Ok so looks like we're going to be playing Emerald Spire with only a 3 person party. We've got a Whip Spec Warpriest and a Switch Hitting Trapper Ranger. We roll for ability scores, so I'm expecting to have scores to pretty much let me play whatever. I'm leaning toward playing either a basic summoner or an unchained summoner, but would be interested to hear what suggestions others might have.
Play Synthesist Summoner so you can be Yoh Asakura.
First & best piece of advice I can offer: Get to know the DM (if possible) before the campaign even starts. Many DM's run campaigns, adventure paths, modules, etc as written and are very "by the book". Others take a much more relaxed approach and tend towards house rules (or simply not strictly adhering to some of the more difficult rules) in order to follow a "as long as it makes a good story" approach. These are two VERY different DM's, and knowing which one yours is can make all the difference.
Secondly is the DM using any house rules? Any 3rd party variant material? Any House Rules?
Lastly ask you DM's advice.
Keep in mind that unless your game is a Pathfinder Society Organized GamePlay, any of the above may be a consideration.
My 1 experience with Emerald Spire was a disaster based on DM preferences (ponyfinder crap everywhere); munchkinism (taking the lame oracle curse on a small Pegasus that never lands on the ground, allowing a LA+2 natural lycanthrope PC at 1st level); and lack of rules knowledge (using a wand of cure light wounds instead of make whole or repair to heal a robot PC).
Also, make sure your race has darkvision, or carry a shit-ton of sun rods. the supernatural darkness in the 1st part of the spire is super annoying - at least the way this DM abjucated it.
As for class: I played an unchained monk, but with only 3 players I'd defiantly think about a summoning class: either wizard or druid, to help put extra bodies on the battlefield. I tend to prefer druids in this role due to the versatility of wildshape, but the summon monster list generally has stronger creatures than summon nature's ally, so it comes down to personal preference.
First & best piece of advice I can offer: Get to know the DM (if possible) before the campaign even starts. Many DM's run campaigns, adventure paths, modules, etc as written and are very "by the book". Others take a much more relaxed approach and tend towards house rules (or simply not strictly adhering to some of the more difficult rules) in order to follow a "as long as it makes a good story" approach. These are two VERY different DM's, and knowing which one yours is can make all the difference.
Secondly is the DM using any house rules? Any 3rd party variant material? Any House Rules?
Lastly ask you DM's advice.
Keep in mind that unless your game is a Pathfinder Society Organized GamePlay, any of the above may be a consideration.
I do know the DM pretty well. So I can say this, he generally runs the module as written, but isn't unreasonably strict with the rules. I did run a third party class the Mechamage from Thunderscape by him and he said I could play that. Only concern is that the d6 HD will make him to squishy for those early levels.
My advice is that if your group doesn't already have a Barbarian, be a Barbarian. Conventional wisdom would replace "Cleric" with "Barbarian" in that sentiment, but you'd be surprised how many tricky situations you can simply smash your way through. (Literally, you can just smash it. Trap, monster, whatever, everything tends to stop being a threat when it's in little pieces on the floor.) In a small group setting, having a high-damage melee class, especially if you plan on fighting in close quarters, is almost as important as having a good healer or ranged DPS. As long as you have a competent Cleric and a Rouge who focuses on ranged combat, you can keep your party formation arranged such that you are smashing from the front, the moderately armored Cleric is covering the rear, and the squishy skill monkey (Rouge) is protected somewhere in the middle. (Ideal for narrow hallways or rooms with tight corners.) Out in the open, you can put your backs to the wall or place your two melees firmly between your weakest party members and danger. I realize this puts your healer in an awful lot of danger, but that's the fire you play with when raiding in small groups. Anyway, you can never go wrong with a big bruiser, and the Berserker's reflex saves make him the perfect point man. Also, Berserkers can be utterly ideal tanks once you slap some good armor on them. I know this cuts into their mobility, but if you plan on entering tight quarters anyway then I'd say the trade off is totally worth it. (I realize you have a Ranger and not a Rouge, but this is more general advice and your Ranger sounds like he'd fill the role I described just as well.)
But that's just how I'd approach the problem. I'm still a pretty new player, so take all of that with a large pinch of salt. It always SOUNDS cool when everyone decides to play a mage, right up until you get ambushed. If you're intent on going the arcane route, then absolutely go Summoner or Druid so you can get something, ANYTHING, that can take a hit for you. Since you mentioned you have average stats across the board, I would lean more towards Druid since their more varied skill set is better complimented by multiple competent stats. If you do happen to have high CHA and INT, I would say Summoner gives you more bang for your buck though.
Again, this is coming from a place of limited experience, so make of it what you will.
At this point I'm not dead set on anything. I just leaned toward the summoner because the party didn't have an arcane caster and they aren't as squishy as a wizard.
Summoner provides lots of utility, a party face, and a super melee slaying machine. You would hog the spotlight in a larger party but with only three someone who can fill multiple party roles successfully is a big plus.
At this point I'm not dead set on anything. I just leaned toward the summoner because the party didn't have an arcane caster and they aren't as squishy as a wizard.
A summoner is a great fit for this party, the only thing is you might want to have a bit higher int to cover the knowledge skills the others are missing. Any int or cha based caster would be great. I like bard because it'll be able to cover skills the others can't, also making them more effective. Occultist is also fun because it has focus powers so you don't run out of spells so quick.
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Basic Summoner is cheating, end of the story. Unchained is supposed to override it and using it is like using deliberately a feature the way it was stated before an errata or similar corrections.
Since you are few, I'd still go Unchained Summoner: the Eidolon would be a very useful 4th component. Otherwise, since you're missing a full caster, I'd go with a Druid caster build with animal companion or Cleric with Animal Domain.
There are three roles that a party has to cover in combat: striker, controller, support.
It looks like you have two strikers, so that is a problem (warpriest can do support, but usually it is just for them, which doesn't really count.)
I would go with Evangelist Cleric. Early on, you will be able to do either support or control depending on the tactical situation (usually in a single round you can't do both.) Later, with move action inspire courage you can often do some support and some control in a single round.
Since both of your companions are going to be able to strike at range, a reach build would be awesome, which will also provide a little more battlefield control by itself. I'd want the animal(feather) domain since I believe it is the best one. Choose an axebeak, which eventually will let you use it as a mount to reposition yourself with personally spending any actions and will also have a reach that matches yours.
At the risk of having fewer hit points how about an undead master archetype of the wizard?