Mount size clarification PF

[Mygicmeen]

Recently my mount was slain in a level up battle, so fortunately for me my mount will be restored very soon!

Now, I have already prayed that I could not stand to have another boar! and ooc a wolf is incoming! Now my dilemma, having a hulking 500lbs, 8ft at the shoulder wolf, sounds awesome. The problem is its large. The two downsides I see now are, one, can I ride a large wolf as a small halfling? What are the penalties for pathfinder? And two, how much of a problem is having a large mount going to be in game? We haven't encountered any 5ft corridors yet..and I think a large mount can squeeze through a medium entry way to a dungeon..but in a castle or something, the wolf would be out of the question until the bbeg's like throne room, or tower top or something.
The medium wolf has
HP:55 AC22 STR:16 DEX:17 CON:17 INT:6 WIS:12 CHA:6 LL:114 MOVEMENT: 70FT (Fleetx3)
The large wolf is
HP:55 AC21 STR:23 DEX:15 CON:16 INT:6 WIS:12 CHA:6 LL: 600 MOVEMENT: 70FT (Fleetx3)
Now, Im okay with not taking the growth at level 7 with the wolf, but the stats come out kind of meh.. and Im concerned with him being encumbered with only being able to light-load at around 114.

Anyone have any ideas or thoughts that might help the situation?

P.S. As a side note, i just won an argument with my DM for the chance to even use the wolf as a mount...and he kinda just made it seem like I brow beat him, and in general didn't seem to happy :smallfrown: I'm kinda of concerned that the large wolf will almost be to OP..it can carry huge amounts of weight..move 70ft in a round, 100 once i figure out how to put horseshoes of speed on him :smalltongue:

So that leaves me with a second question, are there any alternatives to the medium sized wolf that would..be somewhat cooler? Or maybe a middle ground between the med/lrg? Though I dunno how that would work.

[theIrkin]

I'm not terribly familiar with Druids and Paladins in the PF system, but a quick read of the rules seems to indicate that, with DM approval, a Wolf should work just fine. Based on 3.5 rules, the wolf would not increase in size as an animal companion/Paladin mount, as its extra hit die do cause it to increase in size. Without further clarification from PF (I haven't read the FAQ), I would default to that ruling, so it shouldn't become large. If your DM ruled it did grow, I would, at worst, say you should have the -5 penalty on Ride checks because it is a mount ill suited to you. Not at all difficult to overcome, especially if you are regularly using it in combat and have ranks to the Ride skill. As far as its carrying capacity, remember that all your gear is 1/4 the normal weight (because its made for a small creature). As far as entering castles goes, they should be sized for large mounts anyway, so even if the mount is large it will still be fine.

I hope something in that wall of text helps.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Adult animals don't grow from gaining HD. A large wolf is not a regular wolf that gained HD but one that was born exceptionally powerful.

[grarrrg]

Read up on the Ride skill (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/ride).
There are very few penalties for riding a mount more than 1 size larger than you.

The only one that stands out is the "fast mount/dismount".

There's even a PrC based around getting huge mounts (Mammoth Rider (/)), and the Fast Mount/Dismount is the only thing that gets called out as well.

[Mygicmeen]

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions
Just after the animal companion list, there is a paragraph that talks about "Animal Companion Descriptors"
Towards the end of that paragraph is the part about them growing. Wolf goes from medium to large.
As you gain levels, your animal companion improves as well, usually at 4th or 7th level, in addition to the standard bonuses noted on Table: Animal Companion Base Statistics. Instead of taking the listed benefit at 4th or 7th level, you can instead choose to increase the companion's Dexterity and Constitution by 2.

I really like the idea of a medium wolf, because it can go everywhere. Currently with gear, my paladin comes in at 85lbs. A chain shirt on the wolf would make it 110. Ill have to slim down, get some efficient quivers and maybe a haversack, or bag of holding. The more I think about it, the more I think the large wolf wont fly. Or atleast, it might just make more sense to take the medium wolf.