How to determine what race to create for up-and-coming min/maxers:
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
First determine what stats are the most important to you and weigh them appropriately. For simplicity's sake I'll use the follow:
STA 2x
WIS 1.5x
STR 1.0x
AGI/DEX 0.5x
INT/CHA: 0.0x
Dwarf: 502
Erudite: 422
Half Elf: 415
High Elf: 432.5
Human: 467.5
As you can see, Dwarves have a large stat advantage, and Half Elves are the worst race for stats.
Now let's consider some other things. Resists are very important on PVP servers. Given the arbitrary point system I've created, I'll give a 5 point bonus for extra MR and 2.5 for other resists. Dwarves receive +5 SV Poison and +5 SV Magic. Erudites start with +5 SV Magic and -5 SV Disease. I'll also give a bonus 15 points for infravision. This now brings us to:
Dwarf: 554.5
Erudite: 434.5
Half Elf: 430
High Elf: 447.5
Human: 467.5
I normally also alter these based on how easy starting each character is. There's nothing redeeming about Felwithe/Gfay. Erudites start near a great area (Qeynos), but they're bound in the worst newbie zone in the game (Toxxulia) and if you die, it's a long boat ride back to Qeynos from Erudin. This is even more troubling on a pvp server. Dwarves, Humans, and Half Elves have great starting areas as long as you start the Human/Half Elf in Qeynos.
Butcherblock is one of my favorite starting zones. Not only are you very close to OOT/Freeport, the newbie area is full of humanoids and skeletons to score some cloth and rusty weapons. Quests are great. Paladins generally have better options than Butcherblock Hammer, but it's a decent weapon if you want to spend the time running to Qeynos and back. Bloodforge Armor, especially the amazing Helm is definitely something you'll want to do as any Dwarf clr/war/pal. Beno quest could net you leather, ringmail, or blackened iron armor, or even a dwarven ringmail tunic if you're lucky. There are a couple quests that are simple as killing rats and decaying skeletons that will fill you up on patchwork armor fast. Crushbone and Unrest are right next door.
Qeynos is my favorite area to start in EverQuest. Great city / newbie area lay out. Qeynos Hills and the Catacombs are my 2 favorite newbie areas. Catacombs have +5 hp rings, +5 hp earrings, +3 int earrings, netted armor, etc. Qeynos Hills have diseased wolfs and the diseased grizzly (about 2 plat each from quest turn ins). Also tons of gnolls for rusty weapons, bags, armor, and fangs which turn in for decent exp and money (if you do it in Halas). Nearby you have wisp island and WK bandits for even more cash. Players that start in Qeynos have less money troubles than anyone else.
So personally, this is how my race break down turns out for Paladins. Yes, this is completely arbitrary but it's also pretty accurate. You may disagree a bit with my point values, but I tried to keep things simple and I also know more about EQ than you.
Dwarf: 23.88%
Human: 20.20%
High Elf: 18.93%
Half Elf: 18.61%
Erudite: 18.38%
(to get easy-to-read percentage based scores, add up all race values, divide by 100, and then divide each race's score by that number)
Mathematically we come to the same conclusion that I would have just said already:
Dwarf is clearly the superior Paladin. If you don't want to go Dwarf for some reason, go Human. High Elf, Half Elf, and Erudite are about equally as bad.