Question on Cavalry (D&D 3.5)

[Alroy_Kamenwati]

Is it feasible to even do a light cavalry based character, Meaning light armor and a fast horse? If it is possible to do, could someone, or some people depending on how many people reply to me, help me design a character who could survive up to level 6 (We are doing E6)? I need help with feats, equipment, and other such things. I already have a character concept, based roughly off of Finnish Tribal values, I just need to get the mechanical stuff down.

[Flickerdart]

Cavalry is generally not terribly useful in D&D, since half of game's name is "dungeons". Light cavalry - useful for chasing down fleeing enemies, reconnaissance, and sending messages - is doubly useless, since the cost of outfitting yourself in heavier armour is negligible and light warhorses are not all that much faster than heavy warhorses. You attacked a guy and move 60 feet away? Too bad you're still in charge range.

You can't even get an army to hold down the centre while you manoeuvre to flank, since combat generally lasts 3-4 rounds at most. Even in your ideal field of operations (a large, flat plain) at ideal engagement range, you're not going to accomplish much, and those things are far from guarantees.

[Srasy]

Yes its very possible it all really depends on what you want...
and how much focus you want on your horse.
Druid really seems the obvious choice because it can do everything...
But looking at your theme I would advise either a chaotic good variant paladin
or some kind of melee fighter...

These are some basic build outlines you may like?
Paladin 5/beast master 1 for the best horse/anything you want ever
Druid 5/ beast master 1 for complete awesome sauce imo just really nice I would advise this because all the havok you can wreck
Ranger 3/Barbarian 2/ Beast master 1/ (works good with frost blood orc) something simple as easy and that should do good damage maybe trade out some of the stuff for warblade or crusader levels and just buy your mount...
Rogue 3/ Swashblucker 3 then just buy your mount using the warbeast template buying rules and maybe even make it magebred for something ludicrous

Your main problem is that Horses are not that good... But it may fit the power level of your group but if you feel like you are falling behind just buy something bigger and badder.

Dire wolves are good... anything with pounce... if your small cheetahs are fun just try not to limit yourself to a light warhorse though if you go ubermount it probably wont be to bad

[Alroy_Kamenwati]

-snip-
Alright thanks for the suggestions, my DM gave me the mounted combat handbook and with your class suggestions I'm pretty sure I can keep up with the group.

[Alroy_Kamenwati]

-snip-
We won't be doing much in the way of dungeon crawling, but I see your point.

[Fyermind]

The combat mechanics don't do a lot to support light cavalry, but more importantly, light cavalry isn't a great team player. Your main advantage is always being able to say "nya nya nya nya, I'm out of range" If the bad guys don't care because they can attack your friends instead, your main advantage is gone.

I'd play a mounted archer. Improved mounted archery from complete warrior will make shooting while your mount runs a reasonable option. You won't deal much damage, but you won't get hit either as long as you always have space to maneuver.

More reasonably damage-wise, play a charger. Get pounce or charging smite or something. Use spirited charge and a lance and power attack. Cavalry charges are one of the most damaging things in D&D. The feat investment if pretty high, but that doesn't matter as much because E6 will eventually give you extra feats.

If you know your enemies will be evil, Paladin (trading your mount for charging smite) with wild cohort gives you tremendous smites when you charge.

[Solophoenix]

A good way to keep the 'light' feel whilst using the standard charging and heavier armour is to play a small character on a medium mount. This also lets you dungeon crawl in a lot more spaces at full effectiveness.

[Gwendol]

Mounted archery works well, and even translates over to flying mounts should the opportunity present itself.

[ArcturusV]

Yeah. Only two things in my experience have ever made Light Cavalry worth it. Mounted Archery is one of them, and truth be told, a good option in general as Mounted Archery allows you to negate the one disadvantage archery really has in DnD. The fact that most DMs and Adventures have encounters starting far within your bow range and the enemy will be on top of you in a single round anyway.

The other was in older editions, where you took "Falling" damage on a scale (like every 30 feet counted as 10), if you were knocked sideways or dragged. Meaning it was actually worthwhile to take a fast mount, and a weapon like a lasso or a net. You throw it at someone and just drag them kicking and screaming into a bloody pulp. It might not be the most "Effective" option, or at least not the most efficient means of killing someone. But it could also be combined with other methods. Anchor the net onto the horse. After you throw it, the horse is controlling the net and doing the dragging while you put a few arrows into the guy to make sure he dies before he finally passes a check to escape.

It's kinda funny. In that 'You're a sick bastard" sort of way, admittedly.

Otherwise you're usually stuck towards Heavy Cavalry tactics, charging, lances, ride by attacks, etc. They work out better than they usually get credit for. Your one bane is Unoptimized Wizards who cast things like Fireball, as that will toast your mounts. Presuming you are doing something like using a Druid as the rider, or a Paladin, you have decent enough saving throws (And share saving throws), that you're not too worried about targeted spell destruction. And you can make Ride Checks to boost their AC to the point it's not a worry. It's really a lot easier to optimize Skill Check Results than boost AC in my experience.

So your bane is mostly effects that say "Even if you save, still take damage" as their low HP is a problem. I don't really know a way to mitigate that. Maybe if you could combine it with Familiar bonuses as they get stuff like Evasion, and most of those "Even if you save, still damage" stuff tends to be Reflex throw based. Least most of it I can think of.

[Gavinfoxx]

Mounted Archers on Dire Eagles or Dire Bats works great in D&D, as a military unit or method of fighting in general.

Horses, though?

...

Horses??

Bah, don't make me laugh.

[white lancer]

See if you can get your DM to apply Skirmish damage to your attacks from horseback (I think it was errata'd as illegal, but it seems logical to let it work). Then go Swift Hunter or even just straight Scout.

[JaronK]

Light cavalry in a world like D&D would be fliers and burrowers, not horse riders. It's totally doable though... a small stealth character on a Desmoderu Hunting Bat could absolutely pull it off.

JaronK

[Gwendol]

Check out the Moonsea sky sentinel, it embodies my view on D&D light cavalry.

[the_archduke]

In E6 this can be fun. Here was my build:

Desert Elf Totemist 2/Psychic Rogue 2/Warblade 2

You will want a Wild Cohort

Totemist for the Riding Bracers bind which allows you to handle your mount as a free action. Shedu crown can get you telepathy for mindsight, wormtail belt is free natural armor

Psy rogue for PPs, sneak attack and evasion. Low level powers are nice too. Especially if you can swing a recharge mechanic.

Warblade for counters and a good chassis. Wall of Blades, Moment of the Perfect Mind, and I think Blood in the Water stance works for ranged attacks.

Use Greater Psionic Shot every round from horseback plus sneak attack if in range. Lots of skills, and Desert Elf is perfect for a horse archer.

[Agent 451]

Alroy_Kamenwati, if you have access to a copy of Champions of Valor there are several pages of different horse breeds from Faerun. Many of them have faster than normal land based speeds, attribute changes, etc. Might be worth taking a look at if you want horse-based cavalry.