Pathfinder Kingmaker: Sword Saint Build

Human, Lawful Good
7 STR - 17(+2 Human Bonus) DEX - 14 CON - 16 INT - 14 WIS - 7 CHA

Skills: Mobility, Perception, Persuasion, (any two other skills)

1 Sword Saint: (Weapon Focus: Scimitar), Weapon Finesse, Slashing Grace: Scimitar
1 Traditional Monk: Dodge
2 Traditional Monk: (Evasion), Crane Style, Combat Expertise
2 Sword Saint: +1 DEX
3 Sword Saint: Toughness
4 Sword Saint: -
5 Sword Saint: Combat Mobility, Crane Wing
6 Sword Saint: +1 DEX
7 Sword Saint: Outflank
8 Sword Saint: -
9 Sword Saint: Precise Strike
1 Vivisectionist: (DEX Mutagen), (Sneak Attack 1), +1 DEX
1 Duelist: (Canny Defense), Crane Riposte
2 Duelist: (Improved Reaction +2)
3 Duelist: Piranha Strike
4 Duelist: +1 DEX
5 Duelist: Iron Will
6 Duelist: -
7 Duelist: Accomplished Sneak Attacker
8 Duelist: (Improved Reaction +4), +1 DEX

Notes:
- Feats in parenthesis are the important ones you get for free
- This is assuming a) this is your main character, so you have a 25-point buy and b) you let her take Bokken's Elixir during the game.
- Final BAB is 17
- Final INT is 16 +2(Elixir) +8(Hat) = 26, just enough for Canny Defense 8
- Final DEX is 19 +2(Elixir) +5(Levels) +6(Belt) = 32
- Final WIS is 14 +2(Elixir) +8(Hat) = 24
- STR 7 is OK because her CMD is still extremely high, even with the STR penalty. Encumbrance will be low, but you don't care since
  you don't wear armor anyway, and you have 5 other party members to deal with inventory weight limits.
- CHA 7 is OK because we don't really use it for anything besides the very rare Persuasion check that can't be made by your other
  party members.

Other options:
- The last 2 feats are entirely optional and can be whatever you want. Lv.16+ is basically the end of the game, so it doesn't really
  matter what you take at that point.

- You can skip the Vivisectionist level and replace it with another level of Duelist if you don't like micromanaging the DEX mutagen
  bonus. It's 4 extra DEX but only lasts for 10 minutes per rest and we don't really care about Sneak Attack on this build, so skip it
  if you want. I list it because it's still the most optimal choice for very very hard fights, and 1 extra level of Duelist doesn't
  give us a whole lot anyway.

- You can be Aasimar (Garuda heritage) instead of Human for 2 extra WIS and Wings. But this delays progression of most feats by 2
  levels, you'd have to remove Toughness and Accomplished Sneak Attacker and at most levels deal a decent bit less damage. In
  exchange, gain +4 AC. This is already the highest AC build in the game, so I think the trade-off is not worth it. Human is
  better overall.

- Use Scaled Fist instead of Traditional Monk. If you do this, you'd want to add 2 Paladin instead of 1 Vivisectionist and the 9th
  Sword Saint level. Swap CHA and WIS. You lose the 3rd Arcane Weapon upgrade, 1 casting level and Critical Perfection in exchange
  for +1 BAB, better saves and good Persuasion instead of Perception. That last casting level doesn't give you much, so this is
  a decent trade-off if you like those extra saves and have another character for Perception checks.

- You can use a different weapon. Longsword has the best tanking weapon in the game, but you don't get it until late in the game.
  Dueling Swords are good overall. Rapiers almost always have the Agile modifier, so taking those would save you a feat on
  first level.

Miscellaneous advice on playing this:
- One of the nice parts of playing this as your main character is that it has very low dependency on equipment. You can't (and don't want to) wear armor, you wield nothing on your offhand and most of your tanking comes from feats, class features and spells.

- Once you get them, turn on Fighting Defensively, Crane Style and Combat Expertise, then leave them on for the rest of the game.

- This relies on having the proper buffs (but then again, so does every other build). Your group should at least have a Cleric (I recommend an Ecclesithurge of Abadar with Nobility domain, but any Cleric works) and a Bard, Wizard or Sorcerer. If you're playing
with default companions, Tristian, Octavia and Jubilost are good choices to always have around.

- In most fights, having a handful of very long duration buffs is fine. Enter the area, get Mage Armor, Barkskin, Heroism, Stoneskin, and Freedom of Movement and you're good. Most of the time all of those will last over an hour, so you shouldn't ever need to recast them until you leave the area. For boss fights or any other very hard fight, throw every buff you can on this character. Shield, Reduce Person, Mirror Image, Blur, Cat's Grace, Owl's Wisdom, Fox's Cunning, Haste, Blessing of the Faithful, Inspiring Command, Remove Fear, Remove Sickness, Shield of Faith, Spell Resistance, Greater False Life, Delay Poison. Not everything is necessary, but the more you have, the less likely some absurdly strong boss will be able to hit and kill you. If you have everything you can have, you'll be extremely hard to kill even playing in the highest difficulties.

- You generally don't need to cast anything during combat, besides the occasional Mirror Image if it goes down. You can get some mileage out of Color Spray and Shocking Grasp at lower levels, but even then it's not really necessary.

- Put her at the front of your formation and make sure she's the first thing every enemy sees. The way enemy AI works in this game is they attack whatever is closest to them first.

- There's a lot of situations in this game where you get surrounded or attacked from multiple directions at once, so it can help to have a secondary tank character that isn't necessarily as tanky as this, but can keep the heat off your mages while the Sword Saint tanks the bulk of the enemy group. Move the Sword Saint towards the largest group or most dangerous enemies, and the off tank in the other direction, with the other characters in the middle.

- "Oh Shit That Looks Dangerous, We're All Gonna Die" Panic Button: Delay Poison(Communal) + Stinking Cloud, or Freedom of Movement + Web. Anytime things look bad, using either of those right on top of the tank (or even your entire party, if they're all buffed) can make any bad situation significantly more manageable. Keep in mind that Undead are immune to Stinking Cloud.