Best Aerial Steeds?

[Palanan]

What creatures would make the best mounts for high-altitude aerial combat and patrol?

I’m looking for creatures that can fly nimbly and fast, while carrying at least one armored rider for hours at a time. They should be reasonably easy to train, not demanding in terms of food or special care, and intelligent enough to cooperate without requiring frequent Ride or Diplomacy checks.

I’m open to all official 3.5 and Pathfinder content. What are some good options that meet these criteria?

[Psyren]

As with all mounts, the animal isn't the hard part, it's getting something that scales with what you'll be fighting so enemies can't simply one-shot it out from under you. This is especially important for flying mounts since you'll have a pretty long and possibly fatal fall if they do that.

PF can get you a flying mount that scales (Griffon or Hippogriff) as early as level 7 via Monstrous Mount; this also works for classes that get no companion at all via Animal Ally and Boon Companion. You can also use effects like summoning or shapeshifting to get something that scales and can carry you.

[MisterKaws]

As with all mounts, the animal isn't the hard part, it's getting something that scales with what you'll be fighting so enemies can't simply one-shot it out from under you. This is especially important for flying mounts since you'll have a pretty long and possibly fatal fall if they do that.

PF can get you a flying mount that scales (Griffon or Hippogriff) as early as level 7 via Monstrous Mount; this also works for classes that get no companion at all via Animal Ally and Boon Companion. You can also use effects like summoning or shapeshifting to get something that scales and can carry you.

I don't have PF's DMG on my hands, but the 3.5 DMG has a non-optional(although most forget that) rule in p204 for that. It does say that the final decision is up to the DM, but so is everything else.

As to what my favorite mount is, I'll say the Asperi from MMII. They're Neutral Good, tending to Lawful Good(Won't willingly ally with a chaotic being), have very good land speed, plus a decent flight speed, and immunity to all forms of winds, which actually increase their speed. They also allow the rider to cast without Concentration checks, and have Telepathy, which qualifies them for Mindsight. They're basically the perfect Paladin mount, and by the rules referenced beforehand, can be taken as mounts with a Paladin level adjustment of -3(meaning level 8).

They also don't have any problematic feature and thus need no update from 3.0 to 3.5(Except Wilderness Lore to K.(Nature)) and possibly even to 3.P.

[liquidformat]

What level are you looking at, what race, and how do you want the rider to interact?

For a halfling you could be on a dire eagle as early as level 4 as a druid or with the wild cohort feat, it also shouldn't be an unreasonable choice for a halfling paladin at level 5. at 6+ you really open up your options with classes like skylord, Aglarondan Griffonrider, Knight of the Flying Hunt, Moonsea Skysentinel and so forth. I personally like going with pegasus but there are a lot of options. Also for Dire Eagle, dragonhawks and other such animals you can add warbeast and magebred to add a lot of punch.

[Segev]

The Ecalypse from Manual of the Planes is a pretty awesome mount if you can tame it, but it takes some serious work to be able to make that DC 30 (effectively 35, since you MUST do it sans saddle) Ride check. Flight, good speed, decent hp and AC, and can go ethereal and take its rider with it.


Looking at Monstrous Mount in PF, I find myself going "meh." They give you cool flying mounts, then require you to take a SECOND feat to let them actually fly, while if you look at the monster entries themselves, nothing in them suggests they can't fly without the rider taking a special feat. And even with the feat, they fly at half speed? Air-breathing mermaid feats suck. Using the 3e DMG table is probably the better way to go, even in PF: just assume you need a level reduction to get it as a class feature mount.

Or go out and tame one, yourself.

[liquidformat]

For the most part I find animal companions were severely nerfed in pathfinder and aren't particularly interesting, if possible I would suggest focusing in on 3.5 for mounted stuff. Again it all depends on what level you are at and what you want to do. I think in general being small and getting a dire eagle at 4th level is the best way to go, you are heavily rewarded for early entry with flying mounts as there really aren't many goodies alternative ones give you. I would avoid dragons, their level adjustment and mechanics are screwy.

[Segev]

For the most part I find animal companions were severely nerfed in pathfinder and aren't particularly interesting, if possible I would suggest focusing in on 3.5 for mounted stuff. Again it all depends on what level you are at and what you want to do. I think in general being small and getting a dire eagle at 4th level is the best way to go, you are heavily rewarded for early entry with flying mounts as there really aren't many goodies alternative ones give you. I would avoid dragons, their level adjustment and mechanics are screwy.

The best way to approach dragons is via the "pay them yearly tribute for their service" route in the Draconomicon, which can get you a Gold Wyrmling around level 7 or so for not-unreasonable pricing. Yes, you have to pay up each year, and yes, you have to keep them happy, but in practice, the game probably isn't lasting more than a year anyway, and "keep your mount happy" is nothing new for intelligent mounts.

