The Hellspawned Rider (a Warlock & his Ubermount)

[Gruftzwerg]

From the depths of the ocean arises this hellspawned rider to claim supremacy over the longshore lubbers.
Our lil hero is an aquatic dragonwrought kobold with the curiosity to explore the "drylands".
He quickly learns that the "drylanders" don't think much of the "oceanians". In fact, most aren't even aware of em in their "dryland bubble". They see the drylands and thinks that's everything. These poor mislead creatures need to be made aware of the the powers the oceanians are able to wield and control.
This idea inspires our lil hero to begin a life as an adventurer, traveling the drylands to make a name for himself and all the oceanians.

Spoiler: DISCLAIMER

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As always, before you intend to play this build, check with your DM. While the build isn't definitively game breaking, it can still be "table breaking" if your table doesn't play at such an optimization lvl. This is primarily meant as showcase project.
The original intend here was that I always wanted to make a build with the "Hellspawned Grace" invocation that warlocks can get. Sadly, the ability is very limited in its synergy options out of the box due to the Polymorph Subschool Rules.
Finally I managed to find exploits which bypass these restrictions and somehow pulled an Ubermount out of it.
I hope that you all enjoy this imho hilarious build. <3

Warlock 5 / Escalation Mage 6 / Waverider 1 / Warblade 1 / Windrider 7

Aquatic Dragonwrought Kobold
STR: 6 (10 base -4 race) +5 from Wish scroll = 11max
DEX: 18 (16 base +2 race)
CON: 14 (16 base -2 race) +5 from Wish scroll +5 lvlUP +6 item = 30max
INT: 16 (13 base +3 age)
WIS: 16 (13 base +3 age)
CHA: 11 (8 base +3 age)
We use Wish scrolls (via UMD), because they count as "casting the spell" and thus can be shared with our mount. This is also the reason for the STR increase, since the Kobold doesn't really need it. But since we will take it for the mount, it's basically free for the kobold. So why not take it.
Update:
As ShuriVch has pointed out, "dragon" is not a valid type for Waverider. Thus, we need to rely on a Polymorph scroll/wand & UMD to qualify with our lil DWK.
ShuriVch also noted the Unseelie Fey template as solution, but I kinda dislike this option. It further penalized STR down to a score of 4 and adds more CON penalty on top (and CON is the single most important stat in this build so far).
Finally, I added a 2nd race suggestion which has a slightly different build path. See the Aquatic Amphibious Human (not included into the story: no story update! Sorry but I'm lazy/short in time).

Aquatic Amphibious Human
Region: Cormyr
STR: 10 (10 base) +5 from Wish Scroll
DEX: 14 (16 base -2 amphibious)
CON: 14 (14 base) +5 from Wish scroll +5 lvlUp +6 item = 30 max
INT: 14 (14 base)
WIS: 14 (14 base)
CHA: 10 (10 base)
With INT 14 the human gets as many skill points as the Kobold does, so we can keep the skill point distribution. Note that the Human build path takes some other feat choices. Those that differ are shown in blue in the table. I also made a "human 1-20 difference" section, explaining the minimal changes made for the human build path.

Spoiler: Tables, Skills & Spells

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Skills:
Most of our prerequisite skills are sadly cross class. The sole useful one here is Ride, which we'll max later. Handle Animal is required to some degree and thus will be progressed a bit. Concentration is always nice to max on a caster.
Use Magic Device is always hard to pass, same goes for this build. Most notable here are wands for buffing up our mount.




*= Waverider gets delayed to lvl 14 if you want the non-VoP mount option.

