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derfenrirwolv
2009-03-14, 04:24 AM
Ok, let me start off by saying that i DON"T want to min max the character to death. I don't want a dragon magazine prestidge class, 3rd party suppliment, or "hey look what my little brother made for a prestidge class". I just want to try mounted combat.

The whole idea of the build is to be able to charge. Finding the room to charge a large horse in the game of dungeons an dragons gets a little hard. So, i was planning on running a halfling on a medium mount so i can still move around

Running a fighter is nice for feats, the problem is you hit level 5 and your mount dies in the first fireball or melee swing directed its way.

To get around that, i was going to use a paladin. The mounts tougher and more likely to survive.

The thing is, the prestidge class requires 4 feats. They're feats you'd take anyway, but it doesn't give you alot of room to customize. I could play a strait paladin, get 1 feat at first, 3rd, 6th, 9th, and then i can take the class at 10th.

My other option would be to level

1) Fighter
2) Fighter
3) Paladin
4) Paladin
5) Paladin
6) Paladin xp penalty
7) Fighter
8) Fighter
9) cavalier.

This avoids the relatively useless 6th 7th 8th and 9th level of paladin.

My concern is that my mount won't be viable at 8th level. Without taking the horribly broken leadership or cohort feats (one of which is mechanically impossible to use) is there a feat that will let me add the fighter levels to my effective level of paladin for determining the special qualities of my mount?

AslanCross
2009-03-14, 05:48 AM
Unfortunately, I could only find two feats that stacked levels for the purpose of your paladin special mount, and both were for caster classes (Holy Mount for a divine caster and Theurgic Mount for an arcane caster).

Quirinus_Obsidian
2009-03-14, 08:52 AM
Unless you need the Fighter feats, I would go 5 levels of Paladin. Get special Mount class feature. Then take "Celestial Mount" feat from book of exalted deeds. Basically makes your mount a celestial being. Also makes it awesomer.

Find and Train if you have the ranks in handle animal, or buy a trained Drakkensteed from Dragon Magic. Flying Draconic Horse; nuf said. :smallbiggrin:

Woodsman
2009-03-14, 09:49 AM
Actually, you can get a drakkensteed mount as part of your paladin progression. Variant class feature in Dragon Magic as well. It can't command animals of its kind, but you and it get a n immunity to fear.

If you have PHBII, I'd suggest looking at the appendix at the back for feat progression. There's a cavalier option for the paladin class.

playswithfire
2009-03-14, 11:17 AM
How about this?

Paladin 5*/Beastmaster 1/Fighter 2/Cavalier 1, then keep going cavalier

*Holy Warrior variant from Complete Champion; no spells; bonus feat at 4th

Feats:
1 Skill Focus(Handle Animal)
3 Mounted Combat
4 Ride-By Attack
6 Natural Bond
Fighter1 Weapon Focus(lance)
Fighter2 Spirited Charge
9 Devoted Tracker

At level 9, your mount gets +6 HD, +8 natural armor, +3 STR and +2 DEX because it's a 6th level paladin's mount and a 7th level druid's animal companion at the same time.

woodenbandman
2009-03-14, 12:16 PM
Can't believe that Halfling Outrider's not been said yet. Halfling druids get good racial substitution levels for getting riding dogs, and if Prestige Paladin is available, you can get a really great mount with a few levels in Outrider... or take all 10, it's good either way. Another thing that might work is combining druid with prestige ranger and normal paladin, since Prestige Ranger gets animal companion as druid, THEN you take Halfling outrider... this technically will advance your mount 2 animal companion levels and one paladin level with each level in the class, I think. Obviously this is getting really high, so it's up to you if the goal will be for the mount to deal damage or if you want to deal the damage.

dspeyer
2009-03-14, 12:20 PM
What about a Fighter 2 / Cleric 3 / Prestige Paladin 5 / Cavalier 10? If you can find an LG deity or cause with the war domain and favored weapon lance, you only need one non-bonus feat. There's one level without BAB and two levels that don't count toward paladin mount. There's no multiclassing penalty. There's even 6th level cleric casting, which is always handy.

Triaxx
2009-03-14, 01:02 PM
I throw this out all the time, but I seems like it'd be exactly what you're looking for. It's basically a homebrew Cavalier, designed as a base class instead of a PrC.

Cavalier

Alignment: Any Lawful.

Hit Die: d10

Class Skills: The Cavalier's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int) Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st level: (2 + Int Modifier) x4
Skill Points at Each additional Level: 2 + Int Modifier

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|
+1|
+1|
+0|
+0|Lay on Hands, Aura of Law 1/day
2nd|
+2|
+2|
+0|
+0|Knightly Grace, Bonus Feat
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+1|Smite Foe 1/day
4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+1|Improved Shield Bash
5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+1|Dodge
6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+1|
+1|Bonus Feat, Smite Foe 2/day
7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+2|
+2|Aura of Law 2/day
8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+2|
+2|Noble Mount 1st-Tier
9th|
+9/+4|
+7|
+2|
+2|Smite Foe 3/day
10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+2|
+2|Bonus Feat
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+8|
+3|
+3|Ride-by Attack
12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+3|
+3|Smite Foe 4/day
13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+9|
+3|
+3|Cleric Domain-1st, Lance Knight
14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+3|
+3|Bonus Feat, Noble Mount 2nd-Tier, Aura of Law 3/day
15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+10|
+4|
+4|Smite Foe 5/day
16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+4|
+4|Combat Reflexes
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+11|
+4|
+4|Cleric Domain-2nd
18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+4|
+4|Bonus Feat, Smite Foe 6/day
19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+12|
+5|
+5|Cleric Domain-3rd
20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+13|
+5|
+5|Bonus Feat, Noble Mount 3rd-Tier[/table]

Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Cavaliers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Lay on Hands: As per the Paladin ability.

