I'm thinking of building a guardsman to join a party in their adventures as sort of a parole officer, taking a number of cues from Sam Vimes of Discworld. He's an officer of the law who's not afraid to fight dirty if it helps him do his job.
Since he starts at level 1, I thought a straight Fighter would work initially, but are there any archetypes out there that would fit? The only one that comes to mind is the Investigator (Rogue) archetype from APG, but beyond that I'm not super sure about where to take him.
An archetype would depend a lot on his fighting style. For dirty tricks, there's the Cad. For mounted cavalry, there's the Roughrider or Dragoon. For a spearman, there's the Polearm Master. For an archer, there's the Archer archetype. For a defender, there's the Phalanx Soldier archetype.
While most default town guards could of course just be fighters (using polearms for improved stylishness ;) ), that class lacks sense motive and diplomacy as class skills.
If you really want to follow the footsteps of Sam Vimes, let's take a closer look at him.
- lawful at heart, even if he sometimes bends laws in order to do justice.
- his sense of justice is so strong that it was even able to fend off the attempts to possess him by a 'quasi-demonic thing of pure vengeance -> Chevalier PrC (Stubborn Mind)
- effective and brutal hand-to-hand fighter, who specialises in "dirty fighting". He also prefers non-lethal takedowns whenever possible.
- equip: battered old watch armor (breastplate), sword and truncheon (nightstick)
- found and still pays the 'Watch Widows and Orphans Fund'
- does his duty on foot -> only Cavalier or Paladin archetypes that replace mount / divine bond with something else
- in extreme situations, his darker side comes out and he effectively 'goes spare', yet he never totally loses control -> Urban Barbarian
- recieved knighthood -> Cavalier or Chevalier PrC
- dislikes nobility, protects the common folk -> Cavalier (Order of the Shield)
- survived nine murder attempts
- could tell exactly where he was anywhere within the city limits of Ankh-Morpork just by the feel of the cobbles beneath his feet (until his wife urged him to wear new boots) -> Urban Ranger (!)
- "old school" speciesist, especially hates vampires. -> Ranger, fav. enemy undead.
- has personally disigned and installed various traps around his family house and the watch headquarters. -> Trapsmith Rogue, Trapper Ranger
- distrusts clues and loathes mysteries, yet is personally investigating important crime scenes -> Investigator Rogue
- has no spellcasting abilities -> Paladin & Inquisitor are out
So... If I wanted to build Sam Vimes, I'd start with an Urban Trapper Ranger. With that combination, you have almost everything you need.
Include either the Suspicious trait and/or a few levels of Order of the Shield Cavalier (in that case, use Standard Bearer archetype to get rid of the mount) and/or Investigator Rogue - every one of the three gives you Sense Motive as a class skill, the latter additionally gives you double rolls on Diplomacy (Gather Information).
Take Chevalier PrC to gain Stubborn Mind.
Take the improved dirty trick feats.
Add a few levels of Urban (Superstitious) Barbarian if you want a mechanical backup to focus on the whole "dark side" thing.
That said... how about that:
Urban Trapper Ranger 11 / Standard Bearer Cavalier of the Order of the Shield 2 / Investigator Rogue 2 / Urban Barbarian 2 / Chevalier 3