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View Full Version : Barding for mounts: worth the feats and gp?



Albonor
2008-05-25, 02:10 PM
I wanted your opinion because I cannot make up my mind: are the feats worth it for a mount to allow it to wear medium and heavy barding or is it a waste. I'm pretty sure the -1 to hit from a MSW chain"shirt" would be worth the +4 to AC but what about taking two feats to wear the "breast"plate? or, god forbid: spending 6600 gp and three feats to wear a fullplate barding? I can get behind the idea of a celestia mount with smite evil wearing a magical barding for + too much to AC but even then is it worth it?

Newtkeeper
2008-05-25, 03:58 PM
Well, first, if your mount isn't going to be making attacks (and, in many cases, your Damage will outshine its so much that there is little reason for it to do so), its just a question of GP, since you don't need the feats.

Second, regarding feats, is there anything that much more useful a horse can spend them on? If he wasn't spending feats on

So that just leaves money. If you have spare money, go for it. If it comes between armoring your mount and buying a better lance, strict efficiency dictates the lance- especially if it's "just" a horse (not a Paladin's Mount, which is difficult to replace).

Remember, however, that armor slows the horse. While this, per RAW, won't effect your charging damage, it will reduce your mobility. Light armor almost not at all, Medium and heavy significantly. Still, unless you are fighting someone faster (or plan on running away from someone with ranged weapons), speed won't be too big an issue. After all, a good party is only as fast as the slowest member.

Cuddly
2008-05-25, 06:02 PM
It depends.
If you're mount is a cohort, swordsage or monk or a monk's belt are *usually* better options. That way, you retain mobility and the mount has better survivability (evasion, all good saves, and faster speed mean better survivorship with +LA).

If your mount is an animal, just teach it the "barding" trick and leave it at that. The gold investment, imo, isn't that big a deal, since you won't be having your mount slain every time you go into battle.

de-trick
2008-05-25, 06:55 PM
warbeast template gives the animal armor proficiency, i usually go with leather or studded leather cheap and gives a small bonus to ac