Best starting character?

[Aurorious]

Hi, is there a recommendation for first time? Ive seen some posts saying mage is hard. Also, how long is one playthrough? You need at least 3x to 100% the achievements right?

[littlelostkiwi]

I have done all three play-throughs (for the platinum on the PlayStation), and the Paladin was comfortably the easiest starting character for me.

Their strength is that they have the largest armies, and the unit advantage you get makes a significant difference. Not only do you have a stronger army compared to the other classes almost immediately after starting the game, but you also get access to the strongest units earlier than the other classes do as well.

Mage is indeed hard. It can get easier later in the game when you get the most powerful spells, but it is brutally hard until then.

Note that I played the game before they introduced the difficulty options.

[Mindeveler]

I played the last version using mage on the hardest difficulty and she was pretty strong.
Warrior is bugged in the last patch or so I've heard.
Paladin should be a decent option, yeah.

[OwlRaider]

Mage is the hardest character to start with because it has the smallest armies and early game spells don't make enough of a difference to counteract the smaller army. Once you get some good spells and enough mage power your spells suddenly become insanely good which also makes the Mage the strongest late game character. One can make the argument for the Paladin by virtue of max leadership allowing a full stack of Chimeras and Celestial Warriors. Which may just be powerful enough to compete with supercharged late game magic, but I still think magic used well with still good late game troops is stronger.

Similarly Paladin is the easiest character to start with by virtue of leadership alone, as the early game is all about leadership. It also has access to magic but you don't want to use any direct damage spells due to low magic power, but there are plenty of good buff and debuff spells Paladins can use to great effect. Warrior is arguably the worst character due to lack of magic entirely barring scrolls. Warfare on its own doesn't make up for it, but since it also allows you to focus your equipment on just combat and the ability to still get some spells via set bonuses Warriors are still perfectly functional and have just enough leadership for some incredibly powerful stacks boosted by said warfare and combat stats.

[QUANTUM MECHANICS c000021a]

Warrior for sure, then paladin and last mage.