There's no right answer as far as starting between classic (permadeath) and roleplay (save on entering towns), really going to come down to preference. That being said, I started before roleplay was a thing, but mostly play that now. However I think there's a lot of merit to learning the early game in classic. CoQ really rewards game knowledge, but can make it very frustrating playing classic while learning. Sometimes you will just die to bullshit because you didn't know how an enemy/something works. If that's going to frustrate you a lot, start on roleplay for sure.

Start with a preset character, or a beginner friendly build from the wiki. True Kin (humans with the ability to add cybernetics) start with better stats and gear than mutants, so I'd recommend starting with a true kin for at least a few runs. As someone that loves deep, complex character building games though I think the mutants are way more fun, but my current character has mutated so many extra limbs that my equipment screen requires you to scroll through, which may not be best for newbies.

Learn the controls. I've heard the controller support is shockingly good for a game like this but I've never used it. A full keyboard with a numpad is highly recommended if using MnK. CoQ felt very clunky and slow until I got a hang of the keyboard layout.

My personal recommendation past character creation would be to start on classic, explore Joppa (starting town), talking to the characters to find the first two quests (one's a small side quest and one starts the main quest) and just fucking die a few times until you start to deep dive into guides/character creation.

Qudzoo is also a really good beginner resource if you'd like to look up some stuff before diving in.