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Str magus with heavy armor at level 13 i believe.
Melee kineticst
Battle host occultist.
Slayer
I personnaly like blood conduit bloodrager 1/mutation warior fighter x
İnqusitor
Vigilante
I cannot build a character for you.That is half the fun in pathfinder man come on.
It's a game, you are not obligated to try and enjoy all the options. That said, Lausth made some good suggestions already. You could also try a full caster with emphasis on shapeshifting.
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Here's a number of builds I've done with 6th/9th level casting that also go into melee:
Melee Occultist
Natural attacking Skald
Sylvan Sorcerer buffing an animal companion
Wild Shape Druid build I threw together after being disappointed in the shifter
Strength based Investigator, lamplighter could be traded for empiricist depending on preference
From your description it sounds like you want a ranger or slayer. full bab, prerequisite-ignoring bonus feats every 4 levels, 6+int skill pts per level. The ranger can get an animal companion and has a small amount of nature casting, while the slayer gets access to a lot of rogue talent equivalents.
Alchemist focused on mutagens and a reach weapon?
Most 6-level casters can be built to stand on the front line. Besides them though - look up the kinetic knight archetype of the kineticist. They absolutely can take a hit and deal one out, and while kineticists don't get a lot of magic tricks they tend to be good at those they can do.
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I think I misled you somehow...
You take the "build me" part too litteraly. I'm merely need ideas and/or exemples, then I'll naturaly build my own after that.
I changed it to "Suggest me" instead, for sake of clarity.Also, I seek something that is able to be the official party frontliner, and for this, it needs to be a suitable frontline from level 1.
I do not feel most of the ideas given by Lausht are able to do that.
I added this to the op post too, with some other details.My intent was unclear before, I hope it's better now.
Battle host occultist can start with heavy armor at level 1 and can buff it self quite well.İf occultist cant fill everything you want then ı dont know what can.Check transmutation school man.20 str and heavy armor at level 1.
Kineticist cam fulfil the front line very well
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Also, I seek something that is able to be the official party frontliner, and for this, it needs to be a suitable frontline from level 1.
If you want a strong start, you could take a level as fighter first and switch to something else afterwards. There are a bunch of fighter archetypes with nice alternatives to the 1st level bonus feat:
* Child of War (class skills & ranks)
* Dragonheir Scion (Arcane Strike)
* Eldritch Guardian (familiar)
* Opportunist Fighter (class skills & ranks, Improved Dirty Trick)
* Siegebreaker (bonuses on bull rush & overrun)
* Tactician (class skills & ranks)
* Unarmed Fighter (Improved Unarmed Strike & a combat style feat)
* Unbreakable (Endurance & Diehard, especially for the 'fight below 0 HP' route)
Their usefulness depends on what other class(es) you take.
Paladins don't have a lot of skill but with high CHA, Diplomacy as a class skill, and lots of trust issues, they have a lot of possibilities for out-of-combat actions.
Battle clerics ditto, though maybe an oracle with the battle mystery would be better (more skill points)
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Kineticist cam fulfil the front line very wellCare to explain more?
İt is a con caster with dex as a secondry stat.With high dex and con plus kinetic blade with weapon finesse you can fill the role of a frontliner verywell but since it is build like a sorcerer with a serious diminished spellcasting(Still viable and strong) it needs few levels before it flourishes.You will never need any other weapon and since you cant enchant your blast(Focused blast is an abomination and ı will not consider it as a wild talent) you can just buy defansive equipment.Just a heads up though items that is published for kineticsts are garbage at best or has terrible wording.(i still love pazio for the class but ı know those items sucks and they know those items sucks.)
İt is a con caster with dex as a secondry stat.With high dex and con plus kinetic blade with weapon finesse you can fill the role of a frontliner verywell but since it is build like a sorcerer with a serious diminished spellcasting(Still viable and strong) it needs few levels before it flourishes.You will never need any other weapon and since you cant enchant your blast(Focused blast is an abomination and ı will not consider it as a wild talent) you can just buy defansive equipment.Just a heads up though items that is published for kineticsts are garbage at best or has terrible wording.(i still love pazio for the class but ı know those items sucks and they know those items sucks.)Kineticist cam fulfil the front line very wellCare to explain more?
As an earth kinetecist you gain dr/adamantine from level 2.
You can use your kinetic blade to deal scary damage with iteratives.Oh, and you get your Con to damage. You are basically built to tank. If you expand into aether at level 7 you can gain a fast healing pool of temp HP.
You can pump all your cash into boosting stats and defences. You also gain really neat utility. You can create cover on the fly, gain the ability to earth glide, get a free earth elemental familiar, make it easier for your allies to hit things you attack.
