Ridable flying animal for 25 lb forest gnome

[Hiro Quester]

I'm playing a forest gnome druid in our about-to-begin game. While riding dog is the obvious animal companion at early levels I'm thinking about a flying companion, that would be able to fly with me on his back. There has to be some advantage to being really small.

Most animals don't come rated with a carrying capacity, though unless they are rideable by a medium sized humanoid.

How can I tell which creatures would be able to fly with a small 2 foot tall 25 pound gnome in their claws or on their back?

Here's my best guess:


A creature with a fly speed can move through the air at the indicated speed if carrying no more than a light load; see Carrying Capacity, page 161 of the Player’s Handbook.


That table in PH seems to make carrying capacity only about the creature's strength. Quadrupeds can carry more if they are bigger. No multiplier is given for flying creatures.

So an eagle animal companion with a strength of 10 could carry up to 33 pounds?

If (without gear) my character is 25 pounds, could I ride on the eagle's back, assuming i carried less than 5 pounds of gear, and we can make a light saddle that weighs less than 3 pounds?

And at third level, when I can cast Bull's Strength, I could share that +4 bonus with the Eagle, who would also get a +1 strength from the druid level. Then he would be able to carry 66 pounds.

Am I doing this right?

--
Edit: typos

[Forrestfire]

You are correct in thinking that there is no multiplier for flying creatures. They're treated like any other. However, you made two miscalculations here:

An eagle is Small size, which means their carrying capacity is ¾ that of a Medium creature, or 24.75 pounds. In addition, both the gnome and eagle are Small, so you couldn't ride it in the first place, because a mount has to be at least one size bigger.

[KingSmitty]

An eagle is Small size, which means their carrying capacity is ¾ that of a Medium creature, or 24.75 pounds. In addition, both the gnome and eagle are Small, so you couldn't ride it in the first place, because a mount has to be at least one size bigger.


with the lvl 3 druid ability allows him to increase the HD of the animal by 2, and in this case eagles are medium size between 2-3 HD

[Forrestfire]

Bonus hit dice from the animal companion progression do not increase the size of the animal companion. That line is for natural advancement, not getting tougher from the druidic bond. If it did, then that would mean that the animal companion's hit dice are also capped by the advancement line, forever leaving the eagle at 3 hit dice. For what little it's worth, the FAQ's (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/er/20030221a)ruling is the same as this reading of the ability.

One option for flight at level one is the giant bee (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/giantBee.htm), gotten through this ACF (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040705a). It has six legs, so it's treated as a quadraped for carrying capacity purposes. With medium size and a Strength score of 11, it has a 57-pound carrying capacity. Do note that it's unable to attack without dying, but it's probably the best thing you can grab at level 1, with a fly speed of 80ft (good) and the ability to carry you and most of the gear you need. Also, it's a giant bee. How cool is that?

[hamishspence]

Birdwise, the next step up after Eagle would be Dire Hawk (MM2, and Races of the Wild). Then you get Dire Eagle (Races of Stone) and then Roc.

[Wacky89]

Sailsnake from MM4 is available at level 4 druid animal companion.
It's medium sized and has 14 strength.

That should do the trick

[Hiro Quester]

Thanks, everyone.

It's a core-ish game (PH1&2, and DMG1&2 and Stormwrack), so no dire eagle or dire hawk. (No flesh raker at 4th either. Sigh.)

The giant bee would be cool. But I doubt the DM will go for that.

I might have to wait until 4th level and get a dire bat (Large size, 17 strength, blind sense).

Or I might just stick with the riding dog.

[Forrestfire]

Maybe stress that the giant bee is unable to attack or it dies, so it'd be just transport, if the DM is leery of it.