Poise doesn't matter at all since everything can stagger you regardless of how much armor you wear. If you're strength build buy the mace and upgrade it, if you're a filthy dex get the rapier and upgrade it. Both of those weapons do disgusting amounts of damage since every enemy has slashing resistance out the ass but not strike or piercing resistance. Try to have fun but take your time and kill everything in the area before moving on. It will help you in the long run. Agility is worth upgrading until you get to 100, then don't bother past that. Don't worry about being human all the time, you can use the soapstone to get summoned and that will revert you to human along with plenty of souls from helping with the boss. I would recommend this if you're nervous about your first fight against a boss and don't want to lose your souls. But most of all. Git Gud.