"Pokemount" abuses?

[Quasqueton]

On paper, it would seem that the paladin's summon special mount ability is ripe for exploitation and abuse. I mean:

- It always arrived healed, regardless of its condition when last dismissed. A dying warhorse, at -9 hit points, can come back the next day at full 45 hit points.

- Dismissing it is a free action, so saving it at the last round is easy.

- It keeps, takes, and returns with whatever equipment is stored on it. Don't want thieves to target your 5,000gp? Pack it on the horse and dismiss it to the celestial realm till you are out of town. Want to store that mighty evil artifact in a safe place? Stow it on the horse and dismiss it. Can't get your comrade's body back to the temple soon enough to be raised? Strap the now-an-object friend to the horse and dismiss it till you can get help. Don't want to carry around that golfbag full of special weapons? Call in your special caddy with all your extra swords.

Why do we not hear of this ability being exploited and abused? Is it because Players who choose the paladin tend to "play fair" with this rule as part of their role playing? Why has no one ever complained about how "broken" this ability is? If a wizard could summon and dismiss a large treasure chest each day, there'd be complaints.

So what's up with this ability? Has anyone seen it "overused"? Has anyone found an interested use for it?

Quasqueton

 

[Greylock]

None of those examples sound like abuses or exploits to me. Seem like benefits to playing the class. Don't tell me an average mid-to-high level wizard hasn't figured out how to play similar games with his teleport spells and all, .

 

[kenobi65]

If a wizard could summon and dismiss a large treasure chest each day, there'd be complaints.

Err, he already can. Leomund's secret chest. Recallable from the Ethereal plane at will.

 

[Crothian]

I don't think any of these uses are really abusive.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Agreed with the others. They aren't abuses at all, they're viable tactics for the ability.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

- It always arrived healed, regardless of its condition when last dismissed. A dying warhorse, at -9 hit points, can come back the next day at full 45 hit points.

- Dismissing it is a free action, so saving it at the last round is easy.

You can also dismiss it if it's been dominated or charmed. By the time it can be re-summoned, chances are the spellcaster is dead, and none of the spellcaster's orders are going to reach the creature on its home plane.

Want to store that mighty evil artifact in a safe place? Stow it on the horse and dismiss it.

I actually went one better. Since the mount lives on the celestial plains, I told my mount to drop the evil artifact in the ocean there. It may still be recovered at some point, but it's going to be a heck of a lot harder than anything else our 9th-level party could have done with the thing.

Can't get your comrade's body back to the temple soon enough to be raised? Strap the now-an-object friend to the horse and dismiss it till you can get help.

I did this. Mainly because our party was warned even her body might not be safe in town (she's an elf, and there's a xenophobic group plotting in our town.)

Don't want to carry around that golfbag full of special weapons? Call in your special caddy with all your extra swords.

Nah. You don't want to waste the time summoning your mount and getting the weapon if you need the weapon. Plus, if you don't need your mount at the same time, you've wasted the summoning.

Why do we not hear of this ability being exploited and abused? Is it because Players who choose the paladin tend to "play fair" with this rule as part of their role playing? Why has no one ever complained about how "broken" this ability is?

I'd say because it isn't broken.

 

[frankthedm]

Quite abusive tactics. They come up once in a while. But it should only trouble the DMs without the will power to put their foot down on such silliness. 2 simple decrees really help with such shenanigans.

1. Excessive valuables left on the mount are gladly accepted as donations to the upper planes.
2. Objects Distasteful, Offensive or Dangerous to the upper planes are left behind, destroyed or left in the Astral to be picked up at the owner’s expense on a case by case basis.

 

[drnuncheon]

Has anyone actually seena campaign broken by these things, or is it another falling sky problem? I mean, come on, 'a paladin's mount can't be effectively charmed or dominated' is not going to be a gamebreaker in 99.9% of the cases.

J

 

[shilsen]

The only abusive thing I can see here is that it encourages posters to come up with really silly names for the special mount ability

 

[Henry]

It may be Psion who coined that one, but I'm guessing it originated on RPG.net.

As for the abuses, maybe I'm reading Quasqueton wrong, but he may be saying that there are no real abuses to the ability - in other words, playing devil's advocate or just demonstrating absurdia ad absurdum (probably mangled that phrase). In either case, I don't find it abusive because I can't FIND anyone to play a 3.5 paladin. Of course, we've only played one 3.5 game, so it's not that far gone.