Best race/class to learn caster?

[Maels]

I got a little tired of playing melee so I'm trying to learn casters but I'm having a real hard time and I can't get even get to lair. What race/class would you guys recommend for a newbie?

[KoboldLord]

Conjuror, fire elementalist, earth elementalist, and ice elementalist all have very simple skill progressions that are reasonably consistent from game to game until you hit the Lair. Basically, you train your magic skills until you get your power spells up, and then work on your defenses. Tactics can get a little tricky, but if you know how to break up pack monsters and lure dangerous monsters off one at a time, you should be okay most of the time.

For species selection, I'd go with a stocky, durable species like draconian, hill orc, merfolk, or human. The huge aptitude bonuses of deep elves and tengu and so on sound really good, but when you're learning the basic build the stocky species are a lot more forgiving. It's a lot harder to make it up to Fire Storm or Tornado with them, but probably you shouldn't be worrying about that until you have a couple conjuror-build wins in the bag.

For deities, Vehumet is a really straightforward choice. She gives you more of what your build revolves around and doesn't demand any investment in exchange. Other deities to experiment with while you're still learning the conjurations style include Sif Muna, Ashenzari, and Kiku. Others work just fine too, but the early game is a very tough time for a conjurations build to divert xp into a skill like invocations, because there are so many other skills demanding attention. You also don't gain as much from divine abilities that cost mp, because you already have more things to spend that mp on.

[Siegurt]

I would recommend Draconian for a beginning spellcaster race (Get some AC and toughness without making spellcasting more difficult, racially they give you some ability to survive if you should run out of mana, which is something that novice spellcasters do a lot) Generally they're a little more forgiving as a spellcaster race.

Each of the different book starts gives you a slightly different set of spells, I'd recommend picking Cj/(some kind of elementalist) for a blastery type or Necromancer/Summoner for a "melee with magical allies" feel, and playing around, maybe start to experiment with what each different spell set provides.

Wizards play like a hybrid between blasty and summoner type spellcaster (having some of each type of spell) it requires you have a fair degee of understanding of what each spell does to use their starting spellcaster set correctly and succesfully.

[tabstorm]

TeFE/Cj of Vehumet, you have .1 movespeed to escape from mistakes in mana accounting once you reach XL5.

[Maels]

I've never tried draconian or Hill orc, I'll give those a shot. My main problem so far has been survivability. Most early books focus only on dmge and they don't really give you any means of escape. I think that's why the only caster that I have been able to get to Lair so far has been the Venom Mage, Mephitic Cloud really helps a lot in the early game.

[radinms]

Spriggan Enchanter of Gozag.
-thanks to Spriggan's fast movement speed and high EV, you have a very easy time throughout all the game
-Spriggan and Gozag have a synergy, so you can buy !porriadge and a lot of books you want

Don't worry about Spriggan's magical aptitudes and investing EXP in Conjuration.
Spriggan Conj-Hex build is powerful.

[Tristian]

Draconians make excellent conjurers and wizards. Good aptitudes across the boards mean that you're not really going against any negative apts for spells. And having a +1 to Fighting , 10% more HP and innate AC really helps the survivability factor once you get past the first few dungeon levels.

*EDIT*
Also, don't forget about High Elves. Good talents for both magical and physical combat. Though either race makes for a good hybrid.

[Moanerette]

I've never tried draconian or Hill orc, I'll give those a shot. My main problem so far has been survivability. Most early books focus only on dmge and they don't really give you any means of escape. I think that's why the only caster that I have been able to get to Lair so far has been the Venom Mage, Mephitic Cloud really helps a lot in the early game.

You might find an Ice Elementalist to your liking; DrIE and DsIE are possibly my favourite combos. IE starting book contains Ozocubu's Armour, an excellent defensive spell, and one of the best level one spells, Freeze (this does necessitate being in melee range, but if you have a decently survivable species and use tactics to make sure you're only taking on one enemy at a time this isn't such a problem). Condensation Shield is another defensive spell in the book, but the real jewel is Summon Ice Beast. Ice Beasts are great through most of Lair - they will kill for you and fight while you make your escape, as necessary. The book really lends itself to hybridisation. As well as Veh and Sif, I find Kiku can be a nice god for IEs if you really want to go the ally route.

[tedric]

Seconding IE background for all Moanerette's reasons, and I'd suggest Merfolk as another good species to combo with it. Not fragile, good Ice apt, and the excellent Polearms apt means you can branch into melee quickly and easily and start safely poking things over your ice beasts or from across deep water.

[Sprucery]

You can't go wrong with a HOFE.

[partial]

MeIE, DcFE and TeCj have been my best caster combos (I usually play heavy melee)

[Eyesburn]

maybe Gargolye Earth Elementalist/Fire Elementalist;
sometimes I like playing Deep Elf Conjurer of Chei ^^

[Aule]

I nominate... oh, nevermind.

[Maels]

maybe Gargolye Earth Elementalist/Fire Elementalist;
sometimes I like playing Deep Elf Conjurer of Chei ^^

Gargoyles? really? I always thought they were more of a melee race since I see GrBr recommended all the time as an easy combo.

[Sar]

+2 Earth aptitude, sure is a melee race here.

[partial]

also +1 Conjurations

and super great racials

[hannobal]

I got my first win with Gargoyle Conjurer: Innate AC and rPois helped a lot in early game, and Conjurer starter spellbook has Magic Dart, Searing Ray and IMB which work in almost every situation.
Later on you can diversify to fire or earth, or whatever you get. I went earth because of the aptitude. Sif's Channeling works well with Gr reduced metabolism, but Vehumet would also be a very solid choice, additional range is good with stone arrow/iron shot/LCS.

[Maels]

So far I've had the most success with DrFE and GrEE, I love the color change mechanic in draconians and Passwall has worked great in getting me out of some bad situations. I think I'll stick to those two for a while until I get used to the casters and get rid of the bad habits I developed playing berserker

[partial]

I got my first win with Gargoyle Conjurer: Innate AC and rPois helped a lot in early game, and Conjurer starter spellbook has Magic Dart, Searing Ray and IMB which work in almost every situation.
Later on you can diversify to fire or earth, or whatever you get. I went earth because of the aptitude. Sif's Channeling works well with Gr reduced metabolism, but Vehumet would also be a very solid choice, additional range is good with stone arrow/iron shot/LCS.

Gr don't have slow metabolism anymore iirc

[XuaXua]

Just watch out for Deep Troll Earth Elementalists.

[flamingo]

Human Wizard.

Train magic skills until spell failure is 5% or lower. Only train Spellcasting when you want more spell levels.

Learn Call Imp, Conjure Flame, Blink, Mephitic Cloud, Repel Missiles, in that order. Most early enemies can be confused by Mephitic Cloud.

Learn better attack spells as you find spellbooks in the dungeon.

Worship Ashenzari, and curse a worn ring and worn amulet to boost your spell skills.