Tips for DMing Pathfinder for new players

[arkol]

Good evening everyone,

I've played some DnD over the years but mostly just online. I have a good understanding of the rules but never tried my hand at DMing seriously. However my nephew now wants to try out DnD and I decided to bring him mom along and do some very basic roleplaying scenarios.

I've decided to start with Pathfinder but need some help with a few things.

First up: any ideas for simple yet interesting low level encounters. The first one will probably be some random amount of goblins, but then I want to start exposing them to other different kinds of encounters.

Also any general tips are welcomed :)

[Calthropstu]

My goto is a wolf. It's an encounter they can use all sorts of methods. Handle animal, intimidate, survival, knowledge nature or straight combat.

Another good one is a charmed person who has taken leave of their senses. Give the players a chance to go running to the authorities. It's a great way for introducing heavy hitting npcs for later.

[Korahir]

I think the age of your nephew is a very relevant information and the general interests of your group (crime solving, mysteries and puzzles, hack and slay, dungeon crawling, etc.).

For new players I like to run a few non combat encounters before the first combat. This way they get used to rolling skill checks. I.e. a molded cellar (DC 10 Fortitude or be sickened). Doing some hunting with a noble man is a personal favorite of mine to introduce combat and have an NPC to showcase some more advanced tactics (flanking, trip, bull rush etc.). Also forests are great to introduce difficult terrain and cover.

[Firest Kathon]

Paizo has published a series of short adventures for Pathfinder named "Quests". They are free or very cheap (~3USD) and each contains a set of multiple short (~1h) adventures which can be played individually or as a series. I think they are quire good, as they are designed for new players and usually have a combination of skill and combat encounters, providing some variance to get to know the system. You can find them here.

Furthermore, I would strongly recommend to start them out with pre-made characters. Again, Pazo has put out a pregen for each class (I think at levels 1, 4, and 8, download here), so your players can simply pick a class they like and get started. When building a new Pathfinder character, even with help, is in my opinion not possible to make informed decisions if you have not played the system at least a little bit.

[icefractal]

Pregens sound like a good idea, and I'd give them the option to change characters periodically (after every quest maybe) so that they can try different ideas and aren't locked into uninformed choices.

Something that might be useful for teaching some combat tactics without killing PCs if they mess it up is a fight where the enemies have a different objective than fighting. For example, a thief grabs a very important item and is trying to get away with it, or cultists are doing a ritual to summon a demon.

[Raven777]

Good evening everyone,

I've played some DnD over the years but mostly just online. I have a good understanding of the rules but never tried my hand at DMing seriously. However my nephew now wants to try out DnD and I decided to bring him mom along and do some very basic roleplaying scenarios.

I've decided to start with Pathfinder but need some help with a few things.

First up: any ideas for simple yet interesting low level encounters. The first one will probably be some random amount of goblins, but then I want to start exposing them to other different kinds of encounters.

Also any general tips are welcomed :)

Have you considered being the goblins? We be Goblins! is a free short 1st level adventure suitable for a group of 4 pregenerated goblin characters (pregens are fully statted in the book, each on an individual page, but nothing stops you from making your own character either). Paizo made that adventure specifically to introduce new players and DMs to the mechanics and tropes of the game. All scenes, characters and encounters are fully described in the PDF for you to get playing fast. The scenario takes you to 2nd level, includes skill challenges and combat encounters, and can be completed within 2-3 hours.

Its simple and short nature makes it a really good one-shot introduction to Pathfinder. Maybe the best. The only thing I would hold against it is that it doesn't take itself seriously at all. Not to parody levels, mind you. It's all in character, but wanton mayhem is how Pathfinder goblins roll. But I know sillyness can be a turn off for some groups.

[arkol]

All good ideas, Thanks everyone so far. I'll be sure to check those "quests".

The premades are pretty much a given at this point. Building characters is fun and all but if you dont understand what you're choosing, you're no really choosing anything at all. The nephew is 10, not the most social kid, but likes games and fantasy. Other likes include obviously minecraft and fortine but I guess that's a given nowadays.