I think from what you were saying about doing magic and damage I'd go one of those:

But what about Dragons!?
damage dealing mage that ends up a melee monster in the 2nd half. might be more micro than you'd like. very squishy early on, so you would experience both squishy mage and melee tank in one play-through. You will also get to be a fire-breathing bear for some time, so that's cool xD.
Elven Arcane Warrior
squishy early and has to rely on crossbow till lvl4. then ramps up the AC fast. more melee than a mage with a few high-damage tricks up his sleeve.
Dex Scion
bumpy crossbow start till you get to agile pick under old sycamore. gets a lot easier after 5 when you can use any scimitar you fancy.and there are good magus scimitars though the game.
Str Scion
relatively easy start but takes his time with ramping up AC. Probably the easiest character to go through the game if you don't forget about arcane weapon and other magus stuff.
Sylvan Sorcerer
is a bit closer to being sorta glass canon himself, but still has a tanky pet. has respectable AC with buffs, but doesn't sport a million HP, so avoids melee to the best of his ability - you will get most of glass canon experience without the lethality attached to mistakes. Smooth transition from control to damage.

flanking in this game doesn't work like that. all you have to do to flank stuff is to have 2 melee guys engaging. Doesn't matter what positions they are relative to the target.

I like Scion(especially dex one) and dragon sorc.
also very proud of elven warrior and the theory-crafting behind the build. will probably play that some day. staff monk too - was thinking for quite some time how to do that properly.

The dice has dropped:

i will play both. :-)))

I'm using your builds and finally enjoying the game! kingdom stuff is still frustrating but im just save scumming.
Thanks and good job

you are welcome. I can write up on the kingdom stuff, but there is so little information about it and I don't want to deceive anyone.

Fair enough. Just a couple questions. Should i build up capital before claiming other lands? is there a formula you follow? obviously the timed quests are #1 problem events are #2 but after that I never know what the right time to upgrade economy/community/military levels. Should i do that before i expand? Or should i build as many buildings as possible first before any of that.

there is a well written guide on kingdom. I do not agree with totally everything but 99% of it is the same as I would advise doing it. and probably half of the last 1% is due to me misuderstanding/him forgetting to mention smth.

on your question: expand asap, upgrade asap, build master buildings in new lands asap. even if you have to pay gold for BP. masters will bring in more gold than you would pay always. also do master quests as fast as possible for the very same reason.

do not build stuff unless you are running out of promotions after you got secondary advisors(60 in main stats)

yikes that guide certainly didnt make me confident. sounds like a nightmare

it's not that bad, just develop fast and don't waste too much time. At the current state nexus mod that lets you adjust timers on kingdom stuff - it will remove the annoying portion, but is cheating, ofc. I don't use it, but it might be a short-term solution.

Monkadin

Role: Damage Dealer/Tank

Race: Aasimar(Angelkin)
Alignment: Lawful-Good

Stats:
Str: 18 > 22
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Int: 12
Wis: 7
Cha: 17 > 18 @20

Final Build: Paladin 17/Monk(Scaled Fist) 1/Bard(Archaeologist) 2

Main skills: Mobility 3, Persuasion
Suggested secondary skills: Use Magic Device, whatever else you need.

Detailed leveling breakdown:
Lvl 1: Paladin - Dodge
Lvl 2: Paladin
Lvl 3: Monk - Weapon Focus: Greataxe // Crane Style
Lvl 4: Paladin
Lvl 5: Paladin - Outflank
Lvl 6: Paladin
Lvl 7: Paladin - Crane Wing
Lvl 8: Paladin
Lvl 9: Paladin - Dazzling Display
Lvl 10: Paladin
Lvl 11: Paladin - Shatter Defenses
Lvl 12: Paladin
Lvl 13: Paladin - Crane Riposte
Lvl 14: Paladin
Lvl 15: Paladin - Power Attack
Lvl 16: Paladin
Lvl 17: Paladin - Dreadful Carnage
Lvl 18: Paladin
Lvl 19: Bard - Intimidating Prowess
Lvl 20: Bard - Combat Trick > Blind Fight
Wings

Good Mercys to take: Fatigued, Exhausted, Blinded, Paralyzed

Spells by level in order of importance:
Lvl 1: Challenge Evil*, Divine Favor
Lvl 2: Bestow Grace, Aura of Greater Courage, Remove Paralysis
Lvl 3: Archon’s Aura, Resist Energy(Communal), Delay Poison(Communal), Remove Curse
Lvl 4: Eaglesoul**, Resounding Blow

*Keep at least one at all times. It can be used to detect if the target is evil or not, so you won’t waste Smites
**+4 Sacred Str and +2 Sacred AC. Awesome.

