Dragon's Dogma Vocation Leveling Early

it seems to me that your vocation rank increases very quickly with combat. I'd stick to low level enemies(wolves,goblins, saurians) to rank up quickly. There are a couple hunting quest early in the game that will have you fighting such enemies so not only will you be increasing your vocation rank you can also add a good deal of XP to increase your overall rank as well.

I'd stay away from large groups of humans(or any large groups for that matter) as they are VERY deadly to you early on( some bowmen can one shot kill you). better to take them on one at a time in the beginning, same goes for saurians, very deadly early on in groups.

in summary, I'd stick to the area before the mountain way castle around the encampment, around the witchwood area and around the ruined castle area. (though there are tons of human enemies you will rank up your vocation quickly). just be careful not to go too far west as there is massive beasts in that area as well as north of gran soren, massive beasts that will rip you to shreds, quickly lol.

hope that helps