Greetings [@Caitimus],

I am certainly interested in your proposal and to answer your questions in order as so requested, I would prefer, in a game, to spend roughly the following amount of time as so:

a) 50% Combat and Conflict
b) 45% Adventuring or Exploration
c) 5% Riddle Solving

As you can tell, I am not so partial to riddles and puzzles, the vast majority of them I have encountered I admit left nothing but a sour taste in my mouth. If you do intend on including them frequently, all I ask is that they do not require something extremely obscure, let alone metagame knowledge. I much prefer the puzzles where one needs find a pattern or equate a philosophical statement with its meaning or purpose.

With regard to specific elements and how they so go? I am very fond of the themes of fighting the undead, a power struggle of church and state, and of course the "zero to hero" as you so put it. The former because it allows use to fight hordes of enemies who are, by and large, unambiguously evil and makes interacting with other characters another flavor; an undead plague is always a great theme to crusade against. A battle of church and state, if done well, can provide a fair amount of decision points for characters and who they really wish to, if at all, ally with and ultimately help legitimize. Rising from the bottom to the pinnacle is a sort of fantasy fulfillment, especially if the characters all share some relation, even if tangential at best.

I tend not to play characters who have any allegiances to deities, but I would be much more curious to see an original pantheon than the default ones crafted by the Dungeon Master. It at least would be new, refreshed content. Granted I haven't seen many stereotypical "Clerics of Pelor" or "Druids of Obad-Hai", but it is sort of a superior experience, I think, to have something different than what is known there, even if I myself decline to use it; I like having the option and not just for me, but for the party.

As far as characters knowing one another goes, I would rather one of two routes; either the party all knows one another from the same region, having at least heard of their names or at minimum seen their face, or even lived in the same town or thorp. While this will not always work out for them all, someone can at least say, "I've seen him before! He cast a few drunken ruffians out of the tavern. He's probably an okay fellow - haven't heard bad about him and he can fight, too." The second option is, is that they were all called together, or worked together, in a previous and far more minor adventure and are now allies.

Of all the classes and races I am considering, I am probably looking to play, at this moment an older human, half-elf, or half-orc paladin who is a noble. Someone sort of declining in their years and has decided they spent too much time aside and far from being involved in their own homeland; a name people might be sort of familiar with, but sort of surprised to hear and see in the flesh, let alone gallivanting across the realm. If we are starting at a lower level, as in 1st, I will probably play the same race and class, but a novice paladin who's on their quest to adhere to their title and status, to make a name for themselves and a cause.

I am entirely fine with all books and supplements, to include Unearthed Arcana, but my recommendation is, whatever the newest version of something is, that is used.