Sneak is powerful during fights in combination with Guerrilla (and Backstab for dagger users). It's probably not optimal on a STR-based fighter because your limited movement makes it hard to get out of enemy line-of-sight. Also, if you're using Opportunist (which is a good talent, but better at higher levels), you usually want to be right in the enemy's face, which means sneaking isn't an option. But it might work, I've never tried it.
1h/shield is better than 2h in the late game, in my opinion. 2h damage is only slightly higher than 1h and costs more AP, and it robs you of a shield, which can make you almost impervious to damage at higher levels due to blocking and resists. You could always start out as 2h and switch to shields later, though, since shields suck at lower levels. Melee overall is weaker at low levels and strong at high levels.
If you're going with a fighter type, I'd recommend not splitting abilities into mage skills at the start. You're going to need INT to make spells effective, and you don't want to be splitting attribute points between STR/DEX/INT at the beginning, or else you won't be able to wear higher-level gear. Also, I'd drop My Precious for Leech.
Mages are pretty powerful at the beginning and very good throughout the game. Air/Water synergize well (Jahan starts with these) and Geo/Pyro synergize.
A couple more things I wish I'd known at the start:
- Dust Devil is not available anywhere in the game except at character creation
- There is only one Whirlwind book
- Glass Cannon (without Lone Wolf) is very risky on Hard difficulty, because it adds up to -75% HP
- Speed only gives you additional AP at odd numbers
- Guerilla doesn't affect skills (just regular attacks)
