I'm an avid user of Vim, so I'm sure I'll get over the modal interface of Blender. I have heard that people who are used to using different software (e.g. 3d studio max or SoftImage) have a harder time adapting, but I'm a clean slate, so I'm sure that part will be fine.

I want to work my way up to making a simple fight scene type deal. I don't have delusions of making Haloid or anything like that, but something simple to work towards.

Would I benefit from starting with something like Poser? Hopefully, there is some kind of ragdoll physics support so I can do things like shoulder throws and stuff in a more realistic way