I was wondering what people would do for a Warder from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. They're extremely good fighters, but can also sneak and track well. They almost all seem to use swords without shields, so I'm guessing greatswords. I'm not too fussed about avoiding xp penalty, as I'd rather have a better build that levels slower than compromise for the sake of faster xp. A ranger / rogue comes to mind.
Maybe with some fighter level for feats. Ranger would seem to fit well. I would also consider Weapon Master, that can make a build feat starved though and also mean that you would more than likely have to take Fighter as a 3rd class in order to get all the feats you would need. RGR/Rogue/CoT maybe?
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It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!! I would think something like Ranger/CoT/WM. Ranger for the stealth, CoT for feats and the save bonuses (they seem to survive attacks very well), and WM for the obvious reason.

Fighter/WM/Rogue would also work, although the UMD seems sort of strange, since a warder would just give any ter'angreal they found to their Aes Sedai.

TM Thats a good idea TM. I put Ranger/WM/Fighter but CoT would still get those bonus feats needed to access the WM class, as well as the boost to saves. Plus CoT seems to fit the RP better - the ability to sense evil, dedication to being an Aes Sedai's champion, etc.

TM From my experiences, the most effective/accurate (not necessarily the latter) Warder build is a variation of 12 Fighter 22 WM 6 Monk, using greatsword and cloth. It achieves shield-like AC, gets some stealth and detect, while still maintaining effectiveness in 1v1 duels.

Of course, as someone else said, Ranger, Rogue, and CoT classes are probably more fitting, but they aren't that strong in PvP - and in the WoT worlds I've played on, that's very important for a Warder.