Level	Class	BAB	For	Ref	Wil	Skills	Feats "blue" is human race	Class Features "blue" is human race
1st	Warlock	+0	+0	+0	+2	Concentration: 4 Handle Animal: 2 Knowl.(nature): 2 Ride: 2 Use Magic Device: 4	Dragonwrought _______________ Saddleback Tunnel Fighting	Eldritch Blast 1d6 Draconic Rite of Passage: (Enlarge Person 1/day) Swimming the Styx __________ Summon Swarm
2nd	Warlock	+1	+0	+0	+3	Concentration: 5 Handle Animal: 2.5 Knowl.(nature): 2.5 Ride: 2.5 Use Magic Device: 5		Detect Magic Summon Swarm _________ Spiderwalk
3rd	Warlock	+2	+1	+1	+3	Concentration: 6 Handle Animal: 3 Knowl.(nature): 3 Ride: 3 Use Magic Device: 6	Sudden Empower	Eldritch Blast 2d6 Damage Reduction 1/Cold Iron
4th	Warlock	+3	+1	+1	+4	Concentration: 7 Handle Animal: 3.5 Knowl.(nature): 3.5 Ride: 3.5 Use Magic Device: 7		Deceive Item Spiderwalk ___________ See the Unseen
5th	Warlock	+3	+1	+1	+4	Concentration: 8 Handle Animal: 4 Knowl.(nature): 4 Ride: 4 Use Magic Device: 8		Eldritch Blast 3d6
6th	Escalation Mage	+3	+3	+1	+4	Concentration: 9 Handle Animal: 4.5 Knowl.(nature): 4.5 Ride: 4.5 Use Magic Device: 9	Mounted Combat	The Shade Within Walk Unseen
7th	Escalation Mage	+4	+4	+1	+4	Concentration: 10 Handle Animal: 5 Knowl.(nature): 5 Ride: 5 Use Magic Device: 10		Eldritch Blast 4d6 Escalation (Shadow Focus)
8th	Escalation Mage	+4	+4	+2	+5	Concentration: 11 Handle Animal: 5.5 Knowl.(nature): 5.5 Ride: 5.5 Use Magic Device: 11		Escalation (Shadow Power) Spider-Shape
9th	Escalation Mage	+5	+5	+2	+5	Concentration: 12 Handle Animal: 6 Knowl.(nature): 6 Ride: 6 Use Magic Device: 12	Mounted Archery	Eldritch Blast 5d6 Escalation (Shadow Growth)
10th	Waverider*	+6	+7	+2	+7	Handle Animal: 9 Ride: 8		Waverider Mount Mounted Weapon Bonus +1 (Trident) Trident Charge
11th	Escalation Mage	+6	+7	+2	+7	Concentration: 14 Ride: 8.5 Use Magic Device: 14		Escalation (Shadow Haste) Fell Flight - Spiderwalk Eldritch Glaive
12th	Escalation Mage	+7	+8	+3	+8	Concentration : 15 Ride: 10 Use Magic Device: 15	Eldritch Claws ________________ Tunnel Riding	Eldritch Blast 6d6 Soul of Shadow Hellspawned Grace
13th	Windrider	+8	+10	+3	+10	Concentration: 16 Ride: 12 Use Magic Device: 16		Appraise Mount Chosen Mount Empathic Link Mount Proficiency 4 HD
14th	Windrider*	+9	+11	+3	+11	Concentration: 17 Ride: 14 Use Magic Device: 17		Mount Assistance Mount Feat 1
15th	Windrider	+10	+11	+4	+11	Concentration: 18 Ride: 16 Use Magic Device: 18	Additional Favored Class: Warlock Weapon Finesse	Bonus Feat: Weapon Finesse Mount Healing
16th	Warblade	+11	+12	+4	+12	Concentration: 19 Ride: 18 Use Magic Device: 19		Battle clarity (Reflex saves) +1 Weapon Aptitude Stance: Leading the Charge Maneuvers: Steel Strike Iron Heart Surge White Raven Tactics
17th	Windrider	+12	+12	+4	+12	Concentration: 20 Ride: 20 Use Magic Device: 20		Mount Proficiency 8 HD
18th	Windrider	+13	+13	+5	+13	Concentration: 21 Handle Animal: 10 Ride: 21 Use Magic Device: 21	Draconic Aura: Vigor or Draconic Reservoir or (Quicken Spell-Like-Ability) ______________ Eldritch Claws	Mount Feat 2 Mount Friendship
19th	Windrider	+14	+13	+5	+13	Concentration: 22 Handle Animal: 11 Ride: 22 Use Magic Device: 22		Mount Proficiency 12 HD
20th	Windrider	+15	+14	+5	+14	Concentration: 23 Handle Animal: 12 Ride: 23 Use Magic Device: 23	Improved Initiative	Bonus Feat: Improved Initiative Mount Link

Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st - 12th	-	-	-	-
13th	0	-	-	-
14th	1	-	-	-
15th	1	0	-	-
16th	1	0	-	-
17th	1	1	-	-
18th	1	1	0	-
19th	1	1	1	-
20th	2	1	1	0

Recommended Spells to prepare:
1st: Alarm
2nd: Protection from Arrows; Shield Other
3rd: Heal Mount
4rd: Freedom of Movement (you need to raise WIS to 18 to get a 4th lvl bonus spell slot to cast this. not mandatory)

Spoiler: 1-5

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We start with the very simple Swimming the Styx invocation. If you read it carefully, it also fits the interpretation that it also allows you to breath "air", which our lil Kobold lacks (as aquatic subtype). At lvl 2 we pick Summon Swarm that will easily carry us over the early levels. As standard action we have full control (via recasting it each turn) and have a nice early game AoE dmg and crowd control tool at-will. Spiderwalk helps us to avoid grounded melee foes and to get to places that are normally hard to reach at early levels. Abuse it to your strategical advantage.
Sudden Empover is mainly as requirement to enter Escalation Mage. We can use it to empower our Eldritch Blast once a day (or later our Glaive).
Sadly, we can't use our Enlarge Person SLA on ourselves (due to dragon type). If we have a (humanoid) frontline character in our party we can use it on him as a situational buff once per day.

Spoiler: 6-10

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With Walk Unseen we become even more safe (together with Spiderwalk). We can even stay invisible in combat, when we sole rely on Summon Swarm as offensive tool (since "Summoning" doesn't count as attack spell. Always invisibility is also nice in downtimes. Be creative with the abuse.
Escalation Mage provides our Kobold with some extra HP and some metamagic like abilities that work with our warlock SLA.
With Spider-Shape we can change our form into that of a Fiendish Spider. The Web ability is nice since it affects the enemy automatically when you "hit" em (ranged attack roll). The enemy then needs to waste his turn to attempt either an Esacpe Artist or STR check. So in worst case it is an equal trade. But if the target is stuck, you can web more enemies per turn. It's a nice addition to our defensive ability arsenal to support the party.

