Hello fellow DM's/GM's I come to you with a question.

I will be running a game soon with a party of five, with four of the members being new players. As I will be teaching new players I was wondering if i should limit the character options to just PhB or let them go wild with all the options as new players?

I don't want them to be over whelmed but also don't like to limit creativity. What do fellow DM's think? What would you do when teaching new players? also any additional teaching tips would be appreciated 

Not only would I limit it to the PHB, I'd lean hard into the basic fantasy tropes (Human, Halfling, Elf, Dwarf) and just talk to them about the character they want to play. No stats, no game mechanics, just stalk.

"If your character was in a fantasy/Lord of the Rings type movie, who would they be?"

People these days know enough about the basic (but good) tropes to imagine a character. Then you can build with them to match up the rules at a reasonable pace.

Another vote for just PHB. Too many choices just makes things confusing early on. When I’ve taught people 5e, I’ve had them read the table in the PHB that give a 1-sentence description of each class to let them choose a class, then let them flip through the races and see which one interests them. Don’t bother with optimizing their choice, just let them have fun with it.
Another way to go is to just pre-gen the characters. Realistically, you’ll be making them with tiny bits of input from the player, anyway. They won’t know that a 16 is better than a 15, but a 14 is basically the same as a 15, or that they should not take true strike, for example. So you can have the characters ready, and just play.

Also, I find doing char gen as a group with new people means you spend a lot of 1-on-1 time with one person while everyone else kind of sits around bored, pre-gens avoid that.

So you can make the pre-gens, play a session or three so they can understand the basics of what everything means, and then give them the option to make their own characters.

And final tip, don’t say the word multiclass until they’ve finished a full campaign. 

Yeah, for 1st time players it can get overwhelming, especially if you start adding other books into the mix. I might possibly allow something from another book if they really have their hearts set on it, but if they’re a blank slate I would just hand them the PHB, tell them to leaf through the races and classes and pick whatever seems cool to them and then help them build their character from that. Once they’ve gotten the basics down, if they wanted to swap out characters for something more complex I would allow that then.

I'd figure out their levels of competency about the official material. From there, figure out what they want to do, address your concerns on their choices if any. They need to know. But I dare so, initially, don't limit their choices. Convince them what choices are both good for them and you.

Actually I would start with them - what they would like to play, what fantasy games /shows/books they’ve worked with and what they liked then build from there. I would probably stay pretty close to PHB as most starting fantasies are covered there (let’s face it a kobold artificer/warlock is not standard non game fantasy). Setting up a begining player’s character os really a session 00. We have a fairly inexperienced player in our group and everyone pitches in to help them so they are enjoying themselves and starting to see the ins and outs of the game.

I would limit everyone in the campaign to the PHB. It would not be fair to let the one experienced player pick what they like while limiting the new players to the PHB. To avoid that I would limit everyone to the PHB. You aren't stifling creativity - the creativity comes more from the role playing, the backstory, what the character likes, how they get along with others and less from the class or species mechanics. In addition, most new players don't come into the game wanting much more than the usual fantasy characters - Tortle gloomstalker rangers, bugbear rogues, goblin warlocks etc ... would all come later. Most new players wouldn't really get the significance of playing monstrous species and how that could affect their in game interactions with NPCs - so I would keep the choices simple and the interactions less complex by limiting it to the PHB. If the players later decide they would like more options then you could always allow them to rebuild their characters using more sources.

For new players, I've had a lot of experience over the last three years running games for a variety of newbies both to TTRPGs and D&D 5e (and 3.5). I've come up with always limiting to PHB for first characters. Then as the campaign unfolds spells, feats and class options from others as they gain experience.

PHB gives players 108 possible combinations for characters just from Race and Class alone. If we include subclasses/archetypes that's 378 different race/class/subclass variations. Factor in background and we can multiply that by 13. Factor in multiclassing...and well by this point even the most stalward defender of opening out to all the other sources must surely be realising how paralzying the choice between 108 different options are. More isn't always better and D&D can already be overwhelming with its massive array of different options, feats, spells, abilities and items. 

Thing is, if you let the players go wild the chance you're going to need to expend more energy to help them understand the options gets higher. Exponentially so. This gets compounded by how many options from the extended sources begin to erode the limitations that exist in the core rules (PHB, DMG).This isn't a bad thing of course but restricting sources to just the PHB is the simplest and quickest step you can take to make sure the options aren't overwhelming.

I also tend to scrap D&D's backstory creation tools. They often leads to formulaic stuff that doesn't actually help if you're looking for backstories. Instead, I ask them to tell me the answers to the following five questions:

1. What is your character's ambition?
2. Is your character more optimistic or pessimistic?
3. What is your character most afraid of?
4. What role would your character prefer on the team?
5. What is your character's biggest flaw?

Following it up with the following explaination:
'So if I had a character that wants to be famous, is very pessimistic, afraid of being unpopular, and wants to be a supporter, I would end up with someone who desperately wants to write a song or story about a great adventure because they see that as the quickest way to become popular and famous. All they've got to do is tag along with an adventuring group until the kill a dragon or slay a great evil. This would give you a reason to travel with the party maybe as a bard. If there is a pack of enemies though, that character might be the voice calling for the party to run away. Killing a small pack of goblins might get them killed (pessimistic) and isn't a big enough victory if the party win to write their story about. When the rest of the party voice that they wish to fight the goblins the character would ultimately follow along because they are afraid of being unpopular. As someone who wants to act in a more support capacity then they might concentrate on buffs, healing and crowd control in the battle. Hopefully this shows how these four questions can really help not only build but run your character too.'

I wouldn't limit them to PHB, but I would definitely encourage them to focus on PHB. If anyone wants to do something non-phb, i would allow them, but have them bring their ideas to you so you can point out specifically what they'll need and what they'll need to do differently. 

Jut the major ones.

Not ones specific to a campaign, but if it's Tashas, Fizban's, Xanathar's, Mordenkeinen's etc. it's ok. 

See, I like playing those ones too.

The weird races just have a nice flavor to them. Sometimes you want to play a tortle. Sometimes a tabaxi. I also like the other subclasses. PHB is too damned limited.

Tasha's ability point distribution a lot of people think is "broken" but really, the old species distributions, though fixed, really just meant you had more half orcs that were fighter or barbarians because of point distribution rather than having barbarians that also happened to be half orcs.

Generally, I like to let them have fun with it, and remind them that for the most part it's about trust. 

It's why I also do the controversial thing of rolling all my die rolls in front of my players. 

EDIT: I mention the rolls because giving them freedom of choice is about trust. I give my players trust in what sources they can use without checking nor do I ask they roll stats in front of me. (they don't know if I check it or not, but for the most part, they could say a druid of tiny hands from bigby's and I'd probably trust them with it, though, I also do own most source books now (except bigby's), so i wanted to check, I probably could)

Setting up that freedom and showing trust can go a long way in establishing the sort of style of play group you want. I prefer responsible adults with a willingness to be honest and fair, so i offer it. 

+1 to PHB only.

I'd also remove another option by limiting everyone to standard array.

KISS applies to new entrants to a hobby.

I would say no limitations on what people are allowed to use, but then limit what you actively show them to only the PHB.  That way you avoid overloading someone who's brand new, but if someone already has some level of exposure (e.g. even the DnD movie has races which aren't in the PHB), then you wouldn't want someone's first experience with DnD to be having their imagination limited by arbitrary rules

You don't necessarily have to limit them to just the PHB, but you should definitely suggest only using PHB material. If they really want to play a race from another sourcebook or want to try a subclass, as long as you're keen on teaching them how it works, then don't stop them. But then again don't immediately offer them everything as it can be overwhelming, just make sure that you're both at an agreeable point and your new players understand it and are enjoying it.

I'd definitely limit the available sources.  There's just an overwhelming amount of material out there.  My most recent game allowed PHB, Tasha's, Xanathar's, and Sword Coast.  For that many new players, just PHB is probably the best choice.  You can always add options later, in a controlled manner, as needed.

Quote from martintheactor>>

 

I also tend to scrap D&D's backstory creation tools. They often leads to formulaic stuff that doesn't actually help if you're looking for backstories.

No offense, but I'd disagree with that notion. I adore the backstory tables in XGtE, because they, like modules, give me a starting point. When I build a character, I typically start with a basic concept, then I turn to the tables. I won't always use everything the tables give me, but trying to at least consider everything forces me to try and connect the dots. As I start making connections and figuring out how these details could work with each other, the backstory tends to write itself. And then I iterate and edit until I end up with a satisfying backstory.

But to be fair, everyone is different. Everyone has a different way of getting their creative juices flowing, and as a DM, asking for specific details from a character's backstory (motivation, significant NPCs, etc.) is a great way to ensure that the backstory can be incorporated into the campaign.

Quote from CharlesThePlant >>

I wouldn't limit them to PHB, but I would definitely encourage them to focus on PHB. If anyone wants to do something non-phb, i would allow them, but have them bring their ideas to you so you can point out specifically what they'll need and what they'll need to do differently. 

 Same. 

For my own example... the very first time I played 5e, I really wanted to play as a goblin. I always liked them for their chaotic nature, and I had looked up their stats and I thought their abilities were really cool. That said... I still played as the basic Lore Bard and pretty much exclusively used spells from the PHB, since that was all I had access to at the time. I think that some players may look up ideas online or might even be inspired to play a specific race or subclass inspired by a streaming show they watch. For those players who already are coming to the game with those ideas, I'd say encourage them... but for your own sake just provide the rest of the group access to the PHB so as not to overwhelm them with choice.

Quote from 54MU31 >>

Quote from martintheactor>>

 

I also tend to scrap D&D's backstory creation tools. They often leads to formulaic stuff that doesn't actually help if you're looking for backstories.

 

No offense, but I'd disagree with that notion. I adore the backstory tables in XGtE, because they, like modules, give me a starting point. When I build a character, I typically start with a basic concept, then I turn to the tables. I won't always use everything the tables give me, but trying to at least consider everything forces me to try and connect the dots. As I start making connections and figuring out how these details could work with each other, the backstory tends to write itself. And then I iterate and edit until I end up with a satisfying backstory.

But to be fair, everyone is different. Everyone has a different way of getting their creative juices flowing, and as a DM, asking for specific details from a character's backstory (motivation, significant NPCs, etc.) is a great way to ensure that the backstory can be incorporated into the campaign.

 

 
I can totally understand that point of view, and if it works for you that's amazing. I tend to run campaigns mainly for those new to the game and TTRPGs more than experienced groups...largely because as an actor I've moved all over my country for over a decade.

The reason I came up with my four/five questions was because I didn't find them helpful in opening the players up to roleplay. The backgrounds are great, but often don't serve to help those who are unsure of how to roleplay. As an addendum to that my discovery has been that it also stops the monolithic player character and helps lean into the idea that characters can grow and develop.

Of course, I'm sure there are DMs that can achieve the same effects from the stock tables, but I was merely sharing my experience.