I'll say first off that I've been, well, trying to play CF for years now. It hasn't been very successful, but I'm really going to committ myself to this next character. I'm pretty good at roleplay; I love writing roles and I've been empowered in the past. I also have a working knowledge of gameplay and areas. But I'm still a newbie in one sense: I've never had a character get past about the 20th level. And with all the changes that have occurred over the years, I really want a solid, decent character with good survival skills.

Here's my concerns with possible classes:

Warrior: I've heard that warriors are heavily gear-dependent. I can usually find decent items, but it's not as if I can go from being full-looted to a good set in a matter of minutes. I've also never played around with specs or legacies, and I always feel vulnerable as a warrior without access to detect invis/hidden.

A-P's: I've read that too many people try to play A-P's without knowing enough about them. Since I know nothing about them, I feel like I should stay away. Besides, I think I should save being a badass for my second or third real character.

Mages (any kind): I could handle the spamming spells and running away from warriors until attaining a certain level, but I always hear people discussing preps and A/B/S and I just don't have any idea where to gather those items. Besides, I imagine mages aren't the best for surviving the teen ranks. I have been told shifters are easy to play, but I'm worried I might get bored.

Thief/Bard/Ranger: I'm willing to look into this, but I'm not familiar with any of the skills, especially the thief skills.

Assassin: It seems that this is an obvious choice. I'll go with it, but I'd like to know other's opinions.

Paladin: I love playing paladins and I love roleplaying them. But I always end up trying to get empowered by some God who's dormant or actually runs Empire or Outlander or something like that. The exp. penalty hurts a bit, too.

Shaman/Healer: My dream is actually to play a shaman, but I worry it's not the best choice for getting my feet wet. Healers are apparently great for exploring, but it's hard to kill anything unless you get some fantastic mace - it seems. I'm confident I can get empowered, but less confident I can avoid getting PK'd over and over again.

So, again, I'm wondering: what's a good race/class combo that can survive the mid ranks, isn't heavily gear or prep-dependent, and is interesting? I know any combo can work, but I've had a long string of failed lowbie characters in the past, and I'm looking for something that won't make me discouraged before I even enter PK range.


Thanks in advance.