A high-level paladin's unusual mount.

[Lord Pendragon]

From the SRD regarding the bonus hit dice granted to a paladin's mount as the paladin advances:

Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Extra Hit Dice improve the mount’s base attack and base save bonuses. A special mount’s base attack bonus is equal to that of a cleric of a level equal to the mount’s HD. A mount has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). The mount gains additional skill points or feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice.

So say a paladin takes one of the special mounts, as described in DotF. A griffon. A griffon is actually a magical beast, not a "virtual" magical beast, such as a paladin's mount would be, were it a heavy warhorse. As such, its hit dice are d10s, and it has a fighter's BAB.

Now, how does the griffon advance as a paladin's mount? Does it still get d10s, or only d8s, as if it were multiclassing in "Paladin's Mount"? What about its BAB?

Opinions welcome, textual citations extremely welcome.

 

[FireLance]

The Draconomicon has rules for dragons as special mounts (page 139). Under "Bonus HD", it notes that bonus HD gained by a dragon special mount are d12s. I would thus be inclined to treat bonus HD gained by other types of special mounts as the HD of the base creature type, i.e. d10s for Magical Beasts (except augmented Animals).

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Thank you FireLance! That was exactly the kind of precedent I was looking for.

Hmmm....though I may have to check out the Draconomicon regarding those dragon rules!