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[Fortis]

Yeah, being new myself, I think I might want to steer clear of magic as well.

Though in terms of custom content, I rather like making exceptions to races. Normally a good individual to a normally evil race, or something like that. Often, their racial skills are altered to reflect an upbringing by a different race. For example, an elf might have a default language of dwarvish but can't speak elvish. Things along those lines.

[RandomNumberGenerator]

Since the limit of my 4.0 experience is a character builder I downloaded ten minutes ago, I think I'd like to stick with a dwarven fighter.

Could you post the link?

Anyway, I understand Clerical Magic well enough (your deity gives you X amount of A-type spells and Y amount of B-type spells per day, which you chose by prayers) but arcane magic with the spellbooks and the reagents and all those assorted penalties and bonuses are just confusing. The two games I played before were Druid and Cleric, and I liked having heavy armor as Cleric which is why I'm willing to be Paladin or Fighter this time. Or I might just stick with Cleric. I like Cleric. Which is odd, because I'm nonreligious in real life. Maybe it's the premise of gods that actually do something which intrigues me...

Hmm... would the campaign be running in a standard D&D world, or would it be a new world using D&D rules(different gods and races and such, ala OotS or FFH).

[Nirur Torir]

Since the limit of my 4.0 experience is a character builder I downloaded ten minutes ago, I think I'd like to stick with a dwarven fighter.

Could you post the link?

Sure, here it is: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/characterbuilder

There's a demo that apparently works for characters from level 1-3.

[Cerej]

Regarding alignment.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

4E originally had very few rules involving alignment.  There was a short list of "Lawful Good, Good, Neutral, Evil, Chaotic Evil" but those didn't matter for anything but what god you served.  In fact, the rules had a section in both the Cleric class and the Paladin class that said (paraphrasing): The powers of these classes are invested into the character by the church of that god, and cannot be revoked if the character later turns his back upon the god.  As such, I'm removing all rules concerning alignment.

That said, if writing down "Lawful Good" or "Chaotic Neutral" on your character sheet helps you, feel free to do so.

TLDR:  There is no such thing as alignment anymore.
I see some comments about avoiding magic classes because they're more complicated.  That was true in 3.X, but it's not true in 4E.  The difference is because 4E uses "Powers" for all the classes.
Brief overview of "Powers" in 4E.  If you don't know what powers are, if you're new to 4E, or if you want a refresher, read what's in the spoiler.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

4th Edition has unified the mechanics behind classes.  No matter what class you pick you'll be using the same mechanics during combat.  They're called attack powers, and there are three types of attack powers.

• At-Will Attack Powers
• Encounter Attack Powers
• Daily Attack Powers

Each character knows two at-will attack powers for existing, and each character knows at least two more for being part of a class.  Humans know an extra at-will power from their class, and psionic classes are... different.  Non-psionic classes also learn encounter powers and daily powers as they level up.  You start with one encounter power and one daily power at level one, and you end up with three of each later on.

The two at-will powers everyone knows represent basic combat with hand-to-hand weapons and ranged weapons, and they are called "Melee Basic Attack" and "Ranged Basic Attack."  Most of the time you won't use these, because your class at-wills are better.

Your class at-will powers represent a fighter's superior hand-to-hand skill, a rogue's dexterity and tricky ways, a cleric's divine blessings, or a wizard's magical power.   You can use them all day long, as many times as you need or want to.

Your class encounter powers represent bursts of extra effort you can do.  It might be a sword trick that only works when the enemy doesn't expect it, a spell that requires more effort than you can always use, or a divine intervention that only works so often.  Once you use an encounter power, you can't use that same encounter power again until you take a "short rest" (5 minutes).

Your class daily powers represent the reserves of energy you can use when your life is in danger.  These are the sword techniques that you can never get right during practice, the magic spells that are normally too complex for you, and the big life saving actions of gods.  4E assumes you're a big damn hero, and when the chips are down you can pull off the dangerous forbidden technique.  You can use daily powers whenever you want, but you can't use the same daily power again until you take an "extended rest" (6 hours).

How does this affect character creation?  You pick two at-will powers, one encounter power, and one daily power.  Then you try them out.  If you aren't happy with them?  You can switch them.  (The published rules for "retraining" powers suck so we'll play fast and loose until you're happy with the powers you have.) 

