Looking to build a (most likely human) cavalier who follows Gorum. Any suggestions on what order would fit best with Gorum?
Also are there any character traits that fit well with Gorum?
From my understanding Gorum is a CN god of battle, so chances are you'd want to play someone with a "might makes right" mentality. Maybe a more martial-minded robin hood type of character, or one that works as a mercenary who lends his muscle to whoever is willing to pay him the most coin. Perhaps someone trying to find some powerful legendary weapon and willing to do whatever is necessary to get it?
If you're talking about traits from a mechanical perspective, Gorum's worshipers gain access to the veteran of battle trait, so you could focus on getting high initiative and making swift opening attacks against enemies before they can even react to your presence while being able to quickly counter surprise attacks made against your party.
Knight errant strikes me as the most fitting for a chaotic cavalier since they choose their own edicts, but a few that also strike me as fitting would be beast, cockatrice, hammer, and sword.
Looking to build a (most likely human) cavalier who follows Gorum. Any suggestions on what order would fit best with Gorum?
Most militant orders will be okay - if battle is the main thing in your life, Gorum is a good patron deity no matter what your other beliefs are. I can see dragon for a more team-oriented cavalier, perhaps the leader or champion of a mercenary band. Cockatrice is good for a more selfish, "I am the greatest" warrior focusing on personal glory. Order of the Flame is great for a warrior who wants to lose himself in battle and crush the enemy or die trying.For a more unusual (and likely CG) type, you can also go with order of the shield - Gorum despises those who fight unfairly, so a Gorumite might want to ensure that everyone who intends to pick on farmers or old wives get a REAL fight at his/her hands.
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Cavaliers are awesome in campaigns where you're not spending most of your time underground. Be sure to talk to your GM about it.
Also, consider this book for some cool ideas.
As weird as it sounds, small sized cavaliers are the way to go. Your mount can go anywhere your medium sized friends can go. My personal favorite is Halfling with the Order of the Paw. Doubling up on the damage bonuses from Power Attack and Risky Striker makes up for your below average starting Strength.
Cavaliers are awesome in campaigns where you're not spending most of your time underground. Be sure to talk to your GM about it.
If bringing your mount places is going to be an issue in the campaign, you could always go with one of the archetypes that replaces the mount with something else. Unless you're really attached to having a mount, then yeah, a small sized character is the way to go.
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Which is why you need to talk to your GM. When I played a cavalier (not a small one) I made sure to consult my GM about it so that together we could work out a way for me to play exactly the PC I wanted in a way that was fun for everyone.
It's just a bee in my bonnet - I get a little exasperated at the idea that only Halflings and Gnomes are allowed to be cavaliers.
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Narrow Frame solves a lot of issues for large mounts.
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How I decide to play a Cavalier.
I say to the DM: "The book says more exotic mounts can be accepted by the DM. Can I have a Giant Gecko for my halfling?"
If the answer is Yes. I roll with Order of the Sword and enjoy never getting off my mount willingly and Bring destruction to my foes.
If the answer is no:
I then see if the Campaign is mount friendly....if not I just go with another class. I know Wrath of the Righteous and kingmaker is very mount friendly even to large mounts like war horses.
If the AP is not mount friendly I look to the samurai or an archetype without a focus on mount....or just choose another class altogether.
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I like also , horse lord with monstrous mount, worg, for a spring attack x3 damage, crit for x5.
And.... Furian, I like dogs as well... They can enter a queen court, inn and anywhere.
They are not bad at all..I just prefer the Gecko because it can go anywhere as well. Walls, Ceilings, Inns, canyons, cliffs. If I meet resistance a good bluff/intimidate check gets him in or the problem I have been summoned to fix just will go undone. Yet I play a bit strong armed at times.
The Gecko is sort of my signature in Pathfinder lol. Most people who have played with me knows when my character is on a gecko I plan to wreck things.
Oh, no, I didn't mean a small sized cavalier was the only option. Just that if the GM is running an AP or adventure that's less friendly to mounts and isn't willing or able to rework things a bit, it might be easier to go with an archetype or a smaller character.
