Well, first of all, my advice would be to remember that this is a roleplaying game. I may be misunderstanding the content of your post, but to me it appears that you are focusing a little much on "Winning". D&D is not a game to be won, and rather than focus on whether you can solo a dungeon, try focusing on playing your character.
Of course, it is ultimately a game, and so you should of course do what appeals to you the most, but I'd still say that CRPGs would be more suited to, to use a perhaps slightly biased word, rollplaying. I'm just saying that, at least in my personal opinion, living out the character you've created really improves the experience.
Now, as for what race and class you are going to play, that depends on what edition you're playing. Personally, I only have experience with 3.5e, but I'd say go with what appeals to you the most. No sense in playing a fighter if a wizard is what appeals to you.
-- Iroel
:D Well yah i got D&D yesterday and might going to be playing today or maybe sunday and well i need some advice and tips for a good first game. Im only 11 years old and im interested in the game (my dad played when he was a kid) like is there a best class and race for beginners or are they all the same? would i be able to solo a lvl 1 dungeon at lvl 1 with maybe my friend? I dont have a party to play with should i get my friends interested or is there a place where i can go to make a party mabe like a hobby store that on some days plays D&D? well thats all i can think of if you can think of more stuff i would gladly appreciate it.
Really before we can answer your question we do need to know the edition you are playing. You should get more freinds the more the merrier after all, keeping in mind someone has to be the DM.
Or you can get the box set of starter rules. Either one is great for getting started.
Really before we can answer your question we do need to know the edition you are playing. You should get more freinds the more the merrier after all, keeping in mind someone has to be the DM.
im playing V4
Ok, in that case there really isn't a best race class combo for a new player, all races and classes are for the most part equal in complexity to play. So you need to ask yourself, do you want to play a heroic fighter, that is near immoveable and can take a beating, or do you want to be a spellcaster that can call down death onto hordes of enemies, or do you want to be a holy knight like Lancelot?
QFT. The races and classes are pretty well balanced. About the only thing you might consider would be to pick a race that gives you a bonus to the primary stat of your class. In other words, pick your class, then pick a race that gives a bonus to that class. Even considering that though, I think you really can play any class with any race, the best choice is ultimately going to be the class and race combo that you think you will enjoy the most.
I also agree with the sentiment that the more the merrier. If you can get more friends into D&D, you will almost certainly have more fun. You can play D&D with just 2 people to be sure, but for most of us, the fun comes from sitting around a table with a group of friends. With the right group, the outcome of the fights is really mostly irrelevant to whether or not we have fun (naturally as players we prefer to survive, but even when we die we still have fun if in the right group).
As for soloing a dungeon. Again, I think most any class can be made to do well solo given the right DM. Keep in mind though that published adventures are written with the expectation that the party will consist of 5 characters. If you are going solo, the DM will have to adjust any published adventure quite a bit. (A general rule of thumb is that 5 level 1 creatures are a standard challenge for a party of 5 level 1 characters, so there should be 1 level 1 creature for a solo player at level 1 -- in general).