Swashbuckler (CW), perhaps? You'd have Weapon Finesse, flashy skills, and you'd add Int to damage after a few levels. Dip a level of Ranger to get Track (making you more useful out of combat) while still keeping a full BAB. Add a second level of ranger if you plan on going the TWF route, which you might as well since you can't use Power Attack.

Complete Scoundrel has some nifty goodies you might want to look into.

That's... that's just incredibly stupid.

Play a Warlock. Play something that's NAD. Because anything you're going to play that whack people in the face is going to be dependent on Str/Dex/Con, and you just don't have the stats for it.

For a melee combatant, the best you can do is play a rogue and hope nothing takes a swipe at you. Your AC will be atrocious and your Con won't do that great a job in making up for it. But at least by going that path, you'll have Sneak Attack to make up for not being able to pick up Power Attack.

Well, you could also go Wild Shape Ranger. You'd have WS to make up for your lack of melee stats (except Con, of course), and your low Wisdom won't really be a problem because of the ranger's slow spell progression.

So yea...apparently, I was being an idiot, Greyfeld. The stats are just the available values I have to allocate to Attributes...but at the same time, it doesn't really stop them from being fairly meh...

Keeping in mind the fact that I can put those values in whatever attribute I'd like, does that change my viable options?

If you can put them wherever you want, it opens up a lot of options. You won't be quite as good as you would be with a solid 18 to put somewhere (or even a 16), but it means you can at least play a melee character.

I still support the horizon tripper.

I've decided to go with the Duskblade that you suggested initially...seems like a fun class and the idea of channeling spells into attacks seems like a great idea!

Thanks for all the help to everyone that participated, and...well...wish me luck!

Munchkin!

If it's any consolation, I'm still thinking of going with that Bastard Sword just for the flavor of it all

Yeah, the only reason I suggested a melee build is because there are times when I simply value fluff over crunch, particularly in a PbP format. I thought that you were looking to keep your character melee-oriented, rather than switch him to a NAD blastlock.

Exactly. Sometimes, flavor/fluff makes the character. Not how OP they might be compared to the rest of the party

Now, quick question: what's the base HP for Duskblades? Are they as Clerics (meaning at 8 base)? Or are they like Fighters (at 10 base)?

Like the cleric with d8's