Help with a a melee focused Strength of Thousands character

[NielsenE]

I'm usually a forever GM, but getting a chance to play in a SoT campaign soon; and have been talking myself in circles figuring out a character concept. We're using the baseline SoT free archetype rules (ie Wizard or Druid only).

The party so far:
Psychic/Druid (also planning to grab Bard eventually) -- generally buff
Rogue (archetype uncertain)
Witch/Wizard (generally healy/buffy)
Swashbuckler (dancer) archetype uncertain

Most people had be describing their characters as ones who help others -- though of course the Rogue or Swash could be a heavy hitter. But it felt like a more tanky frontliner would probably be better for the group, I also wanted a chance to play a Magus. However making a tanky magus feels a bit like you're trying to cover too much at once. So I keep going back and forth on
Champion/Wizard (would prefer Druid, but the anathema doesn't work too well, but champion Wizard is soo MAD)
Magus/either -- was probably thinking Inexorable Iron. Getting a reach weapon and trip. Feels like the temp HP and battle field control could work out about right. Probably needs to take Sentinel or Champion at some point.

I've been playing around with both a Str based version for Magus/Wizard, or a Dex based one for Magus/Druid going elf for the branched spear. Was also looking into throwing the Suli heritage on it for some of the fun elemental stuff, but it gets a bit tight on ancestry feats in that case. The Magus/Druid calls to be a bit more, but again its so MAD that I feel like I'll end up being lackluster at most things.

Any advice?

[Blake's Tiger]

I’m playing an Armor Inventor/Wizard for SoT.

If you go Magus, you will probably want to stick to Wizard for the free archetype.

Champion/Wizard doesn’t need to be MAD. Use spells that don’t require spell attacks or saves. E.g., true strike. It think that if I went Champion, I would leave heavy into the Magaambya archetypes as they become available.

[HumbleGamer]

Druid gives no true strikes, so I'd probably stick with a wizard dedication.

I'd also consider getting witch dedication ( int based spell caster) to get either a familiar ( one extra spell and a refocus) and life boost ( more sustain, which pairs excellently with either the inexorable iron temp hp and stoneskin).

Lacking a proper frontline for your party, the champion reaction could really fit it, although 14 char may be a lot.

What about getting the half elf heritage to be MAD free with your multi talented lvl 9 feat?

I also consider you getting the mauler dedication to get either critical weapon spec and power attack. A friend of mine alternated spell strikes with power attack ( he used a maul and had circ bonus damage because of dwarves feats) and it wasn't bad at all.

[Arachnofiend]

Inexorable Iron Magus should work just fine. Magus doesn't get armor expertise until 11th level so what you can do is get heavy armor with the general feat and train out of it to take Sentinel at 10th, which is a dead level for the Wizard archetype in terms of getting spell slots.