PF Beast Master Cavalier/Mammoth Rider

[Uhtred]

So one of my players is brand new to the game, and as a DM I'm willing to make a few concessions as long as it gets folks interested in the game. In my eyes, brand new player + inflexible DM equals nobody having a good time, so when he approached me and told me his character concept, a screenshot from an old TV show called "Dino-Riders" featuring a fellow riding a cannon-toting armor-wearing T-Rex my inner nerd told me this was too cool a concept to shoot down, and so we found a way to make it work, six levels of Beast Master-variant Cavalier with a T-Rex mount followed by prestiging into Mammoth Rider to get the thing Huge-sized (I know Mammoth Rider says your mammoth mount replaces the one you had before, but he got pretty attached to Chompers so I house-ruled he could keep him) and now he's wondering if/when Chompers will ever get Swallow Whole, since he's been excited about that since the beginning. I didn't have a clear-cut answer for him, are those abilities tied to hit dice? Should he have gotten it the second Chompers became Huge? And how much reach does he need to fight from the back of a Huge-sized creature? If he's ten, twelve feet in the air on the back of a T-Rex, can he hit a medium-size creature if he has a lance?

[Hruken]

Mammoth rider needs 9 ranks of handle animal and ride, so no entering it before level 9. Also, important to note, unless he is a small race, he cannot ride the tyrannosaurus until it turns level 7 when it turns large. And finally the tyrannosaurus animal companion will not get swallow whole, sadly. As for the lance reach, I do not know if there is anything specific on this. Two options I'd say, either just say he has a special lance that works as normal, or have it lose the reach property to account for him being mounted on the huge dino.

Here is what I would do: 8-10 levels of beast rider, order of the sword. Tyrannosaurus becomes large, and on a charge its str is added to its rider's on a charge. Then go mammoth rider for 10 levels, then finish as the beast rider. Go for the vital strike line of feats on the tyrannosaurus.

[Uhtred]

I'm still new to the Pathfinder system, are Max skill ranks not Class Level+3 like they are in 3.5? Because that's how I've been having them do it, and it makes things a little easier/more familiar for them since we're ALL new to Pathfinder but some of us have played 3.5. And yes, he's been sad about not being able to ride Chompers, but Mammoth Rider seems to bypass Large and go straight to Huge. He's been Order of the Dragon since it gives him Survival as a class skill and he needed that to qualify for Mammoth Rider.

[Hruken]

Max ranks = level.
Also, in pathfinder, you can take any skill you want, regardless of whether or not it is a class skill. Class skills simply get a +3 bonus if you have a rank in that skill.

[grarrrg]

To elaborate on PF Skills.
ANY class can buy Ranks in ANY Skill 1 for 1.
ALL Skills are capped at 1 Rank per level.
If a Skill is a "Class-Skill" AND you have at least 1 Rank in it, then you get a +3 bonus when using that Skill.
Skill Ranks at first level are Class-Skills + INT mod. The "times 4" does _not_ exist in PF.


Regarding Mammoth Rider PrC specifically:
Handle Animal 9, Ride 9, Survival 5
You must be at least 9th level > Enter PrC at 10.
Cavalier has Handle Animal and Ride as class skills. For the purposes of PrC entry, this means _NOTHING_.
It will cost a Cavalier 9 Skill points in Handle Animal, and 9 Skill points in Ride, and 5 Skill points in Survival.
Cavalier's have 4+INT Skill points per level. 1st level is 4+INT Points. NOT 16+INT*4 points.

[Uhtred]

Max ranks = level.
Also, in pathfinder, you can take any skill you want, regardless of whether or not it is a class skill. Class skills simply get a +3 bonus if you have a rank in that skill.


To elaborate on PF Skills.
ANY class can buy Ranks in ANY Skill 1 for 1.
ALL Skills are capped at 1 Rank per level.
If a Skill is a "Class-Skill" AND you have at least 1 Rank in it, then you get a +3 bonus when using that Skill.
Skill Ranks at first level are Class-Skills + INT mod. The "times 4" does _not_ exist in PF.

Regarding Mammoth Rider PrC specifically:
Handle Animal 9, Ride 9, Survival 5
You must be at least 9th level > Enter PrC at 10.
Cavalier has Handle Animal and Ride as class skills. For the purposes of PrC entry, this means _NOTHING_.
It will cost a Cavalier 9 Skill points in Handle Animal, and 9 Skill points in Ride, and 5 Skill points in Survival.
Cavalier's have 4+INT Skill points per level. 1st level is 4+INT Points. NOT 16+INT*4 points.

All handy and helpful knowledge about the Pathfinder system that I certainly didn't know. However I believe I'll let the house ruled 3.5 skill system stand, it'd confuse the first timers to change it now, making all of this purely academic, if helpful for the next time I run a campaign. The purpose of this post is whether Swallow Whole follows hit dice progression as far as being granted to an animal companion/mount/mammoth mount who reaches Huge-size, and whether a regular lance can be used as a reach weapon from the back of a Huge dinosaur. Let's get back on track, please?

[Hruken]

A tyrannosaurus animal companion does not get swallow whole.

As for the lance, I thought I remembered a rule that basically said that you and the mount are counted as sharing all the squares, meaning the lance would function normally (for the sake of sanity), but I cannot find any such thing now. Hmm, maybe I made that up.

[NightbringerGGZ]

A T-Rex doesn't normally get Swallow Whole, but since you're the GM you could always let it be picked up as a feat. Allowing it after the T-Rex advanced to large size would be fair.

One think to note about the Mammoth Rider PRC is that it doesn't advance the levels of your mount. Your player will want to take Boon Companion to give his mount another 4 levels.

[grarrrg]

One think to note about the Mammoth Rider PRC is that it doesn't advance the levels of your mount. Your player will want to take Boon Companion to give his mount another 4 levels.

????
Linky (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/i-m/mammoth-rider)

This steed functions as a druid's animal companion, replacing any animal companion or mount gained from another class. The mammoth rider's class levels stack with other classes that grant an animal companion to determine her effective druid level.