I've wanted to play a paladin ever since I started playing CF. I feel like I am finally to the point where I can rp well enough to be successful at it. I just wanted to know if anyone who is experianced with the class could give me some pointers. Such as what race works well with what dedication, which Gods I am most likely to get good interaction from. Which race is easiest to play as a paladin, etc. Any other advice you have would be much appreciated too. Thanks.
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I've only played one paladin, an elf shield dedicant, but I can give you a rundown of the "conventional wisdom". Bear in mind that not everyone always agrees with the "conventional wisdom". So your mileage may vary.

Paladins can dedicate themselves either to the shield or to two-handed weapons. If you go the two-handed route, you get alot of physical moves (i.e. they don't require mana) that do alot of damage. These can only be done using two-handed weapons and when your off-hand is free. So, no shield use. Some of these big damage moves can even lag your opponent.

If you go the shield route, you get a special skill (shield mastery) that beefs up your ability to block attacks using your shield. So you tank really, really well. It also reduces the lag when someone bashes you. The tradeoff is that you get no lagging moves and have to rely on the wrath commune for much of your damage output.

As for races, they have pretty much the same pros and cons as for other classes:

Elf - fast mana regeneration, lots of mana. Quickstrike inherent ability. Wrath does more damage due to high int. Autosneak. Iron vuln, low hp.

Human - Low xp penalty, no vulns.

Dwarf - resist magic, disease, poison. Lots of hp. Vuln water.

Storm giant - resist physical, lightning. Invuln to water. Wrath does less damage due to low int. Low mana, low mana regen. Can wield two-handed weapons in one hand. Large size makes them harder to bash.

If you're going shield, a storm giant can be nice since the ability to wield two-handed weapons in a single hand lets you utilize a wider variety of weapons. On the other hand, your wrath damage is reduced, and that's a fairly important part of a shield dedicant's arsenal.

If you're going two-handed, then a storm giant can be nice because it makes you harder to bash (especially if you enlarge yourself), and because two-handed dedicants don't rely as heavily on wrath (so your reduced wrath damage and lower mana regen aren't as much of a hinderance.)

As for what deity to follow, that really depends on what sort of role you want to have. If you want to know who's available, just ask other paladins (or good-aligned healers or shamans) who they follow. Note that you don't have to stick to "good-centric" immortals like Aarn, Innis, Shokai, Arvam and Corrlaan. "Neutral" ones could also work, like Guerric, Ordasen or Sebeok.

The most important thing to remember is that you're not just some generically-good guy running around punking evils. You're a priest of a particular religion with particular beliefs.

thanks for all the help man I cant usually get anyone to describe things so well. :D

Paladins are one of the less gear/race dependant races. I usually go humans and half elves with my chars, and I didn't think it was that bad. Here's my personal run down, in addition to Isildur's.

Two Handed - Good for doing damage, not as great for tanking but later on they tank fine if you get virtues. Some nice weapon choices. Only downside is holding onto a two handed sword is tricky when fighting dagger specs, necros, shamans, assassins, etc.

Shield - great at tanking, only problem is players tend to tank you pretty well, so its hard to really hurt warriors and other tanking classes, like Isildur said, outside of wrath spamming.

In general, mana tend to be their biggest issue, since once you run out and your sanc falls, you gotta get out of dodge. Additionally, they tend to be kinda crappy when disarmed.