I have man-at-arms 5 and hydrosophist and geomancer 4 on my non-lone wolf character (It would've been 3 for hydrosophist and geomancer if not for the +ability books...) and it's working fine. I even just got 1 pyrokinetic for the haste real late.

I chose that combination because it's the closest thing I could find for a paladin-like guy. My only issues were early on when I was fumbling spells, and somewhere in the middle where I struggled a bit with gear requirements and +AP costs on skills for low ranks in schools.