Im a nub, no idea how to start

[Alhazred]

Aight im a nub, at this moment in time im running around on a server i hosted in classic as a pally getting levels.

Thing is i havnt spent any skill points or char stats, im really really damn confused what im supposed to do.

I had a necro yesterday, got him to act II with another guy before getting owned badly in sewers, my summons sucked and i had no decent spells (despite some nice items).

Now ive decided to make a pally but the thing is i dont know what to do, i dont want to do what i did last time and realise i screwed up all my stats when i get into the monastary (thats when i got raped). So can somone give me a few decent tips / pointers on how to distribute skill points and stuff.

Like i said i dunno what im doing, i just want a nice / usefull character that dosnt suck crap later in the game.

Also any advice you can give me in any aspect of the game would be appreciated, im a total nub and everything here is way over my head, i tried reading the terminology section and got confused x.x

[Dacar92]

Try the Classic build guides here (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=341767). These will help you through the game. Read up on how to spend stat and skill points. This forum is full of help, like the home page of D2.net (http://www.diabloii.net/). Look down the left side of the page and you will see plenty of help.

Read this forum if you are playing Classic (no Lord of Destruction). Search for key words like "pally" or "hammerdin" to look for help from this forum. There is plenty of help here.

[DougDadyUsWest]

I usually start off each ladder season with a Summon Necro. Pump your first 20 skill points into raise skeleton with 1 point into Mastery. at this point you will pretty much tear through normal, as long as you can get your first corpse :) I recomend always having a merc around. As for act 4... I recomend a party :)

stats for classic chars:
str-as little as possable
dex-as little as possable (51 for shard is the most dex you will ever need)
vit-everything
energy-none (unless a sorc)

A paladin can be pretty good in normal, but if you want to be strong late in the game you have to wait until level 18 to start using blessed hammers. add 1 skill point to might ( it's a prerequesite anyways) and hire a merc. Save up your skill points until you hit 18 and start putting into blessed hammers. Then put a few in conc, but only until you don't have enough skill points to put in both when you lvl up. Max hammers first.

pump mostly into vitality when your in normal. You might need to add a few points into strength, eventually you would want enough str to use a 3 socket shield filled with perfect diamonds. Large shield is 34 str, kite shield is 47 str. Ask me if you need more assistance, I'm not sure how much help this would be.