I one of our less frequent weekend campaign I am playing a paladin 4/cavalier 3 in the company of druid and a summoner, and our DM loves tempting us to split the party.
Some pretty brutal boss fights aside, most of the challenges we meet are of our CR, but considering we often have to face them alone for the abovementioned reasons... my paladin is really loosing on the action economy game, so I have decided to step it up a notch.
I was planning to go for another cavalier level in order to pick Horse Master, but so the opportunities to use my mount for something more than transport have been far and between, so I am thinking about going in another direction and retrain into the Esquire archetype instead.
1. Oath of Vengeance Paladin 1: Smite Evil 1/day, [Weapon Focus: Longsword], [Power Attack]
2. Oath of Vengeance Paladin 2: Divine Grace, Lay on Hands
3. Oath of Vengeance Paladin 3: Aura of Courage, Divine Health, Mercy (Fatigued), [Deific Obedience: Iomedae]
4. Oath of Vengeance Paladin 4: Smite Evil 2/day, Channel Wrath
5. Esquire Cavalier 1: Challenge 1/day, Tactician: [Distracting Charge], Order of the Cockatrice, [Improved Shield Bash]
6. Esquire Cavalier 2: Braggart: [Dazzling Display]
7. Esquire Cavalier 3: Aide-De-Camp, Teamwork, [Two-weapon Fighting]
8. Sentinel 1: Obedience, Symbolic Weapon +1
9. Sentinel 2: [Shield Slam], [Improved Two-weapon Fighting]
10. Sentinel 3: Knight of Valor, Symbolic Weapon +2
11. Sentinel 4: Divine Quickness +2, [Shield Master]
12. Sentinel 5: Aligned Strike, Stalwart
13. Sentinel 6: Valorous Smite, Smite Evil 3/day, Symbolic Weapon +3, [Paired Opportunist]
14. Sentinel 7: [Coordinated Charge], Practiced Combatant
15. Sentinel 8: Divine Quickness, Righteous Leader, [Cornugon Smash]
16. Sentinel 9: Banishing Strike, Symbolic Weapon +4
17. Sentinel 10: Unstoppable Warrior, [Shatter Defenses]
18. Weapon Master 1: [Improved Bull Rush]
19. Weapon Master 2: Weapon Guard +1, [Greater Bull Rush], [Greater Two-Weapon Fighting]
20. Weapon Master 3: Weapon Training +1
At lvl. 15 I intend to pick a Cavalier VMC Bard/Battle Herald as my Leadership Cohort, but I have no idea what to pick as my Aide-De-Camp Cohort. It has to be a single class that grants proficiency in all martial weapons and can't multiclass.
I want a simple cohort with high survivability that can spare 3 feats to get coordinated charge (unfortunately teamwork only gives the cohort my feats when we are adjacent, and I don't see how is it possible for both of us to charge while remaining adjacent all the time). Having one specialized trick under its sleeve is more than enough. It also has to be less gear dependent since cohorts don't have a PC wealth levels. Since the cohort is there mostly to charge and get me in a position for a full attack - some charge optimization is a given, but I wan't to stay away from pounce builds since... 3 character doing full attacks and more will hog too much of the game time.
