Help me create my first mounted charger...please...

[OctaAndy]

Ok, so my group is starting from lvl 1 and after the initial meet & greet we won't be seeing civilization until epic levels...

Rules for character build:
*Only the PHB at character creation (to help new player to not get overwhelmed)
*Only all 3 core books from lvl 2-5
*After lvl 5, any published WotC document or WotC recognized document

Party has:
Range Rogue - Dwarf (1st Campaign, experienced in other systems)
Melee Cleric - Human (1st Campaign, experienced in other systems)
Confused Sorsoress (3rd Campaign, not very experienced)
& (me) DPS/Tank (Many many campaigns 3.x & whitewolf)

I am wanting to play a small mounted charger build. I am trying to emulate Sir Didymus from the movie Labyrinth. I don't want to go full out UBER-Charger, I don't want to be a 1 trick pony for such a long campaign, but I still need to be very combat effective. Don't want to deal with psyonics or anything else tooooo convuluted. I'm already the one that slows down game because I am a fan of rules being used correctly, bending is fine, breaking/ignoring not so much.

-Race: Gnome
-Mount: Riding Dog
-Would prefer to get mount through Wild Cohort feat instead of other means.
-Want to go Cavalier for at least 6 levels.

Stat Rolls: 18, 17, 15, 15, 13, 12
Gp: 175
Riding Dog Cost: 25gp (dm gift)

[Bobby Baratheon]

Are you including Pathfinder? Unless I'm mistaken, Cavalier is a Pathfinder class. Although the sheer size of 3.5 means that there is probably a Cavalier prestige class that I'm unaware of.

Excluding that, a 2 or 4 level dip into fighter would be of great value to get you some much needed feats. Standard spirit lion totem barbarian 1-level dip would net you Pounce, although there is a Forgotten Realms regional feat that replicates that (assuming your DM is reasonable enough to waive the regional requirements), and if you don't like rage you can ACF that out. Don't discount paladins, but you might be better served with cleric/prestige paladin (with a few fighter levels thrown in) and then going into another prestige class from there; that grants you decent spellcasting with pretty good combat skills AND a paladin mount if you go in for at least 2 levels. If it is going to be a wilderness campaign, consider the Bone Knight prestige class. It's very easy to get into from a cleric/prestige paladin build, and you could conceivably craft all the bone weapons/armor you need from what you find out there.

Of course, that's all kind of far down the road. Honestly, with the parameters you've set you could do far worse than starting out as a Fighter, then take it from there. Feats are worth their proverbial weight in gold for martial characters, and doubly so if you want to be a mounted charger.

[WeaselGuy]

A couple of options, off the top of my head:
(note: I suggest Strongheart Halfling or Dragonwrought Kobold for any of these builds)

Paladin 5/Hospitaler 10/Fist of Raziel 5
Ranger 5/Fighter 2/Wild Plains Outrider 3/Halfling Outrider 10
Paladin 5/Wild Plains Outrider 3/Cavalier 10
Cleric 6/Prestige Paladin 2/Bone Knight 10

If you are wanting more of a "Tank" feel, then consider Crusader or straight Knight. DM might not let you do Crusader, just to help out with the new players, but Knight isn't a ridiculous choice to take it from 1-20. Crusader (and any of the ToB classes, for that matter) doesn't suffer from taking levels later on in the build, so it might not be a deal breaker.

[RoyVG]

Are you including Pathfinder? Unless I'm mistaken, Cavalier is a Pathfinder class. Although the sheer size of 3.5 means that there is probably a Cavalier prestige class that I'm unaware of.

There is in Complete Warrior, has quite some prereqs, but most are mandatory on a mounted charger anyway, liek Mounted combat, Sprited Charge and Ride-by Attack, only Weapon focus is a bit meh. Accessable at level 9 at the earliest because of BAB prereqs. The sixth level ability (which OP is likely looking for) is the ability to make a full attack as long as the mount does not move more than one move action. This has some benefits over pounce such as not having to move in a straight line.

As I'm not familiar with the source of your inspiration, I cannot comment to much on how make this specific character.

If you want to go through this PrC ASAP, you will need a full BAB class, the first 5 levels from Core, so Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin or Ranger.

Cavalier has 'any Lawful' requirement, so Barbarian is straight out.
Rangers abilities do not mesh that well with the idea of a charger, though the two weapon fighting feats along with the Mounted Full Attack can work. Ranger does give you the skill points, but not all the skills (Know(N&R)). Still worth it to cross class those and you will still have some left for other skills that might be useful. A couple of spells, but not enough to be worthwhile.
Paladin grants you a stonger riding dog at level 4 and Cavalier progresses it as well, so your riding dog will be a bit beefy, along with being intelligent. If you want to take Wild Cohort, than this becomes less useful. The Smite Evil gives some additional damage that is multiplied on a mounted charge and the Paladins heavy loaded first levels are never a bad choice. You also get some spells, but one or two per day isn't worth. You could ask to replace them with one bonus feat, but that is I believe an ACF from Complete Warrior. The same goes for Charging Smite in Players Handbook 2 which along with Wild Cohort would have been a pretty solid choice.
Fighter gives you options in feats, and simply 2 levels gives you at least 2 feats to play around with. Not always ideal but never truly wrong. Lacks the knowledge again, but has less skill points than the Ranger. I'd tend to not go more than 2 levels if you really need the feats, after that it will start hurting more than it helps.


It's a shame PHB2 is not open that early, otherwise you could have looked at the Knight. It gets Mounted combat for free at level 2 and some other features that make him more of a tank. 3rd level causes all terrain that you threaten to be considered difficult terrain for the enemy. On a mount and with a lance (reach weapon) that is a large area. You could consider [full BAB]5/Knight3/Cavalier Y, but if all other sources are open after 5, I would heavily recommend either the Warblade or the Crusader in Tome of Battle. Both are great classes, require a little bit of reading, but are pretty straight forward after that