Help and suggestions for riding animals needed

[carborundum]

I'll be DM-ing the Savage Tide soon and one of my players (halfling spellthief) asked me if I could think of an interesting riding animal for him. We play in the Forgotten Realms, and in the Tashluta area. He has a background which involves family connections in the exotic animal trade and fancied something different to the usual riding dog.

I don't want to overpower his PC too much and wondered if there were any interesting suggestions which could be handy in the campaign (swashbuckling style), would be no problem on board a ship and would not be worth more than about 200 gold.
My first idea was a big ape (like Master Blaster from Thunderdome) but that seems possibly "too good". The climbing seemed like a good idea on board a ship, but how many commands would you need to get that all working? You'd need a psychic link like a familiar and he doesn't have that.

Any ideas - a different beast or ideas on how to make the monkey thing feasible and reasonable?

 

[Moon-Lancer]

he should ride a giant crab or lobster. when the halfing kills something with the crab, he should shout "Your SeaFood!!!"

 

[Nazhkandrias]

An ape wouldn't be a great idea. It would be a little clumsy to ride, so it would most likely cause the player to take a penalty (I don't know if apes are bipedal or quadrupedal in D&D). A leopard isn't particularly powerful, and it's a decent climber. But cat's don't typically like water, so I would suggest a medium or large constrictor snake. An exotic mount, to be sure, with land, swim, AND climb speeds. Absolutely perfect for a seafaring adventure. However, if you're worried about climbing, it is irrelevant if you can fly. For this, I reccommend the Dire Bat.

Then, there are vermin. Difficult to train, but intimidating, to be sure. If the character doesn't weigh too much, a giant bee is a good flying mount, or a spider eater, if you don't mind the size. Personally, I would be VERY frightened of a character riding in on a giant wasp (cue Ride Of The Valkyries. Apocalypse Now, anybody?). Monstrous centipedes have an unparalleled climb speed, but they probably can't carry enough weight to be of much use. For a classy, yet intimidating mount, a monstrous spider (medium or large) is just the ticket.

None of these mounts are particularly "overpowered", but I wouldn't allow most of these until at least level 3 or 4, depending on the CR of the mount. I'd allow a medium monstrous spider fairly early on (assuming the player had a method to train it), but a giant wasp would be out until at least 6th level. Is this a good or an evil campaign? Fiendish and Celestial vermin make good mounts, assuming you keep their power in check. And really, what's cooler than buzzing a ship on a Fiendish Giant Wasp?

 

[Gerion of Mercadia]

Wolf?
Dire Wolf?

The main problem here is your guy is small. How much does He weigh - and how much does His gear weigh. This could be an important factor in determining what mount you ride.

 

[TheGogmagog]

P-p-p-puppy power!

I like the lobster/crab suggestion.
You could regress a large creature into a pup. So medium size crockodile, dire bat or snake with reduced hp and stripped of (EX) attacks.

Plus you could advance them to normal around 7th level.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Steal from Eberron, and let him ride a dinosaur.

 

[carborundum]

I like the snake and lobster ideas. I really like the giant wasp, but for first level it's a bit much. I suppose I could have him working on training it for the first few levels and give it to him at an appropriate moment, assuming he's willing to invest the time up to then.

Regressing a dire wolf a bit sounds good too, and a bit simpler. Don't have it ready for riding for a few levels but let him bring it along as a juvenile attack dog, maybe.

Nice ideas - thanks guys!

 

[Darklone]

The last halfling druid in my group rode a cheetah... that Spring ability was soooo useful.

 

[carborundum]

Do you mean Sprint?

I don't see where it has Spring, if you mean Spring Attack that is....

 

[Whimsical]

Have him ride a medium-sized humanoid. A fighter with a tower shield and a kurisari gama. Use the Exotic saddle from the PH for the harness.

Is that sufficiently distinctive and interesting?