Recently one of the players in my group has decided to change characters and the DM has allowed him to switch out next session. He isn't the best at building characters so as the groups recovering power gamer he asked me for help.
There are only three people in are group not counting the DM, so we are spread a little thin when it comes to skills. And his last character was a bard so he acted as the party's face so the new character needs to do this as well. The player in question also wants the character to be super tanky.
To sum up I am trying to build a diplomatic tank. My first thought was a paladin but I'm not sure if he wants to be lawful good plus my last character was a paladin he is dead now but he just died 2 sessions ago.
So now I'm thinking samurai as they seem to be very good at taking hits but I have never built a samurai and I am not sure if it is a good class.
I guess I am asking if there is a better class for this other than samurai or paladin and if not then what is some advice on building a samurai.
Paladin is the obvious diplo-tank. How about an Urban Barbarian/Invulnerable Rager though? They get Diplomacy and Intimidate as class skills, great DR/- progression and can still beat the living s~@& out of stuff with a two-hander. Sure, your AC sucks hard, but who cares when you have DR 5/- at level 10. They also get 4 + Int skillpoints/level.
The other option could be a Ranger of some flavor. I like Urban Rangers, but no-archetype Ranger is arguably better as an all-rounder. If traits are available then Suspicious adds Sense Motive as a class skill, and there are a couple for Diplomacy. You can be a capable switch-hitter and still have the skills left over to do the scout/traps role and even a bit of talking if you push it.
Neither option is going to have a great Charisma, but a fairly cheap Circlet of Persuasion (4500gp) can offset that.
Samurai is a very good tank class, and eastern weapons are always nice, but I've never seen a better tank than a paladin. If he doesn't want to play a paladin, then Samurai is likely his best choice.
diplomacy/charisma is really important as we are playing kingmaker and this character is going to be the "king". the other players in the group are a summoning druid (who does all the trap finding) and an alchemist (for knowledge checks). as you can see we need a melee and a good one at that.
Cavalier, sure and a Samurai is a good choice.
Battle Oracle might work.
Battle, Ancestor or Metal Oracles can be pretty handy tanks though, especially if you need the extra Charisma for kingdom-related checks. You also get Diplomacy and Sense Motive as Class skills and 4 skillpoints/level.
You don't "need" need the high Charisma for a Kingmaker campaign if you're using only the rules in the Adventure path though. Our megalomaniacal Wizard with 10 Cha is currently King and we've not failed any important checks, given sensible build priorities. Shore up your weaknesses with cheap, cost effective early builds and unless you get some very unlucky rolls you should be okay.