At lvl 10 we finally dip into Waverider (if we go for the VoP mount option). This provides us with a hippocampus as special mount. The real special here is, that compared to other types of familiars, companions and mounts, this one can benefit from SLA via "Share Spell". This is a unique ability (especially if you consider that the PRC doesn't give or progress spellcasing).

We can now turn our hippocampus into a Medium/Large fiendish Spider (24h duration) that we'll use as mount. We can make Ride checks (Mounted Combat) to avoid the first hit on our mount (while remaining invisible if we don't use direct attacks) in a round. The mount will Web the enemies for us, while we can support our mount (e.g. via wands; Ride check; Aid Another;...) or add some damage via Eldritch Blast (which cancels invisibility).
Note that while the Polymorph Subschool rules exchange the Hippocampus' stats, it is still our Kobolds mount. Because that is an ability which is on our lil Kobolds statblock. This superseeds the Polymorph Subschool and still adds the Bonus HD (note that the fiendish template and the spider abilities scale with HD). This way, we get a scaling mount with our SLAs. The "type" first gets exchanged to "vermin" (due to the sla) and then gets altered to Magical Beast (Augmented Vermin), which means it has the traits of its current type (Macial Beast), but the features of its original type (Vermin). This has the nice sideeffect that form has now enough INT to pick feats, which it couldn't before. Thus enabling you to pick feats for the M. Spider form of our mount. See further below in the mounts section.

Spoiler: 11-15

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Since we picked Fell Flight now (fly 24h; SLA) we can ditch Spiderwalk in Favor of Eldritch Glaive. We can quicken (Shadow Haste) E. Glaive to a swift action and share it (since Eldritch Glaive is cast on yourself) with our mount as neat combo. Once per day free (the remaining 6 possible attempt have a noteable failure chance. But can still be useful. Since our Kobold mainly only enhances our mount and barely fights himself directly (and sits on a mount), he ain't that penalized by the slow effect when he fails the casterlevel check).

Now we finally get our main (combat) ability, Hellspawned Grace. It's an sla that lets the warlock change into a Hellcat (Polymorph Subschool). We will directly cast it on our Hippocampus/M. Spider when needed (mostly at the start of combat, or when you would expect it. Since we can keep riding all day, we can always prepare an action to cast it immediately. Our hellcat mount has the Magical Beast (Augmented Outsider) type. Which means full BAB (+22 BAB at max lvl due to 22HD!!!) and good Save rolls for everything (Fortitude , Reflex, Will).
With Eldritch Claws as free action we hopefully can share it with our mount now. The ability has no friendly reminder for its Special Ability category, but since it thrives from an SLA it should still count as an SLA. Thus we can share it with our Hellcat to give it a better claw damage then its original claws. If your DM should rule against this interaction, have a look into the wands section (When Two Become One).

With entering Windrider, we pick our Hippocampus as Chosen Mount. Now it benefits from two sources, since Waverider scales with Character Level, while Windrider (which we will progress) scales per Class Level. More HD, more feats, more STR and more Natural Armor.
Weapon Finesse finally allows our lil Kobold to use his DEX modifier if he intends to use his Glaive (if! most of the time he will still use other options^^).

Spoiler: 16-20

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The single level dip into Warblade gives us some great tools. The stance provides all nearby allies (mainly our mount) with extra dmg on a charge/pounce. Iron Heart Surge is always handy to get rid of annoying effects.
The White Raven Tactics abuse potential is very high in this build. Attack in the first round, take the swift action at the end and use it on yourself. We immediately get another turn at our new initiative (-1) where our mount can pounce again. Our Kobold can use this turn to refresh his maneuvers if we want. This allows the Kobold and his mount to take 2 turns each round at the cost of -1 to Initiative. This is the main job of the lil Kobold, if the situation doesn't call for other important actions to do.



For the final feat spot I left you the choice between:
- Draconic Aura: Vigor (passive healing aura, up to half of max HP)
- Draconic Reservoir (if you wanna have Enlarge Person 3/day for your mount)
- Quicken SLA (Needs an additional Caster lvl to qualify. Buy an orange Ion Stone. 3/day quicken E. Glaive)
Each has some neat effect but none is mandatory.

Spoiler: Human lvl 1-20 differences

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Saddleback is a nice Regional Feat for this build. We can always take 10 on Ride checks, which is already great by itself. But we can also reroll a failed Reflex save each turn as Ride check for either the rider, or the mount, or both (if it is the same effect). This is a very valuable feat for this build. Reflex is very low for the rider (hellcat has good saves and improved evasion), thus it will come very handy to compensate for that.

