I'm looking at the possibility of playing as the skirmisher in an upcoming campaign- but how should I build him? One set I see as helpful would be what I'll call the "speedster":

"Back in Action", "Carve a Path", "Ever in Motion", and perhaps "Born in Battle." If I went with this build, I'd almost certainly play as Orkell the Swift. The main strength of this build is that being defeated is really not a problem- I would at most lose 1 action (as I get to move once I stand up) and with Orkell's Feat, one stand up per map would be better than free.

Alternately, I could focus on making him a damage dealer with "Unrelenting," "Deep Wounds," "Keen Edge," and of course "Unstoppable." I really don't know who the best character would be for this build- perhaps Trenloe? Is this a good class to pick for a damage dealer?

It's funny you mention Trenloe. We have a player in my current campaign who did Trenloe skirmisher. It's a VERY slow start since the dual strike ability that skirmisher starts with takes 2 of Trenloe's starting 3 stamina. Basically she NEVER used dual strike, and only used stamina for the Skirmisher's starting axe ability where you spend a stamina to replace the yellow die with a red. But now that we are at the interlude it's starting to work out. She actually got back in action and keen edge currently, throwing away her dual wield style and picking up Guardian Axe form the shop. She's holding on to her experience at the moment but so far she's dishing out the damage, and Trenloe is naturally hard to kill. She's got the Elven Boots as well to help with movement.

I personally would take someone who's got some stamina and speed, but it's working for her so I can't argue heh. For me, I would pick Pathfinder Durik. Good speed, good hp, average stamina, and you are going to be able to get to the target you want. Plus he doesn't have the downside of the brown defense die, which has killed me plenty playing Raythen before... Also the quest applications of Durik's passive ability are huge.

Trenloe gets picked a lot among my groups though. I have 2 games running right now. He's a skirmisher in one and a champion in the other. Luckily I'm not playing overlord on either of these because (especially the champion game where he snagged Aurium mail...) he's pretty hard to bring down.

See, I'd initially thought Durik would be a very cool skirmisher- but his hero ability specifies "move action," and so much of the skirmisher's movement is done outside of move actions. The heroic feat would be very, very cool during a "Carve a Path" attack, though.

I don't mind the brown defense, because with the speed build I'm essentially inviting the OL to defeat me. I can place my token 3 spaces from where I go down, and when I stand up, I can immediately move my speed (potentially 6.) That's 9 spaces just for dying. If I'm using Orkell, his ability/feat just compound that movement after attacks, and grant actions after a standup.