GreatLemur said:I'd kind of like a necromancer class that starts off with a familiar-like "undead champion" ability. While you'll eventually get access to the power to animate hordes of corpses, you start off with just one permanent(-ish) undead servitor at any given time. It increases in power along with you, and whenever it's destroyed, you can animate a new one, but you're always limited to one at any given time.
However, the movement seems to be away from giving PCs permanent "pets" that have to be treated as almost secondary characters. Note how the PHBII druid strips away the animal companion. I'm also remembering an article commenting on how familiars need to be more something that gives a particular bonus and less really, really weak secondary combatants.
Mounted combat might survive as a viable fighting style, but I forsee that the mount and the rider will be treated as a single unit (or close to it) as far as hitpoints, actions, AC.