When pre-generating, I mostly focus on the mechanical build - I tend to come up with the actual person once I know about the setting and campaign theme.

That being said:

Scout Ranger (utility archer)

Half-Elf Fey Wanderer 5 / Scout Rogue X (Sharpshooter)

Idea: Sacrifice 5 Rogue levels for Archery FS, Extra Attack, additional skills/expertise, WIS-to-CHA checks and a smattering of really useful spells like Goodberry, Pass Without Trace, Speak with Animals and Misty Step.

What’s Cool:

• eventual proficiency in 12 out of 18 skills and Expertise in 5 (later: 7) of those.
• between Cunning Action (Hide), Steady Aim + Skirmisher and Zephyr Strike, the build can reliably achieve advantage and/or mobility
• avoids the hand crossbow meta

What Sucks:

• Several core skills are locked behind both subclasses, so one would either have to go without those for long stretches or negotiate with the DM about “retraining” skills.
• Rogues wonky multiclassing rules (starts with 4 skills, but only gets 1 when MCing in) means we either start with Rogue 1, delaying Extra Attack to lvl 6, or loose out on one skill
• The build plays mostly like a standard Ranger (or slightly worse at lvl 5, if we started with Rogue) until lvl 8.

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Halfling “Blademaster” Barbarian

This is a Halfling mostly because it won’t work with VHuman/CLineage (stats would be too lousy), I love the race/class combination and this is a rare Barbarian build that doesn’t run on heavy weapons. However, it needs the (fairly common) house rule that either flat-out removes the exhaustion cost from Frenzy or at least mitigates it with a (progressively harder) CON save.

Halfling Berserker Barbarian 8 / Fighter 4 / War Mage 2 (Stats: 14+2/14/13+1/13/11/8)

Idea: Stack Rage’s and Dueling FS’ damage bonus on a build with a BA attack for high & reliable damage with solid defense (GWM can’t wear a shield and is either more swingy or more vulnerable), then throw War Mage’s Arcane Deflection on top for save protection / even more defense.

What’s Cool:

• a Barbarian that doesn’t need to rely on Reckless Attack and can wear a shield will be very durable
• combining a BA attack and a flat +4 damage bonus will add up very quickly, and we don’t need to stomach a -5 to attack to do it
• we can pick up virtually any magical one handed melee weapon we find
• on-demand +4 to saves / +2 to AC is huge
• we haven’t even decided upon a Fighter Subclass yet, so there’s room for some additional goodies

What Sucks

• a limited amount of Rages that need a BA to start and will run out whenever we spend a turn not actively fighting
• our second & third ASI will be delayed by quite a bit (recommended order would be Barb 1 > Fighter 1 > Barb 5 > War Mage 2 > Barb 8 > Fighter 4)
• can’t be run without the aformentioned house rule - with how thin the stats are stretched, a PAM VHuman/CLineage just can’t afford 13 INT
• arguably, a Hoplite Hexadin would be flat-out better, with fewer downsides, smoother progression and decent spellcasting

No-House-Rule-Versions:

• Can be run with a Path of the Beast Barb if your DM agrees that you’re not “wielding” an off-hand Form of the Beast claw as long as said hand is wielding a shield, but loses out on the weapon flexibility for a fixed d6 weapon.
• Otherwise: CLineage (14+2/14/14/8/13/9 + PAM) would be relegated to a spear and be forced to replace the War Mage dip with Resilient (WIS). (Yes, technically, one could run INT 13 / WIS 9, but running with a -1 modifier to WIS saves for most of one’s career seems… unwise.)