new to D&D

[Ellimistd]

Well,my friends and I recently purchased the 3 core books to D&D (in no small part because of oots ) And i am the DM for us. Without anyone to help get me into the game, I have a few questions:
1. i was looking through the MM for small creatures to zombiefy and send in a horde at my players, when i noticed the cat entry. Now I love cats, and Zombies are just awesome, so i started planning an encounter. this is where i found my problem: [QUOTE:] Attack: claw +4 melee (1d2-4) [/QUOTE] what the heck does this mean? first, what's that +4 at the beginning mean? is that a modifier to attack roll? Damage? what? and second, (1d2-4) damage means that the cat would deal NEGATIVE damage with every stroke? i don't want my zombies to heal the party members!

2. I've been creating character class npcs and have tried to get my friends to make their characters (their not as enthusiastic about this as i am) and it seems to take hours to create a char using the sheets off the d&D website. is there any trick or online tool or something for this, or is it simply a matter of experience?

3. does anyone have any tips for me to start as a DM? I've already planned a zombie infested monestary, with my awesome BBEG and her stolen cloak of control undead. also, the PCs will have to choose between two factions that represent law and chaos, and the other will be their enemies. Also I've done a bit of modification to my own world (more demons/devils/good outsiders, pallys can represnt ANY alignment, not just LG. for example there could be a CE pally, but he must stick to Chaos and evil and not do anything lawful good or even neutral. But he can smite and detect good as per evil cleric. also, orcs and goblins are more civilized)

i can tell you, ill be here for a lot more questions, but i can't think what they are yet. and you've got enough to answer as it is.

[Riffington]

You are on to a very good start. Zombie cats are a great idea.

The +4 is +4 to the attack roll. The damage minimum is 1, so a cat always does 1 damage per attack that hits. If a cat gets +1 to damage, she still always does 1 damage per attack that hits. But if she gets +4 to damage, she now does 1d2 damage.

[Rad]

The sheet of the D&D website is only good as long as you have only one class (which, with the plethora of Prestige Classes out there is getting rare). I think that yours is a problem of experience though, assuming that you started at level 1.

I strongly advice you to keep the XP down and not to rush the first levels: they are much easier (read: less complicated) to play and taking your time to get all the game mechanics before moving on is good. This is especially true for spellcasters, who have to master a new load of spells every two levels, and the DM with a lot of new monsters, which mean new abilities (Spell Resistance, Damage Reduction, various odd abilities that usually kick in only later).

[Grynning]

No new DM should be without a link to the SRD:
http://www.d20srd.org/
Even though you have the core books, the Hypertext SRD makes it much easier to flip through the rules and find stuff you need. I highly recommend reading the combat section about 5 or 6 times before you start. It can get frustrating for everyone if you can't keep the fighting smooth (after all, that's almost everyone's favorite part of the game...right?).
Remember this, though. D20 all works off of one core mechanic - d20 +/- modifiers vs. a number they have to beat. If you can't figure out something in your first few sessions, just have the player describe what they want to do, pick a number that seems about right vs. how hard it should be (with 10 as the baseline for something a normal person could easily do), and have them roll against that number, adding in whatever skill or bonus applies. It's better to wing it and have fun than to bog yourself down trying to get the rules exactly right, especially at dramatic moments. The more you play, and the more you read the books (you'll end up reading them over and over, because they're just fun to page through) the more rules will become second nature and you can adapt to them as you go.
Good luck and welcome to D&D! /cheer!

[Saeveo]

i was looking through the MM for small creatures to zombiefy and send in a horde at my players, when i noticed the cat entry.

Cats are awesome. Especially when you take into account that they can kill 1st-level commoners.

pallys can represnt ANY alignment, not just LG. for example there could be a CE pally, but he must stick to Chaos and evil and not do anything lawful good or even neutral. But he can smite and detect good as per evil cleric.

You might want to check this out. Page 17 of it has some of the alternate-alignment Paladin classes that have been made.

[AslanCross]

This is a good way to represent the paladin for various alignments, IMO.