This is a class defined by a four letter word.
RAGE
Because upgrade to rage comes so late in the class (lv 11), Barbarian is generally served better as a level 1 dip for the access to rage, and pounce (which is gotten by trading in your fast movement, Lion totem PHB2) There are some very nice rage-related feats, them being Extra Rage, Instantaneous Rage, and Mad Foam Rager. Choose wisely, since Barbarians are starved for feats.
The best "5th member" of the party, so claimed by the Wizards of the Coast. It's not really a jack of all trades as advertised (rogues do it much better), but they do get some bard-only abilities that can be argued to be worth putting levels in this class, namely, access to Diplomacy and UMD, and Bard Only spells like Glibness and Lesser Confusion. It's also notably only arcane caster to be able to heal. (albeit very weak heals) Bardic knowledge can serve as poor man's knowledge checks if rest of the party lacks a Knowledge maxer.
Easily the second strongest class in the game, quite possibly the first. The class has access to some of the best buffs and heals in the game, and with the domains, it offers quite a diverse set of different focuses. Dipping cleric levels is generally for access to turn undead (to fuel divine feats). There are also lots of diverse offensive options in forms of touch spells. Divine metamagic feat (from Complete Divine) really drives the caster Cleric build, in basically allowing clerics to utilize metamagic without bumping them into very high level spell slots. Ability to cast in heavy armor also never hurts.
Three totems of power for druids are: Spellcasting, Wild Shape, and Animal Companion. Druid spell list isn't as strong as Cleric's, focusing more on auxiliary buffs and Damage-Over-Time offensive spells. Notably, they get Flame Strike 1 spell level earlier than clerics, which is rather important distinction. Wild Shape lets you dump your physical stats and still be able to participate in melee, (although your damage/AC will be rather subpar compared to a dedicated front liner), and your animal companion is a strong combatant on its own right. Druids do get a decent selection of healing and removing debuffs, although not as many as clerics do.
Many people consider this class as a 2-level dip class, for the extra feats and martial weapon proficiency. It isn't too hard to go pure fighter and build a decent frontliner, and then work on different styles of combat as you reach mid levels and max out on feats in your original combat focus feat tree.
Wizards of the Coast envisioned Monks to be acrobatic, hard-to-lock-down combatants that can maneuver around the thick of melee to get to enemy back lines and take them down in a blink of an eye. In practice, monks lack the AC/HP/Melee DPS to actually do any of that. They do get decent saves, and they're very independent of items. They also do have an advantage over the other classes in niche situations, like if everyone got arrested and their items were taken away, or in grapples.
The third primary combat class from the PHB. Paladins suffer from MAD (multiple ability dependence), and it often leads to series of 14s and 12s across their ability scores, resulting in a fighter-y thing that has worse combat stats overall. You do get to heal (little bit), have decent saves, and access to turn undead, which you probably will use to fuel divine feats. Unfortunately, paladins are starved of feats, and they are difficult to multiclass.
The fourth and last combat class from the PHB. Rangers are unfortunately locked into one of the two subpar fighting styles: Archery and Two Weapon Fighting. Both styles suffer from lack of DPS, and dependence on multiple attacks per turn, forcing you into full round actions and making the style ineffective against monsters with Damage Reduction. They also suffer from MAD somewhat, which usually results in a lower Con stat than Fighters/Barbarians. Rangers do boast a big skill point pool and a diverse range of skills.
The best skillmonkey class from the PHB, and quite possibly in the game. Rogues have access to the widest range of skill set and a fantastic skill points pool. They're also quite dangerous in combat, particularly two-weapon users, who can outDPS a raging barbarian power attacking with a two-handed weapon, given that certain conditions are met. They do suffer against anything that isn't sneak attackable, but by sacrificing trap sense for Death's Ruin, you gain the ability to sneak attack undeads. (albeit only half damage), which is by far the largest creature group in the "immune to sneak attack" monsters. They are also easily multiclassed, which is good, since they are quite starved for feats. Rogue/Fighter can be a very effective "frontliner".
Wizard spell list is considered to be the best in the game, and Sorcerers have access to it. (limited access) This already makes them incredibly dangerous, if little bit predictable. They can go all-offense and play as party's artillery, or something else. There are many different paths sorcerers can take. They do suffer from low-skill point pool and are starved for feats. And if anything serious reaches them in combat, they usually drop in one turn.
Wizard spell list is the best in the game, and Wizards can infinitely expand their spellbooks by buying scrolls and writing them into their spellbooks. This makes them the strongest class in the game, and they will always be able to beat another class given that they have the right spells prepared. They have one of the lowest number of spells per day, which really emphasizes having the exactly right spell prepared, which can very very tricky. As a primary Int caster, their skill points pool is deceptively high, and they are often able to have many of the Knowledges maxed for the party. In addition, they are not as feat starved as sorcerers are, which lets them gain access to some complicated metamagic builds or item creation feats.
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