The lvl 8 attributes are plusses to one stat. Just don't pick wisdom and you will be fine. STR helps with damage and weight limit, STA gives more hp, AGI gives you more power, and INT gives bards (but not plain scouts) more power.
18 is a racial choice. One warning about racial traits: If they say something like "This is an augmentation, placed on you," that means that particular trait is a 3-minute buff with a 30-minute recast time, which is kind of a pain. You'll get to pick 3 more racial traits from the same list later, so if you can't decide, don't worry about it much.