Simple yet functional mundane build?

[sorcererlover]

Get some Whisper Gnome Fighters. Give them two flaws for two extra feats, as follows: Wild Cohort, Dodge, Titan Fighting, Mounted Combat. Give them large shields, one-handed weapons, probably light or medium armor depending on Dex, stat priority Str > Dex > Con > Wis > Cha > Int. Put max ranks in Ride and Handle Animal. If there are enemy spellcasters, one can ready an action to use their Silence spell-like ability if they cast a spell with a verbal component, target it on a point in space with the enemy spellcaster in range and the verbal component and thus the spell automatically fails. Their Wild Cohorts/mounts are Magebred Warbeast Riding Dogs with Trip. (ECS specifically says only Druids and Rangers are prohibited from recruiting Magebred animals as companions.)

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Size/Type: Medium Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+15 (32 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 23 (+3 Dex, +8 natural, +2 leather barding), touch 13, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+8
Attack: Bite +8 melee (1d8+6)
Full Attack: Bite +8 melee (1d8+6)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Trip (+6)
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, Combative Mount, Excellent Learner, Thick-Skinned Breed
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +3
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 17, Con 20, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills: Jump +16, Listen +7, Spot +7, Swim +7, Survival +2*, one more skill point that should be a cross-class Spellcraft rank in preparation for taking Mage Slayer.
Feats: Alertness, Track (B), Improved Natural Attack: Bite (B), Combat Reflexes
Environment: Temperate plains
Organization: Solitary or pack (5-12)
Challenge Rating: 2
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Combative Mount (Ex): A rider on a trained warbeast
mount gets a +2 circumstance bonus on all Ride checks. A
trained warbeast is proficient with light, medium, and heavy
armor.

Excellent Learner: A magebred animal can learn a maximum
of eight tricks, and the DC for all Handle Animal
checks involving a magebred animal is reduced by 2. In
addition, the time required to train a magebred animal for
a purpose is reduced by 1 week (to a minimum of 1 week).

Trip (Ex): A riding dog that hits with a bite attack can attempt
to trip the opponent (+6 check modifier) as a free action
without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of
opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react
to trip the riding dog.

Skills: Riding dogs have a +4 racial bonus on Jump checks.
*Riding dogs have a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when
tracking by scent.

You can trade your Familiar for an animal companion and/or take Wild Cohort yourself and get one or two of those as well, provided you're not a Ranger or a Druid. In any case, animals don't take a share of the XP so it's just additional meat shields.

This is very far from simple.

Instead of 3 mundane NPCs, have you considered getting 3 random monster NPCs which change as you level up?

Like, you start at level 1 with 3 wolves.

At level 3, you get 3 lions.

At level 5, you get 3 manticores.

At level 7, you get 3 young copper dragons.

Etc.

We're sticking to RAW, and those NPCs are LA:-. I think you forgot that we are lazy. 1 simple character sheet for 3 mundanes is easier than homebrewing a bunch of monster NPCs and figuring out whether they're balanced for the level or not, and switching them out every few levels with another set of monster NPCs we need to figure out whether or not they're balanced for the level or not.

Crusaders are simple enough, if you write down your maneuvers on cards and shuffle and draw them each round. They're also fantastic for surviving early levels due to healing during a fight without slowing your offensive abilities down. They can also absorb a TON of damage even without healing, if you pick your options reasonably well. Just pick the healing stance and healing maneuver, as well as DR via a feat, all of which is right there in Tome of Battle. That should get you through the early levels easily enough.

I'll look into crusaders.