What's so good about the paladins mount?

[Teapot Salty]

Hey guys. Title says it all. It's just a horse (probably) with a couple feats. And as always go nuts.

[iceman10058]

well, it doesnt have to be a horse, there are many other options for it and you can even get a flying mount if u wait an aditional 4 levels i think. plus there are feats that can give you draconic mounts and other such nonsense.

although in one game, i did have my friend, who was playing a dragon, run as my mount as well, gave him free stuff and it was funny and fun for the 2 of us.

[eggynack]

Well, on a basic level, mounted combat is an inherently problematic thing because of mount fragility. You spend a bunch of feats on the style, and you ride about with your combat advantage, and then you get a fireball to the face, and the mount is dead in an instant. After that, you're a melee fellow with much fewer feats than usual, which is bad, and it's a thing that remains true until you buy a new mount. Tying your combat ability to something so fragile is generally a bad idea. The paladin mount solves that problem to some extent, increasing the thickness of that thin line between you and horrific tragedy. You can also specifically optimize the mount, perhaps constructing some sort of ubermount build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?142554-New-World-Record-Mount-Familiar-Companion-by-HD), and in that case the mount is less good, and more the entire point of your existence.

[KorbeltheReader]

In my opinion, nothing. The arguably free move action is cool and an ubermount build can be pretty baller. A lance can do hellacious damage. Small size makes it more likely that you can use it in dungeons. Still, when I roll a paladin I want a big, strapping human, not a friggin' halfling, and a human size mount is worthless in half the places you would expect to find an adventurer.

[John Longarrow]

Valet Parking.

Party arrives at the Dungeon. While everyone else worries about what to do with their mount you just send it to your otherworldy parking garage. When you are ready go to, POOF, instahorse!

[ShurikVch]

To be fair, not all this bad

Feat Mighty Steed (from the DL supplement Knightly Orders of Ansalon). A mount with this feat counts as one size category larger for determining carrying capacity and the minimum size of its rider. It lets a Medium character ride a Medium mount, and lets a kobold with Slight Build ride a pseudodragon.

[Red Fel]

In my opinion? The ability to swap it out for an ACF like Charging Smite. Unless you take a feat that creates synergy, like Devoted Tracker, or one that gives it an awesome creature type, like Dragon Steed, having a special mount has always struck me as more of a nuisance than an advantage.

[Urpriest]

Paladin mounts scale slower than animal companions, but they also start beefier.

[Vogonjeltz]

Hey guys. Title says it all. It's just a horse (probably) with a couple feats. And as always go nuts.

On demand mount, DMG has several options for special mounts (griffons, etc) that are even tougher.

What's not to like?

[Optimator]

At the lowest levels the damage of a war horse clomping is pretty respectable. Charging damage is a great and easy way to do damage, but it's situational.

A generous DM might allow things like combining leadership and the ability, but that's neither here nor there. The ability by itself is rather lackluster.

[PaucaTerrorem]

A stronger than average mount that you can summon that kinda never dies. Yeah, nothin cool about that.

[ericgrau]

Well, on a basic level, mounted combat is an inherently problematic thing because of mount fragility. You spend a bunch of feats on the style, and you ride about with your combat advantage, and then you get a fireball to the face, and the mount is dead in an instant. After that, you're a melee fellow with much fewer feats than usual, which is bad, and it's a thing that remains true until you buy a new mount. Tying your combat ability to something so fragile is generally a bad idea. The paladin mount solves that problem to some extent, increasing the thickness of that thin line between you and horrific tragedy. You can also specifically optimize the mount, perhaps constructing some sort of ubermount build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?142554-New-World-Record-Mount-Familiar-Companion-by-HD), and in that case the mount is less good, and more the entire point of your existence.
It's your own fault if you turn an ability into a negative. At minimum with almost no feat investment it's +1 to hit, +4 to AC, a bit of extra damage and often one less hit against you which may save you from a costly resurrection some day. The -1 to hit and damage for letting it die, especially if you don't invest much in defending it, could make it a small drawback. But you can unsummon it as a free action. As soon as it takes a hit perhaps. Or before a giant brute full attacks you could unsummon it just in case. Or not summon it at all if you thing there might be big danger to it.

Point is it's something helpful even if you don't invest in it. And possibly more than something if you invest wisely in it. But not with such poor planning that it makes your character worse instead of better.

I wouldn't call it spectacular though, just an ok ability that I think people often don't use out of laziness. Or if they do use it, then they make a big deal out of it, and put everything into a secondary class feature. Might as well be a high cha rogue that focuses only on UMD then complain about "how much UMD sucks" when it only gives minor spell-casting and you can't pass your other checks or attack rolls. Nope it's still a good ability, but you're a rogue not a wizard, or a paladin not a druid as the case may be. Easy there buddy.

[eggynack]

It's your own fault if you turn an ability into a negative. At minimum with almost no feat investment it's +1 to hit, +4 to AC, a bit of extra damage and often one less hit against you which may save you from a costly resurrection some day. The -1 to hit and damage for letting it die, especially if you don't invest much in defending it, could make it a small drawback. But you can unsummon it as a free action. As soon as it takes a hit perhaps. Or before a giant brute full attacks you could unsummon it just in case. Or not summon it at all if you thing there might be big danger to it.

I was talking about the standard mount, with the paladin mount as the more reasonable option. With a standard mount, if you're not getting feats, I guess you're just kinda buying a new mount every time an AoE effect hits your team, which might not be the biggest deal, but it's definitely a hassle. This hassle is, of course, significantly larger if you're investing anything serious into the combat style, which is a thing that people definitely do, with stuff like spirited charge and valorous lance. If you try to invest in that fashion, and use a standard mount, then you're quite possibly in for a world of hurt on occasion.

[ericgrau]

Ah then at least the standard mount is cheap to replace. Or at least cheap way cheaper than alternative methods of damage absorption/prevention, if he only ends up as a dummy target. Ya I especially wouldn't pile feats on that mount. At least get a leadership mount or some other nicer one first, and even then you don't overdo it.