Newbie recommendations (race/class/align thoughts)

(Edited once as of September 2024, edited twice as of December 2025, edited a third time in March 2026 for more clarifications, original post June 2021)

Due to having this thought for a while, I thought I would make some "recommendations" for newcomers. Keep in mind, this is just some personal thoughts... Any of our veterans can feel free to pitch in.

While you can pick any race when starting out, humans are never a particularly bad choice. They might be considered a default or vanilla option, and if you're playing a new class (though I would not recommend a human berserker!) their lack of xp penalty is nice. The orc is a custom race option for humans, and human dark-knights may transform into vampires eventually.

Gnomes are pretty gimp, and with the blunt vulnerability any mob which punches is going to hurt you more than it would an average person. I wouldn't consider a gnome a great choice for newbies. But with that said, they have really high wisdom and can get their skills to 71% in one session (lore and identify come mastered). Also. they have their own hashtag #gnome they can post on logs. Goblins are an evil variant which requires a custom race application after creating a gnome which requires an alignment change (edited as of July 2026)

Half-elves... Mediocre stats, and can choose to learn skills in one session realistically. Also tends to have racial legacies depending on the class, and some classes have mastered skills. Not a bad option, but probably not my first recommendation for a newbie. What classes they can play they tend to be at least okay as a pick. Half-elf paladin's Greginsham Plate legacy is very powerful and allows you to get away with healing significantly less so long as you bring yourself to a more critical state (great for solo play). Nymphs are a custom race based on half-elves which cannot be selected at character creation as of this time.

Illithids have three reasons I would avoid them for a newbie: only the illusionist and psionicist classes are available to them (though the illusionist class is okay and they make excellent psionicists), they are evil, and their slashing vulnerability is hard to deal with. Shock can allow them to survive lethal damage but then their mana is transferred to their HP and they become drained for a while.

Werebeasts are potentially newbie friendly. Probe can allow a newbie to explore more safely if they do so cautiously, and the transformed werebeast has strong stats. As a ranger, this is a solid option. As of the time of the second edit, the boar form is especially great because of the extra hp buffer between extra con while transformed and extra hp gain per level from higher maximum stats.

Dwarves are solid warriors or healers, though when people try to PK you they will attempt to make full use of your drowning vulnerability (which may be a good introduction to the concept). Magic/afflictive resistance is also nice to have. They tend to have a LOT of HP. Also a really good option for fighting invokers. Not a bad option overall anyway..

Duergars are like dwarves, only evil and with the additional vulnerability of light-based damage (which means non-evil rangers can rip you apart with their bows) as well as lower constitution. They also possess maledictive resistance instead of afflictive resistance (maledictive resistance can be nice to have). This wouldn't be one of my primary recommendations for a newbie.

Avians have flight, mental resistance, and a maledictive vulnerability. The mental resistance makes it harder to summon them, but the maledictive vulnerability can be a clutch. You can FLY and LAND at will with this race. The flight is the main deal with them because they have stats similar to a half-elf and higher xp penalty. The harpy race is a custom race based on avians. This is a good option in general.

Pixies are weak and of smaller size so I would avoid them. I would also recommend avoiding quasits because they are also small creating one is more complicated than the average character.

Halflings do well as monks and thieves, and I've seen people succeed as healers too do to the maledictive and negative resistance. Not necessarily the easiest choice but it's an option.

Jotuns have no especially meaningful vulnerability, but you need two sessions to get to 75% with one (though with 23 wisdom you'll have plenty to spare). Paladin and dark-knight are the only class options but seasoned players have said both are powerful. They may not be as quick to train as a drow for the dark-knight, but their large size has its advantages.

Sliths are interesting, especially with recent buffs. Shed skin can prove useful for getting away from a bad situation, and swallowing corpses means you don't have to worry about food so much. Not sure how viable they are, but with 100% spear I would consider them a possibility for either class.

Giants are not on my recommended list. Although storm giants can get skills/spells to 75% in two sessions, the low int and wis make improvements very slow. A minotaur is a similar quandary, though if you're playing a berserker they're not a bad choice.

