It might seem counter-intuitive, but I really think that the best choice a newish player can make is to roll up a Villager.
Playing Battle means that all of a sudden the entire game is no-recall/no-teleport. This will come in tremendously handy
down the road when your non-Battle characters end up in areas that you can't transport yourself from, or when you have
insects on you, or any number of other situations that can be difficult for newer players (who often rely on quaffing as a
solution to many problems.)
No, you won't learn any preps, but that should be something you do with your next serious character. This Villager should
be to teach you how to walk everywhere. Being able to get around the game should be your first priority. With Battle you
can either learn this or learn how to get back to your corpse. It's that simple.
Additionally, if you go Thug thief/defender you can do all sorts of exploring solo, plus getting early mage kills is stupid easy.
Think about it?