Any good dips for Cavalier?

[Incendio]

I have a level 1 cavalier in the Kingmaker AP. He's been doing great, especially with all the outdoor combat. Combining lance and horse I'm doing insane damage. I also love the mobility.

I was just wondering if there are any good dips I could take so that he can be good on foot. I'm worried that when I don't have my mount, I will be a second rate fighter.

Would it be worth it to dip into another martial class and grab some other feats?

My cavalier is a lawful neutral knight-very much a "by the book" justice vibe.

Thanks.

[TarkXT]

First we need to know what exactly your build is. What is your order? Your choice of tactician feat? What feats have you chosen?

[StreamOfTheSky]

Sohei Monk can get mounted feats w/o meeting pre-reqs, so you could get Mounted Skirmisher or Trick Riding early.

Similarly, Ranger w/ Mounted style can get Trick Riding at level 2 and Mounted Skirmisher at level 10.

There's no dip that will suddenly and vastly expand your other melee abilities. Best bet would probably be Fighter for the feats, I guess. Paladin's smite or barbarian's rage would be better for suddenly and noticeably improving any form of attack, but you lack the alignment for those. Guide Ranger dip to 1/day get +2 attack/damage against someone might be useful. Similarly, Archeologist Bard w/ Lingering Performance feat can basically get a +1 going every combat round of the day w/o slowing down his offense for a second (swift to activate the Luck ability, then let lingering performance carry it the next 2 rounds; rinse and repeat every 3 rounds).

[Deadmanwalking]

If you do dip, keep it to 4 levels or less and take Boon Companion to keep your horse up to snuff.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Or keep the Cavalier levels to 4 (for the required Expert Trainer), make THAT your dip, and take the Horse Master feat. :D

[Atarlost]

There's a special cavalier feat that's unlimited Boon Companion. Cavalier 4 Bard 1 Battle Herald 10 can have a fully leveled mount.

I'm not sure I'd go anywhere other than the battle herald PrC or Cavalier with one level of fighter or paladin or maybe barbarian. The one level full BAB dip lines up Greater Tactician with the level prereq for Coordinated Charge letting you get it available for use with Tactician at level 10 instead of level 17.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Yeah dipping full BAB class 1 to delay the level 10 tactician ability till BAB +11 for Coordinated Charge should be standard operating procedure for every cavalier. Shame that feat wasn't made for BAB +10 and/or cavalier's tactician ability wasn't so damned rigid about which teamwork feats you have that you can use with it.

[Incendio]

Thanks everyone for all this. All the info is appreciated! I was thinking dipping fighter at lvl2 for the feats...

Here's some more info regarding my char:

Str 16
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 11
Wis 10
Cha 14

Order of the Sword
Sword's Challenge
Sword's Skills
Tactician - Escape Route

Escape Route

You get a +4 bonus on initiative checks. Improved Initiative

You are proficient with all Martial weapons. Martial Weapon Proficiency - All

+2 damage with light or one-handed weapons vs. flat-footed opponents Noble Born - Surtova

Your starting cash increases to 900gp. Rich Parents

You can use a shield and take only the standard penalties. Shield Proficiency

Proficient with all simple weapons. Simple Weapon Proficiency - All

You gain +3 hit points. Toughness +3

Wearing chain, heavy shield, lance, masterwork long sword, masterwork flail

[Umbranus]

You could dip into Arcane Duelist Bard.
You'd lose 1 point BAP but see it as some kind of mini powerattack when you use arcane strike.
And the Rallying cry fits into the cavalier theme.
With the timely Inspiration spell you don't even have to "waste" standard actions to use your spells per day.

[Incendio]

Very interesting.... :) I'll check it out.

[MacGurcules]

A level of Druid can be fun in order to expand your mount options. Gives you a couple of spells that might or might not be useful. And it cracks open the rest of the Druid spell list so you can use some wands without UMD (including Reduce Animal, so you can get your mount into narrow dungeon passages).

Might not fit well with your theme, though.

[Incendio]

Thanks for all these ideas. Keep 'em coming. I know dipping is an art and I have a lot to learn!

[STR Ranger]

A crusader cleric for the free feat (Weapon Focus)
High will save
1st level spells
and the ability to use wands.

If I could get a Full bab class that did this I'd take that.

Ranger doesn't grant a free feat buut
+2 FE (Take Human)
+1 BAB
+2 Ref (Weak Will though)
(Free booter is cool)

Wild Rager could even work if you dumped your Cha to 7
The DC to avoid confusion is 10+1(Barb level)-2(Cha)=9
Being in a Rage gives you a +2 Morale to saves,
With a headband of wis this can be an easy check at the later levels.

Cav6/Wild Rager1 has a Base save of +2
add raging +2 and by now your wis should be at least +2
SO- go rage, flip out (being confused means you MUST attack the last dude who attacked you) it's up to you to try and save. so try to save ONLY when you'd hurt a buddy.

The big benefit here is virtually Unlimited Rage rounds.

[Jackissocool]

For a cavalier with healing ability, go paladin or cleric. Do order of the star, and you add half your cavalier level to channel energy or lay on hands.

[n o 417]

Your question was how you can improve your character to be good on foot, but after looking at your build, I have a few other suggestions.

hmm, you might want perception, linguistics and disable device.
if another party member has those skills, no problem.

One option would be to take the Fighter Loremaster archetype. You gain training in ALL int skills and 2 free skill points per level for those skills.

if you dip, a good choice is the extra traits feat, for traits that give a bonus on your will or fort saves, Alternatively, there are traits that give you training in a skill.

You don;t seem to have a ranged weapon, which can be useful sometimes.
Javelins are a good throwing weapon.

[Incendio]

Thanks again everyone!! Great suggestions!