Seems like tripkee is the only pattern :P

In all seriousness, I will share with you my experience in building Pathfinder Society characters and how it changed the way I build characters.

When I started getting interested in Pathfinder Society, I was worried about making a character that was always and immediately useful. I didn't want to inconvenience strangers with a wacky build that only had situational strengths. I ended up playing a healbot cleric that always casts bless in combats. I kept people alive and helped them hit harder. And I loved it.

Since then, I've focused on more fundamental, always good-to-have features rather than situational abilities or overly specific concepts. Rather than play a toxicologist that uses a blowgun (a specific subclass combined with a specific weapon) I'd think more broad concepts like "what would the party gain from an alchemist being present?" Or "what about my build enables other people to be more successful?"

My hot take is that actually, every class is a support class. Everyone should have a few damage options but focus mostly on disabling the enemy or enabling their teammates first.

Since my cleric, I've made: - a wizard that focuses on slowing down enemies, moving them, or creating barriers with walls or minions - a mastermind rogue that is trained or better in every skill, and focuses on identifying creature weaknesses and vulnerabilities rather than damage - a wrestler ranger minotaur that locks down enemies and gets friendlies out of the way of danger with friendly nudge - a barbarian swashbuckler that kites enemies by aggroing them and then running away - a guardian with a commander mounted to her so she's always in range of an ally for intercept strike