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It depends a lot on who you play With. Some GMs will not let you bring your mount/animal companion anytime they can feasibly make an excuse to disallow them. Sorry, no room on the boat, sorry can only teleport 6 people, sorry your horse isn't going to fit down this narrow staircase into the dungeon, etc.
I find this is often directly proportional to the amount of power gaming that is common in the group. GMs whose experience is that their PCs walk through everything without a scratch will banhammer the hardest in an attempt to make the scenario more challenging. GMs whose experience is their PCs often struggle to succeed will happily allow you to take your horse into the dungeon.Apart from that, pfs has a lot more social scenarios and indoor scenarios then greyhawk did. You will find yourself attending dinner parties, libraries, etc. Where animals are clearly not going to be allowed in by the proprietors.
I have mulled with the idea of making a druid that wildshapes into a tiger, with and AC ape with boosted int so it can take the mounted combat feats and ride the druid in to battle.
My mounted character gets around this by being a paladin. "Oh? My dog can't travel with us? That's fine, I'll call her to my side when we get there."
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Hostelling armor and scrolls of Carry Companion or Reduce Animal are great options as well.
During one underground adventure the GM said I had to leave my Spinosaurus outside (even though it had Narrow Frame and ranks in Escape Artist). I knew he didn't like Animal Companions anyways, so I obliged him.
His plan backfired when the heavily wounded BBEG tried to flee, only to find a very hungry dinosaur blocking his escape route.
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Hostelling armor and scrolls of Carry Companion or Reduce Animal are great options as well.
During one underground adventure the GM said I had to leave my Spinosaurus outside (even though it had Narrow Frame and ranks in Escape Artist). I knew he didn't like Animal Companions anyways, so I obliged him.
His plan backfired when the heavily wounded BBEG tried to flee, only to find a very hungry dinosaur blocking his escape route.
Just in case you weren't aware, Spinosaurus is no longer a legal option, and hasn't been for many months now.
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My cohort Paladin rode our pounce-kitty Synthesist Summoner. This generally ended up as us being her sidekicks....
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Summoner is great to get around the issue of navigating odd environments or social situations - dismiss them, then either normally summon them when you get to your destination, or use Summon Eidolon if you get ambushed. At least classic summoners - Unchained Summoner's shoehorning does a fantastic job of screwing up the concept with how narrowly they permitted the Mount evolution.
Although my wolfish Eidolon is actually better in social situations than the summoner. The summoner likes to hit things with a pointy stick and dodge taking baths. The Eidolon is quite polite, well groomed, well spoken, and able to converse on topics relating to the legal system (max ranks and class skill in Profession: Barrister). The only real problems are the shedding and her fascination with climbing on cushy furniture (she *knows* what Down means, she just doesn't care, and Pharasma help anyone who tries to boop her on the nose with a newspaper for it).
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now that undersized mount is out there I am surprised we have not seen more. My cavalier uses that and has never had an in scenario issue.
Undersize mount doesn't actually allow a Medium sized cavalier to select a Medium mount via the mount class feature. The available mounts are limited to what is in the class, and Undersize Mount doesn't change that.
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I started an FAQ thread here for the undersized mount feat.It got a little attention but nothing ever became of it.
I saw a bunch of people getting one particular special mount/companion when that series of PFS scenarios came out a few years ago.
Other than that, it tends to go in bunches. I think people say to themselves, "You know I haven't seen anyone run a mounted character in quite a while. I'll make one of those so I can be different." So you get a few started at the same time.
Other people see how much work they are (and how badly some people play them) and say to themselves, "Ugh! That's not for me." Then no more of them get started for awhile.
Rinse and repeat.
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now that undersized mount is out there I am surprised we have not seen more. My cavalier uses that and has never had an in scenario issue.Undersize mount doesn't actually allow a Medium sized cavalier to select a Medium mount via the mount class feature. The available mounts are limited to what is in the class, and Undersize Mount doesn't change that.
While it doesn't currently help most cavaliers, it does help some others.
It is a nice option for rangers, druids, hunters, and summoners that want to ride their pets.Also I believe 1 cavalier archtype can select other mounts.
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I and a Friend of mine enjoy playing our half-orc cavaliers on a semi-regular basis...
We are both Order of the Hammer, and ran with a hammer theme for our non mounted weapons. Earthbreaker, light hammers for throwing etc. (We have been nicknamed the Hammer Bros.)
If you play a character with a Large mount (And I only know a couple of ways for a medium cavalier to have a medium size mount in PFS play) Animal Archive is a big help, the Narrow Frame feat is an almost must have, and multiple cavaliers *MUST* have Cavalry Formation from UC.
I would also point out, mounted characters get a bad rep in some areas because of the way some are played.
