[3.5] How to play a mounted character in a classic campaign?

[Reis Tahlen]

Hello folks!

My question is quite simple, and is already in the title. I'm looking for a mounted character because... well... it haz flavor, and in our group it would be quite original (my friends are not big on the "mounted department").

But I'm wondering how being an efficient mounted character. See, my problem are the following:

- In dungeons and undergrounds, mounting is out of question if I play a Medium character.
- If I play a Fighter, I must rely on a battle steed who will be forced to be left outside when doing some dungonering, and so susceptible to be killed by wandering horse-eaters.
- If I play a Paladin, I must wait until level 12 for the "perma-mount", so I must be cautious when I call the mount.

I have several "solutions" and concepts, I would like to have your advice:

- I play a Small race, I ride a dog, and that solves a lot of trouble. Plus, I could play this guy and have alot of fun:

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:6cJSedcgd1QazM:http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/RIKKU75_2007/labyrinth/didymus.jpg&t=1

- But I'm really fond of the knightly lord concept, (and, let's be honest, Sir Dydimus charging is not very threatening) so therefore, how making a mounted character who will not sucket to the max when not mounted?

- The third option would be the archery rider, who would be easier to make, but still...

The books I'm allowed to use are:

- Player's Handbook
- Complete Divine, Arcane, Warrior and Adventurer
- Draconomicon
- Player's book to Faerun, Races of Faerun... Well all the "Faerun" series.
- Book of Exalted Deeds, and Book of Vile Deeds.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: And if some of you already played a mounted character, what were your "strategies" during adventuring (where you leave your mount, when you call it, when do you decide to fight on the ground or on your mount, etc...)

[Fri]

Why not playing a fully armored, chivalrous, honorable small knight? I don't know about the crunch, but yes, fully armored sir didymus charging would be both very threatening and awesome.

[Gan The Grey]

You are a knight, which means....you need a SQUIRE!!! When you go into dungeons, your squire watches and cares for the horses, he takes care of campy type stuff, helps you put on your armor, gives you sponges bathes, ect...

That and you express to the DM that you would really, really, REALLY like it if he didn't send any squire-and-horse-eating monsters after your mates there while you are neck-deep in dungeon-balds (these are subset of kobalds, the other subset are pun-balds).

Plus, you should tell your DM that you would much prefer above-ground type adventures, else your character because less useful.

Or, play a druid, halfling or gnome, have a riding dog animal companion, and search around the forums for the 'Super Mount' build. ????? Profit!

[Fizban]

The books you want are Races of Stone and the WoTC website. You'll also probably want the Spell Compendium. Races of Stone has a pair of feats that will let you, and then your mount, fight in cramped spaces without penalty. This will let you ride a large mount into any normal medium sized dungeon. You won't be able to squeeze your mount through a small sized tunnel, but I don't even know if anyone does that (and your DM shouldn't if you've put this much effort in).

From the website you can get this (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) feat, which gives you a slightly weaker animal companion, without the magic-ness, and perfectly suitable for a mount.

If you're really set on Paladin and the only problem is making sure your mount's around when you need it, buy a wand of Call Mount. It should only be level 1, at most 2, so you can buy a wand cheap and it should last you until your mount is around all day.

As for making a mounted character that won't suck while mounted.... just don't suck while mounted? You're still going to need the staple combat feats even if you're fighting on a mount, and most of the benefits of mounted combat you get for free: high ground bonus, extra move speed, moving while attacking, double lance damage on charge, etc. The only penalty for not being on your mount is that the feats you spent on mounted fighting are wasted, and you need more than mounted feats to fight, so you should be just fine when not mounted.

You'll need a bunch of feats: Mounted Combat, Tunnel Fighting, Tunnel Riding, and Wild Cohort (or mount ability of your choice). Then you'll need stuff to fight with: Power Attack for starters and probably Leap Attack since you'll be charging wtih that lance anyway. That's 6 feats, enough to keep you held until 6th level of fighter or so, and without any extra mount specialization for fancy combat tricks.

Since the primary benefit of mounted combat is the lance charge, you want as much static (+X) damage as possible, so it can all double. High strength, two handed Power Attack w/ Leap Attack, and a +1 Collision Weapon (with Greater Magic Weapon cast on it) are all good ideas. Even if you aren't a paladin you want the Paladin spells Rhino's Rush (1st level) and Find the Gap (3rd level) in wand form with enough UMD to make them work (note that even 1 Paladin level is enough to use wands). Rhino's Rush will let you double your charge damage again for a total x3 normal damage and works even when you're not mounted, and Find the Gap lets you make one attack as a touch attack every round so you can Power Attack for Full without risk.

