The Ultamount(3.5)

[sambouchah]

I've been looking into mounted combat recently for an upcoming campaign I'll be playing soon. I've learned some but still am having trouble with making my mount the best it can be.

I'd like to incorporate something that grants Inspire Courage(for DFI), Arcane Hierophant maybe(Companion Familiar seems pretty good for this), Paladin(cause full BAB). But I'm not sure I can fit all of this in right away. The campaign will be starting at Level 5 and I'm not sure at what level it will end. I'm allowed level adjustment buyoff if their are any templates that would be useful for this type of thing.

Thoughts so far
NG Draconic Strongheart Halfling Bard 2/Druid 3
(Scores before Racial Modifiers with the new score in parenthesis)
Str 12
Dex 14(16)
Con 17(19)
Int 17
Wis 18
Cha 17(19)

Feats
Precocious Apprentice(Heroism)(Level 1)(CA I think)
Iron Will(Otyugh Hole, backstory stuff. Kinda illegal maybe but DM okay'd it)
Mounted Combat(Flaw)
Ride-By Attack(Flaw)
Dragonfire Inspiration(Racial)
Celestial Companion(Level 3)(BoED)

Flaws
1 Free Spirited(Dragon Magazine, can't remember which one) Equipment weighs twice as much.
2 Weak Willed(UA) -1 Will saves

Equipment
Badge of Valor
Masterwork Natural Horn
Some sort of worthwhile Lance? Past the two things I posted I have no clue on what to put on this character.

Any suggestions on where/how to make changes and improve this build? I'll be going into Arcane Hierophant next level(our group plays any skill you have as a Class Skill to always be a Class Skill) for Companion Familiar(which I've heard doesn't require a Familiar(or AC for that matter) and to increase my spellcasting.

Thanks for any tips/suggestions/advice you guys n gals give me!
,Sam

EDIT: I forgot to ask how I should build my mount! I knew I was forgetting something. I'm planning on taking Natural Bond at some point so I can add Warbeast to whatever I choose. Other than that I'm not sure where to start.

[Ellowryn]

If you want the biggest, baddest mount than you should look at the Devoted Tracker Feat. Gives you both the paladin mount progression and the druid animal companion progression all in one creature, and you dont even need levels of ranger or paladin to get it! From my playing around with it i got cleric 1/fighter 4/prestige paladin 2/beastmaster 1/halfling outrider 10/wild plains outrider 2.

That gives you the mount of a 15th level paladin and, the animal companion of a 16th level druid for a total of 18HD, +20 NA, +9 Str, +5 Dex, and 9 Int on a riding dog. Toss in the Natural Bond feat for 3 more druid levels with 2 more HD and NA, and +1 Str and Dex.

Granted you cant get all of this at level 5, but its something to work towards.

[sambouchah]

If you want the biggest, baddest mount than you should look at the Devoted Tracker Feat. Gives you both the paladin mount progression and the druid animal companion progression all in one creature, and you dont even need levels of ranger or paladin to get it! From my playing around with it i got cleric 1/fighter 4/prestige paladin 2/beastmaster 1/halfling outrider 10/wild plains outrider 2.

That gives you the mount of a 15th level paladin and, the animal companion of a 16th level druid for a total of 18HD, +20 NA, +9 Str, +5 Dex, and 9 Int on a riding dog. Toss in the Natural Bond feat for 3 more druid levels with 2 more HD and NA, and +1 Str and Dex.

Granted you cant get all of this at level 5, but its something to work towards.

That sounds awesome! I feel like my Mount would overshadow myself and the rest of the party though and I don't think I want that for this game.

Would Dragonborn of Bahamut be a better choice than Draconic creature?

[Ellowryn]

If you dont mind losing the feat, but then again breathing fire from the back of a rather large and angry dog (or whatever other medium size companion you wanted to ride) isn't horrible. Also forgot to add the warmount template for another +1 HD :smallbiggrin:

And to be honest, a big tub of hitpoints isn't necessarily going to overshadow the whole party especially since all its going to be doing is moving you around unless you plan to get off and let it fight for you.

[Metahuman1]

If you want the biggest, baddest mount than you should look at the Devoted Tracker Feat. Gives you both the paladin mount progression and the druid animal companion progression all in one creature, and you dont even need levels of ranger or paladin to get it! From my playing around with it i got cleric 1/fighter 4/prestige paladin 2/beastmaster 1/halfling outrider 10/wild plains outrider 2.

That gives you the mount of a 15th level paladin and, the animal companion of a 16th level druid for a total of 18HD, +20 NA, +9 Str, +5 Dex, and 9 Int on a riding dog. Toss in the Natural Bond feat for 3 more druid levels with 2 more HD and NA, and +1 Str and Dex.

Granted you cant get all of this at level 5, but its something to work towards.

Where is that feat from?

[Ellowryn]

Both Devoted Tracker and Natural Bond are from Complete Adventurer.

And dropping Magebred on the mount, from Eberron Campaign Setting, is nice.

[Vhaidara]

I had one a while ago that was kind of funny. It requires some stuff from Unearthed Arcana though.

