[3.5] Paladin's Special Mount as Cohort?

[Rhiannon87]

Okay, so I've seen lots of mentions about a Paladin taking Leadership, and then taking their Special Mount as a cohort. And this idea intrigues me. But I've never seen any good description of how exactly this works. Does the special mount continue to gain bonuses from being a special mount (spell resistance, bonuses to STR and HD, INT increase, etc) as well as being able to gain levels in a class? Or do the improved HD count towards the cohort level?

I'm very confused.

[Mongoose87]

The way my GM has let me do it, you first apply the bonus HD of being the Paladin's mount, then add class levels to fill the remaining levels. This, of course, give you an incentive to reduce your paladin levels.

[Eldariel]

There's no RAW way to do it; by RAW, you can certainly get a Cohort Mount, but it won't be the same creature as your Paladin Mount (though Draconomicon may have a word or two on combining them).

The way I'd houserule it would be to simply stack the Mount Advancements on top of the Cohort's standard advancement. Otherwise you're either penalized for advancing your Cohort capabilities (if you state the Cohort will only get Mount-bonuses up until the Cohort's effective level) or Mount capabilities (if you state the Cohort will only gain Cohort levels up until Cohort max after applying the Mount-bonuses), neither of which appeals to me very much. Though I could certainly see just skipping the HD advancement and giving the other abilities you'd normally get for the Mount over the levels.

[Rhiannon87]

There's no RAW way to do it; by RAW, you can certainly get a Cohort Mount, but it won't be the same creature as your Paladin Mount (though Draconomicon may have a word or two on combining them).

Though I could certainly see just skipping the HD advancement and giving the other abilities you'd normally get for the Mount over the levels.

Huh. The way it's been talked about, I assumed that there were actual rules for it. Interesting.

And that's kind of how I was thinking of doing it... they'd advance the HD/saves/skills/feats in their chosen class, but then get the shiny bonus abilities of being a special mount, too. Makes them pretty damn powerful by the end of it, especially if you're also burning a feat on giving said mount the Celestial template...

[woodenbandman]

The DMG says that you can take a cohort via leadership which gains the bonuses of being your special mount, but it applies a level adjustment of +2 or more depending on DM discretion to your cohort. So what you have is, say, a heavy warhorse which has been awakened, and also a paladin, which has the bonus hit dice and special abilities granted to a paladin of your level.

[Rhiannon87]

The DMG says that you can take a cohort via leadership which gains the bonuses of being your special mount, but it applies a level adjustment of +2 or more depending on DM discretion to your cohort. So what you have is, say, a heavy warhorse which has been awakened, and also a paladin, which has the bonus hit dice and special abilities granted to a paladin of your level.

So... if my Paladin is level 16, and she takes her mount as her cohort, it would have a +2 LA and 12 HD, thus being an ECL 14 character, which would be the highest possible cohort level for my paladin. So I'm basically not getting any benefits of having a cohort at all there. Unless I'm misunderstanding something?

[Person_Man]

Essentially, yes. Just read the DMG entry. (It's not in the SRD).

Also, you can get extra Special Mounts via other means. Although investing in a PrC to get a cool mount is weaker then just taking a feat, many DMs ban Leadership. In that case, something like Ashworm Dragoon and Aglarondan Griffin Rider will probably be your best bet.