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I seem to have gone in the exact opposite way from everyone else on this thread and went old school for my idea.

Dr. Roderick A'Mac'Dowall
Race: Vanara - Monkey-like race from ARG
Class: Gunslinger (Musket Master), with a custom mental-enhancing archetype added to the class since we play w/o any major magic items

He's a scientist first and an adventurer second, who wishes to study (and venerate) mechanical life, believing science is the key to the universe, and can supplement or even surpass magic altogether. I even chose the Tree-Stranger alt racial trait just to make him seem more civilized.

It took a few days before anyone even realized the inspiration for the character, and I'm still disappointed my brothers didn't know Dr. Cornelius from Planet of the Apes.

Kolo, I know you aren't a fan and I hate to tout 4th edition, but they do have a flurry of things available for adaptation. Specifically the Skill Powers from PHB 3, as well as the utility powers available to martial classes.

I still think the start of Blood Rites best explains the series:

The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault.

Spell Sunder is a rage power, not a feat. I was making a joke about power creep cause that is the thread that started this thread.

Again, I look to the barb, who can do a lot of things, sometimes they even deal with things that don't involve hitting things, which is somewhat ironic that the wild eyed barbarian has more problem solving abilities then the steely eyed fighter.

When all you have is a sword, everything looks like exp.

Seriously, why are there ever these martial-castor discussions? My rogue has already stolen all the party's equipment, hocked it for shinies, told everyone a band of magic-thieves took it, assassinated anyone who questioned me about what happened on my watch, disguised it as a series of unfortunate accidents, bought a place in the countryside, stole the princess, pitted rival kingdoms into wars of attrition, started my own seat of power, posed as a god to begin my own religion, and retired to a life as a simple orphanage-owner to groom the next generation of rogues to be raised as down-on-their-luck, never-knew-their-parents, lynchpin-of-important-prophecy, reluctant, plucky, out-for-himself-but-actually-has-a-heart-of-gold anti-hero.

Gosh, forget theories, lets talk about what really happens.

I have played and will continue to play rogues the same way. I have always seen them as masters of spatial awareness, tactical positioning, and timing. In and out of combat. That's why I believe them to be the only class that 'needs' all 3 mental scores. To really build a rogue that excels at everything a rogue can excel written you need every stat high. Which is why you need to specialize. But you can specialize in multiple aspects easily. I've never had a problem playing any kind of rogue I wanted to. The new feats and builds in UC just allow me to 'super-specialize' in one aspect of rogues I've been playing for years.

My players came up with an amazing solution for the first part of this addition. They allowed the troll to say his piece and leave, then the cavalier, our 'king', turned to Sootscale and offered his counter-argument.

A city.

The PCs are building a city specifically for the kobolds and their reptilian/draconic kin. It will be run by the kobolds but funded by the kingdom at large. They are giving the 'monsters' free range, sort of like a city-state.

I was flabbergasted at this. They have always treated the kobolds civilly, and loved when they came in, month two, as vassals and brought over 40 bp with them (exploding dice played amazing well, and I rolled them). I guess they may have felt obligated, but still it was genius.

It also adds a new dimension to rp'ing, since other races may want their own cities, 'civilized' races may resent the kobolds' fortune, and I never heard of a full-fledged kobold city.

Heavy pack should really have a crowbar.

And then there is:
Standard Equipment Pack, Ascetic
Cost 0 gp; Weight varies
The Ascetic Standard Equipment Pack comes with the following gear:
A stick you find.

How about this:

Whenever a ronin is the target of a melee or ranged attack, and he issues
a challenge against that character in return, the ronin receives
either a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls made against the
target of his challenge or a +1 dodge bonus to his AC
against attacks made by the target of his challenge. These bonuses
increase by +1 for every four class levels the samurai possesses.

It is still situational, less powerful, more fluid, and a response to the ronin's personal honor.

My Parry set-up, which has worked very well in my group:

Parry

Parry is a combat maneuver you can use if you are fighting defensively or using the total defense action. You must be wielding a melee weapon to parry an attack. Whenever someone strikes you in melee but before damage is rolled, you can choose to make an attack of opportunity using your CMB, and if the result is higher than the attack roll that hit you, negate the attack. Using parry does not allow you to make more than one attack of opportunity in a round, and you can parry as long as you have available attacks of opportunity to use.

Feats

Improved Parry (Combat)
Prerequisites: Combat Reflexes, Parry, Dex 13
Benefit: You gain a +2 when parrying and against parrying. You may now make one parry attempt for each attack of opportunity you have available. Each parry consumes one of your attacks of opportunity for the round, and each subsequent parry receives a cumulative -5 to your roll.

Riposte (Combat)
Prerequisites: Combat Reflexes, Combat Expertise, Parry, Dex 15
Benefit: After successfully parrying an attack, you may make an immediate attack of opportunity against your foe. This consumes one of your attacks of opportunity for the round. This can only be used once per round, regardless of how many attacks of opportunity you are entitled to. This attack may not be parried.

Deflect Projectile (Combat)
Prerequisites: Combat Reflexes, Improved Parry, Dex 15
Benefit: You may now parry ranged attacks. They must be direct attack, you may not parry splash weapons or any ranged attack that is magical (such as rays), or area attacks.

Redirect Projectile (Combat)
Prerequisites: Combat Reflexes, Combat Expertise, Deflect Arrows, Dex 17
Benefit: After successfully deflecting a ranged attack, you may redirect the attack against an adjacent foe. You use the same attack roll as the one you deflected against the target’s AC. The damage is equal to the damage the attack would have done to you. This consumes one of your attacks of opportunity for the round. This can only be used once per round, regardless of how many attacks of opportunity you are entitled to. This attack may not be parried.