Alright I rarely ever post here, but I feel like I need to participate in this conversation as I have actually experienced exactly what the OP is asking about up to level 50. And from reading the posts in this thread thus far, I have a feeling that a fair number of peeps have good points but most are just speculating about this and really have no clue how it works.
So to start, I soloed a Dwarf Pally on EQlive from 1-50 during Kunark/Velious (close to a mirror of where Project1999 is at the moment). And I mean solo . . . NO grouping, at all, not once. I think this is where people are getting the wrong info and giving the wrong advice. The OP asked about a solo Paladin, NOT the best Paladin overall, or the best for groups. There is a huge difference regarding this dynamic!
The most important thing to realize about the solo Pally is that it truly is a fun solo class if played correctly. It is a tank that can heal itself! No, it's not the highest DPS tank, or the heaviest at soaking up damage, but seriously - a tank that can fu#@ing HEAL itself? Repeat after me: heal, heal, heal. This class has Lay on Hands, a complete heal in addition to its normal heal. I can assure you that never have I died so little as when I soloed my pally in live. And this is extremely important, as we know that not dying is a huge save for XP over the life of a toon. Also, never have I had so little downtime as when I solo'd my Pally in live (where the hell is everyone getting this idea about tons of downtime with this class?) - this is even more important to keeping your interest the game as a solo player and not getting frustrated. Both of these major factors are exclusively due to the healing capabilities of the Paladin class.
Everyone who has been focused on STR and STA in this thread is inadvertently describing the best Pally overall and for group-play. But NOT the best solo Pally. The solo Pally is not a tank or a DPS class . . . in fact, it's a self-healing, low-downtime, survivor class. In other words, the most important attribute for a solo Pally is WISDOM. More wisdom means more mana means more healing means less downtime and more survival. Pally's come with decent HP and decent STR if rolled correctly - and don't get me wrong, those are important attributes. But they are nothing compared to the importance of mana.
In addition it's very important to keep in mind that with a solo Paladin healing is important in combination with knowledge of the game. Attacking mobs that are yellow or red and not knowing exactly what you're doing is going to get you killed fast. You should be an experienced EQ player in order to roll this toon. You have to know where to go, what to do and how to do it to get the most out of your toon. I'm going to give a brief description how to roll a solo Pally as I did in Live. If you follow it in combination with your pre-learned EQ skills you should have loads of fun and avoid rage-quitting.
--Quick-Guide--
Race: Dwarf
Attribute Allocation: +100% WIS
Gear: Focus on attributes in the following order: WIS / STR / AC / AGI / STA / HP
Weapon: Eventually Ghoulbane or Baton of Faith, or 1h+stat shield (bash is decent)
Zones: Starting in Faydwer is awesome for soloing. After newbie zone move to Orc Hill in greater faydark, then to Crushbone, then to Unrest. You can really get alot out of unrest all the way up to level 30. After that, go to the Overthere in Kunark for great solo hunting in this massive outdoor zone. You can do OT all the way until 40. After that you should be able to figure things out for yourself. There are plenty of areas to solo 40-50 but things will slow down significantly compared to before.
Playstyle: Very simple: attack, heal, attack, heal. Spells start at level 9. Use Lay on Hands when needed to avoid dying and also to avoid downtime when cycling through mana. With good WIS you should be able to heal up during and after most fights and keep things rolling with very little downtime. Don't worry about hp as much, as you can heal yourself, root, stun and also Lay on Hands in emergency. Speaking of root, you should eventually get stun and root spells (root at level 22 I believe). Use the crap out of them to CC mobs and take on multiple encounters. This will be especially useful in Unrest (which is where you should be at level 22 anyhow). Bind wound up to 50% can also be helpful in combination with your heals/lay on hands. Make sure you skill it up to max and always have bandages. Just remember the general rule on this class - focus on healing. If you cycle healing correctly as a solo pally then you will have very little downtime and survive almost all encounters. You will level very fast for a solo toon if you abide by this philosophy.
Mobs: Undead is obviously a target for Paladins, but don't get stuck on them either. Wandering mobs tend to be the best for soloing, especially a Pally. If you go after wandering mobs that don't aggro, you can sometimes juggle mobs with root and stun at higher levels and end up leveling faster than most dungeons. Minimizing downtime is important so running from a train inside a dungeon should be a factor in what you choose to engage. Spend time running from 2-3 trains when you might have killed 6-8 more low-aggro animals and all the undead spells/procs in the world can't make up for that.
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There may be other ways to roll a solo Pally toon, but this is how I did it in EQ live and it proved to be very fun and rewarding. Feel free to ask other questions as well.
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