Advancing Hit Die Questions

[Major]

So I have a few questions in regards to advancing a creatures hit die.

I'm a paladin/ashworm dragoon working on my mounts stats. It currently has a +4 bonus hit die.

Now normally the Ashworm has 3 Hit die, so it currently has 7. As such I want to make sure I did this right.

1) It gain an extra attribute point, correct?
2) It gains an extra feat, correct?

Those two I'm pretty sure of. The rest are questions I have no idea.
3) Under the Ashworm's 'Advancement' section. It says that 6-9HD is 'Huge'. Does this mean my Ashworm is now huge sized? Or is that saying a huge ashworm would have that many hit die? If it goes huge what are the stat changes?
4) Do to the nature of it being a magical beast now, I replace its previous saves with good fort, good reflex, and bad will regardless of what they were before correct?
5) As a magical beast it now has fighter base attack bonus?

[That_guy_there]

I'd ask the DM about the size change. In the few instances i've had special mounts that gained bonus HD My DM has said no to the Size increase, argueing that the mount was tougher than normal, not necissarially bigger.

The SRD specifically points out that the Mount retains its animal hd, skills, saves adn other abilities (E: A paladin’s mount is treated as a magical beast, not an animal, for the purpose of all effects that depend on its type (though it retains an animal’s HD, base attack bonus, saves, skill points, and feats).).

"Bonus HD
Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Extra Hit Dice improve the mount’s base attack and base save bonuses. A special mount’s base attack bonus is equal to that of a cleric of a level equal to the mount’s HD. A mount has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). The mount gains additional skill points or feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice."

Other things related to the mount cna be found here:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/paladin.htm

[Major]

What about the Ashworm Dragoon levels that also give +2 bonus Hit die? Would those be the normal d10?

I had assumed the d8 was for normal mounts, the ashworm has d10 hit die. So despite normally having a d10 hit die the paladin drops it to d8? O.o Seems weird...

[tyckspoon]

Er.. Ashworms already *are* Magical Beasts. You don't have to change anything in its statblock to account for that.

Strictly speaking, yes, the Bonus HD from Paladin levels are automatically d8s, because the Paladin class feature specifically tells you to use d8s. The same entry also tells you to use the Animal type's BAB and save progressions, which if followed RAW will remove the benefit of the Ashworm being a Magical Beast. The levels from Ashworm Dragoon should be the same kind the Ashworm started with, because there isn't any text referencing you back to the Special Mount/Animal Companion rules, so the simplest interpretation would be to just use more Magical Beast dice. (And talk to your DM about the Special-Mount-gets-leveled-down-to-Animal thing. Rule clearly was written assuming you'd usually never use anything other than the standard Heavy Warhorse.. nevermind that the DMG itself suggests the Giant Eagle and Pegasus as potential higher-level Paladin mounts.)

[That_guy_there]

It does sound wonky... but I don't have a full copy of Sandstorm (and didn't realize that Ashworms had D10s) with me... so I don't know if the PrC says anything about it....

In your situation I'd think that the PrC bonus HD would be the Ashworm's d10s. Hopefully other wiser members of the Playground will post with some clearer/ more informed information...

[Major]

Er.. Ashworms already *are* Magical Beasts. You don't have to change anything in its statblock to account for that.

Strictly speaking, yes, the Bonus HD from Paladin levels are automatically d8s, because the Paladin class feature specifically tells you to use d8s. The same entry also tells you to use the Animal type's BAB and save progressions, which if followed RAW will remove the benefit of the Ashworm being a Magical Beast. The levels from Ashworm Dragoon should be the same kind the Ashworm started with, because there isn't any text referencing you back to the Special Mount/Animal Companion rules, so the simplest interpretation would be to just use more Magical Beast dice. (And talk to your DM about the Special-Mount-gets-leveled-down-to-Animal thing. Rule clearly was written assuming you'd usually never use anything other than the standard Heavy Warhorse.. nevermind that the DMG itself suggests the Giant Eagle and Pegasus as potential higher-level Paladin mounts.)

So they are...then where are they getting the saves?
Magical Beast according to SRD have good fort and reflex

A regular Ashworm has
fort: 4 (Con: +3) (So base is a +1 which is poor?)
reflex: 5 (Dex: +0, Lightning Reflexes=+2) (Base should be +3, accurate)
will: 4 (Wisdom: +1) (Base should be +3, which is good?)

So the ashworm has good reflex and will and poor fortitude? So I would advance saves like that, not like good fort and reflex with poor will?

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Here is a link to the Ashworm perhaps you can help.

He gained 4 Hit Die, I used the attribute point in constitution and I gave it the feat power attack. The HP was based on rolls, so that's somewhere else.

However, stat, saves, base attack, are those right?

((Also, since you seem to know a bit more is it huge sized now because of the hit die increase?))

[SleepyBadger]

I think the individual saving throw progression overrules the general traits of magical beasts so probably yes. And the size increase should be applied to mounts if appropriate. Although it may be tough to move your pet along a 5 ft wide corridor...