but usefull skill monkey.

Halfling Rogue
11 STR (-2)
14 DEX (+2)
12 CON
12 INT
14 WIS
10 CHA
Feat: Stealthy
Wields a Short Bow and Hidden Dagger. Wears Leather Armor.

A bard might be neat for a DMPC. Use of his diplomacy not to do the interaction, but to assist your cousins diplomacy checks. Kinda like his own theme music or something.

1/2 Elf Bard
12 STR
12 DEX
14 CON
10 INT
11 WIS
14 CHA
Feats: Uh, not sure.
Wields a Spear and carries a set of Pipes (like Pans Pipes). Wears a Chain Shirt.

A Wizard as a ditzy girl that gets spells wrong sometimes.

Dwarf Wizard
10 STR
14 DEX
12 CON (+2)
14 INT
11 WIS
12 CHA (-2)
Feats: Not sure on this one either.
Wields a Quarterstaff and wears Robes. Or give her light armor for that cool ASF%.

banjo1985
2007-07-31, 03:35 AM
Id recommend a non combat cleric, who can heal but has little charisma or strength. That way your cousin can take the lead in fights and in social interactions with other NPC's. However as a new player, your cousin could be prone to making mistakes, especially combat, so a healer gives an opportunity not to be too heavily punished for it...

Greyen
2007-07-31, 03:46 AM
I would say a basic cleric, human or dwarven and a halfing rogue for flavor and to show him about flanking benefits, mobility etc.

Townopolis
2007-07-31, 04:11 AM
I'd vote bard. You can build a bard pretty well and he'll still keep his fancy pants out of the spotlight, well, just as long as you never shine it on him. Give him all the cure spells, as well as some good buffs and camp utility. Boost your inspire courage, but don't let it become a staple of every single fight (to this end, I reccommend burning some songs every day on inspire competence and countersongs). Supply a social skillmonkey, but make sure those skills never take center stage in the campaign (Gather Information is for learning plot hooks and some research on the weaknesses of the undead. Bluff gets you into the bandit camp, but you have to fight your way out from there, so on and so forth). And finally, give him low STR but high DEX and tumble, and use him as a flanker.

technomage
2007-07-31, 04:51 AM
a noncombatant Cloistered Cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#clericVariantCloistere dCleric) could help and a sidekick/skill monkey (bard) wouldn't be bad ether

nerulean
2007-07-31, 07:42 AM
I'd go with a rogue or a ranger and either a cleric or a bard with cures. If he's playing a fighter, you don't want to bog him down with the complexity of casting straight away. A rogue or a ranger will complement him in combat and show him some of the other options available beyond just whacking everything with a hammer, and a cleric or bard will keep him from getting too massively brutalised.

You might want to keep things magic-lite for the first session, perhaps only having a magic trap or two just to make sure he knows such things exist, and then once you're ready to start introducing him to magic more fully, consider giving him an arcane caster to fill up the classic four person party.

Damionte
2007-07-31, 07:46 AM
I'd just send one character instead of 2.

A sidekick type at that. You're trying to introduce him to the game. He needs to be able to be the hero. Hand him a mechanically simple character and send him a sidekick that compliments what he want's to play.

Instead of lvl 1 start him at around lvl 3, this way he can be a bit more heroic. If he hasn't played RPG's before it'll be more important to get him used to the idea of a story telling game, than anything else.

Kiero
2007-07-31, 09:14 AM
Someone useful if it lets you put up more interesting challenges, but definitely pure sidekick material. Gloss over anything they do all by themselves, and use them where possible to make the PC shine.

Whatever you do, don't invest in them as "your" PC. In fact they should be an NPC, not a GMPC, someone you're not attached to at all, but a tool to make the game better.

valadil
2007-07-31, 09:19 AM
I've never had good experiences with DMPCs. If he thinks to hire someone that's one thing, but I really think you'd be better off writing encounters he can solo. That or get him used to the extra help and then kill them off leaving him to fend for himself once he's gotten the hang of things.

Stephen_E
2007-07-31, 09:57 AM
Actually in the circumstances you're talking about I think the best use of a DMPC, as alluded to by someone else, is to do all the dumb things, and make sure he suffers the consequences.

A couple of clone variants to replace the dead would also be useful, and if they're getting killed it stops you getting to attached to them, which is the fatal flaw of DMPCs.

The other purpose is as a non-combat machine healer.
Sort of like a cohort he didn't have to pay a feat to get.

In general I'd suggest you're better off giving him 1 or 2 cohorts, 1 level lower. You build them, letting him observe and imput. He can then direct them in a general fashion "We're heading off here", "Cohort Sam, go give us flank", but retain actual control of their actions, but only disobey orders where they'd likely seem daft to the cohort, and use them to give gentle hints - "boss, would you like me to check for traps".

Stephen

Matthew
2007-08-01, 10:34 AM
Given that you are starting out at Level 1, I would almost certainly suggest using a Rogue, Sorcerer and Cleric (perhaps a Spontaneous Casting Variant). You could even just use the Iconic versions. If his Character goes down, he can always take complete control of one of these.