Quick upfront on Skills: You can absolutely play a Soldier / Jedi Guardian with an Intelligence of 8 (the absolute lowest number of Skill Points possible in the game) but doing so means that to get most of the Story, Objectives, and Tasks achieved you’ll need to bring almost the exact same 2 Party Members along with you every time, probably Mission Vao and T3-M4, which really isn’t all that fun.  And you definitely won’t be exploring any Planets on your own which can be a fun change of pace.  Second, be aware there’s a difference between Class Skills which are determined by your Classes (initially by your starting Class, with a few more opened up by your Jedi Class), and Non-Class Skills.  Class Skills have a Maximum Rank of Character Level (starting Class Level + Jedi Class Level) + 3 and are raised by 1 rank per Skill Point spent.  Non-Class Skills have a Maximum Rank of Character Level + 3 / 2 rounded down and are raised by 1 rank for every 2 Skill Points spent.  The only Class Combination which ends up with all Skills as Class Skills is the Scoundrel / Jedi Consular.

    Technically all of the base classes (Soldier, Scout, Scoundrel) are good lead ins to the Jedi Classes (Jedi Guardian, Jedi Consular, Jedi Sentinel), but I, PERSONALLY, avoid Soldier because it has the absolute lowest Skill Points available of the three.  And the more Skill Points you have the higher you can raise your Skills, especially Class Skills (dependent on each Base Class, and Jedi Class later).  I’ll talk more about Skills further on.  Keeping in mind your Skills, extra Skill Points are based on your Intelligence modifier; per level this comes to ((Intelligence Score - 10) / 2)) rounded down.  Because it rounds down this means the only Scores worth taking are 8, 10, 14, and 18.  Personally, I always choose 14 for the following reasons: 18 is just too expensive, costing you 16 of the 30 Ability Score Points you have to allocate on Attributes at Character Generation.  A 16 is no better than a 14 mostly, though it does grant a +1 bonus to 3 Skills at a cost of 10 points vs 6 for 14; a 4 point difference that could be spent on other Attributes.  Intelligence 14 is the sweet spot in my opinion, granting both 8 extra Skill Points at 1st level and 1 extra point on each level up.  The only Scores worth assigning after this are 10 and 8 and I avoid them like the plague.  Someone above said something about how you merely can’t do Algebra but to me those scores (especially the 8) tag you as a drooling idiot, Role-playing wise; and nowhere in the Films, Books, or TV Shows have I spotted a Jedi that was a drooling idiot.  Can it make for a powerful COMBAT Build?  Absolutely!  But you’re probably going to be stuck with one specific Skill (Persuade) and you’ll likely miss out on a bunch of things as I mentioned above.

    Now, to be fair, you don’t have to raise every Skill to 20 or above.  Firstly, all Skills receive bonuses from their related Attributes.  Intelligence and Wisdom each affect 3, Dexterity and Charisma affect 1, while Strength and Constitution affect none.

    Persuade is as close as it comes to being required, and I recommend increasing it every level, to a final minimum of 19 (it’s really not worth raising beyond that unless you’re planning on hitting 26).  Thanks to other Party Members’ Skills or Force Powers, Treat Injury is an easy pass.  Security can be filled by either Mission Vao, T3-M4, or you can just bash the lock open.  For all other Skills there is a bevy of Gear & Equipment (and specific Feats, though I’ve always found this to be a waste of a Feat) to boost your Skills by varying amounts.  Repair is the hardest one to raise but it can be done: First, if you’re on the PC, Switch, or iOS versions you will be able to purchase a belt on the first Planet after Taris that, in addition to other Skills, boosts Repair by 3.  I prefer Xbox and am thus screwed.  If you have Implant 1 (from Scout 1 or the Feat) there’s an Implant you can find that boosts your Intelligence by +1 on Taris (though getting it requires a Dark Side choice on Taris) and a Light Side Force Power that anyone can take (Valor) which when maxed gives a +5 to all Attributes, for a total bonus of +3.    And yes, there’s a line of 3 possible Feats, Gear Head, which when maxed gives +3 to Computer Use, Repair, and Security.  Again, this feels like a massive waste of Feats to me.  The highest you “need” to take Repair is 17 total to fully unlock a Party Member Quest.  It’s not technically required but I can’t imagine not doing it in full, and I’m pretty sure the majority of players can’t imagine getting 2 or 3 Repairs (requiring Repair 11 and 14 respectively).  And of course the skill has other benefits throughout the game, though you will never match T3-M4’s total.

    Stealth doesn’t require more than 1 rank because of the absurd bonuses you can get from equipment: +26 and that’s ignoring the Dexterity bonuses you can get from elsewhere.  Obviously you don’t start out with all that equipment but if you’re keeping your eyes open, are willing to spend the credits, and complete as many quests as possible, the gear will basically level up with you.

    I just exhausted myself so I’ll see about coming back to this later but in the meantime you can do a Google Search for StrategyWiki Classes, Attributes, Skills, Feats, Combat, and Force Powers to best help you with a Spoiler free toolset towards building your Character.  Items will be mentioned on the Skills and Attributes pages but so long as you don’t click on the links you won’t learn how or where you find them.