Tunnel Fighting and Tunnel Riding allows the human to ride his large mount in a medium space and still fight without penalties. This way we can enter most buildings while riding our mount with ease. This also makes it less of a problem to use "Permanent Enlarge Person" on your mount, since with the feat it can fit into "large" spaces and with temporary "Shrink Person" down to medium spaces again.
Imho these feats are much more fitting for the build then the options for the Kobold.

I also ditched Swimming the Styx (due toamphibious) in favor for See the Unseen. Since the build uses invisibility with its mount, its nice to see each other if we for some reason should be not on our mount. (should also make the handling easier while rinding^^)

Spoiler: Mount Options

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I will present 2 possible mount options: One with "Vow of Poverty" and one without.
The main reason here should be obvious, but let me still mention it.
First, your DM may dislike the cheese and just say/housrule no. Or you may dislike the idea that your mount may be bound to moral restrictions (that maybe don't reflect your alignment. Your mount does not have to share your alignment in this build). So, there are arguments for and against both build paths. Just pick your poison.
And finally, the VoP build is more tanky and safe (while still having high dmg), while the non-VoP build is more glasscannon and focuses purely on damage. Both mount builds feature Mindsight (taken in Hellcat form and thus sole works with that form).


Vow of Poverty Mount
We will take a hippocampus (see savage species p94) due to their chaotic good alignment. This unlocks Vow of Poverty as feat option. At the same time, the chaotic part justifies the twisted mind needed to fight in a hellcat form with the "lawful & evil" subtypes..^^
Note that the Hellspawned Grace invocation itself is not tagged as [evil] and thus shouldn't cause any trouble with being exalted. Further, it's the master who places the effect on her. Imho there is really no issue here. Just a freak of (3.5) nature^^.

Note that LVL in the table is referring to the character's lvl (kobold) here. Further be aware that due to the Polymorph Subschool Rules, feats are tied to the new forms HD. When we cast Spider Shape or Hellspawned Grace directly on our mount, its statblocks get exchanged according to the Polymorph rules. But it's still our bound mount, since that is an ability on our characters sheet/statblock. Thus, you have to calculate each forms effective HD separately and alter feats and VoP abilities accordingly. The table presents the Effective Mount LVL/HD for the defalt hippocampus form. I recommend to calculate each level the stuff you get on lvlUp, since it is imho to much work to track everything within actual play.

LVL	Wave-/Windrider Abilities	Total Bonus HD	Eff. Mount LVL/HD	Feats from Bonus HD and VoP	Vow of Poverty	Total Bonus AC	Total Bonus STR
1st - 9th	-	-			-	-	-
10th	Improved Evasion Share Spell Emphatic Link Share Saving Throws +2 Bonus HD +2 Natural Armor Bonus +2 Bonus STR INT: 6	+2	6HD	Sacred Vow	-	+2 Natural Armor Bonus	+2
11th	Speak with Creatures of its Kind +4 Bonus HD +4 Natural Armor Bonus +3 Bonus STR INT: 7	+4	8HD		-	+4 Natural Armor Bonus	+3
12th	-	+4	8HD		-	+4 Natural Armor Bonus	+3
13th	+2 Bonus HD +4 Natural Armor Bonus +2 Bonus STR	+6	10HD	Vow of Poverty Nimbus of Light	+7 Exalted Armor Bonus +1 Natural Armor Bonus +1 Deflection Armor Bonus +2 Exalted Strike (magic; good) +2 STR Endure Elements Sustenance +1 Resistance Mind Shielding DR 5/magic	+9 Natural Armor Bonus +7 Exalted Armor Bonus +1 Deflection Armor Bonus = +17 AC	+7
14th	Mount Feat 1: Power Attack	+6	10HD		-	+17 AC	+7
15th	Fast Movement +6 Bonus HD +5 Natural Armor Bonus +4 Bonus STR INT: 8	+8	12HD	Rapidstrike Touch of Golden Ice	+4 STR; +2 CON +8 Exalted Armor Bonus +2 Deflection	+10 Natural Armor Bonus +8 Exalted Armor Bonus +2 Deflection = +20 AC	+10
16th	-	+8	12HD		-	+20 AC	+10
17th	+4 Bonus HD +6 Natural Armor Bonus +2 Bonus STR	+10	14HD	Sactify Natural Attack	+2 Resistance Energy Resistance 5 Exalted Strike +3 Freedom of Movement	+12 Natural Armor Bonus +8 Exalted Armor Bonus +2 Deflection = +22 AC	+10
18th	Mount Feat 2: Improved Flight	+10	14HD		-	+22 AC	+10
19th	Spell Resistance +8 Bonus HD +6 Natural Armor Bonus +6 Bonus STR INT: 9	+12	16HD	Improved Rapidstrike Gift of Discernment	+9 Exalted Armor Bonus +6 STR; +4 CON; +2 DEX DR 5/evil +2 Natural Armor Bonus	+14 Natural Armor Bonus +9 Exalted Armor Bonus +2 Deflection = +25 AC	+14
20th	+6 Bonus HD +8 Natural Armor Bonus +4 Bonus STR	+14	18HD	Mindsight Vow of Obediance	Exalted Strike +4 +3 Resistance +10 Exalted Armor Bonus +3 Deflection Ture Seeing	+16 Natural Armor Bonus +10 Exalted Armor Bonus +3 Deflection = +29 AC	+16
-	-	-	*20HD+* (in other forms)	Vow of Abstinence	+8 STR, +6 CON; +4 DEX; +2 WIS DR 10/evil Exalted Strike +5, Energy Resistance 15	+29 AC	+18

