When first starting out, you will want to level a few stats regardless of your playstyle at some point.
At first, go for 20 END, then 10-15 VGR before raising your ADP and ATT to a point where you have the desired amount of spell slots for now and end up with 96 AGL. Raise your VGR to 20 at some point after this and raise your VIT to a point where you're comfortable with your rolling distance, but at the very least to where your equip load is at or below 70% at all times.

After this, you basically have 4 paths to choose from: Physical, Sorcery, Miracles and Hexes. Pyromancy is another option, but it should mostly be used as an alternative for when enemies are resistant to your main element.

I suggest you read the part about physical characters either way because the information provided there is quite useful for any character.

Bonus Protip
When your first weapon reaches +8 you should already have gotten a Titanite Slab long ago in the Forest of Fallen Giants. If you're missing exactly 3 chunks to get the weapon to +10 as a result, consider using a Bonfire Ascetic on the Cardinal Tower bonfire to get those 3 chunks from the trapped chest below the Ballista ambush spot. This is probably the best way to use your starting gift bonfire ascetic (as a new player, you should either pick this or the "healing wares"), as an early +10 weapon beats any other possible application of ascetics in my book (for most characters, anyway).
Alternatively or additionally, you can get 4 chunks if you use an ascetic on the Poison Pool bonfire in Harvest Valley, which will get a +6 weapon to +10 if you're also counting the 2 chunks picked up at bonfire intensity 1.

Ranged: If you don't want to use any sort of offensive spells, you should stick to physical damage. This means your only ranged options will be Throwing Knives, Bows (mostly DEX except Greatbows) and Crossbows, but that's quite alright.
Stats: If you want to be a hard hitter, you'll be levelling up STR mostly (up to 40 and later 50) and only get enough DEX to meet your chosen weapon's requirements. If you want to be fast-hitting (or just love Katanas like a good little fanboy), you'll mostly level DEX while only getting enough STR to wield your weapon. However, it's also possible to get the min. requirement of both and make it into a Raw (or maybe even Mundane) weapon if your weapon of choice has no scaling with any stats you're levelling.
Spells: You might want to use some utility spells with no/low requirements like Flash Sweat (and basically all other pyromancies), Heal and Fall Control. Note that buff pyromancies such as Flash Sweat and Iron Flesh are not affected by your Pyro Flames' level or your Fire Bonus whatsoever. The same goes for Flame Weapon's duration.
Infusions: You'll either not be infusing at all, or you might want to use Bleed or Poison as a DEX character (where enemies can be poisoned or bled) if your weapon is good for multi-hitting. If your weapon has no scaling whatsoever (Crossbows and some heavy weapons), you might want to infuse it with Raw. However, you can still make use of the resistances listed for bosses at the end if you apply resins to your weapon.

Ranged: You'll be using the binoculars for ranged combat, lock-on casting for medium range and a melee weapon for, well, melee range. A bow can be a nice backup weapon if you need to single pull or want to cheese something with poison arrows.
Stats: Quite obviously, you'll be levelling INT first and foremost. Get it to 40 asap, and to 50 by the time you reach Brightstone Cove Tseldora, which is where you'll pick up a Staff of Wisdom and infuse it with Magic. Until then, it's alright to upgrade your Sorcerer's Staff to around +6. Get STR/DEX to the point where you can wield your preferred weapon.
Spells: As for spells, take enough Great Soul Arrows as you can, as well as some Great Heavy ones, and you'll be okay until you get the spells you really want to use. When you get a spell that requires more INT, level up accordingly or use spices. Oh, and don't forget Fall Control.
Infusions: Your main go-to-infusion is obviously Magic, but Enchanted can be a reasonable alternative to Fire where enemies are resistant to magic damage. Sadly some enemies are quite annoyingly resistant to magic, so Fire is a viable backup to have. Make sure you always have either Flame Weapon or one of the magic weapon buffs (Magic Weapon/Great MW/Crystal MW) attuned to supplement your infusion.

Ranged: I'd probably go with a Lightning Bow (this can probably wait until you get the Hunter's Blackbow) rather than offensive miracles because they tend to have very few uses compared to other schools of magic, but this is preferential.
Stats: Miracles scale with Faith, so you'll be levelling that to 40 and at some point to 50. STR/DEX don't need to go higher than your weapon requires, but levelling one of the two in addition to Faith can make for a viable hybrid build.
Spells: I mostly prefer healing miracles as well as certain buffs rather than offensive miracles, but some of them can be useful with an upgraded, lightning-infused chime. Having said that, the best chime would be the Dragon Chime, but it's sort of an endgame (or at least midgame) item unless you kill Darkdiver Grandahl.
Infusions: It might be obvious by now, but you'll be infusing with Lightning (while having at least 1 Fire weapon as a backup). Make sure you always have either Sunlight Blade or Flame Weapon attuned to supplement your infusion.

