Paladin Special Mounts

[ArcaneGlyph]

Trying to wrap my head around leadership / cohort / special mounts / planar paladins

Would it be a correct statement to say that a level 9 paladin with 18cha and leadership, could have a level 5 Celestial Warbeast Dire Lion as a Special Mount?

If not can you please help me math it out?

[GilesTheCleric]

Dire Lion is CR 5. Warbeast adds 1 HD and 1 CR, and celestial adds +1 CR for 7HD, or +2 for 8HD+. Making it your cohort adds 2 CR, and non-flying unusual mounts must be 3 lower than the character's CR.

So your lion is 13HD (1 warbeast, 4 pally) with CR 5 (base) + 1.6 (+1 CR/3 HD for animals) + 2 (celestial) +2 (cohort) + 3 (unusual) = 13.6 CR. For a 14th-lvl pally, it would be 14.3 CR (and 15HD), which is fine.

To make this concept feasible, I recommend dropping leadership, since that raises the CR for no apparent gain. Also, you can add the warbeast template at any time you wish by training it. Celestial is an inherited template, so it will have to start with that.

[ArcaneGlyph]

+1 CR/3 HD for animals; totally had forgotten about this, and will drop the cohort junk then. I thought it would allow for a higher level companion, not up the companions effective level for no gain.