In terms of being a front line, you might want to look at kinetic knight too.
Kensai skill monkey: front line melee + 6 level caster + party scout/trapper. Use traits + additional traits to expand class skills. Human + Fast Learner.
Fighter: Barroom Brawler + Abundant Tactics, with an open slot for Advanced Armor Training / Advanced Weapon Training. Choose from a wide range of skills to have max ranks in on the fly. Additional skills can be picked up with Human + Fast Learner
Air/Water Kineticist: Kinetic Whip, flight, high AC, healing, utility.
Oradin: Paladin 2/Oracle of Battle X
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Almost any druid that in not explicitly a caster worka. No sr spells control spell, plenty of melee ability.
Oracles lunar, battle, wood, metal most of the important cleric casting requires no saves.
Hex strike shaman is on of my favourite debuffs in the game. The class can put out solid damage with many builds.
Though is seems counter intuitive an Evangelist cleric with armor training, Mithril breastplate, fate's favored, can be a terror. Play like a bard for the first 6 levels. Song goes up and then fish for aoos and full attack. Once you can get divin favor and inspire up in one round you become very accurate. Toughness, power attack and feather domain boon companion really make this a potent build.
Most other melee cleric builds.
Your don't even have to give up 9th level casting to play a front liner. You just have to accept a slightly smaller casting role and different spell list/casting focus.
Side bar to a earlier point about animal companions.
As far as animal companions they start with 2 hd at level 1 average on each gives you 9+con. That's almost on par with a fighter they are no more at risk of a crit than an other character. Many start the game with ver respectable ac and can use share spell to bump that further. At high levels you have shild companion so they share hp with the pc. This is great for caster because they should not be getting hit often. Where they lag is accuracy at high levels. This can only really be solved by a spell caster. Inquisitor, and cleric the best spells to share for this, wizards and druids have there fair share though.
Having not read more than the OP, Frontliner's that bring the pain and the utility?
Bard, magus, alchemist, investigator, or inquisitor are the classes I'd look at for that.
Some of these get a bad rep like the bard because most people build them as non-combat skill people. The trick is to use a selfish archetype and build for combat. You'll be keeping up with any martial and you'll still have lots of utility good enough to be worth having.
People who CAN frontline with utility
Cleric, Druid, medium, shaman, oracle, hunter,
People who frontline but less utility
Slayer, brawler, bloodrager
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Fighter move takes a single attack then get full attacked and maybe an aoo vs reach.
Cleric casts divine power gaining temp hp, attack, damage. Moves into a good position. The enemy moves and takes a single attack. Cleric takes a full attack.
Who did better? The cleric has made up the 1 hp per level difference, the attack bonus difference, played smarter tactically (action economy wise).
Front liner roles.
1) damage - it seems you accept these builds can do that. So we can leave that there.
2) cleaner - anyone with a good full attack can be a cleaner. You don't spend limited resources after round 1 with these builds. So just keep full attacking. If you determine a fight is easy just use a basic first level buff divine favor you have up to 8 a day no big deal, especially on a spontanious caster.
3) a caster with an animal companion is a better meat shield than almost anything. Ac's hp + characters is more then almost anyone playable pc (some barbs or kinetics being the acception). Even with out an animal a single spell like righteous might will let you be a comparable meat shield +4 str and con with dr. One action and your side by side with a barbarian.
Casters often have better saves. You know what makes a bad meat shield a panicked, dominated, charmed, or held fighter. Saves are an important aspect to being a reliable from liner cleric and druids have these in spades.
So let compared the occultist.
Occultist save money by not buying a belt and a cloak. This is the common build, so you move your money to a weapon or some other items but because you're always buying the next enhancment it is expensive. So, side by side there static bonuses are only little ahead. If you have a hard day though and have to spend focus you get weaker and weaker. This is obviously campaign dependent.
Most other 3/4 bab builds have long term buffs magic weapon, magic vestment, magic fang, long strider, eaglesoul, hunter's blessing and they have medium buffer heroism, barkskin. Align with most of the same bonuses from items. They are ready for 95% of battles then can further agment themselves to hit hard, overcome Dr alignment or make weapon out of force for incorporeals.
Use extra spells to cast long term buffs then cast keep watch and never be abushed again. What's the fighter option there?
The difference between d8 and d10 is one hp per level. It's really easy to make up for. Better ac from a spell or wild shape, avoiding a single attack with grace, or having layered defenses from miss chance.
1 hp per level is 20 hp at level 20 avoiding a single attack at level 5 with worth about 20 hp.
