opinions on Cavalier prestige class

[Abyss]

I have a player who is really aching to take levels of the cavalier prestige class, so I thought id check what people thought of it before I allowed it into my game. Any thoughts on it?

-Abyss

 

[hong]

I have a player who is really aching to take levels of the cavalier prestige class, so I thought id check what people thought of it before I allowed it into my game. Any thoughts on it?

It's very boring, contains errors, and is one-dimensional. Other than that, it's not too bad. If your player really wants a to take a mounted warrior, I suggest having a look at either the Kishi charger or battle maiden prestige classes in OA. Neither of these are inherently "oriental" in any way, despite where they appear.

 

[Willtell]

What I do not understand is why it requires Bab +8, when all the feats and skills can be gained by 5th lvl.

 

[Al]

Devastating.

I used a cavalier against the PCs, and they're totally deadly in the right situation. Deadly Charge x4 damage is fairly absurd, especially if you add all the bonuses to hit and damage and factor in a bit of Power Attack. It is simplicity itself doing 100+ damage with a single hit.

Having said that, if the campaign is Dungeon Crawl, horses can be a liability. And the old infantryman's trick of attacking the horse counts double for DnD, where the cavalier will have manifold the number of HPs of the horse.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Mounted they look pretty much untouchable. The trick is factoring your steed into those dungeon encounters!

 

[hong]

Mounted they look pretty much untouchable. The trick is factoring your steed into those dungeon encounters!

A problem easily overcome by the halfling cavalier mounted on his riding dog....

 

[Jairami]

And never forget to TRY to use mounted combat to keep that poor animal alive. It's not like it's a paladin or windrider mount, it's just a normal horse, try not to let it get stuck by every boar spear around.

Poor horses.. A single spell caster with any sense of tactics comes into view and you've got a held, slept, dazed, or otherwise easily neutralized mount.

Cause fear... *shudder*

 

[Rashak Mani]

My experience with having mounted combat characters is that even without prestige classes Spirited Charge is very good ! So most DMs will keep you underground or off your Horse.

Cavalier just makes the situation even worse.. you will be even deadlier with a mount and even more penalized when you get off your horse ! Rping wise its OK.

( As a DM I make a lot of outdoors adventures... I hate dungeon crawling and the illogical dungeons packed with monsters... so mounted characters would less frequently leave their mounts behind )

 

[hong]

And never forget to TRY to use mounted combat to keep that poor animal alive. It's not like it's a paladin or windrider mount, it's just a normal horse, try not to let it get stuck by every boar spear around.

Poor horses.. A single spell caster with any sense of tactics comes into view and you've got a held, slept, dazed, or otherwise easily neutralized mount.

One 10d6 fireball is all it takes.

That's why the battle maiden is very nice. It's basically a cavalier without the deadly charge, but with the paladin's mount.

 

[Victim]

Devastating.

I used a cavalier against the PCs, and they're totally deadly in the right situation. Deadly Charge x4 damage is fairly absurd, especially if you add all the bonuses to hit and damage and factor in a bit of Power Attack. It is simplicity itself doing 100+ damage with a single hit.

Having said that, if the campaign is Dungeon Crawl, horses can be a liability. And the old infantryman's trick of attacking the horse counts double for DnD, where the cavalier will have manifold the number of HPs of the horse.

It's already easy to do lots of damage with Spirited Charge and lance. Also, a cavalier will often be unable to use a full attack since he's doing deadly, ride-by, spirited charges on everyone. So that one attack had better be deadly to make up for the lack of full attacks.

The mount can be quite vulnerable, even for paladins. A normal warhorse will be very vulnerable to any magic, as well as having poor HP against normal attacks. A once per round mounted combat check probably won't be enough.