So here is the Cavalier I ran with:
Half Elf
Stats:
(25)-- Str 16 Dex 16(14+2) Con 16 (14+2) Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 10
Class Features:
Order -- Sword
Oaths -- Loyalty, Purity, Chasity
Mount -- Roc (hover, Light Armor Proficiency, fly by attack, Iron Will)
Skills:
Ride
Diplomacy
Sense Motive
K. (Nobility)
Feats:
Skill Focus(Ride) (half elf)
Point Blank Shot (1st)
Mounted Combat (bonus)
Precise Shot (3rd)
Mounted Archery (5th)
Ride By Attack (bonus)
Rapid Shot (7th)
Spirited Charge (order bonus)
Quick Draw (9th) -- third and fourth playtest
Equipment:
Mithral Full Plate +1
Buckler +2
+1 Composite Longbow (mighty +3)
+1 long sword
+1 lance
Glove of storing
+3 Chain shirt Barding
Efficient Quiver
Cloak of Resistance +1
Arrows of various materials
Combat Stats:
HP: 94 AC: 26 (touch 13 flat Footed 23) Move: 20 foot Ride Check: +16 Init: +3 Fort: +10 Will: +5 Ref: +6
Longsword: +13/+8 (1d8+4)
Lance: +13/+8 (1d8+4) Charging: +17 (3d8+30)
Longbow: +11/+11/+6 (1d8+4)
The concept was fairly simple... he's a mounted archer on a Roc... I wasn't really expecting much out of him really. The challenge only works in melee, and I wasn't really looking to melee hard.
However in four combats he did good. The villians were: A Drider and 2 of the pugampis in a cave (only the cavalier and an oracle faced this), a Young Black Dragon (only the cavalier and an oracle faced this), an Orge Mage, with 2 Dark Stalkers and 4 dark Creepers at dusk in a canyon (full party of four -- one witch, a wizard, a summoner, and the cavalier) and a group of bandit harpies.
Only against the dragon did the cavalier charge immediately with a challenged issued. That went very poorly for the Dragon -- 54 damage from the attack. The dragon breathed then flew off to circle and do fly by attacks however he didn't get the chance. The lance went into the glove of storing and the bow and arrows from both the Cavalier and Oracle finished off the dragon before it got another chance to do anything.
Against the Orge Mage the Cavalier did good too -- The fight started with the whole party having darkness/deeper darkness dropped on it from the dark stalkers and creepers. The party advanced out of the darkness and the Eidolon almost got caught in a sneak attack sandwich (but not before dropping a breath weapon on the stalkers and 2 of the creepers) -- the witch managed to stinking cloud one side of the Eidolon and the summoner (mounted) and everything in the cloud failed the save throw. The Orge mage used his cone of cold and got everyone but the Cavalier in it. After that the Orge Mage flew up to attack the Cavalier which was a mistake, after challenging the Orge Mage the Cavalier and Roc both tore into it dealing solid damage each round. The dark stalkers and creepers got it from both the wizard and witch (the eidolon and summoner were nauseated).
The harpies were more problematic as they clsoed on everyone at once (8 against 4). The cavalier charged out of his flanking pair to clean off one of the harpies on the witch (crit on a charge... it was messy...). The Eidolon and Summoner both used long spears to five foot step around the pair on him and kill them before the summoner dropped from the attacks. The wizard Defensively Mirror Imaged and was missed by his harpies the next turn while he dropped a fireball right on above them. The harpies managed to fail the save throw (the monsters weren't saving well that night) and ate 40 points of damage. The witch backed under the Roc and cavalier and started summoning (level 5). Next round the Cavalier found himself between 3 harpies which really hurt him (one tried to attack the Roc but didn't do much to it), the eidolon and summoner were still finishing up they harpies. The witch finished summoning and brought in 3 lantern archons which fired on one of the harpies hurting it, then Warded the Cavalier. The cavalier would have probably have lost if not for his Roc... the two of them finished off one harpy, injured another and then five footed over. The injured harpy was dropped by the wizard's Scorching ray which helped the summoner too (he split his rays). The single harpy went to withdraw and was shoot down by the collective vindictiveness of the party.
So I was surprised at how well the character held up in melee. I had been concerned about the Roc -- I was afraid that without spells help enhance it (with the share spell ability) it would end up a bit too puny and get killed. However the Cavalier's melee damage (supplimented as it was with the challenge ability) meant that most the foes stuck to trying to kill him. The ride skill wasn't much of an issue, and even without the order of the sword bonus it still wouldn't have been, with the mithral full plate the ACP would have only been -3 (and we didn't use traits which could have dropped it by one more), and with the skill focus in addition to the good dex and class skill bonus I really wasn't too worried about it.
I didn't have problems with the flanking part of the challenge simply because I was usually out of everyone's reach. I'm not so sure this would have been as clean if I wasn't flying most the time. Focusing on the archery meant I didn't have to run things down, and if a charge line did come in adding the mounts strength bonus on top of the charging bonuses for using a lance meant that I was assured a solid hit (if it connected which it usually did).
On foot would have reduced the character's effectiveness but I'm not sure it would have been by much. The challenge mechanic really meant that I would hurt whatever was in front of me if I really wanted, and in the end the AC was enough that I wasn't too worried even if sneak attack was present.
The mount ability could use a little clarity -- there was a question of if we started before the mount got to large size would it have still been a suitable choice. We felt that with the loyalty issue (stick to your trusty steed) and the half elf eagle riding flavor it would work for this character, but I would really hate to see a lot of level 4 and 7 mount change ups simply because the actual desired mount was only available as a "mount" then.
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Against the Orge Mage the Cavalier did good too -- The fight started with the whole party having darkness/deeper darkness dropped on it from the dark stalkers and creepers. The party advanced out of the darkness and the Eidolon almost got caught in a sneak attack sandwich (but not before dropping a breath weapon on the stalkers and 2 of the creepers) -- the witch managed to stinking cloud one side of the Eidolon and the summoner (mounted) and everything in the cloud failed the save throw. The Orge mage used his cone of cold and got everyone but the Cavalier in it. After that the Orge Mage flew up to attack the Cavalier which was a mistake, after challenging the Orge Mage the Cavalier and Roc both tore into it dealing solid damage each round. The dark stalkers and creepers got it from both the wizard and witch (the eidolon and summoner were nauseated).
Glad I could help with this part. Though I remember the Ogre Mage casting the cloud spell. If only my poor Eidolon had made his save...
I'd like to point out that the Cavalier was played by someone who had never even seen or heard of it before.