Pathfinder 1E Cavalier: Techno mount?

[Puxido]

I was thinking.... What if during a modern-setting campaign, if somebody chooses cavalier (preferably musketeer), could he use a motorcycle, bike, or a ATV as his "steed"? If so, would there be any benefits or penalties?

 

[Hand of Evil]

I don't think I would apply any but would talk with the player about their expectation.

 

[Ramaster]

As a penalty... well, the motorcycle will most likely not have any natural attacks.

The pros... Well, It's freaking cool, for one. You have to pay for gas and repairs, but overall it's much easier to care for a bike than a living thing. They are also faster and don't get tired. If the player wants a tangible benefit for giving up her mount' natural attacks, then I suggest increasing its speed by +10'.

 

[gamerprinter]

I recently created a home built Starship Pilot class for a Sci-Fi PF game based on the EN Publishing Santiago setting rules, using "ranger" as a template, though its not intended to be a ranger archetype, rather its own base class. As a part of this build, I created the Pilot ability which is five levels of vehicle training, with Pilot 1 allowing driver skills use of automobiles, motorcycles, hovercraft, submersibles, aerial vehicles, escape pods and orbiting shuttles. Pilot 5 at 19th level allows a starship pilot to manage an interstellar fleet. This doesn't fit your premise of a vehicle for a cavalier class, however.

I would certainly allow a sci-fi based "cavalier" to be able to operate an automobile, motorcycle, hovercraft (including a hoverbike), submersible, aerial vehicle, etc. The ride skill would be of obvious use to perform difficult driving maneuvers, though I don't know if there'd be a reason to replace "handle animal" with something else.

 

[Puxido]

As a penalty... well, the motorcycle will most likely not have any natural attacks.

The pros... Well, It's freaking cool, for one. You have to pay for gas and repairs, but overall it's much easier to care for a bike than a living thing. They are also faster and don't get tired. If the player wants a tangible benefit for giving up her mount' natural attacks, then I suggest increasing its speed by +10'.

Ok, you give a lot of points. One point of concern for me is how are they going to drive a motorcycle/atv while using a weapon (most likely a gun). I'm considering making it impossible to use a two handed whilst driving a motorcycle, and you can use a one handed weapons while driving a motorcycle if you succeed a dex save (a feat bypasses this), the weapon must be in the characters left hand (because you use the handle to activate the cycle) and would have to take a penalty on his attack for it being in the wrong hand (unless he's left handed), this can all be bypassed if the attacker is a passenger (on the back, or in a sidecar). For something like an atv, if it uses a similar throttle as a motorcycle, then the one handed/two handed weapon rules apply, but not the dex save, you just need to be able to drive the automobile while firing, if it has a pedal, you just can't make move actions where you change direction on turns you use an attack action if you use a two handed weapon.

I recently created a home built Starship Pilot class for a Sci-Fi PF game based on the EN Publishing Santiago setting rules, using "ranger" as a template, though its not intended to be a ranger archetype, rather its own base class. As a part of this build, I created the Pilot ability which is five levels of vehicle training, with Pilot 1 allowing driver skills use of automobiles, motorcycles, hovercraft, submersibles, aerial vehicles, escape pods and orbiting shuttles. Pilot 5 at 19th level allows a starship pilot to manage an interstellar fleet. This doesn't fit your premise of a vehicle for a cavalier class, however.

I would certainly allow a sci-fi based "cavalier" to be able to operate an automobile, motorcycle, hovercraft (including a hoverbike), submersible, aerial vehicle, etc. The ride skill would be of obvious use to perform difficult driving maneuvers, though I don't know if there'd be a reason to replace "handle animal" with something else.

I see, but could you post a link to the santiago far future download? I downloaded it before but it seems there have been some updates since my last download.

 

[gamerprinter]

I see, but could you post a link to the santiago far future download? I downloaded it before but it seems there have been some updates since my last download.

I'm sure there's a link here on ENWorld, since Santiago is EN Publishing, but here's a link to all the Santiago products at DrivethruRPG, though only the Player's Guide and Campaign Guide are free.

 

[Puxido]

How would the companion bond to the mount be effected by this?

 

[gamerprinter]

Again, for the Starship Pilot, I used ranger as a template. It is not a ranger archetype, so there ability replacement needn't be equivalent. Because most of the class's build surrounds starship flight skill levels and ship's gunnery, I didn't want the class to lack personal combat skills. So I replaced companion bond with sidearm bond, so that I could have a progression of weapon attack bonuses, instead of going the route of "animal companion" surrogate.

On the other hand, for the Technologist class on the first page of my space classes thread, instead of a familiar, I replaced that with a UAV (unmanned flying vehicle) with artificial intelligence, a manipulator arm attached that can pick things up and wield ranged small arms. As an alternative, you could replace companion bond with a similar UAV bond. While it could levitate, a UAV with multiple props like a mini-helicopter seems perfectly appropriate. A mounted remote camera linked to a heads-up display or set of goggles worn by the PC allows remote viewing through the UAV.