Mounts to fight spell-casters

[Crukul]

So a bit of back-story here.
I'm making a Knight-type character (Not the actual Knight class from PHB II, mind) whose shtick is that they hate magic. I already got the whole Occult Slayer Prestige Class marked to go into, but I'm having a bit of a problem on a crucial aspect of the character.

Everyone knows a Knight must have a trusty steed, but what kind of steed would a magic-hating knight ride into battle? Basically I'm asking if anyone knows of any creatures/monsters that give spell-casters a real hard time, that can also be converted into a mount for a big man in heavy armor to ride around on and poke at people with large sharp sticks while doing so.

Starting ECL for this little venture is 5, so something that also scales up would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading and helping me out!

[sleepyphoenixx]

Draconomicon has dragons as cohorts. If you're high enough level you can get a dragon big enough to ride.Dragons are some of the fastest flyers available and since they are intelligent they can take the Mage Slayer feat chain.
If you have the special mount class feature there are some options there too.

For the lower levels Wild Cohort can get you a scaling animal companion mount.
You can also buy several kinds of animals and magical beasts as mounts until you're high enough to get a ridable dragon cohort.
A trained Griffon costs 8500gp and has 7HD, a decent fly speed and a good attack routine. A Hippogriff costs 4000gp and has 3HD. Slap some chainshirt barding and a +Con item on one of those and you have a decent mount for a few levels.

[Harlot]

Drakkensteed? Dragon magic p. 113 - specifically mentions it as available to paladins

Take a look at this thread, it might cover some of your questions:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/23063829/?pg=last

[Segev]

If you can stretch the D&D rule to the more traditional(ly subverted) rule of "only virgins" with the caveat that men can also be virgins, a Unicorn has a constantly-active Magic Circle Against Evil that could be useful. It also has a horn that, I believe, gets lance-like damage rules on a charge.

Not spectacular, but amusing.


When you say you hate magic, though, is it ALL magic, or really just spellcasters? How are you with magical creatures (which make the best mounts), and with magic weapons and armor and other items?

[Vaz]

Xorvintaal Dragon?

[GreenETC]

Just for a note, your character concept may be a bit of a problem. If you have a mount, you need to ensure that the mount itself isn't susceptible to the effects you are immune to. At Occult Slayer level 5, you get Mind Blank, but what if the caster just Dominates your steed?

On top of this, Occult Slayer isn't the best class from a mechanical standpoint. The Weapon Bond means you lose your class ability for multiple in-game days (where you can't adventure) if you lose the weapon. The readied action ability is basically pointless, since you'll almost never do this. And to top it off, the Nondetection ability is a caster level check, which at the first time you get the ability an equal-leveled caster can overcome with a 75% chance, and it basically never gets better since the class caps at 5.

Something you'll want regardless of what you do are Mage Slayer & Pierce Magic Concealment, a reach weapon, and lots of speed. A Draconsteed Mystic Fire Knight Paladin could be a pretty sweet build, provided you figure how to work around everything. Of course, if you go Paladin and Mage Slayer, your CL will be awful, but most Paladin spells don't care about CL that heavily.

[Crukul]

If you can stretch the D&D rule to the more traditional(ly subverted) rule of "only virgins" with the caveat that men can also be virgins, a Unicorn has a constantly-active Magic Circle Against Evil that could be useful. It also has a horn that, I believe, gets lance-like damage rules on a charge.

Not spectacular, but amusing.


When you say you hate magic, though, is it ALL magic, or really just spellcasters? How are you with magical creatures (which make the best mounts), and with magic weapons and armor and other items?

When I say hates magic, I mean the character hates spell-casters. I can't completely gimp myself by making him hate magic weapons and armor too. The setting includes Artificers, which are far enough from spell-casters for him to be cool with using stuff they make for him.

[herrhauptmann]

Just for a note, your character concept may be a bit of a problem. If you have a mount, you need to ensure that the mount itself isn't susceptible to the effects you are immune to. At Occult Slayer level 5, you get Mind Blank, but what if the caster just Dominates your steed?

Dominate monster is a 9th level spell so it won't show up until late game. Dominate animal is a druid (or animal domain) spell only. The much more common Dominate person won't work on most mount creatures.
Ditto for the lower level charm person/monster/animal spells.

Bigger worries would be things like fear or death effects. As a paladin/occultslayer/other you're proof against fear, and your armor enchanted against death spells. Your fortitude is so strong that you can stare a basilisk in the eye without fear.
Too bad that your warhorse bolts when you see a dragon. You received your special mount after that incident, but that danged flying medusa...
(Had a longer set of circumstances, but it was getting ridiculous)



On top of this, Occult Slayer isn't the best class from a mechanical standpoint. The Weapon Bond means you lose your class ability for multiple in-game days (where you can't adventure) if you lose the weapon. The readied action ability is basically pointless, since you'll almost never do this. And to top it off, the Nondetection ability is a caster level check, which at the first time you get the ability an equal-leveled caster can overcome with a 75% chance, and it basically never gets better since the class caps at 5.

Something you'll want regardless of what you do are Mage Slayer & Pierce Magic Concealment, a reach weapon, and lots of speed. A Draconsteed Mystic Fire Knight Paladin could be a pretty sweet build, provided you figure how to work around everything. Of course, if you go Paladin and Mage Slayer, your CL will be awful, but most Paladin spells don't care about CL that heavily.
Agreed on Occult Slayer.
For Mageslayer/PMC, gotta remember that if your CL drops too low, you can't use your spells. A wizard 7 with mageslayer (dunno why), can't use his 3rd and 4th level spells unless he's got a way to ignore the mageslayer penalties. Ditto for paladins.

[Fyermind]

Look into a mount that can teleport with you. I think Nightmares are pretty good at that. I character based around hate might get along well with a nightmare. You might need leadership to get one.

[holywhippet]

Get a large monstrous spider as a mount. They have the ability to launch webs which entangle their target. An entangled spell caster needs to make a concentration check to cast any spells which makes it a useful skill for someone fighting against spellcasters.

[ShurikVch]

The best mounts to fight spell-casters is spell-caster. :smallcool: