how many NPC's are too many for 2 newb party?

[JohnnyMayHymn]

I will be DMing for a party of 2 PC's in a couple of weeks, they are both new to the game(one has played neverwinter nights at least).  One wants to be a sort of shapeshifter, so i'll probably point him in the direction of
wildshape ranger into master of many forms, unless he wants to prepare spells(i don't think so), in that case the obvious druid.  The other player just wants to kick in the door and kill everything but is leaning toward rogue.

The questions I have are    1 should I supplement the party with an NPC support caster or two?(1arcane, 1divine) ie buffing, showcase
                                          game mechanincs...maybe i can convince them that spells ARE good

                                        2 how should I divvy up the XP?  X/2   X/4?   i'm leaning for /2 simply because the purpose of the campaign is
                                           to introduce the game and may or may not last from level 1 to level X

                                        3 do you think it would be better to have the NPC's cleric/wizard to keep things simple and closer to core, or
                                           go for say a warmage, and healer as to not be too powerful(the PC's are the stars of the show afterall)

at any rate I want the 2 (1?) NPC characters to emphasize helping the PC's while filling in gaps in the party - i'm open to suggestions
thanks every1 for any comments, suggestions, examples of similar situations,

[weenog]

I would keep the NPCs down to 1, and make it a support character that is not capable of stealing the show, lest you inadvertently make a DMPC out of it -- so no cleric nor wizard, and warmage is also out because it won't do much for the PCs and it will likely rack up a big body count.  Preferably a character that can take some punishment in case he winds up needing to draw fire off the PCs.

A dragon shaman might be ideal as long as you play down his dragon connection, have him be one of those that admires dragons in the abstract rather than directly serving and reporting to a specific true dragon.  You might consider making him a silver dragon shaman so it's easy for him to enter the chameleon PrC, then putting him into that if the party is having serious difficulty with missing functional roles.

If you want your support NPC to be a caster, you might consider the Healer class.  Yes it sucks, but that's kind of the point, you don't want to take spotlight time away from the PCs.

[veekie]

Well, actually, you COULD use a cleric just fine as support, just take an unarmed cleric with nothing but healing and buff spells prepared ever. Healbot priests with obviously poor physical stats make a nice NPC, particularly with the ability to swap spells around to fulfill whatever hole you need filled for the plot.  They'd probably appreciate the buff spells sent their way.

Sticking to 1 NPC is still wise though. And 'educating' them in how good spells are may backfire if you use the battlefield control or fight ending types. Stick to support magic, they're pretty damned good anyway.

[Sohala]

Why pick arcane or divine, how about both?

[spoiler]Bard 1/cleric 3/mystic theurge 6/sublime chord 1/fachlucan lyrist 9[/spoiler]

You got a bag of spells, double 9s, heals in both sets, some music to jam to, light armor arcane casting.

Edit: I don't know what I was thinking with skipping lyrist.

[Solo]

Doesn't MT require second level arcane and divine spells?

[Sohala]

Early entry with Precocious Apprentice of course.

[RobbyPants]

Straight cleric works fairly well for this, if you deliberately don't optimize it.  I've done this before, which provided much needed magical support as well as comic relief.  She was so ineffective at combat that it became a running joke.

[JohnnyMayHymn]

thanks every1, i think ill go with the (physically)weak cleric, or maybe an archivist, for the knowledge abilities/ select domain spells/excuse to "check out that tomb"

i was originally considering dragon shaman, but i played in a group before with a warforged dragon shaman, he was spiderclimbing and using dual bastard swords...... uknow nevermind, that was a gestalt game and it was a fighter//dragon shaman 
nevertheless i think i've  ALMOST decided on archivist, and i just wont let him find too many good spells, and focus on
buffing/healing/escaping/emergency summoning

after a few sessions if they're still interested, i'll give them the option of making cohorts or continuing with my archivist guide

if you have anymore ideas on this i'd be happy to read them

[JohnnyMayHymn]

it ended up being a gestalt game,

playerA----barbarian1//rogue1
playerB----(wildshaping)ranger1//monk1     ----wanted to turn into animals, so i let him wild shape 1/day into small animals till lvl5(hey it's not as bad as divine minion)

npc-free cohort--archivist1//healer1

archivist side pretty much prepares buffs for the players.  I told them if they want him to do something else they need to buy the scrolls and he can learn whatever spells they want him to but divine scroll versions of arcane spells cost double
he also makes buff potions they can smash on their heads!!

they started out as newly captured slaves, had to convince the archivist to help, break out of prison(with the help of the archivist/healer who happened to be the scribe who kept prison records), kill a guard, chain up the guard's body in the ranger's clothes(in their cell), sneak through a passage, fight sum big spiders, and find someone with connections to the black market to get rid of the guards armor
oh and the best part, the players found a magical 10 foot pole that can be used as a reach quarterstaff and gives +1 climb, so naturally, they broke it in half to  barricade two doors!! and left the pieces in a secret passage
this looks to be a HILARIOUS game...

and thanks again for the help, i'm glad i didn't make 2 npc's ----------------let me know if any1 wants me to update this after future sessions