I don't want to be a downer, but there's really not much nifty mounted combat stuff in the books you listed, and nothing to let you do it inside. At the very least, if you want to stay medium then you need Races of Stone for Tunnel Riding. Aside from Leap Attack/Shock Trooper, all the good charging stuff I know of is in other books: Spell Compendium as Rhino's Rush and Find the Gap, Unapproachable East has Valorous weapons, and so on.

Edit: wow, I didn't even notice the Faerun stuff. Well that gives you the most broken of the lot: Valorous weapons. They aren't so much for mounted characters as they are for anyone who ever charges ever. Horribly broken as far as I'm concerned, but you'll get some extra benefit since you want to stack charge multipliers. With those you can live without the Spell Compendium, just make a standard ubercharger but instead of trying to get pounce you spend your extra levels and feats getting a mount and riding indoors.

[gorfnab]

Supermount!

LG Strongheart Halfling
1. Paladin - Mounted Combat, Track
2. Paladin
3. Paladin - Skill Focus: Handle Animal (prereq for Beast Master)
4. Paladin
5. Paladin
6. Beastmaster - Devoted Tracker
7. Beastmaster
8. Wild Plains Outrider
9. Wild Plains Outrider - Mounted Archery
10. Wild Plains Outrider
11. Halfling Outrider
12. Halfling Outrider - Natural Bond
13. Halfling Outrider
14. Halfling Outrider
15. Halfling Outrider - *see below
16. Halfling Outrider
17. Halfling Outrider
18. Halfling Outrider - *see below
19. Halfling Outrider
20. Halfling Outrider

*Feats - choose from Ride By Attack, Improved Mounted Archery, Exalted Companion, or Spirited Charge.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting - Strongheart Halfling
Complete Adventurer - Wild Plains Outrider, Beastmaster, Devoted Tracker, Natural Bond
Complete Warrior - Halfling Outrider, Improved Mounted Archery
Book of Exalted Deeds - Exalted Companion (Blink Dog + Ring of Blinking = coordinated blinking)

Your "ahem" Mount/Animal Companion monstrosity thanks to Devoted Tracker
Special Mount abilities: 18th level Paladin = Paladin 5 + Wild Plains 3 + Half-Out 10
Animal Companion abilities: 18th level Druid = Beastmaster 5 + Natural Bond 3 + Half-Out 10

[thubby]

ride a worg or similar animal. IIRC 4 legged creatures can be mounts for things in their size category.

it's interesting you'd post this because i was thinking the exact same thing. though i was thrilled at the idea of a mount that trips people (seriously, read the riding dog entry)

i was thinking ranger with TWF, regular feats into mounted stuff +2wpn charge. dual lances to the face :smallamused:

[Ravens_cry]

ride a worg or similar animal. IIRC 4 legged creatures can be mounts for things in their size category.

I'm pretty sure the mount has to be one size LARGER then the mounted one.

[Drakefall]

Ask your DM really nicely if you can play the pathfinder cavalier class. It literally was made for mounted combat, and sounds exactly like what you need.

Link: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/cavalier

Sorry if your DM's book-strict and this post just makes you sad.

[Psyx]

Sadly the whole 'small mounted character' thing has been totally done to death by half the planet. I've seen at least ten times more small mounted characters than medium ones.

Mounted combat and one or two more feats is plenty enough to be good in the saddle, without compromising dungeon capabilities too much. For example, the awesome champion of Cor. Lor. requires mounted combat, and is a great PrC.

[Ricky S]

Just get a magic user to cast reduce/maximise person (which should apply to mounts as well) whenever you enter/leave a dungeon. Alternatively you can always ride on a donkey as they do not fear dungeons.

[Awnetu]

Or, using a different route, as your DM if you can pull a page from Monty Python.

What that means is, you only THINK you have a mount, as per this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud7YNNA0Mwo&feature=related

I'm sure you're dm will allow it :)

[Flickerdart]

Be a Bariaur, a medium Centaur-like creature. Such creatures count as mounted for the purpose of feats that care about this. Profit.

[MarkusWolfe]

Hello folks!

My question is quite simple, and is already in the title. I'm looking for a mounted character because... well... it haz flavor, and in our group it would be quite original (my friends are not big on the "mounted department").

But I'm wondering how being an efficient mounted character. See, my problem are the following:

- In dungeons and undergrounds, mounting is out of question if I play a Medium character.
- If I play a Fighter, I must rely on a battle steed who will be forced to be left outside when doing some dungonering, and so susceptible to be killed by wandering horse-eaters.
- If I play a Paladin, I must wait until level 12 for the "perma-mount", so I must be cautious when I call the mount.

