DnD Newbie

[Watchdog]

Hey guys, A friend of mine was recently introduced to Dnd, and was invited

to join our campaign. I was just wondering what base class would be best

for someone who, before now, had never even heard of Dnd. After giving him

a rundown of all the classes, he wants to play a monk, but is this a good

class for him to play if he's just starting out?

Sorry to be asking all these questions, I'm kind of a newbie myself.

[Sucrose]

Well, monks are fairly simple to play as; they're workable without equipment (although much, much better with) so making his inventory likely won't be a huge issue. This is a good thing, as the paperwork of D&D isn't too much fun.

You may want to play at low levels, as that will minimize the power disparity between him and other characters. Also, if at all possible, let him have many decent-to-good stats, as that's pretty much necessary when playing a monk.

As for what's best for a newbie; in general, the best class is the one that they choose. They should be allowed to make their own choices, IMHO.

(That said, if he's attracted to the idea of a quasi-mystical wuxia character, and you notice that he's falling behind the group's power level (and having less fun because of it), you may want to encourage him to play a swordsage, from the Tome of Battle. It can be basically the same fluff (or one of a fair number of other things), but it's more powerful and more versatile than a monk.)

Lastly, this board is for asking questions!

[SamTheCleric]

Honestly, there's no right or wrong thing to play. You may see a lot of discussions on here about what is best/optimal ... but if your friend thinks monk looks like fun, then by all means... help him make a monk.

The goal of the game is fun, not winning.

[Smiley_]

Bard: Can work as a skill monkey but hard to work with if you want an optimizable character. I would stay away from it for a first timer.

Barbarian: Good HP and survivability. Can hit things hard. Good choice for a bigginer in D&D.

Cleric: Possibly the easiest caster to play well. Good survivability and spellcasting abilities.

Druid: Very similar to the cleric, but for someone who is unfamiliar to mechanics, I wouldn't suggest it.

Fighter: Simple "I hit it again" play. might get boring but good for introducing people to game mechanics.

Monk: Some people have the ability to make monks carry their own weight, and their class abilities may seem cool, but for a newbie, the constant dieing mayput strain on the game.

Paladin: A good class given the right circumstances. Might be sort of "meh" for a newbie. Decent survivability against casters if you stress charisma as a necessity.

Ranger: Two weapon fighting and favored enemies might seem cool, but for a newbie, I wouldn't reccomend it.

Rougue: Skillmonkey and sneak attack. Actually simple in mechanics compared to some alternatives.

Sorceror: Decent arcane casting class for a new player. Don't need to mess around with spellbooks and all that.

Wizard: Might be workable, but more complex than the sorcerror.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Monk should work fine. It's not a very complicated class.

Low-level characters played by people new to the game won't have appreciable imbalance because of their classes, anyway.

[Solo]

I recommend Sorcerer.

At worst, he'll pick the best blasting spell of his level and be mobile artillery.

At best, he can read my guide and become the walking incarnation of all that is awesome.

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

The best class for newbies is probably Druid. Unlike most any other class, they are almost impossible to screw up. Even with really really bad stats they can still turn into a Bear and smack things. Mostly this only applies to after level 5, but since that's where most of the game is (and the only part that doesn't rely 90% on your dice roll 10% on what you actually do) it shouldn't be an issue.

Starting advice for a newbie Druid:

Best stat in Wisdom, next in Con (it doesn't matter after that, but ignore Str and Dex)
Look at this cool animal companion list, they can beat things up for you.
Look at this feat, Natural spell: awesome huh.
Here's your spell list, do whatever you want.

[tyckspoon]

There is/was somebody around here who advocated Rogues as the best core class for a newb, and I tend to agree. The reasoning goes something like this: They're combat useful, while introducing the newb to some of the game's more common and less complicated 'advanced tactic' concepts like flanking, flatfooted targets, and the value of getting the surprise round. They're skillmonkeys, so they're also useful outside combat without forcing the situation like you might have to do for an 'easy to play' Fighter. And having UMD as a class skill without having actual spellcasting ability lets them get used to working with D&D magic without being thrown in on the deep end of having a full spell list to learn. Just put a few wands and scrolls in the loot, maybe the occasional item that calls for one of the more esoteric features like mimicing race or class feature, and the rogue can learn a bit about handling magic.

That said, if you want a class that's as idiot-proof as possible, definitely Druid.

[SadisticFishing]

My first campaign, I played as a monk, and I didn't enjoy it very much. The +hit is too low, too MAD, too easy to kill, etc.

Now, I could probably play one, but I'd be using tons of supplements and random multiclassing... But I wouldn't recommend Monk for a newbie. Barbarian, Sorcerer, Rogue, those are all decent ideas, but monk is icky.

Oh and if you're playing a rogue, contrary to popular belief, small isn't good because moving slower means you'll almost never flank.

[DementedFellow]

I'm going to have to agree with Solo on this one. Sorcerers are pretty and can show how versatile the game can be. No worrying if you are choosing the right spells or preparing the right ones in the morning. It's just a nice, nice class all around, especially for beginners.

[streakster]

If non-core is allowed, warlock!

If not, sorcerer. Have him read Solo's guide, of course.

[Artanis]

If non-core is allowed, I would suggest that Warmage is a much much MUCH better option for a newbie than a Sorcerer or Wizard. It may be harder to screw up a Sorcerer than it is a Wizard, but it's even harder to totally screw up a Warmage.

[Jerthanis]

I'm going to second suggesting rogue for all the reasons mentioned above, but also because there are a lot of examples of rogues in the world of fantasy media to point to to give an example of what he could be like. Practically everything has a lovable rogue sidekick. Bruce Campbell from Xena, Matthew Broderick from Ladyhawke, Errol Flynn (sorta), many sidekicks from the Conan stories... the list goes on. Monks, on the other hand, are poor representations of Wuxia, because people like them only really exist in Chop Sockey films, but you can't even point to most (good) Wuxia movies and really claim a Monk could do all that. However, if Monk sounds the neatest to him, definitely let him play it. It's relatively uncomplicated, and gets to do cool things.