Strategic possibilities for my new NCB (in General)

I am back in the blender after being away for 2 and a half years, and I made a new NCB

Is my character setup decent enough or should I replace/retrain anything? Of course it will be improved as I go along

Septimus/ADJUDICATOR

the enchants are EC (2543) after penalties and GA (2332)

Katana 74x7 (+8) soon to be improved, Compound Bow 5x25 (+10), LROBF level 8547 are the main equipment

1stly... since you have nthing i would suggest a mage strat

Tank strat as a first character would be difficult to run as lostling pointed out. However, there is rental to take advantage of. I'm sick and tired of suggesting single minion fireball mage with some training in evasion and dispel magic with the use of an RoE but that's the best power leveling strategy.

Try a defensive oriented tank strategy. Tattoo of endurance is current a ridiculous tattoo and you can build your strat around that. Run two minion strategy, with one training AMF 100%. You can either go with a heavy tank or a mage seeker. Heavy tank focuses on melee ( I would even go for evasion instead of bloodlust to make yourself last longer ). Mageseeker is a purely anti mage build with almost no ability to kill serious tanks. I suggest going with a mageseeker (rent one) for at least the first mil mpr of your character either way because extra armor does terrible things to your PR and challenge bonus. Use an RoE whenever possible until you hit 1.5mil max tattoo, then shop for a big ToE and level it up. Of course, I suggest starting over with the ncb and plan properly before hand. You might not have enough money yet but it's best to start ncb on Saturday during exp hour with 1600 BA saved. Good luck.

why do people keep saying "extra armor does terrible things to your PR and challenge bonus" at low levels?

The lower your MPR, the less your PR goes up with equipment. If I equipped a 10k MPR char with 375 AC, he would have like 12k MPR, but be able to kill over triple the score he otherwise would've been able to... The only point where you need to start stripping down is when you are approaching the "dead zone". When you have to pick and choose very carefully to even find CB% of 75+, that's when the armor is hurting you. Before then, and after then, armor up how you see fit, so long as you keep armor penalties in mind ;)

The 2 minion heavy tank / AMF enchanter strat he suggested is also a really great strategy, but it requires massive net worth, something a returning non-NUB player can't get :( Starting over would be a good idea, if you planned it out, and had enough $CB (40m or so) to buy most/all of your BA during your NUB. As it is, doesn't really matter. I would advise using your first char to get as much MPR as you can, learn the game (as it is now, a lot's changed in just 1 and a half years... After 2 and a half, it's a brand new game, I'm sure :P), then develop what kinda strat you want, whether it be in your head, on paper, or even notepad or CB forums :P Once you have your strat planned out, take some time off and join an economic clan and forge some of the items you need ;) Then you will be in the rat race of prepairing for the "ultimate NCB" that so many of us currently are :P

Consider a growth character spends at least 50% of its growth time at the deadzone, I stand by my statement. Especially if you can't strip down without seriously damaging your ability to fight. (Unless you spend 20mil+ each hiring your way through most of it)

Yes, go ahead and run the bread butter SFBM and maximize your income if you must. Or stick to the single archer (that's if your ultimate character is going to be an archer seeing how you will be acquiring archery equipments) and make good use of rental. Be prepared to part with your first ncb decisively after your run. Best luck to you.