[Squirrelloid]

Some general thoughts to follow, but first my list:

Abysian Warlock, Skratti, hmm... Witch or Bloodvine Druid. Mostly because those sound interesting in appropriate settings.

Unless you really like the TSR-era Gygaxian idea of players don't have control of their character creation (and its a bad idea, it really is), the DM rolling randoms is just bad for the game. Instead, rather than using the existing chassis as a definition of the characters, start them off with thematic choices of magic paths, and let them earn higher rankings and additional paths as they gain experience. But the key is to always let them choose. So the Witch might have Nature and Earth choices to start with (start with one or two total paths), and can gain earth and nature ranks faster than ranks from other paths. This provides both a mechanism for character advancement, and keeps character development in the hands of the players - where it should be.

I'd also not allow path boosters, just to keep advancement somewhat controlled. Which lets you, the GM, be able to plan better and stops player power from growing out of control. (the real problem is that it will almost certainly lead to asymmetric growth in power between players, so it'll be hard to make an encounter that all players will be challenged by).

I wouldn't let any non-mages play. Everyone should have access to magic, otherwise magic-users will just dominate non-magic users. Of course, this still leaves thug-style casters vs. pure casters as legitimate niches outside the scope of differential path access.

Finally, I wouldn't have the players be part of a large military organization - it crimps player choice too much and leads to one player having rank over the others (which is never much fun). Small mercenary outfit is probably the best way to go if you want to run a military-style campaign, especially since the PCs will probably quickly be an elite unit.

Edit: changed cap-only choice