Average Joe wants to be an adveturer

[Trandir]

Average Joe is a non-variant human with 11 on all ability scores (including the racial modifier) and profiency in any 3 skills.

He wants to become an adventurer but he lacks any combat training. What would you advice him to become to stand a chance in a world full of monsters, traps, murderhobos, dungeons and dragons?

(Circle of the moon druid is the best option when you have bad stats so let's not consider it.)

[Talsin]

Well, since Druid is apparently out, I'd suggest a Fighter or Rogue built around Ranged weapons. Both give enough ASI to build up the ability to wear appropriate arms and armors for survival, while also still being significant in combat.

[Paeleus]

Rogue - Thief. Not too flashy, survivability, ways to overcome mundane abilities via Expertise, etc. Daggers are pretty boring, so yup. Expertise could be spent on random skills like Animal Handling and Insight.

[nickl_2000]

The average Joe becomes a Wizard with a focus on daily life rituals and support spells. He can easily support from a distance, provide valuable resources to an party when not in combat, and make a decent living casting low level spells in his off time.

[dragoeniex]

Average Joe could still be a good buff caster, in addition to the hiding-friendly rogue already mentioned. Live the sorcerer dream and pick up Twinned Spell when able to double-buff party members!

Maybe also consider Distant Spell for when you really need to stay away from the conflict. Take Sleep for the first couple levels as a valid debuff/survivability enhancer- no save, no concentration, and pretty strong lvs 1 and 2! Swap out as more buffs and non-save/aim spells become available.

ASIs all go into con to help with concentration and survival. War Caster is good if you can afford it.

Shadow Sorcerer's hounds can help you impose disadvantage on saves if Joe really must have those debuffs, and they also can help deal some damage! Divine Soul can throw some healing into the mix.

[MagneticKitty]

I vote shepherd druid, bard, or cleric
Focus healing and buffs. Your summons don't need high casting mod
Alternatively rogue is pretty non MAD

[Trandir]

Well I should add something to the discussion as well. I vote for divination wizard, lv 4 you get the lucky feat, lv 8 ASI +1 to Con and Dex, lv 12-16-19 ASI all to Con. Average Joe will stand far from the battlefield when he can, will help his party with divinations OoC and contribute to unavoidable encounters thanks to his "luck" and buffs.

[CNagy]

Adventuring is going to be a death sentence for Joe. I recommend he take the NPC-route; sign up for the local town guard and train with them. Join a church or monastery and train in solitude as a Cleric or Monk. Join a theater troop and become a bard (and rogue, maybe). Wizard is an option, but of all of the classes, Wizard seems to be the one where a prospective teacher is going to screen students for talent. If I were Joe, though, I'd stumble into a hidden cave and accidentally make a pact with an Old One through some cult religious symbol (edit: or an Undying patron for Immortal Joe).

[GlenSmash!]

The Average Joe becomes an Artificer using a shield and medium armor, and choosing spells that don't rely on attack roles or forcing saving throws to be useful.

At level 2 he equips himself with a self made +1 Weapon and likewise a +1 armor to improve his survivability.

At level 3 he chooses any specialty really.

At level 4 starts improving his Intelligence which is something he continues throughout life. Perhaps becoming more Observant along the way. He also changes his spell list and swaps cantrips as his intelligence increases, no longer having to worry about missed attacks and enemies passing saving throws.

At level 12 he can craft gauntlets of ogre power to improve his strength if he chose not to be a Battlesmith, and at 18 can craft himself an Amulet of Health to improve his toughness.

It would be touch and go at the beginning, but I wouldn't kick such a character out of my party.

[Tawmis]

Average Joe is a non-variant human with 11 on all ability scores (including the racial modifier) and profiency in any 3 skills.
He wants to become an adventurer but he lacks any training. What would you advice him to become to stand a chance in a world full of monsters, traps, murderhobos, dungeons and dragons?
(Circle of the moon druid is the best option when you have bad stats so let's not consider it.)

Well, he does some training, learning how to avoid things and get fit...

http://filmgarb.com/wp-content/uploads/film-dodgeball_a_true_underdog_story-2004-peter_lafleur-vince_vaughn-tshirts-average_joes_tshirt-595x335.jpg

[Keravath]

Average Joe could do fine as any support class where he casts heals and buffs as his primary task rather than something based on attack rolls and saves ... at least until he builds up his primary stats. Druid/cleric could work.

He could also do fine in the long run as a fighter or rogue but he won't have a 16 in an attack stat until level 8 as a fighter at a minimum.

He will likely never be great. If he wears heavy armor he will be slow. His AC will always lag unless he boosts dex to at least 14 at some point. His hit points will lag other options a bit unless he boosts con. His first ASI will likely be +1 to two stats to get two twelves. If he is a cleric it could be either dex and wis or con and wis.

It wouldn't be great but it wouldn't be unplayable.

[Trandir]

Well, he does some training, learning how to avoid things and get fit...

http://filmgarb.com/wp-content/uploads/film-dodgeball_a_true_underdog_story-2004-peter_lafleur-vince_vaughn-tshirts-average_joes_tshirt-595x335.jpg

You are right I have to be more specific

[Sigreid]

I'd say rogue for a good range of survival options. Expertise in perception and stealth.

