Quirken
2012-04-03, 05:12 AM
I've got a rider character who is currently Mystic Ranger 9 / Cloistered Cleric 1 / Prestige Paladin 2. He's the cohort to a very powerful mount. (This thread is not about the mount)
With the rider taking Sword of the Arcane order, my already powerful mount has a lot of added flexibility. I’m not really looking to min-max further, necessarily, so much as “make things interesting.”
With that in mind, I’ve looked at a variety of handbooks on the internet to try and find some ideas. (Specifically: Ranger Handbook (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872930/The_3.5_Ranger_Handbook), Paladin Handbook (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/08/paladins-handbook.html), Mystic Ranger Guide (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1543.0), Cleric Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=420.0), Mount Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7414), Archery Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=642.msg15069)). I've also perused Chet Erez's wonderful list of Prestige Classes for ideas, but nothing really stood out to me.
Right now, a round in combat is more or less looking like this:
1) Mount charges, does a leaping pounce, does crazy damage
2) Rider either fires a couple arrows, does a melee attack, or casts a spell, depending on what is needed. Damage is generally insignificant compared to rider, but I can attack multiple targets, so it’s handy.
But I kind of have everything I need the rider to have, either for buffing the mount with fly (or giving it semi-ubermount qualities).
Mystic Ranger sort of caps out on usefulness at level 9-10. (@ 9 it gets evasion, @10 it gets its 5th spell level, which I could easily get in a PrC)
So… where to from here? My goal is support the mount primarily (or to do something interesting), not to outshine it. Full casting seems a little pointless with final spell tier so close. A PrC to improve cleric might be better. There are a number of rider classes, but none of them really seem that interesting (or they would grant me abilities I already have through my mount). Swiftblade (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327) sounds pretty sweet, but it's really only the 9th level capstone that appeals to me (spell as move action). Shaaryan Hunter sounds like it could be fun, but the only real standout feature is Burst of Speed (2x move... would make mount base move speed 200, and it would auto-pass the DC, meaning I could do this as much as I wanted unless the DM dropped a rock on my head)
Current build follows.
Strongheart Halfling (extra feat. I'm not set on Halfling, but the rider needs to be small-sized)
Mystic Ranger 9 / Cloistered Cleric 1 / Prestige Paladin 2 (other than possibly replacing cleric or a few level of rangers, this is fairly set in stone)
Feats
1 Lost Tradition / Wild Cohort (lost tradition makes me dependent on only one casting stat)
3 Mounted Combat
6 Mounted Archery
9 Sword of the Arcane Order
12 Devoted Tracker
15 Holy Mount
With the rider taking Sword of the Arcane order, my already powerful mount has a lot of added flexibility. I’m not really looking to min-max further, necessarily, so much as “make things interesting.”
With that in mind, I’ve looked at a variety of handbooks on the internet to try and find some ideas. (Specifically: Ranger Handbook (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872930/The_3.5_Ranger_Handbook), Paladin Handbook (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/08/paladins-handbook.html), Mystic Ranger Guide (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1543.0), Cleric Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=420.0), Mount Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7414), Archery Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=642.msg15069)). I've also perused Chet Erez's wonderful list of Prestige Classes for ideas, but nothing really stood out to me.
Right now, a round in combat is more or less looking like this:
1) Mount charges, does a leaping pounce, does crazy damage
2) Rider either fires a couple arrows, does a melee attack, or casts a spell, depending on what is needed. Damage is generally insignificant compared to rider, but I can attack multiple targets, so it’s handy.
But I kind of have everything I need the rider to have, either for buffing the mount with fly (or giving it semi-ubermount qualities).
Mystic Ranger sort of caps out on usefulness at level 9-10. (@ 9 it gets evasion, @10 it gets its 5th spell level, which I could easily get in a PrC)
So… where to from here? My goal is support the mount primarily (or to do something interesting), not to outshine it. Full casting seems a little pointless with final spell tier so close. A PrC to improve cleric might be better. There are a number of rider classes, but none of them really seem that interesting (or they would grant me abilities I already have through my mount). Swiftblade (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327) sounds pretty sweet, but it's really only the 9th level capstone that appeals to me (spell as move action). Shaaryan Hunter sounds like it could be fun, but the only real standout feature is Burst of Speed (2x move... would make mount base move speed 200, and it would auto-pass the DC, meaning I could do this as much as I wanted unless the DM dropped a rock on my head)
Current build follows.
Strongheart Halfling (extra feat. I'm not set on Halfling, but the rider needs to be small-sized)
Mystic Ranger 9 / Cloistered Cleric 1 / Prestige Paladin 2 (other than possibly replacing cleric or a few level of rangers, this is fairly set in stone)
Feats
1 Lost Tradition / Wild Cohort (lost tradition makes me dependent on only one casting stat)
3 Mounted Combat
6 Mounted Archery
9 Sword of the Arcane Order
12 Devoted Tracker
15 Holy Mount