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Besides a druid/ranger animal companion, Cavalier's Mount and a Paladin's divine bond (or any other class that I forgot), what is the best way to get a mount that will generally remain useful. I can assume there isn't any way to get a mount that would compare with those granted above but is there a magic item or a trait or something that will grant something? Buying a regular warhorse becomes pretty worthless after a few levels, as the horse doesn't gain more HP.
Survival to track a beast to its nest/ lair steal one of its young with stealth and escape. Domesticate young with handle animal. Bingo, any mount you want for free.
Survival to track a beast to its nest/ lair steal one of its young with stealth and escape. Domesticate young with handle animal. Bingo, any mount you want for free.
Note: you will lack the link ability, which allows free action handle animal checks for the things you have as tricks (also, no bonus tricks).
Anyway, how about the animal ally feat? By taking it, you get what essentially amounts to the ranger animal companion class feature (so your effective level is level-3, and you have the same small choice list). There are of course problems with that- you need to take nature's soul as a prerequisite, and you need to be over level 4 to take it (so it must be taken at level 5). So you will have to wait until level 7 to get full AC progression with boon companion.
Still, it allows any class to get an animal companion. It is perfect for fighters, who tend to have the feats to spare. And by the time you get full progression, you could get a large sized wolf, which means you could easily ride it.
You could also put a few ranks in Handle Animal. With sufficient Charisma or a trait to change it to a class skill your DM might well let you use it to get a Griffon. They have a listed price, but it's implied that they're intelligent enough that buying a trained one is a bit like slavery. Pull a thorn out of its paw or something and make it your friend. It's only a 5HD creature so not as future-proof as an Animal Companion or Bonded Mount, but it's better than a standard horse.
Hippogriffs are slightly simpler. You can buy a trained one for 5000gp or an egg for 200g. Owning one is not unethical. They fly and have 3HD. Not bad, all in all.
Depends what you mean by "remain useful." You can generally obtain a horse or a riding dog early enough, which will always provide you the very handy service of traveling vast distances at a pretty significant speed. True, past a certain level they die if you look at them funny, but it generally isn't that hard to keep them out of trouble. Just dismount a safe distance away from trouble when you expect it and proceed on foot, or failing that, dismount as soon as trouble starts, send the horse fleeing, and hunt it down later. I'm near the end of a Kingmaker campaign where two or three of the six PCs are still riding the horses they picked up in the very first session, and two more would be if they hadn't gotten animal companions along the way.
If, on the other hand, you want something with HP that scales with your level that you can safely ride into combat, seriously just take levels in one of the classes that gets an animal companion. It's a major class feature and it's kinda like you're asking for a way to cast spells without being some kind of magic user.
Which isn't to say it's off the table. Figurines of wondrous power, wands of summon nature's ally, you can totally get disposable mounts you can run into the ground, and keep even something with garbage AC and around 14 HP around for a shockingly long time with enough ranks in ride and the mounted combat feat.
Leadership and feats like others have listed make the most sense. If you find a way to "get one for free," expect DM veto pronto.
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You could use Figurines of Wondrous Power, although you might need several for a full week's overland travel. I don't think they stay combat-capable forever, but if combat breaks out you can easily stow them away.
The Phantom Steed spell is a bit fragile, but it does reach a speed of 100 and travel across all manner of difficult terrain. And normal animals don't attack the steed. It's good for fast overland travel.
You can train animals. The DC to tame a wild animal (like a mammoth) depends on its HD, so if you want a strong mount you'll have to invest heavily in Handle Animal. And occasionally you need to upgrade to something bigger.
As a related query: Is there any way other than Hosteling armor enchantments to bring a large animal like a flying mount with you when adventuring?
Hosteling armor allows a creature of equal size to yours to be stored in light or medium armor, or one size larger in heavy armor. So you cannot carry your mount in light or medium armor.
I ask because it'd be pretty useful for mundane classes to be able to produce a Griffon or Hippogriff whenever they need access to flying. There are alternatives, but having a full-sized Griffon jump out of your armor is pretty neat.
Hosteling armor allows a creature of equal size to yours to be stored in light or medium armor, or one size larger in heavy armor. So you cannot carry your mount in light or medium armor.
You could always carry (but not actually use) a +1 hosteling tower shield in order to "carry/store" your mount if you are playing a mounted character without heavy armor.
A + 1 Hosteling Tower shield is indeed an idea. They're a bit expensive at 8500gp+, heavy too. I might just abandon my Griffon-in-a-box concept and aim for Celestial armor.
A rather effective way of having an impressive mount is to take leadership and see if your GM allows you to have a synthesis summoner as a cohort. Build the eidolon as a quadruped, with pounce and lots of natural attacks. You can even get it to fly, eventually.
Or play the summoner and get a rider as the cohort.
There's an interesting guide to using Handle Animal found here.
It's pretty in detail on obtaining, rearing and training animals including unusual mounts. These are largely mundane animals with increasing HD making the checks to rear the animal more difficult. You could technically get hold of a Tyrannosaur or Roc as a mount if your GM is feeling permissive. You'd probably need to spend a fair amount of in-character time with it though, and roleplay it too.
You are correct Andrew R, domestication is more a multi-generational process than something you can achieve in 3 hours a day, when you're not adventuring. Handle Animal does allow you to rear and train wild animals though, which is not unknown. If your character is of a sufficient lifespan maybe you could domesticate the cubs a generation or two down the line ;)
- You could use a flying carpet.
- Or craft a simulacrum of a mount, and keep replacing it with a bigger and better one.
- Ditto for an undead creature.
- Or transmute a regular horse.