[Crow_Nightfeath]

There's the drakkensteed from dragon magic, it's kinda just a stronger kinda draconic horse, it's got wings claws and a bite attack. It is only as intelligent as a horse though.
There is also the dragonnel, from draconomicon, which is as far as I can tell exactly a half dragon horse.

[Psyren]

The Ecalypse from Manual of the Planes is a pretty awesome mount if you can tame it, but it takes some serious work to be able to make that DC 30 (effectively 35, since you MUST do it sans saddle) Ride check. Flight, good speed, decent hp and AC, and can go ethereal and take its rider with it.


Looking at Monstrous Mount in PF, I find myself going "meh." They give you cool flying mounts, then require you to take a SECOND feat to let them actually fly, while if you look at the monster entries themselves, nothing in them suggests they can't fly without the rider taking a special feat. And even with the feat, they fly at half speed? Air-breathing mermaid feats suck. Using the 3e DMG table is probably the better way to go, even in PF: just assume you need a level reduction to get it as a class feature mount.

Or go out and tame one, yourself.

The point of the feats is that the mount can serve as your animal companion, and reap all the protections/benefits that go along with that, like free-action handling. You can certainly go out and just buy a monster and a saddle (if monsters are available for sale in your games), but then you're completely at the DM's mercy as far as whether that creature's statistics advance when yours do (and more importantly, your enemies').

[Segev]

The point of the feats is that the mount can serve as your animal companion, and reap all the protections/benefits that go along with that, like free-action handling. You can certainly go out and just buy a monster and a saddle (if monsters are available for sale in your games), but then you're completely at the DM's mercy as far as whether that creature's statistics advance when yours do (and more importantly, your enemies').

My gripe being that they're actually weaker than if you bought them, by and large. And that it takes two feats to get them to be half as good as actual transport as just buying or capturing and taming the mount yourself. It's badly done mechanics.

[liquidformat]

My gripe being that they're actually weaker than if you bought them, by and large. And that it takes two feats to get them to be half as good as actual transport as just buying or capturing and taming the mount yourself. It's badly done mechanics.

agreed I have noticed across the board, in PF you are better off buying animals than having them as class features.

[Psyren]

My gripe being that they're actually weaker than if you bought them, by and large. And that it takes two feats to get them to be half as good as actual transport as just buying or capturing and taming the mount yourself. It's badly done mechanics.

1) Buy them where?
2) I don't know that I agree with the "weaker" assertion either; Devotion, Evasion, Link and the Ability Score increases are pretty useful, as are the general scaling HP, BAB, and save increases.
3) If it does die, replacing it should be much cheaper.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Segev
Looking at Monstrous Mount in PF, I find myself going "meh." They give you cool flying mounts, then require you to take a SECOND feat to let them actually fly…. And even with the feat, they fly at half speed?

…My gripe being that they're actually weaker than if you bought them, by and large. And that it takes two feats to get them to be half as good as actual transport as just buying or capturing and taming the mount yourself.


Originally Posted by Psyren
The point of the feats is that the mount can serve as your animal companion, and reap all the protections/benefits that go along with that, like free-action handling.

…Devotion, Evasion, Link and the Ability Score increases are pretty useful, as are the general scaling HP, BAB, and save increases.

These are some good pros and cons, and very relevant to my purposes.

I was flabbergasted that the options for Monstrous Mount only fly at half-speed with a rider. Segev certainly has a point that if the creatures are available on the market, it makes hella more sense to buy and train one.

But Psyren also has a good point about the ability score increases and the overall scaling. The feat investment is heavy, but it’s buying you longer-term utility.

That said, Monstrous Mount seems to have a very limited selection, and I’d be interested in hearing about underused and semi-obscure flying creatures. Such as….


Originally Posted by MisterKaws
As to what my favorite mount is, I'll say the Asperi from MMII.

Glad to see that someone else knows and loves the asperi. I was hoping someone would mention them, since they’re one of my favorites just for style, to say nothing of their abilities.

The one downside of the asperi is one of their best features—they won’t let just anyone ride them. But I have to agree they make for a great airborne paladin mount.

[MisterKaws]

Glad to see that someone else knows and loves the asperi. I was hoping someone would mention them, since they’re one of my favorites just for style, to say nothing of their abilities.

The one downside of the asperi is one of their best features—they won’t let just anyone ride them. But I have to agree they make for a great airborne paladin mount.

Well, they are a by-the-book description of a Valiant White SteedTM. They just get better abilities than their lamer and blander equine cousins.

[Darrin]

Stone Flyer (FR Underdark p. 99). At-will earth glide for the mount and rider. Your DM will never use stone walls in a dungeon ever again, it will always be "walls of force" and "magical stone you can't earth-glide through."

Also, honorable mention:


https://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lshr1u8b7f1ql55zvo1_640.jpg

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Darrin
Stone Flyer (FR Underdark p. 99). At-will earth glide for the mount and rider.

When I asked for obscure, you didn’t disappoint. This book has been sitting next to me for years and I don’t think I’ve ever noticed this one.

[MisterKaws]

Winged Tarrasque is a classic.