Board Thread:Midian Q&A/@comment-24302820-20170202044339

What would you recommend as the best class for a brand new player to play? As in, someone who has no experience with roleplaying.

Traditional wisdom has been to play whatever class has the least overt abilities. That is, when someone brand new to gaming starts in D&D, they are told to roll up a fighter. I disagree with that logic. As the original tank class, fighters are expected to slug it out on the front lines. Not only does that mean that there's a good chance that the new and inexperienced player dies early in the first session, but they are involved in the mechanics of the game each and every round--multiple times per round, as often as not. Plus, since fighters in that system can use every weapon and armour, there's a paralysing number of choices when making the character, and not much gold to go around. The expense of armour and weapons does eat up a lot of gold pieces right away, but that can leave a player feeling unprepared, which can be worse for their confidence than the value of the time saved.

Instead, for D&D, at least, I would suggest a starting player run a mage. Low hit points is a perfect excuse to stay out of the direct battle. Rather than having to instantly memorise much of the game's combat engine, you can sit back and watch how it plays out for a while. A first level mage's main job--especially in earlier versions of that game system--is mostly to just sit back and wait for that one shot to cast their solitary spell. Trust me, the other players will let you know when that one chance is appropriate or not. No armour, and only a staff or dagger as a weapon, means that the player has more freedom for shopping, but with things that make more sense for a newbie. That is, it's much easier to figure out if you want to buy more rope or more torches, and harder to figure out the difference between a glaive-guisarme and a fouchard-fork. If the new player is impetuous, really anxious to roll some dice, and isn't a complete dick, then playing a cleric may be an option (decent combat abilities, mostly waiting to heal someone else) but wizard is the best bet... even though most old-school gamers would directly disagree with me.

But, this isn't D&D, this is Midian. What do you feel is the best class for a new player? Rogue seems like a good choice: the class is cheap and easy to get into, and has a very fuzzy role. Scout might also work well. However, there may be some benefit of a heavier class. That is, having fewer free skill selections to pick (after 'buying' the class) reduces the problems with having a glut of options, and a better defined role may be easier to get into. Syndic is almost certainly right out, though.

What do you think? 