Shattered Kingdoms

Considering there is no true tanking in SK anymore, I would go for anything that is centered in dealing massive damage. With that in mind I would choose a hellion (again).

PK-wise, there's no easy way to tell from the current state of things because different people have different support and different play styles. Irekoya, a Fist half-elf shaman, was well nigh the strongest character I've encountered thus far, but a lot of that had to do with the fact that he had a very strong supporting background - constant supplies of skins, huge amounts of brews, and most certainly enchants. So, you can't really directly compare him with other less fortunate characters. If I had to take a wild (note: wild) guess, warrior classes seem pretty strong compared to others right now. Taunt tends to rip apart spellcasters, and bash is often a big winner in PK. Huge winner, even.

RP-wise, I think there's a lot of potential for rogues out there that isn't being met. There are basically a handful of rogues that are all, IMO, rather good, but I think there's a lot of untapped capability, there. Rogues aren't so strong in PK, especially in the face of cabal skills/spells, but they aren't horribly crippled by any means.

Religions could use a pretty big infusion of non-religious classes, at this point. Most religions' active members are pallies/hellions and priests, with very minor activity from other classes, so I think at this point any class has some good potential for religious activity.

I'd say go for it, make the gnome mercenary. It sounds as if you know that which I have in mind, so it would be interesting to see how you'd pull it off.

Necromancers.

Why? Because you can make unlimited undead. You can get pretty good weapon subtypes easily. Zerg your enemies to death. And you really don't need any cabal abilities, they just help.

Dwarf priests. For the following reasons:

1 - Aside from a Marfikian, its one of the few priests that can pull off preaching drunk.

2 - High con will give you that oh so needed HP boost.

3 - Y' kin give y'r sermons in wha'e'er messed up language y'wish. All praises b't'th'great <YOUR DEITY HERE>

4 - What better way to "exorcize the demons" than with a gigantic axe?

Yup.

Religious Class: Either a priest or a knight, based on diety. Why? The potential for RP is limitless based on your imagination.

Fighting Class: Depends on your style. Right now for one-on-one PK I would suggest a swash as one on one taunt = l33t. In group PK I would suggest more of a merc with a few support characters.

Adventuring class: Sorc. With Ethereal form, teleport, gate, charm, fly, detects... They can truely adventure to anywhere and do anything. For race I would suggest human or gnome.

Casting class: For RP, a priest. RP follows those things around like flies. For versitility, a sorc. They have or can have access to any spell in the game with ease. For sheer killing power, a necro. Nothing says loving like twenty wraiths with reaching weapons.

Best Overall: There is no fair way to really judge it. Overall based on what scope? RP capability? Killing ability? Survival ability? With prep time, a necro can kill anything just about, and a sorc can nearly as easily with a few well place zaps and brandishes. Giant barbs can dish out a serious amount of damage, as can mercs/shamans/scouts in a certain cabal. There are a lot of different combinations that can be powerful in the hands of any competent player.

Trag with a necro though is fscking deadly.

I like you, Othet.

Religious: Paladin. I've always liked gear, and they get gear, but they can re-outfit pretty easily in a pinch, and they can call their armor on death (sometimes) to save some of those annoying corpse runs. They get food and water, which is handy, and some minor healing spells, which is even better. Locate, identify for utility. Plus, there's a whole RP framework already established to paint nuances upon, which makes it straightforward to kickstart the char into church + cabal RP. Priests are everyone's friend, but it's a service profession, so you're constantly on call -- rez this, enchant that, go get gas blasted by the other. Plenty of utility, but a little lower in the running errands solo department.

Fighting: I haven't played a merc since the "new" weapons code, but it sounds like it'd be pretty easy to build a monster. Might be time for me to try a dwarf merc with an axe. Hmmm... I have tried a swashie, and they're fine, but a little tedious for my taste.

Adventuring: Bards are a blast. I tried one, and they're super unique. Well done. Give them group power chord protection, and they'd be even better. Er... Anyway, fun class. Lots of RP potential if you're a creative sort. Tons of utility. Not on call as often as priests, possibly, but still a service profession.

Casting: From what I've seen, sorcs are still sorcs, which means they can pretty much do whatever they want. If you're an explorer type, I can't imagine a better char than a sorc. Super utility. Used to be pretty sweet in combat, too. But, it's a prep class, and that doesn't suit me personally. So I'd probably give the nod to warlocks for power, some utility, ability to run errands solo, a nice profession to have as a friend, and so on. Still, any class that can scribe or brew will be asked to, and that doesn't suit me, either. I tried a necro at one point after the "new" animate dead code. Awesome potential, but WAY too much prep every single time I logged in. A great class for someone who plays a lot and for hours at a time. That's not me.

Special mention: Gnome merc. I can't think of any notable gnome mercs ever. Anyone care to prove the "it's not the char, it's the player" argument with gnome mercs? (EDIT: I'm looking at you, Peso.)

Peace,
Bux

There are very powerful options for a gnome mercenary which aren't possible for other races of mercenaries.

Tribunal necromancers rock (if I'm not playing them)
imagine this: get a tank guard NPC in front of you, go to a room with a spellcasting NPC. Then tell that NPC to summon other NPCs, and get the tank to kill them. Then animate.

As a side note, NPCs can't summon players. Otherwise that'd be WAY overpowered.