High Seas Paladin Mount Replacement

[Hedgemage]

I'm running a swashbuckling game of sailing ships and pirates, and one of the characters is a paladin of a sea goddess. The problem is that both he and I feel that an aquatic mount has no role in the campaign as it takes place ON the sea rather than in it. What would be some snazzy replacement for the special mount ability? I was thinking of something such as a magical figurehead for the ship that would provide increasing bonuses to the vessel as the character raises in level. I'm open to other ideas, though.

 

[TheNovaLord]

The DMG has a list of alternative mounts

I guess something that flies would be useful, but they tend to only be available at higher level.

i like the idea of the figurehead being a sot of animate (non mobile) altar/avatar.

Maybe it allows the paladin to cast more spells / opens up more skills / adds to the ship resilience / offer divinations and oracles skills (jason and the argonauts style?)

Or perhaps it gives a cleric domain (maybe summoning spells)

There are two paladins in our current party and the mounts have proved very useful so it is quite an ability to loose, so should be replaced with something worthy

John

 

[Pinotage]

A flying creature would work well for this. A giant albatross or something. I'm sure there are stats for sea birds out there that might be useful.

Pinotage

 

[Dross]

Why not some amphibious animal that can live on the ship, but has a limitied swim capability (or if the paladin can't breathe underwater there is a limiting factor) while being used as a mount?

A bit further afeild is something that can climb and jump (useful to boarding enemy ships) but is still bassically a horse states wise?

I do like the idea of the bonuses to the ship, but is that in keeping with the style of the campaign and or the paladin?