[Tawmis]

You are right I have to be more specific

Heh, you don't. It's just if I hear "Average Joe" ... my brain automatically goes to Dodgeball.

But for a serious answer... For survivability, I'd go with Rogue. Since average stats (well, above average if they're all 11, really) - rushing into a battle seems ill advised, and avoiding a battle, sticking to shadows, stealthing by, seems more ideal for surviving.

[Trandir]

Heh, you don't. It's just if I hear "Average Joe" ... my brain automatically goes to Dodgeball.

But for a serious answer... For survivability, I'd go with Rogue. Since average stats (well, above average if they're all 11, really) - rushing into a battle seems ill advised, and avoiding a battle, sticking to shadows, stealthing by, seems more ideal for surviving.

Still I changed it in the OP.

This is an intresting point. An average ability score is 10 but you do not consider racial modifiers in that count. Dwarves have a tougher build, elves are more agile, half-orcs are strong and so on. So an average stat for any given race should be 10+ racial modifiers. This means that (non-variant) humans are almost above average in everything but do not hit the even number to be above average at anything.

[SLOTHRPG95]

Average Joe could do fine as a Fighter, putting his first ASI into DEX/CON, then pumping DEX to max before switching to pure CON for 16/19, if he gets that far. He picks up the Archery combat style, goes Champion (he is, after all, Average), and probably picks up Defense for his second combat style. He's not going to wow anyone, but he'll contribute reliable ranged damage and become progressively less squishy. Rogue would work similar, with a greater emphasis on avoiding combat altogether via Expertise in Stealth, Perception, Insight, and Persuasion. However, losing hit points and AC relative to the Fighter version is gonna hurt Joe, and it'll make his odds of surviving to higher levels more slim.

Alternatively, if he can find someone willing to teach him, Average Joe would make a fine Wizzard. A crap Wizard, but a fine Wizzard. The difference being he doesn't bother pumping his INT, instead increasing his DEX/CON to not get killed in combat. Most of the time, he basically functions like a classless character with Ritual Caster (Wizard), but he can buff his allies, improve his own defenses (Mage Armor, Mirror Image, Blink, etc.), and even lob a Sleep or Magic Missile spell if he feels like preparing it. With that said, number of spells prepared is really his biggest weakness, especially at low levels. He can benefit from whichever subclass he wants, with none of the core ones being terrible picks. Even if he's an Evoker, he'll gain more marginal utility out of Potent Cantrip since his targets will often make their saves. And with Empowered Evocation, his upcast Magic Missiles become... a tiny bit less sad? This is the weakest choice for him, with the exception of Enchantment. But worst comes to worst, he can basically just ignore his subclass abilities and and act as a buffer/ritual caster.

tl; dr Average Joe has options if he wants to be semi-competent

[Sparky McDibben]

I mean, this is actually kind of an empowering thread. "It doesn't matter how smart you are, you can still live your dream." That's unusually sweet, Playgrounders.

[Great Dragon]

5e really is the best edition to do this in, since while High Ability Modifiers can make a difference, they aren't required in order to achieve things. Especially if the DM stays within the Boundary Accuracy Rules.

When allowed to play in a group that is willing to do the All 10 (+Racal mod) game, I love the fact that no Class is barred. Making the choice between ASI or Feat become a lot more important.

I don't get to do it very often, but I do like to Run the "Average" Joe (@Tawmis: not dodgeball :smallbiggrin: ) game. It's interesting to me to see what each Player chooses and how they develop their Character as the Campaign progresses.

The Fighter choosing their Archetype before building Strength up to at least 15 to get heavy armor;

The Barbarian (regardless of Archetype) splitting ASIs between Con and Dex
(Wis and Dex for Monk);

Maybe the Rogue takes Feats to better their chances to either get better survivability in the Dungeon or get Sneak Attack more often, instead of being the stereotypical "Dex master",
and Bards aren't locked into being The Skill Monkey;

Casters aren't cut out of the game, thanks to ditching the Rules that required High Ability Modifiers just to unlock a Spell Level.


*****
These games tend to be a lot more Social (RP) focused than regular "Adventurer" games.
(When running the game, I count Social Encounters as the same value as a Combat Encounter, and are based on the HD/Level of the "person" being talked to)

Most Players are not afraid to have their PC/s run away from a fight that is going bad.
(As the DM, I still give half Exp when PCs run away, so long as true effort was put into the Encounter)

Doing "pure" Exploration tends to be more Goalpost Exp. This is the rarest of all my games.
Hexcrawling, in and of itself, isn't really exciting. Random Encounters are still a thing, here - but are counted as separate for Exp.

[darknite]

Avg Joe as a Fighter with lots of ASIs to boost their stats might be a good way. No bonus stats is a great way to die at higher levels once 20+ DCs start dropping, though. Joe is going to have a tough time unless they cling like a baby to a high Cha Paladin.