This mount build offers a bunch of bonuses due to VoP. The AC skyrockets together with the STR of the build. Nimbus of Light allows the Hellcat to stay invisible in places that would be otherwise dark. Touch of Golden Ice is a nice fallback option if the enemy should somehow migrate or otherwise survive the massive HP dmg this mount can deal. With Sanctify Natural Attack, our attacks are now lawful, good & evil aligned. Our mount really has a chaotic mindset.^^
With Improved Rapidstrike the mount can get up to 4 extra claw attacks (@: -5, -10, -15, -20). Combined with Eldritch Claws and double damage from a diving pounce, the enemies should fall quickly.
With the combination of True Sight and Mindsight, nothing should escape our perception.
More VoP cheese:
As mentioned in the character's statblock in beginning, we can share Wish scrolls with our mount for permanent +5 inherit bonuses to stats. STR and CON are the most recommended here.
Permanent Greater Magic Fang are also nice and don't interfere with our mount's VoP restrictions.
Same goes for Permanent Enlarge Person if you want to always have it.
Monk's Tattoo is a bit arguable but imho fits the bill too. Especially if you get it before the VoP. But the bonuses are weak, so no big deal here. (a bit more Unarmed Strike dmg for our Eldritch Claws combo and some AC from WIS. The movement speed bonus is also nice to have).
Finally the master will use Wands for the mount to benefit. As such VoP doesn't care again here.


Classcannon Mount
For this mount option we take a Elasmosaurus as base creature. While a Whale can get more HP, it loses 1 bonus feat in comprehension due to being still a level away from the next feat at the last level of the build. The Elasmosaurus gets 5 bonus feats from bonus HD, while giving the build still a very high HP (in all forms, since base HP don't change). The high CON modifier (+6) scales very well with the bonus HD. This is very handy for a Shock Trooper who will sacrifice his AC and thus can be easily hit (by remaining ranged enemies).
Great Cleave will ensure that we will kill everything in reach. Here it comes handy to use Enlarge Person directly on our mount. Consider to either make it Permanent or to take Draconic Reservoir as final feat for the Kobold, if you like this combo.
Again note that the other forms (M. Spider, Hellcat) have a slightly altered feat progression. The Hellcat's HD is closer to the next feat as example.
Final Note: The second build path delays the Waverider dip to lvl 14, due to 4 of the wanted feats relying on Power Attack. And that (PA) we'll get from Windrider's 2nd lvl (Windrider can chose any random mount in the meanwhile or just ignore the ability). This way we can take Mindsight at that lvl 12 and have PA for all the other feats the build gets.

LVL	Wave-/Windrider Abilities	Total Bonus HD	Eff. Mount LVL/HD	Feats from Bonus HD	Total Bonus AC	Total Bonus STR
1st - 11th	-	-			-	-
12th	+2 Bonus HD +4 Natural Armor Bonus +2 Bonus STR	+2	12HD	Mindsight	+4 Natural Armor Bonus	+2
13th	Mount Feat 1: Power Attack	+2	12HD		+4 Natural Armor Bonus	+2
14th	Speak with Creatures of its Kind +4 Bonus HD +4 Natural Armor Bonus +3 Bonus STR INT: 7	+6	16HD	Improved Bullrush	+8 Natural Armor	+5
15th	Fast Movement +6 Bonus HD +5 Natural Armor Bonus +4 Bonus STR INT: 8	+8	18HD	Shock Trooper	+9 Natural Armor Bonus	+6
16th	-	+8	18HD		+9 Natural Armor Bonus	+6
17th	+4 Bonus HD +6 Natural Armor Bonus +2 Bonus STR	+10	20HD		+11 Natural Armor Bonus	+6
18th	Mount Feat 2: Improved Flight	+10	20HD		+11 Natural Armor Bonus	+6
19th	Spell Resistance +8 Bonus HD +6 Natural Armor Bonus +6 Bonus STR INT: 9	+12	22HD	Cleave	+12 Natural Armor Bonus	+8
20th	+6 Bonus HD +8 Natural Armor Bonus +4 Bonus STR	+14	24HD	Great Cleave	+14 Natural Armor Bonus	+10

This mount option is much more straight forward. We take Mindsight early since all other feats rely on the bonus feat: Power Attack. This also gives this otherwise glasscannon build and earyl strategy tool to ensure not being surprised and being the one getting the surprise round.
Shock Trooper and Great Cleave should be self-explanatory. Dive/Pounce to a nice spot and kill everything in reach. Abuse Enlarge Person to get even more reach. For this build the option to either cast Permanency (from scroll) on the Enlarge Person effect is more interesting for this option, as the option to take Draconic Reservoir if you want more control of the size increase.

