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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteelDraco" data-source="post: 3067919" data-attributes="member: 359">It sounds like you've already decided on the archery part for your character, which is a good idea. With turning radius in play, you're only going to be able to make a melee attack every couple of rounds, which isn't all that much fun.I've played a druid who used his mount (a dire bear, in my case) for a lot of combat. I would recommend taking defensive feats; your mount just isn't going to be as tough as you are, and isn't going to be capable of holding its own against appropriate challenges most of the time. Several times my buffed dire bear took a full attack from a monster, and died for it, no matter how much I did to protect him. (Stoneskin, Bear's Endurance, magic armor, etc)I would certainly recommend Improved Toughness, and perhaps Lightning Reflexes. I'd really want those if you're expecting to be fighting dragons. Otherwise, you're going to take a breath weapon to the face, then take falling damage as well as your mount dies underneath you. The dragon just chuckles at you at that point.Honestly, I wouldn't recommend Flyby Attack. Your mount isn't going to be the one doing the damage - you and your archery are. The job of the mount is to move you around the battlefield, and try to survive the experience. Remember, if you're at any kind of height, and your mount gets knocked out, you're out of the fight. If you want your mount to do some of the fighting, there are some neat choices. Power Dive (from the Draconomicon) is cool, particularly if your GM allows you to knock other mounted foes out of the saddle with it. Improved Sunder can be used to do something similar (sunder the saddle strap, and it'll come apart, dropping anybody strapped to it). I haven't read RHoD, so I don't know if the dragons there have riders or not. As to group tactics... hmmm. Against dragons, the best would be a couple of people with Ride-By Attack and Spirited Charge. They attack at angles, staying far apart from each other, so that they don't get killed with breath weapons. Archery would be good too, though a dragon might just leap on your mount and eat it, just for the joy of watching people plummet to the ground. In aerial combat, almost nobody will be getting a full attack, which makes charges and fly-by attacks the rule of the day.You'll be able to see quite far from an aerial perspective, so you probably won't have to worry too much about getting surprised. You can change your formation based on what you're fighting, therefore. Spread out for dragons, of course. It's kind of a tough call as to how high you want to fly. You either want to be close to the ground, so that falling isn't so bad, or really high up, so that you're out of range of attack spells from the ground.</blockquote>

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