I find phals much easier in terms of sturdiness, but paphs are just about as easy and sturdy, just slightly different.
There are quite a few different types of paphs and they slightly differ in what they need to thrive.
Very very roughly, I would say phals are more forgiving of "drought". Paphs like to have their roots moist at all time, although they may tolerate very short "drought".
Both phals and paphs need bright indirect light.
Phals need warmer conditions year around compared to commonly available paphs (again, this is quite a bit of generalization).
How do you "ruin" your phals with watering?
Do you tend to overwater?? If yes, plant your phals in largy chunky bark instead of finer grade and/moss.
Then you can water liberally without worrying about rotting until the bark becomes old and break down, by then the old bark will stay wet too long. but it may take over one or even two year to reach that point.
With paphs, overwatering will also invite issues at the roots. Again, if you love watering your plants, even paphs can be potted in something chunky but nothing too big like large grade bark.
I would recommend medium grade bark mixed with some chunky perlite. This way, you can water very often without worrying about the roots too much.
Start with something very easy and strong like what is called "maudiae" types. These come in white/green, dark wine color, and a combination of the first two. Plus, they all come with pretty looking leaves, so it's not boring when not in bloom.
These grow and bloom easy under normal phal care, and their flowers last very long, upto 3 month is common. Last, these are the cheapest of the paphiopediums.
Go get some.
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