The Mount's Fiendish Monstrous Spider form:
The spider now has an int score and thus can have feats that you can freely chose. This gives 1-2 feat spots (only Large Spider gets 2 feats) for the base HP (we already have set anything for the Bonus HD levels above).
(With these we will take "Ability Focus: Web" (to increase the DCs by +2) as first feat for all spider sizes. The large spider further picks Fly-By-Attack.)
As feats we pick "Spit Venom" and "Deadly Spittle". The first turns our Poisonous Bite into a ranged touch attack ("Spit Attack"), the latter turns the spit attack into a 15ft cone. Hit all enemies with your poison. Have a look at the items section if you wanna further build upon this combo (see: Assassination & Venomfire).
Finally note that the Poison & Web abilties produce an "effect" and thus the abilities scales with the original form's HD (Hippocampus HD + Bonus HD), which causes a very potent increase in the ability's DCs (10base + 1/2 HD + CON modifier).

The Hellcat form:
With Eldritch Claws (1d4 + 6d6) and Fell Flight (double dmg on Dive/Pounce) we are looking at some nice dmg numbers already. The high STR bonus of the build also adds to the dmg. We'll try to pounce every round. For this, you should aim early for Riding Boots to get Ride-By-Attack (to reposition after the dive/pounce) or/and a wand with some short teleportation spell (see wands section).
Since the non VoP mount option could use magic items, we should at least attempt to make use of it. Sadly all gear get melded into the new form due to the Polymorph Subschool rules. But screw that!^^ This wouldn't be an optimized build if we wouldn't bypass this annoying restriction somehow. The solution here is in the MIC and is called Lenses of bright vision. The interesting part here is that these lenses "meld" into your eyes and then become functional! Thus they can't further "meld" anymore and any magic effect the item provides is still active. Now you just have to convince your DM to stack multiple magic items into a single one^^ (e.g. put the effect of a necklace of natural attacks on it as in the gearing section)

Spoiler: Magic Items & Stuff

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Here are some suggestion specific for this build. Nothing really mandatory but still nice to haves. I sole mention some very build specific stuff and not everything of interest here.



Lenses of Bright Vision (MIC) + Necklace of Natural Attacks +5 (+valorous +assassination) + 6 STR
With these we can triple our Pounce damage (first double comes from Dive). A nice option for the non-VoP mount option. Assassination increases the Poison DC (which already scales with HD and CON) by the +5 enhancement bonus.

Riding Boots (MIC)
Gives Ride-By-Attack and helps our mount to reposition (for the next dive/pounce next turn).

Wish scrolls
As mentioned in the statsblock, we can share these with our mount and thus double profit from em.


Wands:
Well there are a tone of interesting wands. And most of em you should already know and thus I won't repeat em here. There are guides specific for this topic, so look elsewhere for a general guide. Here I will sole note the most important for the build which you should aim for:

When Two Become One (Shugenja 3; Oriental Adventures)
This spell merges you to your "horse". Since we can UMD roll for race, we will pretend that our mount is a "horse".
This lets you share many stats with your mount. But as always with these kind of abilities, it leads to many gray areas not well defined by the rules. So take with care and check the ruling with your DM first, before complaining later.

Knight's Move (Paladin 2; Cleric 3; MIC)
Swift action short range teleport. Just what the doctor ordered to reposition for a pounce when needed.

Shrink Person
Well, sometimes Large (or even Huge if you did go for permanent Enlarge Person) is to big. Thus, this spells helps when space is problem. Note that our "small" Kobold can easily ride a "medium sized" mount.

Venomfire
This is a nice boost for the Monstrous Spider mount in combat. If you buy one of these, try to get as much Clvl as possible on it for max dmg. With the 15ft-cone Spit attack we are looking at some nice AoE dmg here.

I hope that I didn't miss anything. I've checked it a few times now, but with these kind of builds I always tend to later find some missing stuff. We'll see.

Further I hope that you all enjoyed this build concept. As said, I had a Hellspawned Grace build for a long time in my head and it feels good to finally get it out of my head (Cache cleared finally!).
And it turned out much crazier as I could ever imagine. A Kobold riding his hellcat mount who sole focuses himself to further enhance his mount. Just the thought of it puts a smile on my face^^

As always, I appreciate any kind of feedback. Be it critique, questions, suggestion or just a tumbs up, just let me know what you think about our lil "Hell-rider".^^

[Condé]

This is really well made and impressive. I do have some questions though.

Level 6-10, you are saying:

Note that while the Polymorph Subschool rules exchange the Hippocampus' stats, it is still our Kobolds mount. Because that is an ability which is on our lil Kobolds statblock. This superseeds the Polymorph Subschool and still adds the Bonus HD (note that the fiendish template and the spider abilities scale with HD). This way, we get a scaling mount with our SLAs. The "type" first gets exchanged to "vermin" (due to the sla) and then gets altered to Magical Beast (Augmented Vermin), which means it has the traits of its current type (Macial Beast), but the features of its original type (Vermin). This has the nice sideeffect that form has now enough INT to pick feats, which it couldn't before. Thus enabling you to pick feats for the M. Spider form of our mount. See further below in the mounts section.

