Fair points. Not sure I entirely agree, but I’m not trying to say you’re wrong. I just found it interesting to suggest that.
1. Bards get expertise too.
2. Disagree about spell usage, because almost any player is going to need to get to grips with that anyway. At least if they use Gale, Wyll, or Shadowheart. Unless they are deliberately aiming for a no magic run or something, which would probably be very challenging.
3. Cunning actions are useful and necessary for character that needs to do a lot tactical maneuvering on the battlefield. I find rouges to need more careful positioning to be effective than some other classes.
4. Fair, but plenty of classes aren’t much worse. Paladin’s might be the trickiest, usually needing strength, constitution, charisma and probably some dex.
5. I probably would actually. I think most new players would aim to recruit as many companions as possible. They might only play once and probably want to see most of the game. Killing major characters off for role playing reasons seems more a thing for subsequent play throughs to me.
What I wouldn’t assume is that the OP is asking for the easiest class to play. Or that they don’t want to worry about using spells, or finding equipment that works well with their choice. They probably just don’t want to pick something that people generally agree is crap. I don’t think there are any such classes, btw.
My suggestion was based on being the most versatile, who can fit in with more party compositions, so you can take out the characters you want without worrying so much about having an unbalanced party. And also being a class not covered by other companions. Because if someone really likes Astarion and wants them in the party, having two rouges could be a bit limiting.
