Character Creation Help

[Pandyman]

I'm making a character mainly for flavor this time. I'm playing with a group that's kinda new to the game, and I'm helping them along the way as we level up. DM wants to start at level 2 and I'm not gonna do any shenanigans. I'm mainly using an rp perspective.

Right now I'm going Silverbrow Human Power Attack fighter. I'm gonna have 2 flaws, and I'm going to take Dragon Wings and Improved Dragon wings at level 6. Eventually I want to pick up Power Attack, weapon focus, Weapon Spec, Combat Brute, and maybe Shock Trooper. My DM approved Mercantile Background for me at level 1, mainly for the flavor of the character.

The plan is to be a wandering merchant with a draconic heritage. Albeit not the best way to go, I plan on using the defense bonus variant and a greatsword.

What are some good feats, prestige classes, etc that are more flavorful than power focused? Like any feats to extend the merchant feel of my character? You can't go wrong with good base class suggestions either. I am, however, staying away from ToB stuff for now.

[JeminiZero]

Without ToB... Well there are other decent melee options available.

There is Ranger (normal or wildshape) and Barbarian, both of which are reasonable things to be for a wandering merchant.

You could say that the Dragon blood provides some minor magic, and play some part-melee part-magic class like Duskblade.

How do you feel about psionics? Psychic Warrior is a reasonable tank as well. Maybe refluff that he is descended from a Gem Dragon, instead of silver Dragons, which explains his psionic powers.

[Pandyman]

Without ToB... Well there are other decent melee options available.

I'm not against any ToB content. I'm just trying not to optimize my character so that the newbies can have a little more fun with the game. I may look into Psychic Warrior or Duskblade, since I agree that that is reasonably good flavor for a draconic descendant. Being a magical merchant of sorts could be fun.

[BowStreetRunner]

Depending on how long you expect the campaign to last, you may find it fun to build toward a X 5 / Dragon Devotee 5 / Dragon Disciple 10. I found it very flavorful as a character interested in delving into his draconic heritage. I seem to recall that the build I used was Barbarian 2/Fighter 2/Warblade 1, but any combination of full BAB classes would work for the first 5 levels. It gets most interesting as your character starts becoming more and more dragon-like starting at 6th level.