If I understand correctly, your mount take the type of a fiendish spider and you use a prestige class that gives you a progression based on character level in order to increase its HD... Right?

Even if less powerful, could it work with a familiar, for example? It avances with character level too and, once again, while less powerful, could still be a valid target for your shapechanging invocations, right?

[Gruftzwerg]

This is really well made and impressive. I do have some questions though.

Level 6-10, you are saying:

If I understand correctly, your mount take the type of a fiendish spider and you use a prestige class that gives you a progression based on character level in order to increase its HD... Right?

Even if less powerful, could it work with a familiar, for example? It avances with character level too and, once again, while less powerful, could still be a valid target for your shapechanging invocations, right?

Yeah the PRC progress the mount, even after its form change, since it is still your mount. The Polymorph Subschool Rules sole effects your mounts statblock (since we cast it directly on it and not on ourselves) and not the statblock of the Kobold. Thus, fully giving the "mount" bonuses.

The problem is, that all other "companion abilities" (including familiars) exclude SLA from sharing. That was the entire reason to dip Waverider to begin with.

edit; to prevent misreadings:
It's Waverider that gives the mount which works with SLA, and Windrider may chose a mount.

[Condé]

Yeah the PRC progress the mount, even after its form change, since it is still your mount. The Polymorph Subschool Rules sole effects your mounts statblock (since we cast it directly on it and not on ourselves) and not the statblock of the Kobold. Thus, fully giving the "mount" bonuses.

The problem is, that all other "companion abilities" (including familiars) exclude SLA from sharing. That was the entire reason to dip Waverider to begin with.

edit; to prevent misreadings:
It's Waverider that gives the mount which works with SLA, and Windrider may chose a mount.

I see. I forgot about Share spells and SLA for familiars. That is why I wondered why I haven't seen something similar with... A familiar. That is a really nice catch and I wonder how did you catch the share spell ability working with SLA of this specific mount, from this specific class. (I mean, it is really easy to miss and I don't think a lot of people knew about that... Until now!)

[ShurikVch]

Note:

Race: Fey, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or outsider with the aquatic subtype.

But...

You are a dragon wrought kobold. Your type is dragon rather than humanoid, and you lose the dragonblood subtype.

[Gruftzwerg]

Note:

But...

Oh, good catch.. missed that somehow.

Hm.. either ditch DWK or look for other options to qualify. A scroll/wand of Polymorph should do the job. I'll save that for the "update". Dunno if there are more errors^^

Any alternative suggestions (other then polymorph) to solve this lil problem are welcome. Otherwise it will boil down to Polymorph. Is there any spell that gives aquatic subtype? We could get "outsider" via Hellspawned Grace, but would lose the aquatic subtype. Or is there a way to get the "outsider" type without losing the aquatic subtype?

Note that the build ain't really relying on any stat. Thus ditching DWK wouldn't be that problematic, but I have a strong hang for DWK builds so..^^

[ShurikVch]

Oh, good catch.. missed that somehow.

Hm.. either ditch DWK or look for other options to qualify. A scroll/wand of Polymorph should do the job. I'll save that for the "update". Dunno if there are more errors^^

Any alternative suggestions (other then polymorph) to solve this lil problem are welcome. Otherwise it will boil down to Polymorph. Is there any spell that gives aquatic subtype? We could get "outsider" via Hellspawned Grace, but would lose the aquatic subtype. Or is there a way to get the "outsider" type without losing the aquatic subtype?

Note that the build ain't really relying on any stat. Thus ditching DWK wouldn't be that problematic, but I have a strong hang for DWK builds so..^^

How about the Unseelie Fey template? It change type to Fey, which is legal...

[Gruftzwerg]

How about the Unseelie Fey template? It change type to Fey, which is legal...

I dislike the that the stat-penalties are the same as Kobold already has (STR & CON), but I still mentioned it as possible solution for the DWK build path.

_______

I also added a "human build path" which imho turned out even better. Have a look at the chances. Further feedback is welcome (for both, the original as also for the new build).

Which build patch would you favor?

[loky1109]

I dislike the that the stat-penalties are the same as Kobold already has (STR & CON), but I still mentioned it as possible solution for the DWK build path.

I don't think it works. DW is feat and applies after inherent templates.

[ShurikVch]

I don't think it works. DW is feat and applies after inherent templates.

If it's about Unseelie Fey - then who said it's inherent template?

[loky1109]

If it's about Unseelie Fey - then who said it's inherent template?

Okay, you are right. It's stupid, but it's RAW.

[Darg]

It's stupid, but it's RAW.

Much of dragon in a nut shell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, what's the point in keeping summon swarm into the later levels?

[Gruftzwerg]

Much of dragon in a nut shell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, what's the point in keeping summon swarm into the later levels?

It's not mandatory anymore and could be exchanged it you want something else badly.
I just left it in as offensive option for staying invisible.

