Optimizing for Pathfinder: Help

[TomBaker]

So recently in my friends campaign which has been on hiatus for awhile, my character died. Now this is the second one I've gone through, the first a Fighter, the second a bluff focused rouge. Now the campaign looks like starting again I find myself at a loss for a new character.

The reasoning for this post: I humbly request help building a 4th level Pathfinder character, with the following specifications and would love any info at all.

1. Melee or Sneaking preferable. The party already has a Cleric, Fighter/Cleric, Sorcerer and Rogue/Psychic Warrior. So the party has all bases covered, the reasoning for the request being that I fail at playing spell casters, and more muscle or stealth is always needed.

2. Both the Ninja and Monk have the feel of what I want, but I do have enough commonsense to know how broken the latter is.

3.Finally the stats are: 10, 10, 12, 14, 15 and 17. Feat progression is at every non ability increase level (DM ruling), most races are available, and Ability progression at 4th level, so current usage, is +1 to 2 different stats.

Thanks in advance playground.

[Human Paragon 3]

Take Kung Fu Genius to make your Monk Int-focused and go the stealthy / skill monkey route, then prestige class into assassin. Your combination of stunning fists and death attacks, sneak attacks and the like should make you fairly potent, and int-focused. Needing many different ability scores is one of Monk's downfalls, but making it int-focused should do ya (assassin needs INT for spellcasting and death attack, plus skills). The monk's high jump, slow fall and lack of need for weapons makes it a good assassin in my mind. You can have a three-round conversation with your target, and then poke him in the throat with your pinky and kill him.

Take Weapon Finesse too so you can be totally INT and DEX-based. Put the 17 in INT and increase it, then put the 15 in Dex and increase that as well. The 14 should go into constitution because hit points.

You might want to take Elf or Gnome as your race for the stat boosts and decent abilities.

[TomBaker]

I do like it, which book is Kung Fu Genius from?

[Human Paragon 3]

I believe it's in Dragon Compendium.

[TomBaker]

Damn, as most 3.5 stuff is out, DM wants to keep it all PF.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Are you sure playing a sneaky wouldn't step on the rogue/psychic warrior's toes a tad? With that in mind, I'd suggest a Ranger with the two handed fighting combat style (from APG); this lets you be a skill monkey in areas the rogue is less likely to have covered and also have a frontliner role. Yes, you'll have a teensy bit of spells, but that isn't the focus of a ranger. You could potentially forget you ever had them and still contribute, although I wouldn't suggest doing that.

Specific build suggestions:
Human Ranger 4 (THF)
Str 20, Con 16, Dex 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10
Favored Class Bonus: HP (to you)
Hunter's Bond: Get the animal companion. Wolf is fine. Leopard is good if you put Weapon Finesse on it.
Feats: Power Attack, Step Up line, Combat Reflexes... after that, it depends on how fast you're going to level. The Cleave line and Furious Focus are nice for level 4, but the utility degrades as you reach level 6 and onward. Given that you're getting so many feats, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Grab what you like.
Skills: At least one rank in all class skills. Otherwise, max perception (!!!), stealth, and survival. Max two of handle animal, intimidate, and Knowledge: Nature, depending on future build choices.
Spells: Entangles. Lots of entangles. Later there's energy resistance, and maybe magic fang. Depending on the type of campaign, hiding from and/or charming animals could prove useful.
Favored Stuff: Campaign dependent