Help on paladin's mount survival, please

[Caliban]

Do you have the Mounted Combat feat? It allows you to make a ride check to "dodge" one attack against your mount per round.

Between that, improved evasion, minor elemental resistances, being able to share healing spells, and a few minor magic itesm, your mount should be better protected than you are against physical damage.

Save or Die spells and Mind affecting spells targeting your mount can be pretty hard to defend against.

 

[Artoomis]

Do you have the Mounted Combat feat? It allows you to make a ride check to "dodge" one attack against your mount per round.

Between that, improved evasion, minor elemental resistances, being able to share healing spells, and a few minor magic itesm, your mount should be better protected than you are against physical damage.

Save or Die spells and Mind affecting spells targeting your mount can be pretty hard to defend against.

Well, he does have a higher AC than his rider

Yes, the paladin has the mounted combat feat. (In fact, all three mounted feats). It doesn't help much because the mount's armor class is already 28 and the paladin's ride score is only +14 - so it requires at least a 15 on the die roll to make any difference. Besides, physical damage is not really the issue so much as missed saving throws.

His other defenses do help, no doubt.

But his saving throws- pitiful.

Base = Fort 5, Ref 5, Will 2, modified by Paladin's higher base = Fort 7, Ref 5, Will 3, modifed by stats = Fort 9, Ref 7, Will 4

In an 11th level party. Not good. Not good at all.

At paladin's 12th level, he goes up to Fort 10, Ref 8, Will 5. And, unlike a regular character or cohort, he's got no way to improve his saves (short of making new, custom magic items). He's missing saves like crazy!

The paladin is making saves while the mount misses them - that's a serious liablility. I guess the answer is obvious - new magic items to provide saving throw bonuses for the mount.

 

[StealthyMark]

Re: Share Healing spells

According to Tome and Blood, pg 11, if you decide to share for example a Cure Moderate Wounds spell, you have to decide how to split the healed hit points.

 

[Artoomis]

Re: Re: Share Healing spells

According to Tome and Blood, pg 11, if you decide to share for example a Cure Moderate Wounds spell, you have to decide how to split the healed hit points.

Not having T&B, I don't know what it says on page 11. I am pretty sure they are refering to familiars, though, not mounts. Mounts do have the same language for sharing spells, though.

But my DM kindly rules that the total hit pts cured by a spell are given in total to each - the mount and the paladin.

 

[Moleculo]

The dog's reflex save should be +8 since it should have a 17 in dex for +3. What kind of saves is the dog missing?? tell us about it !


jake

 

[Artoomis]

The dog's reflex save should be +8 since it should have a 17 in dex for +3. What kind of saves is the dog missing?? tell us about it !


jake

A Riding Dog's dex is 15. If you have a reason it should be 17, I'd love to hear it.

He's missed Fort saves (vs. a putrid smell that left him pretty well messed up) and I think it was a Will save (that left him pretty well confused). This is only the last two gaming sessions. He is turning out to be my greatest asset and my greatest weakness.

 

[Artoomis]

Oops, double post.

 

[reapersaurus]

Reaper: Sorry, but jumping to conclusions about the character of the DM really isn't all that constructive. Assuming that you (who have never met the guy or played in this game) know the only reason he could disallow a thing is... a bit presumptuous, no?

And there is nothing wrong with wanting to play a system for a while before making alterations. Not everyone sees how a system flows just by looking at the text of the rulebook, or by playing an adventure or two.

sez you.

of COURSE it's presumptuous, Umbran! LOL
i don't see his DM posting here, so i have to jump to conclusions based on limited evidence - it's the nature of the internet.

And i'll assume your second paragraph isn't you being snide, or i'll have to do my first flame of the new boards.

 

[Tony Vargas]

It sounds like the biggest problem is saves. Resistance bonuses to saves aren't that hard to come by in items. A collar or bridle or whatever of as much Resistance as you can afford would not be something your DM should reject out of hand.

The magic item that changes the rules around to how you want them to work, though, probably would be. If the DM is rejecting reasonable arguments, he probably won't hesitate to reject items.

Aside from that, yes, some saves are going to be hard on a creature like a mount. They're supposed to be. Casters (even enemy casters) get to be effective at times, too. Now, if it seems like there's a Hold Monster getting tossed at your mount every single encounter, you have a problem - and it's not the rules, house or official, it's that your DM doesn't like the thing...

 

[Zaruthustran]

Well, good grief--we're talking about a dog

If the high AC, elemental resistances, shared spells, and mounted combat hit negation aren't enough, I guess you'll just have to deal with the fact that dogs aren't that tough. You might want to trade in that puppy for something a little more durable.