Build Stuck

[cbaidchris]

So my wife rolled up a character who wants to be a mounted archer. right now she's ranger 1/fighter 3 wood elf. that's locked in. she's thinking 6 levels of beloved of valarian for the unicorn because well she wants a unicorn. feats are changeable what else can she work toward or fill in to be most successful? multiclass penalty does apply and only books allowed are all completes, frcs, dmg, phb, MMs and spc. thanks for any advice. stats are currently
20 dex
18 str
12 wis
10 con
10 int
8 cha.

[Arc_knight25]

What type of campaign will you be running this with? If there is alot of underground parts to it, your unicorn won't be all to pleased nor will there be alot of head room to be mounted.

I was thinking maybe take the 3 lvls of Wild Plains Outrider. It adds its class lvls to your animal companion/special mount. You get to make stealth checks for your mount, increases your mounts movement by 10ft and you can full attack with a melee weapon after 1 move from the mount.

Beloved of Valarian is pretty merciless if you lose your unicorn. Can only get it back by leveling up in the class again.

I would suggest to go into Druid and then into 1 lvl of Beastmaster and take the feat Natural Bond to increase your Animal companion and just get a unicorn that way. If it dies you can replace it easily enough.

Animal companion lvl will = druid lvl +Beastmaster lvl +3 and +3 from Natural bond

For a total of x+(y+3)+3.

And stick with Fighter to get what Mounted Archery feats you would like.

[cbaidchris]

what's your opinion on the skylord class? the Pegasus could be refluffed.

[Arc_knight25]

Again going underground isn't your friend with this Prc.

Since the mount only progresses from Skylord levels, to get the most out of the mount your going to take all 10 levels. I would say Ranger is your best bet to get into the class as early as possible. Increases your casting very minimally (5/10 casting). Fighter levels will help you get the Feat prereqs sooner at the cost of some spellcasting and Ranger abilities.

Also if your mount dies it only takes a week of meditation to get back, which is better then having to level from Beloved of Valarian.

I still say Druid is your best bet. Any animal companion that dies can be replaced in 24hrs.

For the Exalted Feat I would recommend Nymphs Kiss. Gives you a +2 to all Cha related checks, +1 to all saves for spells and SLA and an extra skill point per level when you take it.