Simple "non-cheese" Ubermount?

[Vaz]

Just been having a fiddle, and came up with this; it's hardly the 99HD Dragon, but;

Lesser Aasimar (PGtF)
Druid 5/Arcane Hierophant 10/Beastlord 1/Mystic Theurge 4

Precocious Apprentice, Obtain Familiar, and Natural Bond are the feats chosen.

The Lesser Aasimar gives me the ability to cast an SLA with a Caster Level as a Sorcerer of my HD. Precocious Apprentice gives me the ability to then cast a 2nd Level spell as a Sorcerer, qualifying for Arcane Hierophant and Theurge, I think. If that doesn't wash, you can drop a level of Druid for an Arcane Caster dip, although your Effective Druid Level will be one lower. Reduce the following calculations by 1 if this is your take on it.

This means that you count as a 22nd Level Druid (max 20) and 15 for a familiar. With War Beast, this gives me Hit Dice with a minimum of 15, with 12 Bonus Hit Dice, and 2 from Warbeast; so 29 Hit Dice Minimum Hit Dice Fleshraker Dinosaur, that has Intelligence 13, 10 Feats to choose from, Share Spells, Multiattack for free, it can talk and understand you, Spell Resistance 25.

You also have a spellcasting level of 19 for Druid Spells; which if buffing you can affect your Mount. Have fun!

[Deaxsa]

i'm confused by the name of this thread. are you suggesting that stacking synergistic abilities to a (fairly, definitely higher than just roleplaying) degree is NOT cheese? Especially if you are digging into obscure sources to get said synergy?

in other news: that's pretty nifty.

[Vaz]

Heh. I suppose. My definition of 'cheese' is anything that doesn't rely on ultra datamining. Plus I have a hatred for Halflings; so anything not involving an Outrider is a plus. I just find them to be utterly ridiculous, even in Tolkien.

[Carth]

Have you considered the devoted tracker feat? It basically turns an animal companion and special mount into one creature.

[Urpriest]

Familiar doesn't increase hit dice, it just makes it count as having more hit dice for spells and effects.

Furthermore, you can't add Warbeast to an Animal Companion. You can't choose a Warbeast as a companion, and you can't make a creature that isn't a Warbeast into a Warbeast because being a Warbeast is a matter of breeding (in 3.5 terms, an inherited template).

[ddude987]

Consider Ranger Knight of Furyondy if Dragon Magazing is allowed. issue 317. It gives you a mount as a palidin and its levels count as palidin (starting at level 6) and it also stacks with your previous classes levels for mount upgrades.

[Snails]

3e Core...

Get a Unicorn mount. Healing. Free Magic Circle. Need I say more?

Stacking it up...
Start collecting some Command-activated items for the unicorn. As the beasty can speak Common, she can activate magical stuff, breaking the usual Action economy.

At higher levels, you could stack on Leadership to make the Special Mount Cohort. The rules here are clear as mud, but my interpretation is that she gets all those normal Special Mount bonuses at a cost of +2 LA. At mid-teen levels this gives her Class levels. Psionic Warrior for the Deep Impact stack with a charging lance/horn doing double on the charge?

Now consider stats. As a Cohort she should be eligible for the stat generation method usual for significant NPCs. In other words, a typical Cohort would be something like a 25-point buy. The unicorn is now promoted from a 15 point buy (10,10,10,11,11,11) plus massive racial bonuses to a 25-point buy plus massive racial bonuses.

So here you also have options like...
Super Tracker: take 1 level of Ranger, sky high Wis + Skill Focus + Scent.
The Unicorn That Roared: Greater Kia Shout (sky high Cha + good HD = everything small runs away)