Wow - this is all fantastic advice, thank you @Scrapulous and @thelee! I won't spam the thread by quoting every suggestion, but I'm definitely referring to it as I go through character creation. I ended up making a monk (which I'm probably going to play), a bloodmage and a fury druid (and I'm looking at a mind stalker now), and they're all sitting on the beach. This game is going to be so bad for my alt-itus.
As far as my Helwalker goes, I tried this stat spread (turn based, elf) - Might 9, Con 15, Dex 15, Per 19, Int 10, Res 10. No idea if that's how a helwalker is supposed to work (I'm thinking of dropping dex and pumping something else, not sure how important it is in turn based), but I'm hoping it'll get me through the classic experience at least!