[Merkin]

Well, I've got a bit of noteriety for starting new parties, so consider myself a bit of a guru on the "newbie" party. One thing to keep in mind for first time players is that many classes and party types really take some finesse to build properly. For a newbie party you want ones that are pretty easy to develop.

This party is one that I have found to be strong, simple, and takes good advantage of the goodies in the game:

Dracon Fighter
Dracon Fighter
Hobbit Bard
Hobbit Gadgeteer
Elf Priest
Elf Mage

On the fighters, pour all your points into str, dex, and spd. Leveling up, go 3 str, 2 dex, 1 spd. Everything else is secondary for awhile. On skills, Sword, Bow, Close combat. Ignore everything else until you get powerstrike, then drop either close or bow, depending on how much you like ranged attacks.

On the bard, it's dex, spd, and int. Again, 3,2,1 on level-ups. For skills, Music and PP, max amounts; split the rest between sword and bow.

Gadgeteer almost like the bard, except replace spd with sen. You want to max sen asap with the gadgeteer, to get eagle-eye. 3 dex, 2 spd, and 1 int on level-ups. Skills: Modern weap, locks, and engineering. The gadgeteer starts slow, but you will freaking love him by mid-game...worth the wait.

Spell casters are only slightly more difficult.

For the priest, it's pie, spd, and int. You need your priest to be fast, so he can get healing/cures off at the beginning of combat.

Level-ups are a bit different, 3 pie and 3 int until you get int to 60, then drop it and go 3 pie and 3 spd. Go for spells that protect the whole party (screens or buff) and ones that hinder, rather than hurt the enemy. You don't want to use the priest for fighting or dealing damage, his job is to keep the rest of the party in fighting trim.

For the mage, int,pie, and spd. At level-ups, 3,2,1 again. Go for spells in the natural realm (earth, air, water, fire) and concentrate on spells that deal a whole lotta pain to a whole lotta monsters. Fireball whipping rocks, and toxic cloud will be your very good friends through most of the game.

So there's my newbie party. As you see other folk have different ones. There is a damn near infinite variety of winning parties for this game, mine is only one. But it's one that I think will pleasantly surprise you.

Welcome to Wizardry!