Grimstaff said:
How about FIghter, with longsword and shield.
Seriously, when's the last time anyone played anything like that!?
Well, I played one in our Shackled City campaign. Okay, I must admit, i wasn't always using a longsword (weapon focus is boring, even if effective), and in the end, my shield was a cheat-shield (= animated shield).
Nothing I had to regret about it. My Fighter learned most of the "other" fighter feats (anything not focusing on a weapon). Blind Fight, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Improved Disarm, Defensive Throw, Combat Reflexes, Improved Unarmed, Improved Grapple, Power Attack... I think the Improved Trip / Improved Grapple feats proved the most useful in the campaign, but ultimately, only the combination of these feats made the fighter really useful. (It's amazing how useful a simple and primtive feat like Blind Fight becomes over the course of a campaign!)
Oh, and I picked some feats that are usually ignored (Run for "speed compensation" and Iron Will for my pathetic Wisdom of 8 - I needed all of my 25 points for Str, Dex, Con and Int...)
Fighter is never a bad choice, I think, there are so many things to experiment with.
But aside from that - Cleric is certainly a solid choice. Buff your comrades (and yourself) to kill enemies quickly so that you don't have to cure them later on.
If your party somehow becomes larger than 4 characters, and there are at least two non-spellcasters in it, a Bard is a great choice, too. Certainly a better "buffer" then a lone Cleric, and it "stacks" with any existing Cleric or Wizard.
Something more concrete and different than the above ones:
How about a Half-Orc Rogue - a thug and bully instead of the usual sneaky diplomats. (With high point buy or good rolls, maybe even a surprisingly charistmatic one).
Your choice if you take Search/Disable Device/Open Lock, but I would always recommend them, as the group will probably need (or at least fare better) with it in a long-running campaign.
