Replacement for a Paladin's Mount

[Gregor]

Inspired by the paladin trade-off thread below, I have a question.

I am in the process of creating an Aasimar Paladin for an FR game that I play in. The gist of his character is the following: He worships the Red Knight (lesser god of strategy, tactics and warfare) and is educated in military theory, history, tactics et al. He is an officer in the Waterdeep Guard (where our party is currently playing) and is above all else, an infantry commander. He believes in standing in the ranks with his soldiers, leading a charge, inspiring acts of greatness and shielding the unfortunate with his shield. Essentially one hell of a war hero. I am trying to focus him on inspiration, leadership etc.

What I want to do is essentially dump the bonded mount. He refuses to ride a horse while his men trudge through the mud. What would be an acceptable replacement for the loss of a mount? He is planetouched after all and he still connects with his celestial heritage - would another celestial servant or assistant work?

Ideas? Suggestions?

 

[Darklone]

Common HOUSERULES consist of additional feats... I prefer Divine Feats every 5th level (to restrict it a little bit).

 

[Nebt Bhakau]

IIRC Holy Liberators get a celestial animal companion. Check the Defenders of the Faith and Complete Divine. Not sure if Red Knight has a favorite animal or not, but I can definitely see a falcon. Not only are they cool and inspiring, but Genghis Khan had one. Plus it would be good for aerial reconnai...reconaiss...spying.

 

[Gregor]

Common HOUSERULES consist of additional feats... I prefer Divine Feats every 5th level (to restrict it a little bit).

haha, ya I wasnt sure where to put this thread because I thought there might be some actual written rules for this process.

Oh well. But the divine feats sounds pretty good.

The falcon idea would be neat too...

 

[FireLance]

There have been quite a few "horse-trading" threads in the past. My own suggestion in those threads was to give a paladin access to one of his deity's domains (including the granted ability) and one domain slot per level. Nobility would be a good domain for an inspirational infantry commander type.

 

[danielinthewolvesden]

I wouldn't allow extra feats or anything like that. However, an animal companion, or a Familiar would be OK.

 

[Pax]

Giving them the Leadership feat for free at 5th level might work - making the cohort a trusted lieutenant / aide-de-camp, someone to fight at his side ... but not someone to ride into battle. ^_^ And the followers ... well, those'd be the most loyal of his soldiers, of course. ^_^

[edit to add more ideas]
Let's see; for different types of deities, I'd say:

An anti-undead deity like Pelor ... might give the character a choice of one of his domains, and full Turning like a cleric;

A deity of magic might give their paladins a familiar ... and maybe either the Magic or Spell domain;

An especially militant, organised-warfare deity would likely go the route of the Leadership cohort-and-bunch-of-soldiers;

A deity of the ocean might ALSO give a cohort and followers ... as the first mate and crew of a ship;

A deity of healing might grant the healing domain, and allow spontaneous conversion to cure spells;

... and so on. ^_^
[/Edit]

 

[Conaill]

You know, you don't *have* to ride your mount!

Just pick any heavy warhorse-equivalent animal (i.e. around 4HD and CR 2) and simply apply the same mount rules to it. Should be perfectly balanced.

You could have a mysterious black panther that comes to your aid whenever you call it. Or perhaps a black bear, or an advanced wolf, or even a bison for a cool native american themed paladin.

Non-animal mounts would work as well, under the same type of conditions as getting an improved mount...

 

[Gregor]

These are all really great suggestions. The free leadership feat would be really sweet but somehow I dont see my DM springing for it.

The substitution for another celestial aid would be great. Some form of war dog would be awesome.

hmm, keep these ideas flowing, they are fab!

 

[Pax]

The substitution for another celestial aid would be great. Some form of war dog would be awesome.

A Celestial Dire Wolf might be good as a non-ridden replacement for the Mount, but it's sufficiently "better" that your DM may want to levy a bit more of an "opportunity cost" - give it to you two to four levels later, ande count it's benefits based on a paladin two to four levels lower than you are, as well. similar tohow Druidic Animal Companions are handled, in fact.