What are the major pros and of each and which is better for a beginner?

Why?

Because you can spam hide and sneak, then use them in order to avoid many of the guys that would kill you. You also have mark of the prey for that one ranger or muter (assuming you can get it onto them without dying in the process -- but that's easy enough).

You have detect hidden and detect invis (the latter via the heightened awareness skill) in order to see enemies coming who might otherwise kill you. It will also allow you to see hidden and invisible mobs.

You have a skill that helps you save vs spells, and you tank well, plus you can vanish (teleport within the area) helping you to survive vs mobs and players.

You have skills that should turn almost any fight if used correctly. Kotegaeshi, for example, is very nice vs most melee people, and most spellcasters can't stop you running away if they get the upper hand.

Finally, you can attack people who don't know that YOU are coming, by attacking when they are hurt, or have lagged themselves out.

I would go as a shapeshifter if I would begin playing.
They are easy, good for explore and don't need so much hard to gather eq as for example warriors.

On midranks, they are good even without wands. If you will have defense/offense, you will be able to look for your wands too, and you will be often welcomed to the groups who needs a tank.

Also, one of the best ways to learn the game - to look for your wands.

Just my 0.2 cents

>What are the major pros and of each and which is better for a
>beginner?

Don't look at it as casters vs melee, look at it as wand users, empowerment characters and non-empowerment/non-wand users.

Wand users are meant to be semi-scarce, so to be balanced you really need to obtain some combination of wands to compete. They can be difficult to survive with for a newbie. This is meant to keep the number of magi down, it's not a very good newbie class because of this except for transmuters and good-aligned conjurers and some shapeshifters who can get by without wands and are more newbie friendly. That being said, wand users have a lot of upper end power and survivability and typically don't require as much gear.

Empowerment characters require empowerment, which can be a nuisance (my last char waited on empowerment for 40 hours, sent notes, no response, etc). That being said, once you're empowered life is much easier as you're somewhere in between a non-empowerment char and a mage in terms of power/convenience.

Other characters like thieves, rangers, warriors, orcs, etc. are easy in the sense that they require very little in the means of prep and don't require any empowerment but they do rely on skill practice and gear more than priests (empowerment) and magi.

For a complete beginner, non-caster/non-empowerment is recommended, then empowerment, then magi.

I feel like the answer changes depending on what his goals are. Are they:

1. Explore and learn some gear while not dying all the time,
2. All of the above + get into some fights,
3. All of the above + actually make some people flee from you,
4. All of the above + actually kill some people.

My recs are still: assassin, ranger, shield paladin, healer, transmuter, bard.

If (as a newbie) you actually want to kill people (outside of assassinate) then probably shield paladin or ranger. If you just want easy ranking and the ability to explore (or get taken on trips to exotic places) then healer/transmuter/bard.

My first PK ever was with a ranger.

Of course, I had wall of thorns and insect swarm and it was on someone a Sylvan had no business killing and I only found them because they were in (old) FoN and it only took me a good 8 months to do that... but I digress.

And I couldn't get it to post. If you find it to be rambling and incoherent, blame Vicks, a Proctor and Gamble Company.

First of all, it's not that simple. An assassin is a melee class that is extremely beginner-friendly. A thief has a lot in common with an assassin, but due to the system of "thief points" is probably not something you want to start with.

Warriors can be very beginner friendly, especially at low levels, but at higher levels gear knowledge will become more and more of a concern. Also, the sheer number of options for customizing a warrior create a situation where some builds are much better for learning the class than others. A sword spec, for example, is a lot more fogiving to learn on than a dagger spec.

Rangers are, like assassins, excellent for a new player as they have high survivability and can hide extremely well in the wilderness.

Just for learning your way around Thera, an assassin or a ranger is almosst certainly the way to go. Both are often coveted groupmates, and both have the ability to hide and heal themselves. For alignment, there are benefits to both good and neutral, but best to stay away from evil at the beginning (in my opinion.)

When it comes to mage classes (all priests are non-newbie-friendly) on one end of the spectrum is the necromancer and anti-paladin, both of which are far from being good choices for the new player. On the other end is the Orderly-Good Conjurer, which is one of the best choices for exploring in the game. Conjies of other alignments are not good choices to begin with.

In the middle are invokers, transmuters, neither of which are probably a good choice and shapeshifters, which (like warriors) are very customizable. Some of these builds are very newbie-friendly. Others are not.

Another issue to think about is the wand system. Each mage has certain protective wands semi-unique to them that they can search for. (Whether or not the wands are essential is a matter of some debate.) If you don't know how to get around, it's unlikely that you'll find your wands, which is one reason to perhaps not choose a mage for a first character. To further complicate the issue, both Orderly-Good and Orderly-Evil conjurers can often get away without using these wands.

I said there were no easy answers.

Let's see if I can make a little chart.

Warrior:
Pro: Strong at low levels; coveted in groups; very customizable
Con: Gear dependent; weak at higher levels in the hands of the inexperienced; very customizable

Assassin:
Pro: Can hide; can heal; coveted in groups; excellent survivability
Con: None (but I'm biased)

Thief:
Pro: Can hide; very customizable
Con: Customization can be complicated

Ranger:
Pro: Can hide; can heal; coveted in many groups; excellent survivability; very customizable
Con: Most skills work better in the wilderness; some skills only work in the wilderness; certain customizations are much more newbie-friendly than others

O/G Conjie:
Pro: After level 35 has super-excellent survivability; can identify objects (all melee classes can 'lore' items, but identify is better); familiar is extremely useful for exploring
Con: Hunted by BattleRagers; Hunted by Outlanders; Hunted by Imperials; Hunted by Scion; Hunted by various other evil characters

Defense/XXX Shapeshifter:
Pro: Survivability
Con: Hunted by BattleRagers; can't communicate in form; forms are assigned randomly and the ones you get might not be great

All in all, there truly is no answer. If you ask me, I'd say to roll up an assassin, learn your way around the game. Once you get can to all of the major cities and a few of the major ranking areas you can either keep going with the assassin or you can roll up whatever else seems like fun.

The important thing to remember is that it's a game and if you're not having fun you're not doing it right. Good luck and welcome to the fields.

I would not do a mage as a beginner unless you plan to do a transmuter and just explore areas while in duo dimension. Mages really benefit from sleek wands at the higher ranks and sometimes they're hard to find. Playing a class without that particular problem might let you get into the "thick of things" a little quicker and not be quite so disadvantaged.

If you feel competent to role-play with an immortal, communers aren't a terrible choice. Just be sure to pick an active imm. Shield paladin might be worth a shot. They're pretty durable, the PK strategy is straightforward, and you're likely to have people want to help you in game. (As opposed to an evil character.)

Full disclosure: the standard advice is to start with warriors.