Elves and drow may have autosneak and learn skills/spells in one session (and drow have faerie fire mastered), but with their exploitable material vulnerabilities [as of the time of the first edit, the material vulnerabilities are no longer meaningful), high xp cost, and frail constitution make them a more advanced choice. [EDIT: these are actually solid options now thanks to the introduction of material weaknesses as opposed to vulnerabilities]

I've not really played a serious treant, so cannot advise on them.

Jagar have a high xp penalty but also have high wisdom (for extra practice sessions) and lightning resistance (which makes it easier to fight the illithids in Enthema at the appropriate time). I've never taken one to 50 and from what I gather, halflings do better as monks (but halflings cannot be evil). (Third edit: they now also have a cold vulnerability)

Void-elves... I don't know if you can even create them before getting reputable status, but the psi is the only neutral psi (to my knowledge) albeit forced to take lawful neutral alignment. The ranger is different than the standard ranger. Not sure about shadows. One "feature" of the race is immunity to ecstasy, sleep, and insomnia.

As for classes:

Warriors are basic, if boring. It's not hard to play them, though they don't have any detects, any way of concealing themselves, or really any protective buffs. You do need to learn about combat style to properly play one, however. You can't go wrong with a warrior, anyway.

Thieves can be a bit tricky to learn, but they can hide from view and at that point, the only people who can see them directly (unless brought out of hiding in various ways) are other thieves or shadows. Most people HATE thieves, so this may not be the best way to learn the realms. If you choose to play a thief, just remember: your blackjack is your best friend. [Edit July 2026: this class is now called the rogue.]

Illusionists typically require a lot of knowledge of the game, so I wouldn't recommend them to a newbie as a first pick. On the flip side, many people desire somebody who can haste and slow them at will... And once you get to higher levels and make a friend or two, you'll have gate and somebody will probably tell you which mobs will allow you to travel across the realms as gate targets.

Necromancers are also a knowledge-intensive class. I would also not recommend this class to a newcomer. Add in the fact that you're evil (I'll get to the bit about alignments later), and your experience might prove to not be very enjoyable.

[FIRST EDIT: Psionicists were added since the initial post. I would not recommend them for a newbie because they are also a knowledge-intensive class. While not as bad as a necromancer or possibly a druid, this choice would most likely prove frustrating]

Healers are awesome, though religion may feel daunting at first. I'd recommend following an active Immortal like Lumubella or Avenar. You'll have a lot of friends on the goody side, but chances are you'll make enemies among the evils in AR. This is definitely a solid pick.

Shamans are the evil equivalent of healers only with more emphasis on the offensive. (Again, I will explain evil later.) Not necessarily a bad choice, but it makes things more difficult than they need to be.

Druids are a complex class. Putting aside the complexity and necessity of acquiring a druidic staff, they at least can be a neutral cleric type, so you don't have to pick sides necessarily. I would not generally recommend this as a first pick; maybe you might try it after getting a handle for the healer.

Rangers are another excellent class. They focus on physical combat like the warriors, but can also do neat stuff with their bows, and summon pets to fight alongside them in the wilderness. Also, camouflage is a great way to avoid fights (except against other rangers). I would say that the ranger would be one of my top recommendations for a newbie.

Berserkers... I will admit, they can be fun to play, but until you have played a warrior I would put off trying this class, since their fighting style is literally like a warrior's initially. However, once they get badly wounded, they will RAGE, and when you're raging and fail to relax you can't flee from a losing fight. Approach this class with caution.

Shadows seem to me like they could go two ways: a potentially good newbie class, and a potentially frustrating class for a newbie. Their detection and hiding abilities are unparalleled, but the chii meter can be a frustration. Also, ninjutsu use is important and a newbie might not know about that. Finally, it is not necessarily clear at first that you want to MEDITATE to regain mana.

The dark-knight is not a great choice for a newbie I would say. Although they are relatively simple to play, the evil alignment puts them in my category of "not recommended".