All this said I have not even started talking about the 6th level casters like, inquisitor, warpriest, alchemists, investigators, or skalds that have insane survivability, that can lay on the hurt. Have you seen the ac alchemist and investigators push? Fast healing from skalds, or the insane action economy of warpriests?
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Here's another example:
6th lvl Human Flame Spirit Shaman
Str 18 +1 (4th) + 2 (belt)
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 14 + 2 (headband)
Cha 8
Feats:
1: Combat Reflexes, Toughness
3: Power Attack
5: Heavy Armor Proficiency
Hexes: Healing, Cinder Dance (30ft movement in heavy armor)
Weapon: Longspear
AC:26 +1 Full Plate, Barkskin (10 min/lvl), Magic Circle Against Evil (10 min/lvl)
My experience in actual play is 6-9 fights per day, as the only frontliner (other than animal companions). We generally do not rest until an entire enemy fortress is cleared.
Moonheart. I believe kineticist is exactly what you want. They can "clean" easily with high damage melee or ranged attacks.
They gain some very powerful defensive abilities. They also have some very effective crowd control if you want to build for that.
An aether kinetecist gets fast healing temporary hitpoints and can throw his enemies into other enemies.
A geo kineticist can create physical walls. A water kineticist can get grease at will. A bunch can get free flight.
Beyond this you can do everything in heavy armor if you like.
You also get crazy health. You have no reason not to max Con.
Posting from phone. Can only post up to a certain length.
Now, if you are happy trading away your ranged blasting abilities the kinetic knight gives some very useful stuff.
You get heavy armor prof for free. You get the ability to use a shield and still gather power. You do get locked into kinetic blade/whip but get some nifty bonuses for using them.
So, long story short: is there some class/archetypes somewhere that allows to build a character totaly acceptable for the role of the guy at the frontline of battles AND have many different things they can do outside combat?
The Paladin. No achetypes needed, doesn't even need to have the Paladin class. Just: The Paladin.
Outside of combat you do good deeds, charitable works and are the moral compass of the entire party.
Believe me: you'll have plenty to do.
I feel like if you can use the "Trappings of the Warrior" Panoply, the Battle Host Occultist is kind of a trap, since it locks you out of panoplies entirely and being a full BAB 6-level caster is just better than what the Battle Host gives you. A haunt collector or panoply savant using the aforementioned trappings is probably a better frontline occultist; you don't have as many feats but you have way more utility and you can just take heavy armor proficiency (you can probably fit it in before you can afford full plate and medium armor is fine at level 1.)
At first level try this for a cleric:
Human Cleric of Gorum, crusader archetype
(20 point buy)
Str 16+2=18, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 13
F +4, R +1, W +3
Domain: War/Tactics
Feats: Selective Channeling, Channelling Force, MWP (greatsword) (B), Heavy Armor Proficiency (B)
With scale mail and an armored kilt you're at AC 17; your greatsword has attack +4, damage 2d6+6 unbuffed. This fits within average cleric level 1 starting money. You have a lot of buffs available, including allowing one of your party to roll twice, take the best for initiative.
Could you get better attack/damage numbers with a fighter? Sure, though not a lot. Buffs can make the difference when you've got the time and of course being able to heal increases your value to the party and may allow you to stay up longer if things go wrong.
A kinetic knight would take until level 2 to come online as a tank which I gather is too long for you. By level 3 I think it could make a noticeably better tank than a fighter due to its resolve ability.
Bloodragers can be great fun. They don't dump Cha so they can do some social stuff. They have spells, albeit not a lot per day, but they can also use scrolls, so there can be out of combat utility. Depending on the bloodline/build, they can be some of the hardest to kill and hardest hitting frontliners around. When my 11th level arcane bloodragers goes into a bloodrage, she can immediately cast blur, haste, and mirror image on herself.
Fighter move takes a single attack then get full attacked and maybe an aoo vs reach.
Cleric casts divine power gaining temp hp, attack, damage. Moves into a good position. The enemy moves and takes a single attack. Cleric takes a full attack.
Who did better? The cleric has made up the 1 hp per level difference, the attack bonus difference, played smarter tactically (action economy wise).
The Fighter did better, for many reasons, but the most important is: he can do what you wrote at level 1 and with the standard starting wealth.
Divine Power is a spell you earn at level 7.A frontliner is one of the most important keys of low level battles, when the party have low magic and low hp.
Under level 4, 90% of the victories of the party are earned by the frontliner/healer tandem, because the spellcasters deplete insanely fast and almost everyone can hit dirt with a simple critical hit taken.Saying that you will be able to compete with a fighter for the frontliner role at level 7 is just... too late.
