Top 5 3.5 Classes for Novice Players

1. Fighter (PH)

The most straightforward class. Pick a weapon some armor and go to town on enemies. Its not particulaily interesing or innovative but its the easiest to get going. Although it doesnt not have many abilities on its own it does have exta feat slots for customization

2. Rogue (PH)

The rogue tends to skulk in the background making it ideal for playwrs who arnt yet too comfortable with roll playing. There abilities are straight forward and focused. The rouge is very useful as they have high skill points and high damage from sneak attack.

3. Sorcerer (PH)

Perfect for the new play who is more interested in magic. Sorcer beat out wizard because they do not require as much planning/studying to lay out there spells. You have a spell list and a amount of spells per day and you can use any spell as long as you have the slots. Wizards like clerics require you to note how many times a day you want to ready each spell with out the ability to switch it out during combat. They knkw less spells but they can use any spell they know so long as they have the slots.

4. Cleric (PH)

Although they have to set there spells each day they can wear armor and fight. Divine spells are not mared by arcan spell chance failure so your erec doesnt have to be spell dependant. They are a little more complex than the aformwntioned class as religion and dietes play much more into limiting the character and forceing more roleplaying.

5. Duskblade (PH)

The only class I chose to highlight from a non core book. A duskblade is an arcane user than also uses weapons. They can wear more armor and use more weapons than the sorcerer. They are slightly more fidely as they have 2 focuses but they are perfect for the novice who wants a bit of everything. 

Problem Players Part 2

Some people have a hard time keeping track of all the rules, their sheets and their dice and so on. Here are some tips to help you have a smooth game:

• have a few extra sets of dice or d20s (a good practice anyway).
• keep character sheets digital or keep a copy of their sheets and items
  • keep an inventory of their items they have and what they do
  • this is also useful for spells
• Ensure they add special descriptions to their character sheet and an outline of how each spell and feat works. They need to be easily able to use their abilities, otherwise, they won’t take full advantage of them or will spend hours looking them up in the handbooks each and every turn.

No everyone is as into the game as you are as the DM. However, when people are understanding what they can and can’t do, and what cool items they have, the game is more enjoyable.

How to Make a Fighter

PDF of Character sheet:

fighter human-video

What is Expanded Psionics

This is a 3.5e book that introduced psionics to the game. Psionics is similar to magic but based in the mind. This book has new races,  classes, skills, feats, prestige classes, items, powers, monsters etc. All things needed to add psionics to your game.

It has the same style as the other 3.5e splat books but it is called expanded psionics instead of complete psionics (which was later realised as the sequel to this book). It adds the races that are psionic specific but other races can take a psionic class as well.

Thr classes get power points and powers which equate to spells and spell slots. These are also elaborated on in this book. You do not need complete psionics as well as this is the first book and has all the rules it needs. You can simply play with this book and the core books if desired.

The feats most likey will not be useful to you if you are not psionic but there is some general feats as well as psionic feats which may be of interest to the average player.

The powers all focus on the mind ad this is essentially mind based magic. It’s all psychic based. It also uses crystals as a theme to store powers and such.

Although I like this book it’s only useful if you want to launch into a. Psionics which can be confusing to new people d&d has a lot of concepts to master already.

However, it is a great mechanic to add into the second game to keep things from getting to repetitive and to give your players more options.

My favorite classic 3.5 feats for low levels.

These feats are feats I would choose nearly for any class as they just improve the game play for me personally. All these feats are from the core Players Handbook 3.5e.

1. Improved initative

This feat gives your a +4 to innitative increasing your chances of acting faster and going first in combat. Acting first is just better and increases your chances of defeating any foe.

2. Weapon Finesse

This feat allows you to use your dex instead of strength on attack roles with a light finesseable weapon. If your not a character that focuses in strength this feat can help you focus your abilitie scores on dex and still be a decent melee fighter. Howver you still use strcfor the damage but this would allow you to hit with yourndex modifier.

3. Quick Draw 

This allows you to draw a weapon as a free action instead of a move action. This wouldmean you could still do a full round action or move and still take out your weapon. It is immensly useful.

4. Weapon Focus

You choose a weapon you are profficient with and this feat will gice you +1 on attack rolls with that soecific weapon type (ex. Longswords).

Unlimited Cantrips

One thing i like that pathfinder and d&d 5th edition happen to have in common is unlimited cantrips. Cantrips or 0 level spells in other editions were likited based on stats and level. However this meant a magic user couldnt do simple magic at will and simple things like emitting light were limited to around 6 times per day max. Luckily in Pathfinder and 5th your list of cantrips you know can be cast as much as needed. This is very helpful and makes more sense to me. It also gives the magic users more to do at low level when they dont have as many spell slots. I would also reconmend if your in a more high powered 3.5 campaign to adopt this rule as it will not really break the game and it is simple to add to your game via house rules.

(Pathfinder Core Rule Book Page 71)

(Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edtion Players Handbook Page 201)

Unlimited cantrips = great idea.

Always keep your players abilities and items in mind when picking monsters. If they say dont have any silver or etherial items than it may be impossible to kill such creature as ghouls or vampires.

Monsters Not to Choose at Low Level (D&D)

1. Monsters that have an effect like petrification. 

Your party’s all excited; it’s their first battle. Suddenly, they’re in a fight with a Cockatrice and one of the PCs gets petrified. It’s very hard to become unpetrified and they have just essentially died from a low CR monster because of one bad roll in the first couple of sessions. That would be a huge disapointment to a new player and they may be discouraged from playing further. Consider your party if it’s a monster that would dominate your party specifically because of it’s special ability (ex. Fire againt wood wearing druids) the challenge may rise in this kind of circumstance and the CR should be considered a bit higher for your party.

2. A monster that isn’t evil. 

Creatures like centurs, mermaids, and saytars are cool and intriging but will not mindlessly hunt and attack your characters. Good characters will not want to attack a good or neutral party just for being  there. There has to be a huge plot reason for these kind of nin hostile monsters to engage your characters in combat.

(Monster Manuel 2003 page 220)

3. Little Dragons. 

Tempting it may be to place a low CR dragon in your dungeon, however,  it most likely won’t make sense. Consider why would there be a baby dragon guarding something or just waiting around to hunt your characters. Again you need to have a serious plot reason and it needs to be lore friendly. Also, consider where is the mom? Why is it there alone? If your story doesn’t really fit this kind of questions and baby or small dragon probably isn’t the right low cr monster for you.
4. Monsters not in the correct environment and behave appropriately.

Make sure that your monster choices make sense for the environment. Make sure forest monsters are not in the snowy hills, aquatic monsters in the desert etc. Make sure it makes sense for your monster to be where is should or has a good reason to be where it is. For example make sure the aquatic animals stay in the water if that’s what would be appropriate, and don’t have flying animals wandering the land exclusively and so on. Make sure the environment has the appropriate light for their vision (ex. Low light where appropriate such as with drow, make sure its not just chillen in the sun). Make sure your monster choices relate make sense and interact appropriately with the environment.

5. Do not pick a monster that has a cr way above your party level. 

Giving your party an impossible task is not recommended when they are starting out. They need a fair challenge. A monster that could kill your whole party in one or two turns is not appropriate. If it attacks is more than any member hp than it’s to difficult. If its CR is more than one or two above their level its to hard and will discourage players from your game. Also, make sure it’s not too easy, make sure it’s a fair challenge that your party will feel accomplished in defeating.

Rust Monster

Never choose a rust monster. It will ruin your player’s stuff they have work so hard to get. It will do nothing but make your players dissapointed, angry and not want to play in your game.