Finally the bat swarm is still a great Hit & Run tool against anything that can't heal itself somehow from the bleeding dmg. While it is sole 1dmg / turn, many enemies will die to the bleeding if you just wait long enough.
The bat swarm can also used to detect "hidden enemies" with its blindsense to some degree (e.g. ally opens door to a room, you cast summon swarm into it and the ally closes the door again. If there are enemies, you should know hear combat noises.^^)

Imho Summon Swarm is still justified at later levels for some niche applycations, but as said you are free to exchange it. Other options would be:
- Entropic Warding: 20% misschance for incoming ranged attacks + trackless step
- Soulreaving Aura: as Reaving Aura, but also gives temporary HP for enemies that die nearby.
- Eldritch Spear: If you want a long range attack option for the rider.

_______________________

Thx for the feedback so far and let it coming. I would like to hear what you think about the human build path (or overall of this build if you haven't said anything so far^^).

My favorite part of the build is that it can abuse frequently White Raven Tactics for itself and greatly benefit from that (while still having the option to use WRT on your allies). Having double turns each round for our poncing Ubermount should handle most fights within the first round.

[ShurikVch]

Okay, you are right. It's stupid, but it's RAW.

My point is: the character in question is a Warlock, right?
So - lets just say their Warlock powers come from Fey ancestry (rather than a Fiend).
Seelie and Unseelie Courts:

Unlike the selective, restrictive Seelie Court, the Unseelie Court welcomes anyone and everything with even a drop of ancestral fey blood. Fey can and do breed with anything, creating odd, mixed creatures. Most species consider the offspring grotesque monsters. The mutant creatures gravitate towards the Unseelie Court, which welcomes them and gives them an environment where peculiar physiologies and abilities are the norm.

[loky1109]

This description still sounds like "inherent".

[ShurikVch]

This description still sounds like "inherent".

I mean...

For comparison:

Spellsingers must have at least some small amount of elven heritage, defined as at least one-eighth elven blood.

Now, is ⅛ Fey still a Fey? 1/16?
Savage Progressions articles allow Transition Classes. So, if they allow Dwarf/Duergar, Gnome/Svirfneblin, Half-Drow/Drow, Tiefling/Half-Fiend, Aasimar/Half-Celestial and Feytouched/Half-Fey transitions - then is it impossible to do ⅛ Fey/Unseelie Fey?

[Malphegor]

Doesn’t waverider need Combat Acrobat? I’m only familiar with the Savage Species version, did it get an update that lacks that? As I can’t see Combat Acrobat in your feats in a skimthrough

[Gruftzwerg]

Doesn’t waverider need Combat Acrobat? I’m only familiar with the Savage Species version, did it get an update that lacks that? As I can’t see Combat Acrobat in your feats in a skimthrough

And I can't see Combat Acrobat in the prerequisites of a Savage Species copy!^^

Feats: Mounted Archery, Mounted Combat.

You shouldn't trust online sources ;)

[loky1109]

Now, is ⅛ Fey still a Fey?

Maybe yes, maybe no, but it anyway was from the born. Before taking DW feat.

then is it impossible to do ⅛ Fey/Unseelie Fey?

What is ⅛ Fey? Mechanically.

[ShurikVch]

What is ⅛ Fey? Mechanically.

Just like ⅛ Elf - pure fluff.
After all - Fey Heritage feat have no prerequisites except alignment

[loky1109]

Just like ⅛ Elf - pure fluff.

1/8 Elf is half-elf. As like as 1/16 Elf, 1/32 Elf, or 1/4062 Elf.

After all - Fey Heritage feat have no prerequisites except alignment

I see how Fey Heritage/Half-Fey transition could be made and it looks reasonable, but it's houserule. And especially it's true about ⅛ Fey (whatever it may be)/Unseelie Fey transition.

[ShurikVch]

1/8 Elf is half-elf. As like as 1/16 Elf, 1/32 Elf, or 1/4062 Elf.

Well, firstly: Quarter Elf flaw (Dragon #328) disagreeing with you there!
That aside - source?
Because I remember: children of a Half-Elf and a Human (or whatever other "half-" of the Half-Elf in question) should be Humans (or whatever other "half-" of the Half-Elf)
Unusual wording of racial requirement for Spellsinger PrC is that way specifically so non-Elven character could qualify by claiming "Great-grandfather of my PC was an Elf!.."

[loky1109]

Because I remember: children of a Half-Elf and a Human

It's from Races of Faerun, isn't it?

Well, firstly: Quarter Elf flaw (Dragon #328) disagreeing with you there!
That aside - source?

It looks like I misremember it.

[ShurikVch]

It's from Races of Faerun, isn't it?

Indeed, it is!

[Gruftzwerg]

Minor Update:

Exchanged the base feats for the Fiendish Monstrous Spider form. The new feats enable the Spider mount to use its poisonous bite either as 30ft ranged touch attack or simply as 15ft cone (auto-hits no attack rolls like a breath weapon).
Imho these fit the Spider mount much better and gives a reason to use it more often. Can be further boosted by Assassination (on a Necklace of Natural Attacks) and wand of Venomfire.

See the Spider mount and the item sections for the update.

Sole a minor Update, but I thought it is still a notable change. Feedback is still welcome ;)