LG Halfling Fighter 2/Anything Full BAB 2 (not Ranger or Paladin)/Cleric 1 (Animal Domain)/Prestige Paladin 2/Prestige Ranger 1/Halfling Outrider 10/Anything with mount advancement 2.

Grab the Devoted Tracker feat.

Both of them are 13, with one being 2 higher from your final levels. This is because Halfling Outrider advances Paladin Special Mount, Ranger Animal Companion AND Druid Animal Companion. Grab Natural Bond a few times and you'll pull them both to 20.

[thethird]

I think this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?142554-New-World-Record-Mount-Familiar-Companion-by-HD) is the biggest possible.

[WeaselGuy]

This reminds me of a build I came up with a while back, utilizing a Dragonwrought Kobold Ranger with the racial substitution level for a dire weasel mount, and going into wild plains outrider and an adapted halfling outrider... if you want, I can dig out the character sheet and put down the pertinents.

[sambouchah]

I think this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?142554-New-World-Record-Mount-Familiar-Companion-by-HD) is the biggest possible.

Dear Pelor that's fantastic!


This reminds me of a build I came up with a while back, utilizing a Dragonwrought Kobold Ranger with the racial substitution level for a dire weasel mount, and going into wild plains outrider and an adapted halfling outrider... if you want, I can dig out the character sheet and put down the pertinents.

That sounds awesome! If you're up for looking into the build and posting the basics it'd be greatly appreciated.

[WeaselGuy]

Dear Pelor that's fantastic!



That sounds awesome! If you're up for looking into the build and posting the basics it'd be greatly appreciated.

Yeah sure, no problem, I'll get on it when I get home from work!

[Seerow]

Note: You wanted to fit both Paladin and Bard into the build, you should check out the feat "From Smite to Song". It lets you convert your smite evil attempts into Inspire Courage as a Bard of your level. You can then tweak it with all of the same things as a bard (except for the inspirational boost spell. Though with some UMD shenanigans or custom item creation you could probably pull that off too). But fitting Paladin in with Arcane Heirophant is much harder.

[WeaselGuy]

Behold, the mighty Kobold Mounted Archer, Qit-Qat!
I only took him to 15th level, because I wanted to give him a little room to grow in my upcoming campaign. We have assigned stats of 12,13,14,16,16,18, allocated as follows...

Str: 16 -4 (size) = 12
Dex: 18 +2 (racial) = 20
Con: 16 -2 (size) = 14
Int: 14 = 14
Wis: 13 = 13
Cha: 12 = 12



Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Feats
Class Features


1st
Ranger
+1
+2
+2
+0
Weapon Finesse
Favored Enemy, Track, Wild Empathy


2nd
Ranger
+2
+3
+3
+0
Rapid Shot
Combat Style (Archery)


3rd
Ranger
+3
+3
+3
+1
Point Blank Shot
Endurance


4th
Kobold Ranger Substitution
+4
+4
+4
+1
-
Dire Weasel Companion, Kobold Ranger Spells


5th
Ranger
+5
+4
+4
+1
-
Favored Enemy


6th
Ranger
+6/+1
+5
+5
+2
Many Shot, Mounted Combat
Improved Combat Style (Archery)


7th
Wild Plains Outrider
+7/+2
+7
+5
+2
-
Animal Companion Bonus, Ride Bonus, Wild Plains Stalker


8th
Wild Plains Outrider
+8/+3
+8
+5
+2
-
Wild Plains Swiftness


9th
Wild Plains Outrider
+9/+4
+8
+6
+3
Mounted Archery
Wild Plains Offensive


10th
Halfling Outrider (Adapted for Kobolds)
+10/+5
+8
+8
+3
-
Animal Companion Bonus, Alertness, Ride Bonus


11th
Kobold Outrider
+11/+6/+1
+8
+9
+3
-
Defensive Riding


12th
Kobold Outrider
+12/+7/+2
+9
+9
+4
Ride-by-Attack
Unbroken Charge


13th
Kobold Outrider
+13/+8/+3
+9
+10
+4
-
Stand on Mount


14th
Kobold Outrider
+14/+9/+4
+9
+10
+4
-
Leap from the Saddle


15th
Kobold Outrider
+15/+10/+5
+10
+11
+5
Spirited Charge
-

[Lochnar]

Why weapon finesse as 1st level feat WeaselGuy?
It doesn't apply to ranged weapon.

[ranagrande]

My main character in Living Greyhawk was a Ranger 1/Fighter 1/Druid 3/Beastmaster who rode a rhinoceros into battle. You can do better, but it was pretty great.

[sleepyphoenixx]

I did something similar a while ago here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?289543-Supermount-Druid-%28and-choosing-the-right-mount%29).

Not quite as high HD as the classic supermount build but it casts as a 17th level druid/prestige ranger and 11th level wizard instead.
You can easily drop some of the mount boosting stuff to make it acceptable to your tables optimization level and replace wizard with bard.

It does have some early entry cheese but no other questionable rules interpretations iirc.

[WeaselGuy]

Why weapon finesse as 1st level feat WeaselGuy?
It doesn't apply to ranged weapon.

For dismounted melee combat, my abysmal strength rating made using a non-finesse weapon impractical.