Some help and tips for a brand new player

[PrismaRiyo]

Hey guys
So about a month ago we found out that everyone in my university study group (except one guy) have been playing dnd for a while and we decide to form our own group (I'm the DM). We had two sessions (started at level 3 and are now level 4).
Now the previously mentioned one guy asked to join us (which is great), but he asked me to make a Character for him because he doesn't have time to go through everything.
The most I got out from him about what he would like to play is that he is smash now, cast spells later (or never) kind of guy.
So getting to the point, I'm looking for a character for him to play that would fit with the party, be simple enough for someone who never played at all, but interesting enough to get him hooked like the rest of us.
Also, this will be my first time DMing for a completely new player so any advice on that is welcome :).

Our party now is:
Paladin (ancients)
Conjuration wizard
War cleric
Fey Warlock
New UA artificer ( that could potentially become an arcane trickster instead)

[Man_Over_Game]

Some kind of Ranger would fit really well with your party of low-Wisdom, high magic characters. I'd probably go with one of the Xanathar's options, as they're both simple and thematic.

Dexterity Samurai is incredibly simple and easy to track, but it grants him resources to use and rely on to get his feet wet. He'll feel the impact of combining Advantage with Action Surge for a high-powered Alpha Strike, while also learning how to pace his Temporary HP. As Dexterity, he'll also be able to fill the role of a melee protector and a sniper as needed.

Lastly, your group is lacking a lot of healing. If he's a smart cookie, he can do well with a Celestial Warlock that has relatively fewer resources than most casters, but is very reliable. Tack on a Familiar to give the player lots of simple actions, and he'll feel like a very valuable member of the team.

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New players are often very unsure of themselves, especially if they don't know what they're doing. If you're writing his character for him, he definitely won't know what he's doing (and overall, is probably a bad thing to do, honestly). Have a trusted player help him with learning what to do while you do your DMing thing, and actively ask relevant people at the table if they want to react to a particular event, potentially even asking them by name. Ask if the Rogue wants to do anything about the door in front of them, or if the Fighter has any way he wants to approach the person at the bar. This also solidifies the fact that the story is driven because of player decisions, not DM decisions. If he's allowed to wait until he's relevant, he'll do exactly that, so make it clear that things happen BECAUSE of his decisions, and doing nothing will result in exactly nothing happening.

[Yora]

Not sure if ranger is good for a new player. It's a class where you have to work to make yourself useful and apply your abilities.

Smash now, cast spell laters sounds like a cleric to me. First guess would be War Cleric, but you already have one, but any other cleric should work as well. Having another cleric do the heavy lifting might even make things easier for a new cleric player, who can play more see what happens.

[Foxhound438]

The most I got out from him about what he would like to play is that he is smash now, cast spells later (or never) kind of guy.

Definitely sounds like a barbarian, which is convenient since the class is pretty mechanics light. Perfect for people just learning the game. I've seen people come into the game and pick up barbarian right away and it be their favorite class still. The one pitfall that I've seen for some people is that the run in and swing a sword game play can get old, but there are plenty of remedies to that issue.


Also, this will be my first time DMing for a completely new player so any advice on that is welcome :).

Expect them to try to do things that aren't necessarily given clean rules. New players don't yet know what kinds of actions are and aren't defined by the rules of the system, so when something like "I want to break his arm" comes up, I'd usually try to make it at least possible, even if there aren't really any rules for something like that.

[Particle_Man]

Non variant human champion fighter is the classic simple build. Give him the +1 armor bonus to start with and soldier background. Perception skill. Sword and board and we are done.

They can always switch later if they want to but I have fun with this guy and many others do to. It is newbie friendly and low paperwork.