Playing a Tier 3 Shugenja?(3.0/3.5/pf)

[Togath]

I'm trying to build a character for a pbp, and, noticing that the GM was allowing material from Rokugan, I was thinking of giving the Rokugan Shugenja a try.. but I'm worried about it ending up too strong, so I came here for advice on down-powering one..
All 1st party 3.0, 3.5, and PF is available, as is material from the d20 dnd Rokugan books, and PF psionics.
Character is PF human, and my stats are(I think, will need to confirm with the GM I rolled them right);
12
13
10
9
13
15

and Shugenja's cast from Charisma(unless the alternate rule for them is allowed, in which case it's either Int, Wis, Cha, or Con, depending on which I choose)

[A_S]

1. Figure out which tricks available to a Shugenja are broken, relative to the rest of the party.
2. Use other tricks.
?????
n+1. Profit.

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We'll be able to help you more if you tell us a little more about what kind of character you want to play, aside from your base class, what kinds of characters the rest of the party is considering, and the optimization environment of the group.

Finally, a nitpick about your thread title: It makes very little sense to describe a character as "tier 2/3," because tiers 2 and 3 are very dissimilar from one another. Most people tend to view the tiers as a spectrum of power, ranging from tier 1 (high power) to tier 6 (low power), probably just because JaronK decided to order them numerically when he wrote the original tier system. It's much more useful to think of them as relatively discrete categories that describe the variation of classes along two dimensions, power (how badly the class tends to break the game) and versatility (how many situations the class can be useful in).

The breakdown is:
-Tier 1: Extremely powerful and extremely versatile.
-Tier 2: Extremely powerful, but not extremely versatile.
-Tier 3: Extremely versatile, but not extremely powerful.
-Tier 4: Neither extremely powerful nor extremely versatile, but good at what it does.
-Tier 5: Bad.
-Tier 6: Really bad.

[Togath]

Good point here, and I'd been planning for an earth elemental one(so mixed selection of spells, and con-based casting if the alternate stat is allowed), and had been thinking of trying to make him a gish, though I'm not exactly sure with what(if it ends up using the base casting stat, it will be hard, but if he ends up being able to use con, almost anything's an option, and ToB is allowed)

[A_S]

The Earth list has some good gish buffs on it, and I think going with a gish is probably a good call...that'll make you play more like a better-melee-who-can-do-other-stuff-too (more tier 3) and less like a straight caster (more tier 2).

As for build advice, you mentioned ToB, and you can't go wrong with RKV if you can get the fluff requirements waived. You'd have to dip to get turning, but that's probably not a huge issue. Depending on how your group tends to build, though, that has the potential to be a bit high-op for your goals (action economy shenanigans are one of the best ways to overshadow other players who don't use them).

If you want to be really goofy/unique, you could consider taking Earth Dreamer to get you the ability to see and move through stone (cool earth fluff), and then make a spring attack gish who focuses on jumping out of a wall, attacking, and then melting back into the ground. If that sounds cool to you, take a look at Akal Saris' brilliant Old Lob (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8441606&postcount=106), which is where I got the idea.

I'm sure the rest of the playground can come up with more ideas for decent earth-themed Shugenja gishes.