Aura of Law: Aura of Law is a Cavalier's final defense. Used when foes close in around him the Cavalier summons his knowledge of right and law, and projects a feeling of defenslessness and clumsiness against neutral and chaotic foes. Neutral foes take a -1 penalty to AC and BAB, while Chaotic Foes take a -2 penalty to AC and BAB. This effect lasts for 1 round per Cavalier level. The aura can be resisted by a (DC10 + Cavalier level + Cavalier's CHA mod) Will save. A Cavalier may use Aura of Law once per day at first level, and gains additional uses every seven levels.

Mounted Combat: The Cavalier is treated as always having the mounted combat feat.

Smite Foe: As per the Smite Evil ability, but only against Chaotic or Neutral Foes. A Cavalier gains one use at third level, and an additional use every three levels there after.

Knightly Grace: At 2nd level, a Cavalier has been trained to fight on horseback, and when mounted on a horse or pony gains a +2 competence bonus when attempting to control an untrained animal. When mounted on a warhorse, or warpony, the Cavalier gains a +1 bonus to mounted melee attacks.

Bonus Feat: A Cavalier is granted bonus feat in addition to those she normally receives. Bonus feats may be selected from the fighter bonus feat list.

Improved Shield Bash: At 4th level Cavalier is treated as having the Improved Shield Bash feat while mounted, even if he or she does not meet the requirements.

Dodge: From 5th level on, when mounted a Cavalier is treated as having the dodge feat even if he or she does not meet the requirements for it.

Cleric Domain: A Cavalier, while not necessarily a religious warrior is looked upon with favor by his or her god. At 13th level, a Cavalier may choose one of his or her gods domain's, and use the first level domain power as a Cleric of one quarter the Cavalier's level. At 17th level, the Cavalier gains the second level domain power, as a cleric of one quarter Cavalier level, and at 19th, gains a third level domain power, as a cleric one-quarter of the Cavalier's level. Cavaliers cast based on CHA as Sorcerors, Bards, and Paladins.

Ride-by Attack: At 11th level, if not taken before the Cavalier gains Ride-by Attack while mounted, even he or she does not otherwise qualify.

Combat Reflexes: If he has not taken it at an earlier level, at 16th level, the Cavalier is treated as having Combat Reflexes.

Lance Knight: At 13th level, the Cavalier has become a master of mounted combat, and as such is able to deal double damage when charging mounted wielding with a Sword, or Axe and Shield. Charging with a lance deals triple damage instead. The Cavalier's BAB, and chance to hit rolls are unaffected. The Cavalier also is able to disregard the -2 AC penalty while charging mounted.

Noble Steed: At 8th Level, a Cavalier may spend 1d4 days familiarizing himself with a particular mount, and bind himself to it. In doing so, it becomes a first tier mount. At level 14, it becomes a second tier mount, and at level 20, it becomes a third tier mount. While mounted on his Noble Mount, the Cavalier gains a +1 to his Reflex and Will saves.

If the Cavalier's Noble Steed is killed, it takes a year and a day to become familiar enough with another mount to replace it. Upon the steeds death, the Cavalier loses 200xp per level, with a fort save for half. In addition, the Cavalier must make a fort save, or be treated as having one half his total ride skill until he gains another Steed. Making the fort save reduces the penalty to three-quarters his ride skill. If the Cavalier's Steed is resurrected, the penalty to his ride skill is negated.


Noble Steed
{table=head]Tier|HD|Natural <br> Armor|Str. Adj.|Special
1st|
+2|
+2|
+1|Improved Mounted Combat, DR5/Silver
2nd|
+4|
+4|
+2|Shield Mount
3rd|
+6|
+6|
+4|Mounted Archery, DR10/Silver[/table]

Shield Mount:While mounted on his Noble Steed, the steed gains the Cavalier's Shield Bonus to it's AC against melee attacks.

Person_Man
2009-03-14, 10:18 PM
Couple things:


Cavalier doesn't grant Pounce (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103358), which is the most important component of any Charge build. It grants free movement followed by a full attack, and explicitly says that it does not grant Charge.

Due to it's BAB requirement, it has a late entry.

It doesn't have any class features that can't be better replicated with magic items or feats.

There is no feat to stack Paladin and Fighter levels for the Special Mount, which is the Paladin's most powerful class feature.


So I would suggest strait Paladin with Leadership, or Paladin 5/Ashworm Dragoon X, or Paladin 5/Aglarondan Griffin Rider X, or Cleric 2/Prestige Paladin 3/Triadic Knight 6. Any of those builds will give you much better results.

Hadrian_Emrys
2009-03-14, 11:14 PM
OP: Might I suggest taking a look at the Strongheart Halfling? They get a bonus feat instead of the save bonus. That will net you your 4 feats by level 6 with a fighter level. Starting with a level of Barb (trading out fast movement for Spiritual Lion Totem aka Pounce) gives you your main offensive power. Use the Paladin of Freedom/Slaughter variants for your next few levels to keep you within alignment restrictions. Toss in Fighter levels as needed for feats, and you'll be well on your way to being a nasty little man on a dog.