A level 1 Fighter is slightly better at fighting than a level 1 Cleric who's built like a Fighter (maxed out Strength) but with a little more Wisdom. The Fighter will have an extra one or two hit points, plus one to hit from his BAB, etc.
A Cleric is massively better than a standard Fighter at the things a Cleric can do; have a good Will save for no investment, heal, remove conditions, cast Resist Energy, purge invisibility, gain unique domain benefits, etc.
How many encounters are you having per day that the casters run out of spells?
İt seems like you guys forgot about action economy and suprise rounds.Do gm's always give you time to buff yourselfs?
Don't get ambushed? Having a character with high perception helps. Wisdom-based casters are good at that.
If exploring a dungeon, cast your minutes-per-level buffs in advance, and your rounds-per-level buffs before kicking down a door.
And a lot of classes have swift action buffs - Inquisitor, for example.
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İt seems like you guys forgot about action economy and suprise rounds.Do gm's always give you time to buff yourselfs?Don't get ambushed? Having a character with high perception helps. Wisdom-based casters are good at that.
If exploring a dungeon, cast your minutes-per-level buffs in advance, and your rounds-per-level buffs before kicking down a door.
And a lot of classes have swift action buffs - Inquisitor, for example.
Crafty gm's can always bypass perception checks.Well crafty gm's can do anything.So dont get ambushed and using your buffs with a duration of min per level isnt exactly what ı would suggest to someone.
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Fighter move takes a single attack then get full attacked and maybe an aoo vs reach.
Cleric casts divine power gaining temp hp, attack, damage. Moves into a good position. The enemy moves and takes a single attack. Cleric takes a full attack.
Who did better? The cleric has made up the 1 hp per level difference, the attack bonus difference, played smarter tactically (action economy wise).
The Fighter did better, for many reasons, but the most important is: he can do what you wrote at level 1 and with the standard starting wealth.
Divine Power is a spell you earn at level 7.A frontliner is one of the most important keys of low level battles, when the party have low magic and low hp.
Under level 4, 90% of the victories of the party are earned by the frontliner/healer tandem, because the spellcasters deplete insanely fast and almost everyone can hit dirt with a simple critical hit taken.Saying that you will be able to compete with a fighter for the frontliner role at level 7 is just... too late.
I'm not going to explain every spell for every class at every level. A 3/4 bab class is 1 point of accuracy and 1 hp behind a fighter at level 1 it's a really minor difference. Power attack is the only real gap. Divine favor makes up the accuracy or with fates favored cause you to pull head. Dpr becomes a most equal at this point. Sub is judgment, studied target etc. And apply the same reasoning.
If you have an animal companion, which you apparently don't like, your getting 4 attack around with the druid, cleric, hunter or inquisitor. That will be more than double the average damge of the fighter and a total of 21 ish hit point between the two bodies. Again better than the fighter.
90% of Victories are won by damge at low level this I'd correct. Where you are work about the game as a whole, though it maybe true on your game, if that you need a fighter hear combo.
Basically, healing does not help end fights. Healing keep a fight going longer, so you end up taking more damage and spending more resources on heal. It is difficult to heal more damage then the enemy can do so your throwing out bad bandages. If you were doing damage every person you kill is damage that never gets do and does not need to be healed. A Cleric is always better to do something offensive than to heal (heal and breath of life are the acceptions).
In a long post outlining battle field position, action economy, the effects on damage, multiple means of damage mitigation, staying power of casting classes in general.
Honestly, a fighter weaker at this level that other martial classes Natural attack Barb / bloodrager, any barbarian or blood rager, a slayer are going to be better. A human fighter at this level get a archery going well but that about it.
I'd second swashbuckler as Grindergrend mentioned, could be quite effective with a 2 level paladin dip too.
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Paladin with swashbuckler dip is likely to be better than swashbuckler with paladin dip.
Or just play a Virtuouso Bravo Paladin to get both the Swashbuckler and the Paladin in a single package.
You might also want to consider a Medium. That class is a good melee combatant when channeling the Champion legend and can serve other functions with the other legends. Which archetype if any you pick would be based on just how flexible you want to be.
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Cavalier or Slayer. Full BAB, d10 HD, decent skills for out of combat utility. Don't have to worry about antimagic zones. :-P
Both can do battlefield control with reach + Combat Reflexes, both can use Power Attack, too.
EDIT:
Half-orc is a good race, regardless of class. You can use a greataxe to clean up. You can spend a trait and alternate race feature to get +2 to all saves. You can use an alternate race feature to get Endurance and sleep in your armor.