Ranged: Just like the Sorcerer, you need binoculars to hit something too far away, while keeping a melee weapon as your life insurance. Just like with everyone else, Bows are a viable thing to keep at hand, even if it's just to pull or poison something.
Stats: This is the part where Hexes/Dark damage are unique: They scale with whatever is lower of INT and FTH, softcapping at 30/30. Make sure you have 8/8 by the time you get to Huntsman's Copse and 20/20 asap after that (this means you won't get more STR/DEX than needed to wield your weapon of choice for now). These are the triggers for Felkin the Outcast, your new best friend who'll gift you your new favorite headpiece and the Sunset Staff - infuse it with Dark (duh). I prefer staff hexing, but if you want to use chime hexes feel free to get a Caitha's Chime until you can get the Chime of Want.
Spells: It's quite possible to get through the game by attuning Dark Orb twice and nothing else besides a weapon buff, but a lot of Hexes can be viable. I suggest you read up on them yourself, but if anything I'd recommend Dark Hail and Affinity.
Infusions: Well, again with the obvious: you're infusing with Dark, keeping a Fire weapon as your backup. Amazingly enough, a 30/30 hexer reaches the softcap for both elemental damage types in addition to gaining the ability to use all Miracles and Sorceries requiring this much or less of their respective stat. Keep either Dark Weapon (if using chimes: Resonant Weapon) or Flame Weapon attuned at all times.

There are 2 types of powerstancing:

• Two-handed: When two-handing your weapon, your STR is essentially doubled. This means a weapon requiring 40 STR to wield in one hand will only require 20 to wield with both hands. This also works with Crossbows and Shields.
  Do note that, unlike Dark Souls 1, it will not consider twice your STR for the STR-based scaling on your weapon, if any. However, you still deal increased poise damage.
  
• Dual Wield: To powerstance weapons when dual-wielding, you need to have 1.5x their STR and DEX requirements. This will change your moveset somewhat and (hopefully) increase your damage output as well. Doesn't work with every combination of weapons, but a lot of things do work. Have fun experimenting! Do note that Dark Souls tends to always round up. Yes, always.

Last but not least, also note that some weapons have exclusive powerstance moves while others may lose their special moves when powerstancing them in dual wield.

After levelling your offensive stat(s) (STR/DEX/INT/FTH) enough, you'll most likely want to level your END up some more if you haven't already. It doesn't really have any caps after 20, so a good rule of thumb would be to make it so that you still have stamina left to roll after executing a combo (or even two). Having said that, it's not unheard of to get this up to 40 or even 50.
You can raise ATT/ADP some more to get 99 AGL if you feel like it, or even spec out of ADP entirely and get your 96/99 AGL only from your ATT if you want more spell slots. ATT shouldn't be raised past 50 though.
The only major breakpoint for VGR would be 50 so I suggest investing into this if you don't know what else to do with your points and already have enough END. VIT breakpoints are at 29 and 49 respectively, which can be another point dump once you're done with everything else.
Note that some spells may require more than 50 INT/FTH, and you can raise them to 60 (or even higher) if you feel like avoiding spices. However, the contribution to your damage will be much lower than before at this point.
If you need a quick rundown on all stats, I recommend this.[darksouls2.wikidot.com]

These rings can be obtained without using Bonfire Ascetics and before opening Shrine of Winter:
- Covetous Silver Serpent +1 (Melentia)
- Old Leo (Old Dragonslayer)
- Royal Soldier's (No-man's Wharf)
- Covetous Gold Serpent +1 (Magerold)
- Ring of Blades +1 (The Pursuer, Iron Keep)
- Chloranthy +1 (Shaded Woods)
- Clear Bluestone +1 (Shaded Woods)
- Southern Ritual Band +1 (Brightstone Cove Tseldora)
- Second Dragon (Manscorpion Tark)
- Steel Protection +1 (Lucatiel)

These rings require ascetics or are past Shrine of Winter:
- Pick up Royal Soldier's +1 in Drangleic Castle
- all rings mentioned above (except Old Leo & Second Dragon) as +2
- Third Dragon (Dragon Shrine)
- Check the wiki before going NG+: http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/rings

- (Normal) Royal Kite Shield (McDuff)
- (Magic) Magic Shield (Leydia Pyromancers, Undead Crypt)
- (Fire) Watchdragon Parma (Guardian Dragon, Heide's Tower of Flame)
- (Lightning) Slumbering Dragon Shield (Lindelt Clerics, Shrine of Amana)
- (Dark) Silverblack Shield (Grave Wardens, Earthen Peak)
- Blossom Kite Shield (Sinner's Rise) and/or Shield of the Insolent (Agdayne)

