Battle herald build

[Shadowscale]

Hi there, I was wondering if someone could help me build a battle herald. I was going for a pure support martial inclined character leaning more heavy in cavalier vs bard. I was just unsure what order, feats, and any archetypes I should be taking to optimize this PRC. I know going more heavy bards would be better for bard, but I'd rather not have too many levels of it as I'd like to still have a decent BAB. Any suggestions for what to take 1-20 to became a valued support bot?

[SpamCreateWater]

Have you considered Exemplar (Brawler Archetype) with the Cavalier Variant Multiclass option?

You can enter Battle Herald at 5th level with full BAB. Bardic Performance and Challenge are only 2 levels behind in progression, although uses per day are rather limited.

Lingering Performance works rather well with this build, and if there's an Inspiring Confidence version of the feat I imagine that would be a nice addition. Chain Challenge is another helpful feat.

[Shadowscale]

Have you considered Exemplar (Brawler Archetype) with the Cavalier Variant Multiclass option?

You can enter Battle Herald at 5th level with full BAB. Bardic Performance and Challenge are only 2 levels behind in progression, although uses per day are rather limited.

Lingering Performance works rather well with this build, and if there's an Inspiring Confidence version of the feat I imagine that would be a nice addition. Chain Challenge is another helpful feat.

I never thought of doing it that way, I quite like how that could potentially work out.

[Geddy2112]

A player in my campaign is actually playing a battle herald right now. They okayed the use of the inspiring commander (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/cavalier/archetypes/rite-publishing---cavalier-archetypes/inspiring-commander) third party archetype which allows a single class jump into battle hearald. They went order of the dragon to stack the aid another with their 5th level aid another ability from the class and routinely hands out +9ish bonuses from aid another, on top of inspire courage or order of the day.

For a martial Battle herald, I personally like a dip into arcane duelist bard+daring champion caviler. Arcane strike gives an extra damage if you have a swift action laying around, but the rallying cry is arguably better than the rally order from the battle herald(and you don't have to learn that command). You can use daring champion to get dex-to-damage early from slashing/fencing grace. A single dip into bard won't lower your BAB enough to deny entry to the class at level 6, as the 4 cav levels get you the needed BAB. Keep in mind that battle herald does progress the bonuses of inspire courage(but not the ranks) and battle herald won't progress a mount, hence why I go single level bard dip and then non mount cav archetype. Having a level in bard gives access to a couple first level spells a day, and although minor, are buffs nonetheless.

Order of the dragon is a good catch all order-it is one of the easiest edicts to follow, and provides a decent set of bonuses. If you want to debuff, cockatrice will give free dazzling display and bonuses to attack demoralized targets. Order of the flame gives you chain challenge on steroids. Shield and sword are fairly vanilla orders, but both decent. Overall order matters far less for a battle herald as you don't get anything past the 2nd rank ability, so choose for that, and ideally nab an extra class skill that neither bard or cav has like survival or heal.

Second lingering performance, because it can affect orders and let you cycle through each.

Another option to get bardic performance is to go three levels of pathfinder chronicler, although it delays getting into the class. This combination is very good if you are in a campaign where you have to march a lot. You can combine the easy march of the battle herald with the pathfinding of the chronicler to move long distances very quicky-you can move the whole party at a hustle/force march over road or trail even on trackless train without a problem. If you go this route, order of the dragon boosts the pathfinder chronicler aid another ability to get really silly.

To further abuse the aid another, halflings get access to the helpful trait to boost their aid another. If you wanna go the route of buff insanity.