I need some help choosing feat paths for a Battle Herald (Cav 4/Bard 1/Herald 10). Right now I would like to take Fey Foundling at level 1, and it would take a lot of convincing for me to drop Lingering Performance from level 5. Other than that, my feat choices are wide open. By the way, I'm doing this in a party that also includes Paladin, Barbarian, Sorcerer, Ranger, Wizard, and Cleric. The campaign is 1-30 (with custom rules after 20).
One option is to go the TWF with shield route. I could go Order of the Shield to be a bit more tanky, and take TWF, improved shield bash, shield slam, shield master, and improved/greater TWF. Or I could switch to Order of the Dragon and add Combat Reflexes to get lots of attacks of opportunity or Bodyguard uses each turn (synergizes well with the high Dex required by the TWF feats). With Order of the Shield I could eventually get the Cavalier version of Stand Still. With Order of the Dragon I could eventually get Combat Patrol. The problem with this feat path is that it seems very slow to get off the ground, and I'd rather be able to help carry the party earlier. Nothing is going to scale as well into late game as a spell caster, so I'd rather shore up the early-game weakness from our 3 casters.
So what other options do I have? It could go pure shield feats (though they look a bit weak), it could be a Reach build, or it could be 2-hander with power attack, or vital strike and Death or Glory. Or it could be something I haven't seen yet that adds even more party support (I'd be perfectly fine with that).
I'm new to Pathfinder (though I played 3.5), so any help on this would be appreciated. Oh, and only official Pathfinder sources are accepted (no 3.5 or 3rd party), but this isn't for PFS.
For the most part, this is just asking about what feats to use. If you have a suggestion for a much better party buffer/support character though, I'd be willing to hear it.
