So I am going to start a new character and I figured that I wanted to play a Paladin. I need some help deciding:

1: Race
2: Birthsign
3: Skills

My idea is an offensive Paladin, similar to the "Flame of Justice" used in DDO or maybe a Retribution Paladin from WOW. Not sure how to build them though as I do not play them(only know people who do), but then again any good Paladin-build would be of help.

I also need some help in the RP section.
I know the Paladin is a goodie two-shoes, but I am aware that there are no Paladins(like in D&D) in ES lore so I need some help here too.
Thanks in advance.

I'd go for a Nord.

Birthsign: ritual or the warrior. Ritual if you want to focus mainly on the healing/undead are bad theme. The warrior for a better offence and defense.

Skills.

Blunt (use a mace, 1 or 2 handed depending on your preference)
Block (
Heavy armor
Restoration

Those are your 4 main skills, you could add conjuration for when you need a high level turn undead spell.

If you have the Knight of the Nine, you could do the entire questline and get a nice set of paladin gear including a weapon and shield.

For other skills Athletics,Armorer and Illusion(for charm and light).If you take the Ritual birthsign you will allready have as good a turn undead spell that you can get.

For role playing theres the main quest,knights of the nine if you have it and maybe even the fighters guild early to gain experience.
Live and sleep in the Priory's when you can.
Mostly it's up to you or your character.

Everytime I've created a paladin-type character, I've always used:

Heavy Armor
Blunt
Restoration
Alteration
Armorer
Block
Speechcraft

Every Paladin needs a squire of some sort to carry his weapons, yes? Restoration and Alteration help keep them alive, which seems to be the very embodiment of a Paladin.
I hate taking Speechcraft as a major skill, but Pallies technically are supposed to be Charismatic, so....