I don't know much about how to play monks, but they seem like a relatively easy and forgiving class. Perhaps someone else can fill in here?

Bards are an interesting choice... If you go neutral you're unlikely to have many enemies. I would say they're an acceptable choice, but not my first or second pick.

Finally, paladins are often self-reliant and have protective buffs and detect invisible but on the flip side will get attacked by evil characters quite often.

Now, as for alignments... Evil is generally a poor choice due to the potential for backstabbing groupmates, and the extra headache of the oath from the Knights of Valour (you can't take the oath AND buy protection from Legion at the same time... Buy protection while oathed and you become anathema... I believe taking the oath while you have protection revokes it and even puts a contract on your head). Good can be troublesome due to accidentally killing Lightwalkers and getting damnation. In other words, neutral alignment is generally what I would recommend initially. As for ethos... Lawful ethos is a double-edged sword. If you don't plan on fighting in town (or at all!), it can prove an advantage due to the hiring of constables to deter a fight. As for neutral or chaotic ethos, it does not tend to matter too much aside from getting orderly/wild equipment.

In parting, I welcome our other veterans to chime in on this and I am also willing to answer any questions anyone has about any of the contents herein.

Human healer- Yeah you can't kill anything, but you're not supposed to. Flying, recall, sanctuary, healing, identify, and locate. Everything you need to help learn the game. PK range is favorable when you get to that point.

This is an interesting thread, thanks Widow. There are a couple of points I want to make here as far as newbie oriented.

Sanctuary- Any class that has this spell is a great starting class, as they will help newbies out very well, the same thing for detect invisible.

You mentioned Paladin as being a difficult first choice, I think it's a great choice. Difficult rp restrictions should never be a reason not to play a class.

Invoker is probably the best newbie-friendly class there is, it has all the above, huge survivability, and is just overall great.

Finally, Monk the unsung hero. Sure they don't get detect or sanctuary, but hell Monk can tank a lot of things WITHOUT sanc. A great first-time class, if a little complicated.

At the end of the day, the onus is on us to help make newbies feel welcome, teach them about the game, etc. Take Eowug for instance. I killed Eowug once. Then, I lead him to his corpse and spent some time talking to him, educating him, and I was the bully who murdered him. Did I loot him? Absolutely not, would I of if he had things I could have used? Sure, I have no need to make people feel like that, but let me tell you something else. I still remember my first pk death. I was playing an elf ranger, or paladin for my first class because it sounded cool. Maybe werebeast ranger, it's all a blur from so long ago but this was back before crusader got changed, back when it was one-handed. I was requesting the crusader sword and a necromancer came in and chuckled at me. He was invisible and I had let I detects fail, but he had invisible zombies that lumbered in with him. I remember he walked in and snickered at me before casting sleep on me. Then he spelled me up and murdered me. I was so shocked when I ran back to Sorrow and had no corpse, no items left. I didn't know what happened. Then I saw him wearing my soul. Did he explain it to me? Of course not, and I set out to begin refitting feeling very frustrated.

I think human paladin is perfect. They are tough enough to have survivability, totally self sufficient for food/water/sanc/healing, they highlight one of the cool options like choosing a class spec, and they get all the benefits of being good aligned (lots of automatic allies/few enemies, requesting, able to get in on end game stuff, and lots of RP opportunities). I assume identify and word were given to Paladins simply to make them even more newbie-friendly (both critical for noobs).

Ultimately I'd say a newbie should play whatever they are passionate about (ie if reading about Wulfgar and Drizzt brought you to muds then you go ahead and be that human berserker or drow warrior). The paladin has more noob-friendly tools but if you play something you are passionate about you will probably have a lot of fun.

After human paladin the next most newbie friendly things are probably healer (anything but elf), and shaman (human/duergar) for the self-sufficiency aspect.

Play whatever you feel like playing and don't regret attacking players.

Bumping this due to the thread pip created. I will be editing the initial post soon.