Making my dream come true

[ReD_Exorcist]

So last night I had a dream! No for reals though. I want to make a halfling who has a medium mount (If you can name mounts other then a fleshraker that would be nice) I can't decide what class I want to take to get my mount, so help on that decision would make me in debt to you. One last thing I want a familiar who has the capabilities of fighting without getting his but kicked. I would be starting at level one. So if you could give me a level by level guide that would be awesome. I don't want to have more then 2 classes and one PRC. Also need help deciding what feats I should take.

[Flickerdart]

Druid is an excellent go-to for an animal companion that can be ridden as a mount. If you want an intelligent/exotic mount instead, I recommend paladin that uses the mount rules in the back of the DMG - because the formula is based only on CR, you can make a really cool custom creature (such as a half-celestial light warhorse - perfect for a paladin).

However, it'll be tricky to advance both a familiar and a companion/mount (unless you merge them into the same creature with Arcane Hierophant). So if you want both, you have two options:
a) Leadership or Wild Cohort will get you a mount that advances by your HD, not any class levels. Then just take levels in a class that grants a familiar.
b) Take either Extra Familiar (from Dragon Magazine) or Obtain Familiar (if your DM is RAW-friendly and accepts that the restriction on "one familiar per character" only applies to familiar gained from class features). Then take Improved Familiar and pick up a Medium sized familiar. Advance both with the same class.

If you can use Unearthed Arcana's alternate classes, your problem is solved for you. Take the fey bard ACF (loses bardic knowledge and songs, gains animal companion as druid) and then take Obtain Familiar. Then just keep taking bard levels to progress both. Make sure to pick up something that makes use of your bardic music since you don't get Inspire Courage and friends anymore.

Edit: From level 1, this won't work right away (since you need arcane caster level 3 for Obtain Familiar). So just start the game as fey bard 1 and take Obtain Familiar at level 3. Take Improved Familiar at level 6 to juice up your familiar into something beefy. Imp is a good standby since they can speak and use items. You can even buy them armor and weapons!

[ReD_Exorcist]

Where exactly would I find Arcane Hierophant?
Would I still be able to take the Divine Bard variant and still take the animal companion variant?

[Flickerdart]

Where exactly would I find Arcane Hierophant?
It's from Races of the Wild.



Would I still be able to take the Divine Bard variant and still take the animal companion variant?
Yes. Divine Bard only affects spellcasting; fey bard only affects songs and bardic knowledge. However, a divine bard has no arcane caster level and can't take Obtain Familiar.

[Heliomance]

The classic Ubermount build is Paladin/Beastmaster/Halfling Outrider. Beastmaster gets you a good animal companion with just a one level dip, and you use the Devoted Tracker feat to designate your Special Mount and Animal Companion as the same creature. Halfling Outrider progresses both your Special Mount and Animal Companion, giving you essentially double progression on it to make it really damn tough.

If the DM permits, you might be able to take Leadership and designate your mount as your cohort to buff it up even more. I feel sure there is a way to designate the thing as your familiar as well, but I can't remember how.