TLDR:  Magic classes are a lot less complicated than they used to be, but fighter classes are slightly more complicated than they used to be.
Stuff regarding re-flavoring and what the world will be like is coming.

[RandomNumberGenerator]

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/characterbuilder

That's a nifty little toy to play around with. Makes it much easier to make characters.

Regarding alignment.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

4E originally had very few rules involving alignment.  There was a short list of "Lawful Good, Good, Neutral, Evil, Chaotic Evil" but those didn't matter for anything but what god you served.  In fact, the rules had a section in both the Cleric class and the Paladin class that said (paraphrasing): The powers of these classes are invested into the character by the church of that god, and cannot be revoked if the character later turns his back upon the god.  As such, I'm removing all rules concerning alignment.

That said, if writing down "Lawful Good" or "Chaotic Neutral" on your character sheet helps you, feel free to do so.

TLDR:  There is no such thing as alignment anymore.
I see some comments about avoiding magic classes because they're more complicated.  That was true in 3.X, but it's not true in 4E.  The difference is because 4E uses "Powers" for all the classes.
Brief overview of "Powers" in 4E.  If you don't know what powers are, if you're new to 4E, or if you want a refresher, read what's in the spoiler.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

4th Edition has unified the mechanics behind classes.  No matter what class you pick you'll be using the same mechanics during combat.  They're called attack powers, and there are three types of attack powers.

• At-Will Attack Powers
• Encounter Attack Powers
• Daily Attack Powers

Each character knows two at-will attack powers for existing, and each character knows at least two more for being part of a class.  Humans know an extra at-will power from their class, and psionic classes are... different.  Non-psionic classes also learn encounter powers and daily powers as they level up.  You start with one encounter power and one daily power at level one, and you end up with three of each later on.

The two at-will powers everyone knows represent basic combat with hand-to-hand weapons and ranged weapons, and they are called "Melee Basic Attack" and "Ranged Basic Attack."  Most of the time you won't use these, because your class at-wills are better.

Your class at-will powers represent a fighter's superior hand-to-hand skill, a rogue's dexterity and tricky ways, a cleric's divine blessings, or a wizard's magical power.   You can use them all day long, as many times as you need or want to.

Your class encounter powers represent bursts of extra effort you can do.  It might be a sword trick that only works when the enemy doesn't expect it, a spell that requires more effort than you can always use, or a divine intervention that only works so often.  Once you use an encounter power, you can't use that same encounter power again until you take a "short rest" (5 minutes).

Your class daily powers represent the reserves of energy you can use when your life is in danger.  These are the sword techniques that you can never get right during practice, the magic spells that are normally too complex for you, and the big life saving actions of gods.  4E assumes you're a big damn hero, and when the chips are down you can pull off the dangerous forbidden technique.  You can use daily powers whenever you want, but you can't use the same daily power again until you take an "extended rest" (6 hours).

How does this affect character creation?  You pick two at-will powers, one encounter power, and one daily power.  Then you try them out.  If you aren't happy with them?  You can switch them.  (The published rules for "retraining" powers suck so we'll play fast and loose until you're happy with the powers you have.) 

TLDR:  Magic classes are a lot less complicated than they used to be, but fighter classes are slightly more complicated than they used to be.
Stuff regarding re-flavoring and what the world will be like is coming.

Huh. Well that simplifies things. So... do spells like Cure Light Wounds not exist anymore, and instead you have abilities like Healing Strike?

Maybe I will take a magic class... though at this point I'm still pretty much open to just about anything. Any idea when we're going forward with this?

[Cerej]

Some spells (like Cure Light Wounds) have been made into powers.  Most of them were not.  (There were an awful lot of spells.)  For those curious, Cure Light Wounds is a "utility power" which is a catch-all term for powers that aren't attacks.  You'll get your first choice of utility powers at level 2, but some classes get specific utility powers at level 1.

Healing is one of the things that's changed between editions.  Artificers, bards, clerics, rune priests, shaman, and warlords are all healers.  Plus maybe a class I haven't heard about.  Healer classes (or "leaders" as 4E calls them) handle in-combat healing, out-of-combat healing happens every time you take a short rest.

Really abridged version of healing: Your character has healing surges.  All healing is 25% of your max HP, and every time you're healed it costs you a healing surge.  You recover your healing surges after taking an extended rest.  There are powers that are exceptions to these rules, but those powers contain all the information needed to know how they work.