Some of them will do nearly nothing until everyone else manages to provide them with an open charge lane through to the big guy. Won't shoot, won't attack something else, won't protect the squishies, they just keep telling everyone else to get out of the way and kill any foe in the way. Then if they do get the charge they wanted, they crow about their awesome damage total until the next fight.
They are certainly not all like that, but it only takes a few for that to stick in your mind along with the idea that "I don't want people to think of me like that."
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I would also point out, mounted characters get a bad rep in some areas because of the way some are played.
Some of them will do nearly nothing until everyone else manages to provide them with an open charge lane through to the big guy. Won't shoot, won't attack something else, won't protect the squishies, they just keep telling everyone else to get out of the way and kill any foe in the way. Then if they do get the charge they wanted, they crow about their awesome damage total until the next fight.
They are certainly not all like that, but it only takes a few for that to stick in your mind along with the idea that "I don't want people to think of me like that."
It also depends on how restrictive/annoying the GM is with the charge rules. Some say you absolutely have to go to the closest square to the bad guy, but depending on the size of the bad guy that can negate how ride-by attack works. With ride-by attack, most GMs I know will let you pick a straight line to ride that as long as you can make an attack against said bad guy somewhere along that line, they're fine with it.
... of course, Wheeling Charge makes that bit a whole lot easier.
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...of course, Wheeling Charge makes that bit a whole lot easier.
You'd think it would, but I've seen (and encountered on the forums) GMs that believe Wheeling Charge doesn't work, though I cannot immediately recall their arguments (or I simply handwaved them as extreme interpretations of the text).
If a GM is adamantly against the idea of mounted combat, then no amount of character options or rules clarifications will help you anyways.
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Small character on a medium sized flying Animal Companion with Wheeling Charge, Indomitable Mount, and alot more shenanigans negated all of the issues you described Daniel. I was even able to act as a party taxi as needed with Muleback Cords and Ant Haul. My attack was often a V shaped dive bomb, almost always granting me the high ground bonus to attack.
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I've actually never had any of the experiences I described, but being a VL and somewhat active I've heard of most of the GMs who are for whatever reason extremely restrictive over mounts.
My mounted character has quite the reputation as a wrecking ball, but I've tended to play him in games where the bad guys of reknown are evil outsiders or evil dragons, which currently puts his base charging + smiting damage at 105 (before rolling dice or casting any litany spells).
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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Small character on a medium sized flying Animal Companion with Wheeling Charge, Indomitable Mount, and alot more shenanigans negated all of the issues you described Daniel. I was even able to act as a party taxi as needed with Muleback Cords and Ant Haul. My attack was often a V shaped dive bomb, almost always granting me the high ground bonus to attack.
I'm sure somebody will chime in to tell me how wrong I am :)
IMO I don't think that you can charge up while flying, as you can only go at half speed.
You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement (such as difficult terrain or obstacles). You must move to the closest space from which you can attack the opponent. If this space is occupied or otherwise blocked, you can't charge. If any line from your starting space to the ending space passes through a square that blocks movement, slows movement, or contains a creature (even an ally), you can't charge. Helpless creatures don't stop a charge.
Check: You generally need only make a Fly check when you are attempting a complex maneuver. Without making a check, a flying creature can remain flying at the end of its turn so long as it moves a distance greater than half its speed. It can also turn up to 45 degrees by sacrificing 5 feet of movement, can rise at half speed at an angle of 45 degrees, and can descend at any angle at normal speed.
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Michael, I am not the expert here, but I would say the exception is written right in the fly skill:
Check: You generally need only make a Fly check when you are attempting a complex maneuver. Without making a check, a flying creature can remain flying at the end of its turn so long as it moves a distance greater than half its speed. It can also turn up to 45 degrees by sacrificing 5 feet of movement, can rise at half speed at an angle of 45 degrees, and can descend at any angle at normal speed.....Taking any action that violates these rules requires a Fly check. The difficulty of these maneuvers varies depending upon the maneuver you are attempting, as noted on the following chart.
My reading is that flying up at full speed "violates these rules" and therefore requires a fly check. The next problem is that this circumstance is not set out in the chart that follows. Looking at the DC's I suggest a DC 20 fly check. An argument could also be made that since it is not included in the chart it is not possible at all. However that is not the way I GM.
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I don't see how movement is hindered if you're flying up at 30 as opposed to walking along at 20
I'd say that this might apply, since you have to move at half speed:
If any line from your starting space to the ending space passes through a square that blocks movement, slows movement, or contains a creature (even an ally), you can't charge.
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Redward, by your logic, wearing medium or heavy armor prevents charging. Is this also true? Moving through a square with my medium armor on is reducing my movement by 10 feet.
The square is not impeding movement in that case. My logic is that vertical space is essentially difficult terrain since it halves movement. In the same way that Grease impedes a charge despite not explicitly being difficult terrain.