Or you could always take undersized mount. But I suppose that defeats the purpose of taking a human if you're just going to use that bonus feat to ride a medium mount, huh? At least then you'll still get 2d6 instead of 1d10 on your greatsword.
Or you could always take undersized mount. But I suppose that defeats the purpose of taking a human if you're just going to use that bonus feat to ride a medium mount, huh? At least then you'll still get 2d6 instead of 1d10 on your greatsword.
The Human is also getting a strength bonus rather than a penalty like any small race would get (besides the wayang but they come with a wisdom penalty which may actually be worse).
undersize mount has many issues:
1. out side of golden axe game, it look silly.
2. without magic, your mount cant carry you, especially with heavy armors.also, small have +1 to hit, yes the STR is lower - but the damage is enough.
also - charisma bonus, other than skills, open eldritch heritage - to even the STR score or risky striker etc.
The former issue honestly is kind of a non-issue. I honestly think it'd be cool to ride a wolf into battle as a human from a berserker tribe (which I'd fully expect out of a worshiper of Gorum).
However, you are right that there's a lot of other issues to riding an undersized mount. Medium quadrupeds have half the carrying capacity of a large quadruped with equivalent strength (for example, a worg or boar, the strongest medium creatures one could use as a cavalier mount outside of animals specifically approved by a DM, have 17 Str and a carrying capacity of 129/259/390 lbs., whereas a light horse, with a point less Str at 16, can carry 228/459/690; their medium load capacity is more than a worg's or boar's heavy load capacity.
This could potentially be mitigated with the cut your losses feat, give them barding with the burdenless quality, casting ant haul on them, having the mount wear a heavyload belt and/or [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/m-p/muleback-cords]muleback cords converted for quadrupedal use.
But if you're going to go through that trouble, why not do the same for a draft horse? Combining burdenless barding, ant haul/heavyload belt, and muleback cords (ignoring the cut your losses feat since I don't believe that would stack with muleback cords), you'd get to count the mount's strength as +8 for carrying capacity from the muleback cords and the carrying capacity would be further multiplied by 4.5 (half again from burdenless barding, triple from ant haul/heavyload belt). At 20th, a heavy horse that takes strength for all of its ability increases would have 30 strength naturally, so it's effective carry weight strength would be 38, and counting all bonuses, it'd be able to carry 21,600/43,200/64,800 lbs. That's over 21 tons as a light load. If I'm wrong about the way strength stacks for this and you'd benefit from cut your losses as well, you could advance its strength to 40 for carry weight, letting it carry 28,800/57,600/86,400 lbs. This emmer effer could be carting a full-sized trebuchet around for you if you were so inclined. Granted this is probably something that'll never get achieved in most games to full capacity, but even just a burdenless haramaki or padded cloth armor and/or a wand of ant load could be enough, especially later in levels.
Amending my above statements regarding maximizing potential carrying capacity. I was wrong about the belt, as quadrupedal creatures typically can only wear a saddle in their belt slots. However, I also failed to take Horseshoes of Great Burden into account. This means all the numbers I stated above would be doubled, as we're applying the effects of a burdenless haramaki/padded barding (1.5x carry weight), muleback cords (+8 Str to carry weight calculation), the ant haul spell (3x carry weight), and horseshoes of great burden (2x carry weight). So a creature with 30 Str would effectively have 38 Str for the purpose of determining its carrying capacity, then have that multiplied 9 times over.
Cavalier is still a full BAB class that can add level to damage, so they're not suddenly rendered junk when not mounted - even if it's annoying how mount-centered they are. Chain Challenge makes a huge difference, and Greater Tactician can be pretty effective.
The fact that Order of the Dragon gives an attack bonus makes it pretty great on a basic level, and Strategy is awesome for starting combat by granting everyone including yourself one immediate-action move at some point during a combat. It can work well for a "warrior company" kind of CN ethos that says "my allies to the end, the hell with everything else".
21000 pounds would be 10.5 tons, by the way. But yeah that's one badass horse.