Gear: any full-sized weapon, preferably with decent crit range(sabers and longswords). Monk robes, Bracers of Armor, +AC items, +Stat items.

Likes having an alchemist in the party for shield spell.

Keep a staff on you just in case. Only reason we really picked up the weapon focus is access to dazzling/dreadful/shatter. Extra attack can go a long way. Once you get vanquisher, though, it's time to switch for life.

Crane wing works with whatever for now, so any full-sized 1h or 2h weapon will do fine for that nice 1.5 str damage.

Why not hospitaler? Cause we needed to multiclass and had no spare feats for extra channel anyways. Also Mark of Justice is amazing - it’s effectively +6AC to everyone and nobody will ever miss against evil creatures. And I didn’t want to lose all those smites on combat-oriented Pally.

Weapon Talents were skipped entirely. They do more harm than good this time around. We already literally drown in AB between our spells and smites. Eagle Soul auto-confirms crits and divine bond will take care of keen for you. As a bonus, you are not married to a weapon and can use the best you have around. Sadly, monk weapons are light and won’t give you x1.5 bonuses to damage.

Power attack is taken mostly for dreadful carnage access, but usually is not worth the loss of AB. It's still a nice bit of damage, especially so against enemies you can smite, but don't be too hyped about it, especially on higher difficulties.

That pretty much covers it. It’s a tanky paladin you always wanted with good sustain and utility. I tried pretty hard to make it work on plate armor pally, but monk AC is just too much to compete with.

Damaging Bard

Race: Aasimar(Angelkin)

Alignment: LG

Stats:
Str: 18 > 22
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Int: 12
Wis: 7
Cha: 17 > 18 @ 20

Final Build: Monk(Scaled Fist) 1/Bard(Archaeologist) 4/Fighter 1/Dragon Disciple 4/Eldritch Knight 10

Main skills: Mobility 3. Knowledge(Arcana) 5, Persuasion (Max), Trickery
Suggested secondary skills: Athletics 1, Stealth 1, Some UMD, whatever else you fancy

Lvl 1: Monk - Dodge // Crane Style
Lvl 2: Fighter - Weapon Focus: Greataxe
Lvl 3: Bard - Intimidating Prowess
Lvl 4: Bard - Combat Trick > Dazzling Display
Lvl 5: Bard - Outflank
Lvl 6: Dragon Disciple
Lvl 7: Dragon Disciple - Crane Wing // Power Attack
Lvl 8: Dragon Disciple
Lvl 9: Dragon Disciple - Shatter Defenses
Lvl 10: Bard
Lvl 11: Eldritch Knight - Wings // Improved Critical: Greataxe
Lvl 12: Eldritch Knight
Lvl 13: Eldritch Knight - Dreadful Carnage
Lvl 14: Eldritch Knight
Lvl 15: Eldritch Knight - Cleave // Cleaving Finish
Lvl 16: Eldritch Knight
Lvl 17: Eldritch Knight - Crane Riposte
Lvl 18: Eldritch Knight
Lvl 19: Eldritch Knight - Greater Weapon Focus: Greataxe // Weapon Specialization: Greataxe
Lvl 20: Eldritch Knight

Spells by level in order of importance:
Lvl 1: Remove Fear, Cure Light Wounds, Vanish, Unbreakable Heart
Lvl 2: Mirror Image, Heroism, Sense Vitals, Cure Moderate Wounds, Glitterdust
Lvl 3: Good Hope, Haste, Displacement, Cure Serious Wounds, Delay Poison(Communal)
Lvl 4: Greater Invisibility, Dimension Door, Echolocation, Cure Critical Wounds, Break Enchantment
Lvl 5: Heroism(Greater), Dispel Magic(Greater), Joyful Rapture, Cure Light Wounds(Mass)
Lvl 6: Brilliant Inspiration, Cure Moderate Wounds(Mass)

Gear: Staff early, Greataxe(Vanquisher bis) later. Monk robes, AC gear, Stat Gear.

Bard that can actually dish out some decent damage. Song Went the way of dodo due to archaeologist sub, so won't step on many toes. Likes having alchemist in the team for shield infusion, but wands/bracers will do as well.

Can the paladins cast 4th level spells starting with 7 wisdom?

they are CHA-based - it's not 3.5

@InEffect: playing with your Monkadin Build. Seems fun.^^

So i have allways more than one save at the same time. Lorewise chars, evil chars, good chars etc.
I still miss the GOD save. So a question about your Vivisectionist Build you suggested me:
is this dual wielding?