In the near future I will be running a Pathfinder campaign for a group of players rather new to the system. One has not roleplayed in many years and got out of the hobby late in the run of 2e D&D; the other two have not roleplayed before whatsoever. What I need to know is: What parts of Pathfinder are most important to teach these players before they build their characters ?
Note that I am speaking in terms of Pathfinder's character mechanics; that is, I'm seeking to know what mechanics might be considered uniquely Pathfinder and essential, rather than optional, to the experience of creating & customizing Pathfinder characters. I can teach players how to roleplay just fine and the social end of the affair is entirely handled. As a result I would prefer that advice relating to learning to roleplay or dealing with social troubles be kept to a strict minimum and preferably only be brought up when it relates to mechanical knowledge (e.g. if a specific mechanic or group of mechanics might help flesh out a character concept and thus be considered essential). Exotic subsystems such as Harrow are also not particularly desired.
Resources available and in-use for the upcoming campaign include PFSRD, Path of War (Dreamscarred Press) and Ultimate Psionics (Dreamscarred Press). Full access to the latter two books is being permitted and encouraged, so answers that include them are welcome. Other 3pp content is not currently being included for consideration.
The expected campaign style will place an emphasis on combat exploration and tactical encounters. Attrition is not expected (though it might happen anyway), and players will have significant control over their own wealth. It will not be set in Golarion.
Knowledge of what mechanics to avoid placing before new players would also be greatly appreciated, especially if aforementioned mechanics might bog down play or prove confusing and intimidating.
Thank you for your time, and let me know if further information would be helpful.
Best Answer
Having recently played a Pathfinder one-shot where half of the players were completely new to the system; many of them were confused, including our normal D&D 4E DM. Character creation alone took around an hour and a half due to the wide variety of options. Despite this, once we actually started playing things rolled along decently quickly. Based on this experience, I can certainly recommend a few things to avoid.
Avoid too Many Options
Option paralysis is a very real thing even for experienced players; when someone is just starting out with Pathfinder, they lack the ability to make an assessment of important skills, feats, and variant classes or alternate class features available. I'd recommend letting the players in question choose their race and class and whipping up a set of recommended Feats and Skills they should take to prevent this paralysis; keep the character building aspect simple at first. If you had a lot of time on your hands, you might even make two or three of these recommendation sheets per character and let the player choose between them; this would serve as a simplified introduction to feats and skills. You can do something similar with spells for spellcasters. It's worth stating that these options are important to Pathfinder; it's just important to introduce them slowly. If you wanted to go even further, you could recommended against prepared spellcasters and make them keep to spontaneous spellcasters to keep their options low. I would also recommend against Summon type spells, since they usually require the player to have a detailed knowledge of all the creatures on the Summon List.
Keep it Low Level
No, lower level than even that. I'd recommend starting around level 1 or 2; higher than that, and the feat and spell choices multiply quickly. We all played as Level 4 Monk variants in our one-shot, and feat selection alone took the bulk of our character creation time.
Make sure your Players know what they can do In Play
Depending on familiar your players are with other editions of D&D, many of these concepts might not need to be explained. Other than the obvious attack and damage rolls, make sure fighter-type classes know what their feats actually do; give them a sheet with the descriptions of their feats on it. You should be able to make sure your players understand the action system as well. With spellcasters, I would recommend printing off a sheet of their prepared spells to let them know what options they have immediately available to them. For all players, make sure they know what their class abilities are; if their options are described on their character sheets and can be quickly refereed to, they're more likely to learn them. Readily available descriptions for Feats, Spells and Class Abilities will reduce confusion at the table
All of these are pointing to one thing: Reduce Complexity. Your players will understand Pathfinder better when they aren't immediately thrown into the deep end of interlocking mechanics, build choices, and combat options. If you present options as they come up (or let players read and discover for themselves between sessions), your players will be less overwhelmed and have more fun.