I have several "solutions" and concepts, I would like to have your advice:

- I play a Small race, I ride a dog, and that solves a lot of trouble. Plus, I could play this guy and have alot of fun:

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:6cJSedcgd1QazM:http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/RIKKU75_2007/labyrinth/didymus.jpg&t=1

- But I'm really fond of the knightly lord concept, (and, let's be honest, Sir Dydimus charging is not very threatening) so therefore, how making a mounted character who will not sucket to the max when not mounted?

- The third option would be the archery rider, who would be easier to make, but still...

The books I'm allowed to use are:

- Player's Handbook
- Complete Divine, Arcane, Warrior and Adventurer
- Draconomicon
- Player's book to Faerun, Races of Faerun... Well all the "Faerun" series.
- Book of Exalted Deeds, and Book of Vile Deeds.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: And if some of you already played a mounted character, what were your "strategies" during adventuring (where you leave your mount, when you call it, when do you decide to fight on the ground or on your mount, etc...)

Get a mount that can take care of itself, such as a dire wolf. Problem solved.

Consider the Windrider Class from Masters of the Wild (read it for free online here (http://www.scribd.com/doc/28481071/D-amp-D-Masters-of-the-Wild).)

Also, if you play in Ebberon, on the continent of Khorvaire, play a halfling barbarian and convince your DM to give you a T-Rex mount at some point. No jokes, there's a tribe of barbarian halfings on the Talenta Plains famous for their T-Rex mounts.

[Premier]

The OP seems a bit ambiguous to me on what he really wants: a knightly character or a mounted character.

Just because if it's the first, well, knights often fought dismounted. What really makes them a knights is a lot more the heavy armour and the whole chivalric code thing, not the horses.

[snoopy13a]

Just get a magic user to cast reduce/maximise person (which should apply to mounts as well) whenever you enter/leave a dungeon. Alternatively you can always ride on a donkey as they do not fear dungeons.

Wouldn't the dungeon's ceiling get in the way?

[Reis Tahlen]

The OP seems a bit ambiguous to me on what he really wants: a knightly character or a mounted character.

Just because if it's the first, well, knights often fought dismounted. What really makes them a knights is a lot more the heavy armour and the whole chivalric code thing, not the horses.

I thought I was clear: a mounted character, if possible the knight concept, if not... Well, replies were pretty good so far for other solutions :)

[dob]

I'm doing this exact thing right now, playing a halfing Knight riding a Wild Cohort riding dog at level 4. It's tremendous fun, though playing in a fairly well-optimized group, it's clear I'm going to have to stretch to maintain usefulness as we level up. Probably will end up switching to Crusader for that reason.

You will want to take a look at the Saddleback feat from Faerun. It's technically human only but you could ask for a DM waiver. It lets you take 10 on ride checks most of the time, so insta-cover almost always auto-succeeds if you don't want to or can't AoO in that segment. Even better, it lets you and your mount use your ride check as your shared reflex save once a round. That plus Evasion from Wild Cohort gives your mount a fighting chance at surviving the inevitable fireballs.

[Grynning]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6985038

^Person_Man has a bunch of Melee guides linked in his signature, which are immensely helpful. This is one of them about Paladin mounts, thought you'd like to see it.

[Toliudar]

If you really feel like you need a medium character to fulfill your vision of the character, talk with your DM about a custom item that casts reduce on your mount, say, 3 times a day, for those time when you really can't get around on a horse. Lots of dungeons have ten feet wide passages.

[dob]

In reviewing some of Person Man's other advice threads, a question occurred to me. When you're granted extra 5' movements from various sources, e.g. the Sidestep feat, and you're mounted, can your mount take them on your behalf?

[thubby]

In reviewing some of Person Man's other advice threads, a question occurred to me. When you're granted extra 5' movements from various sources, e.g. the Sidestep feat, and you're mounted, can your mount take them on your behalf?

as i doubt there is a RAW answer, i would imagine it depends on the nature of the source of the move.
one based on agility or acrobatics wouldnt, but tactical, morale, or magic ones would make sense.

[avr]

You may not be able to ride it indoors, but I think a griffon would be able to come into many dungeons. They look more flexible than horses. Plus, they look cool.

You'd have to buy one or play thru getting/training it, I don't think there's a practical class feature which would get you one.

What level range are you considering?

[herrhauptmann]

Be a Bariaur, a medium Centaur-like creature. Such creatures count as mounted for the purpose of feats that care about this. Profit.

And you can leap attack on your charges too.
I believe the official wording is that you can't use leap attack while performing a mounted charge, even if your mount can make the jump check.

BoED has a bariaur, but use the one from Manual of hte Planes (or planar handbook I get them mixed up), no racial hit die.