[RandomNumberGenerator]

Utility power? Healing surge? That seems even more confusing than it was before.

[Cerej]

It's new terminology, that's all.  It's actually simpler in play than it was before.
Also, information on re-flavoring.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If there's any part of your character that you would like to flavor differently than the rules, feel free to ask.  I'm willing to go beyond stuff as simple as “elf who grew up among dwarves and has different skills than default elves,” but you have to include me in the process for that.  But to give examples of what's doable, we could re-flavor a swordmage (by default a wizard trained in armored combat) into a paladin without much fuss at all.  The Aegis of Shielding fits the idea of a protecting paladin perfectly, better, in my opinion, than the Divine Challenge “real” paladins get.

Or another possibility, maybe you like the idea of playing a warlord, inspiring your teammates to victory.  But the team needs you to be a cleric for some reason.  It's not hard to make some changes to the cleric powers and get something closer to what you want.

I'm not saying you'll get everything you want, but if you'd like to change something I'm willing to hear you ask.

TLDR:  Ask and we'll work on it.

[Fortis]

Is there a website somewhere with information on the different classes I can choose from?

[RandomNumberGenerator]

It's new terminology, that's all.  It's actually simpler in play than it was before.

I'll take your word for it.

Is there a website somewhere with information on the different classes I can choose from?

Just going off of what I know, there is:

Fighter - Generic Physical Class. Can be mixing it up on the frontlines with a giant axe, defending his allies with a sword & shield, or hanging back with a bow & arrow.
Paladin - Similar to a fighter, but they lack some martial prowess in exchange for a few divine powers. Sort of like a cleric-fighter hybrid.
Cleric - Servants of the gods(they usually have one patron god, though they may hold others in high esteem) and is where they get their powers. They are casters, but don't need a spellbook; all their abilities are given by prayer, not study. Because of this, they can wear heavy armor and fight on the front lines, though they are perfectly able to stand in the back and heal/enhance their allies.
Rogue - Instead of using raw strength like a fighter, rogues rely on dexterity and stealth. They can be on the front lines or hanging back with ranged weapons, but unlike fighters, paladins and even clerics, they are not the ones you want a monster beating on.
Wizard - Standard spellcaster. They have a spellbook, and cast spells. Used to be much more versatile(and much more complicated) but apparently it['s been simplified by 4E.
Sorcerer - Like a wizard, but instead of learning magic, it comes naturally. Don't know much about them.
Barbarian - Barbarians are to fighters as sorcerers are to wizards. That is, rather than studying martial techniques, battle comes naturally to them.
Ranger - Rogue... ish, but rather than being urban and thief-y, they are more at home in the wilderness.
Druid - Natural version of the Cleric, sort of. All their magic is based off nature, and protecting it. Weaker than clerics in battle, but stronger than wizards and sorcerers.

I think that's it... did I miss anything? I can't say for sure. Anyway, I would suggest checking out that character creator Nirur posted. Lots of information in that. 

[Fortis]

I'm thinking an agile fighter, perhaps a rogue would be good. Someone who relies on dexterity to avoid blows rather than toughing them out.

[RandomNumberGenerator]

Yeah, Rogue fits that best, though Ranger and a certain build of Barbarian could do that as well.

[Fortis]

I'll try a rogue. It fits what I had in mind. An individual from an evil race raised by good parents, who comes to an equilibrium at mischievous.

[RandomNumberGenerator]

I'll try a rogue. It fits what I had in mind. An individual from an evil race raised by good parents, who comes to an equilibrium at mischievous.

Hmm... probably end up being a Drow or Goblin, then. Not many other evil races that are good rogues, unless you get into the obscure ones. You can get an interesting character with that though, because if Cerej allows the background benefits in the character creator Nirur posted, you can take a skill that your race/class normally wouldn't have access to.

Still leaning towards Human (or possible Dragonborn, but Human is more likely) Cleric of Bahamut here, though I'm contemplating an Elven Fighter or Tiefling Wizard.

[Fortis]

I was thinking one of these: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Driders_%284e_Race%29

And I don't need too many benefits. I mostly want to play an unusual race in unusual circumstances, not because I want a heap of benefits. I'm not a munchkin. The benefits would be tailored to represent her background, even if they aren't the best combination.