"Leveling" a warhorse.

[frankthedm]

Must never comit Evil or Chaotic acts and Strict DM are not a power play combo

 

[Seule]

Must never comit Evil or Chaotic acts and Strict DM are not a power play combo

Technically, you must only not commit evil acts. As long as you don't actually lose your LG alignment, chaotic acts are okay.... which never made sense to me. My Paladin is way more lawful than good. That's neither here nor there, anyway.
If you are still making the character, then things like rewriting backstory and alignment to fit Paladin are still possible. If you don't want to play a Paladin that's fine, it's just the only practical way I see to level a warhorse with the books you are using, and a strict DM.
Anyway, I pointed out the powergaming potential of the Smite-deadly Charge combo. It doesn't mean you have to use it, it's just a perk of that particular class combo, along with having a tougher warhorse. Beyond that, I think you're looking at non-horse mounts, gained as a cohort, as others have suggested. Griffins, pegasi, unicorns, bulettes, dragons... there are options. Paladin mount is just the easiest to get into a game, as it's a basic class ability. As a bonus, it makes your mount summonable.

--Seule

 

[Question]

Not to mention you are losing most spellcasting options due to no spellcasting progression. The only thing a paladin gains from going cavalier is a better mount, as opposed to a fighter's mass bonus feats.

 

[airwalkrr]

Not if they're just getting animal HD. Wild Cohort has the advantage of boosting AC, not just hit points. You need both to get a good mount.

If the animal has magic items...

 

[airwalkrr]

Champions of Valor presents a great variety of horse breeds. While this doesn't solve the problem of a mount dying instantly to a 10th level wizard's fireball, it shows that there can be quite a variety in the horses' abilities.

Even a mount that fails its save will not usually die to a 10th level wizard's fireball. Such a fireball does an average of 35 points of damage, not hp + 10 of a heavy warhorse.

 

[Klaus]

Not to mention you are losing most spellcasting options due to no spellcasting progression. The only thing a paladin gains from going cavalier is a better mount, as opposed to a fighter's mass bonus feats.

Give up the spellcasting bit by taking the non-spellcasting option from Complete Warrior:
- At 4th level, every weapon wielded by you is considered good-aligned for bypassing DR.

- At 7th level (iirc), you can use your lay on hands ability to cure several adverse conditions in your mount.

If you do this, you can get by with a Wis as low as 10, since you'll have no more abilities governed by it. You then go Paladin 8/Cavalier X.

 

[Question]

Yea but i would say its an unfair loss in trade.

I mean one of the first things you get past the +1 melee enchantment is holy, since it is so useful anyway.

Im thinking of sticking 4 level of fighter on the unicorn, as opposed to say, the 4 magical beast HD. The problem is the monster feats arent bonus fighter feats, and im not quite sure what fighter feats to take(besides imrpoved toughness).

Oh and can someone explain how the mount interacts in battles?

Do i roll init for the mount? Since the mount is the one moving can i only move during the mount's turn? What about attacking, etc?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

If the animal has magic items...

The mount shouldn't be weakening the player riding it.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

At first blush the Special Mount-Cohort option is idiotic. As an 8th level Paladin I could have an 8HD warhorse normally, or I could spend a feat on Leadership and get a 6HD warhorse instead.

But at higher levels you can be stacking up PC Class levels instead of those magical beast HD and you get cohort advancement every level instead of 2 for 3. That adds up pretty quickly once you get past 12th level.

Fighter levels for the bonus feat and BAB or Cleric levels for the Will Save and a few buffs are the obvious choices. But I think that Barbarian or Ranger would work as well. If the Cohort-Mount is Lawful I think you could do wonderful things with Improved Grapple, Improved Trip, or Stunning Fist as a mount with Monk levels.

 

[Question]

See post 57 guys?