A character I probably won't get to play

[Particle_Man]

Hey, I actually got to play the Skeleton Berserker!  Woot!  Mind you the DM did not pull any punches.  I had to outrun a boulder trap and then encountered three strong dudes with bludgeoning weapons.  Both of those would have done double damage to my boney self.  Luckily the party face was there to smooth things over because skeletons can't talk!

[Particle_Man]

Got a different take on the soulborn 2/paladin of freedom 3.  Still taking the elf substitution levels for soulborn but this time I would use a wood elf.  More strength and I get ranger as my favoured class for multi-classing.  I would buy some tanks in knowledge arcana and geography with soulborn and ranger respectively.  After adding two levels of ranger I would go for divine crusader.  Turns out there is an elvish moon goddess that has the travel domain and divine crusader can cast spells from that.  After 8 levels of that, to fit the travel theme I could go for the three level wayfarers guide prestige class to get better at teleports (useful with large parties).   Then likely finish with two more levels of ranger for bab, skill points and saves.  So this guy would be less martial than the other but fun in his own way.  Practised spellcaster would be a good idea.  I would have to take weapon focus quarterstaff but what the heck, it adds flavour.  And animated shields are fun.  Reserve feats are interesting. Dimensional Jaunt seems like a no-brainer.  That said, seeing the benefit of Holy Warrior makes me wonder if I should take the War domain.  Hmmm.  But I am liking this character as a guide so travel domaine and the goddess Sehanine Moonbow it is.

With the moon goddess favoured enemy undead and weapon style two weapon fighting is a no brainer.  So feats could be weapon focus quarterstaff, martial study counter charge, martial stance step of the wind, either practiced spellcaster, melee weapon mastery bludgeoning, dimensional jaunt and crushing strike. Weapon specialization is free, as is two weapon fighting (in light armour), track and endurance.  I would usually go with armour.  But two weapon fighting is nice if I am caught without it.  For skills, aside from two ranks in knowledge religion, and ten each in arcana and geography I would focus on spot, listen, search and sense motive.

[Particle_Man]

On the other hand, being able to ignore blasphemy is good too. So maybe soulborn 2/paladin of freedom 3/ranger 2/divine crusader 5/ranger 1/horizon walker 7 to get that and dimension door every 1d4 rounds, leaving my spell in place to give me dimensional jaunt all day long.  I could also improve spot and listen, get darkvision, be immune to fatigue and resist exhaustion.  I could also get a bonus for hide but in heavy armour that is   not so important (but it is part of the forest mastery, there is nothing better to take, and elves like forests).  Since caster level is less important here, this frees up the ninth level feat slot.  Got it! Put power attack in the level three spot (in case of DR) and move martial study and martial stance to levels 6 and 9.

Hmmm, if I start with a level of Ranger (with the elf subsitution level) I have a *lot* more skill points to play with (32 if INT 10!).  This would allow for getting 4 ranks in spot, listen, search, survival, and knowledge (geography), 2 ranks in knowledge (religion), a rank in sense motive, ride, handle animal, knowledge (planes, dungeoneering, nature).  Nice broad education.  I would eventually max out spot/listen and bring search/survival to 5 ranks, knowledge (geography) up to 8 ranks and sense motive up to 16 ranks (since I am immune to charms/compulsions, it makes thematic sense to try to detect it in others).  It is nice that sense motive is a permanent class skill at level 3+.  The ranger substitution level modifies the favoured enemy (undead) slightly, giving a  +3 bonus to damage and +3 to affecting the spot/listen/hide/move silently/survival checks instead of the usual skills.  d6 hd for that level (only) so 4 less hp than if I start with soulborn, but worth it I think.  I also start in worse armour proficiency, but the best heavy armour isn't affordable at level 1 in any case.  I won't take the elf paladin substitution level because it seems to hurt the smite and I don't need survival to go above 5 ranks, and the default aura of the paladin of freedom seems better.  But elf soulborn substitution levels for 1 and 2 are totally worth it.  Being immune to charms, compulsions and paralysis is sweet!

So this assumes a 32 point buy for str 18, dex 8, con 14, int 12, wis 8, chr 14 before racial adjustments, then str 20, dex 10, con 12, int 10, wis 8, chr 14 after racial adjustments.  Improve str at levels 4+ unless there is a good reason not to.

Interesting that once I hit divine crusader, my aura stacks with previous classes.  But paladin of freedom doesn't radiate chaos, so my aura would hit strong in "good" first, then "chaos" a few levels later.  I don't think I ever hit overwhelming.