Enhancing a Paladin of Tyranny's Aura of Despair

[Corwin_of_Amber]

I am currently in a position of acquiring an undead cohort with levels in Paladin of Tyranny and I want to use him to aid my spellcasting ability by lowering saves of enemies. Without pulling any incredibly complicated combinations of effects. My plan for him is Favored Soul 4/Crusader 1/Prestige Paladin (Tyranny) 15. The feats I have locked in are Mounted Combat at level 1,3, or 6 and Martial Study: White Raven Tactics at level 9. I am most likely going to use hum as a buffer/healer since I will max out his Cha and Str and take Wis as a tertiary stat, resulting in less than phenominal DCs.

The short of it: How can I boost the power of Aura of Despair?

EDIT: also, on the topic of Prestige Paladin, my DM says that any levels gained in a casting class, even if they do not grant spell progression, count for caster level modifiers. This seems dubious, but I'm unsure of where to check this particular assumption's veracity.

[Glimbur]

EDIT: also, on the topic of Prestige Paladin, my DM says that any levels gained in a casting class, even if they do not grant spell progression, count for caster level modifiers. This seems dubious, but I'm unsure of where to check this particular assumption's veracity.

Levels give you exactly what they say they do and no more. Amusingly, Prestige Paladin says it gives you more spells/day but says nothing about caster level. This is... an oversight, to say the least.

[BenTheJester]

You do know that a cohort(well, one acquired with the leadership feat) can't be higher than lvl 16(or was it 18?)

[Corwin_of_Amber]

You do know that a cohort(well, one acquired with the leadership feat) can't be higher than lvl 16(or was it 18?)

You're right, I guess pre-epic he could only be level 18, 2 less than me at 20. I'll just chop off the last 2 levels of PrC Pally. This was a quick build I had slapped together for a 1-shot and I wanted to explore its options more via a cohort. Basically I really liked the synnergy between Divine Power feat and a caster with Cha maxed granting more turning attempts and dishing out a lot of damage.

[Thurbane]

The Improved Bind Vestige feat allows you to gain Focalor's Aura of Sadness, which stacks with Aura of Despair, and gives -2 to Saves, attacks and skill check to adjacent creatures (which includes allies, so beware).

You could grab the Dilate Aura feat (FCII). It doubles the radius of your aura 1/encounter, for up to your CHA mod rounds.

[Corwin_of_Amber]

The Improved Bind Vestige feat allows you to gain Focalor's Aura of Sadness, which stacks with Aura of Despair, and gives -2 to Saves, attacks and skill check to adjacent creatures (which includes allies, so beware).

This is actually very good, since this guy will have a large amount of hp due to Corpsecrafter and the conveniently placed evil alter we found. I just have to put him next to the enemies and keep him alive. Thanks.