- Jester's Cap (Magerold) and/or Symbol of Avarice (DLC)
- Prisoner's Tatters (dropped by various undead mobs)
- Tseldora Set (kill Maughlin or farm Parasitized Undead)

- Hunter's Blackbow (Drangleic Castle)
- Pyromancy Flame (chest after Flexile Sentry), Flame Weapon (Old Witch Soul), Flash Sweat (Rosabeth)
- Sorcery: Magic Staff of Wisdom (Brightstone Cove Tseldora), Magic Moonlight Greatsword (Old Paledrake Soul)
- Miracles: Lightning Dragon Chime (Pilgrims of Dark)
- Hexes: Dark Sunset Staff (Felkin) & Dark Caitha's Chime (Drangleic Castle), Dark Crypt Blacksword (Old Dead One Soul)

For a full list of enemy resistances, please refer to one of the wikis.
This is a good starting point: http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/resistance#toc1
In this section, I will just tell you when to switch from your Magic/Lightning/Dark damage to Fire.

Do note that whenever something is standing in water, it gains Fire while losing Lightning resistance, so for the love of Solaire, don't use your Fire weapon on an Ogre or the humanoid enemies in Shrine of Amana while they're standing in the water. Or the mobs during the Skeleton Lords encounter while they're in water. Or anything standing in water. Really.

- Ogres (NOT in water!)
- Dark Stalkers (No-man's Wharf)
- Coal Tars (Black Gulch)
- wooden Mimics
- all Skeletons, Spiders & insects
- all Dogs, Rats & Boars (Pigs too)

This damage type is on par with or superior to Fire for every area except:
- Shaded Woods
- Brightstone Cove Tseldora
- Dragon Shrine
Again, let me stress that Lightning is super effective against anything that's standing in water or rain (except for LGK). Oh, and iron Mimics.

Except for (Old) Ironclads, Necromancers and Undead Steelworkers, this damage type is on par with or superior to Fire for every area except:
- Shaded Woods
- Brightstone Cove Tseldora (except Undead Peasants)
- Dragon Shrine

Except for Primal Knights (NOT standing in water or rain!), this damage type is on par with or superior to Fire for every area except:
- Shaded Woods
- Brightstone Cove Tseldora
- Dark Chasm(s) of Old

Bosses use the so-called BOSS TIER resistances, meaning they have slightly more initial resistance towards all 4 elements when compared to NORMAL TIER. There are a few exceptions from this, such as Prowling Magus & The Congregration or the Royal Rat Vanguard.

The tables below list all bosses and which elements they are weak or resistant to. If an element isn't listed at all for a respective boss, it means that the boss is neither weak nor resistant to it. Example: The Pursuer is weak against Lightning, resistant to Dark and has medium resistance to Magic & Fire.
This translates into using Lightning if you have it, using Magic or Fire if you don't, and not using Dark whatsoever (a.k.a. a weapon dealing only physical damage would be better than one that has split physical/dark damage).

Having said that, if you're using Magic, Lightning or Dark as your main element, make sure you have a Fire weapon to switch to when your main element would be weak against a boss. By doing so, you won't have any issues with boss resistances (except for the Looking Glass Knight if your only options are Lightning and Fire).

* indicates a boss that is optional for finishing the game
** Skeleton Lords are more resistant to Fire and less to Lightning when standing in water
*** Freja has high resistances against everything except Fire (medium)
**** Covetous can be poisoned but won't take much damage from it

* indicates a boss that is optional for finishing the game
** LGK has very high Lightning and medium Fire resistance, however the constant rain changes this to high Lightning and very high Fire. Magic and Dark are much more effective, but if you must choose between the two, pick Lightning instead of Fire.

Do note that I didn't verify all of this myself. Especially the reports on which bosses can be poisoned seemed slightly inconsistent, and it might depend on your method of poisoning the boss to some degree (Hex, Pyro, Infusion/Resin, Arrows/Knives).

Well, I stream[www.twitch.tv] occasionally and happened to record some gameplay footage for Scholar.

Dragon Aerie, Dragon Shrine, Giant Memories, Dragon Memory, Grave of Saints + Boss, Doors of Pharros + Boss, Cale's Set, Benhart's Set, Brightstone Key, Tseldora Den Key, Sunken King DLC Key, Old Iron King DLC Key, Vendrick Bossfight & Set, Dragon Remnants Covenant, Rat King Covenant & some other stuff.
Check the YouTube description for a timetable.


I split this into 3 videos. Here's the playlist.