can I do anything as someone playing on a server?
 

can I change stuff like lvl, race, class while playing on someone else's server or would I have to be running my own to do that?
if so how would i do any of those things?

Maybe...
 

if you go on a non-legit server, you probably can. On a legit one, you can, but you have to kill stuff to level, and make new characters to change races ;)

now i got to work out how to play, the guides on this site don't really help.

all the commands are there, all you have to do is read

Elfkiller -- the guides are fine. A server has its own rules, so just look up on the servers you play on.