1) What are the best ways to keep your mount alive?
2) Is a small ranger riding his animal companion just as sturdy as any other class's mounts? (after boon companion)
3) What about a sohei?
4) What's the major differences between an animal companion from a ranger and a mount (that you presumably have to buy) for the sohei monk?
PS: although i'm mentioning ranger and sohei (because those are the ones im considering playing) do say if they lag behind other classes mounts.
1 - make sure the mount gets buffed too when the communal resist energy comes out, make sure your ride skill is good enough to make mounted combat/trick riding worthwhile, if not playing PFS make sure you have a few cheap defensive items on the mount. Also sometimes you need to get off the mount and let it retreat, don't assume you're glued to its back.
2 - pretty close. Larger mounts are likely to have a slightly higher Con and often more speed, which can help get out of trouble.
3, 4 - past the earliest levels animal companions have enough more hit dice that a bought mount will die more easily, even if the sohei has ki to spare. Which usually they don't; ki does not replenish easily for most monks, and the sohei can't take hungry ghost or drunken master. A bought mount has fixed feats (and less of them) which can make a significant difference. AnCs will often have better stats even starting out and the gap becomes significant at mid levels.
A hunter gets the best animal companion, a druid or cleric or sylvan sorcerer is the best at buffing theirs, and there are some weird things out there like a bloodrager or eldritch guardian fighter riding a mauler familiar, or a barbarian with a mount which rages with them. A ranger isn't necessarily worse than those last two but being weirder often lets you be better in PF.
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I gave up. Now I just use the mount/ communal mount to conjure disposable horses.
5) Rearrange this sentence: "the section mounted combat covered in"
6) Do i need to use a saddle for my animal companion/familiar mount?
7) Does the mauler familiar lag behind in terms of survivability when used as a mount?
Edit: Totally haven't edited this post. :)
5) covered in the mounted combat section.
6) no but it's a good idea
7) depends on build but usually not.
Just to confirm before I spend ages making a build, mauler familiars are definitely legal to be used as mounts in PFS?
(i could make this a question in the PFS / rules section, but while its on topic...)
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At low levels a good purchased mount can be a lot more survivable than an Animal Companion. A bison (or yak, if you want the same stats but for less gp) has 5 HD (42 hit points) and better Ability Scores than an Animal Companion will ever have (Strength 27, Constitution 19, AC 17 before any barding is added). A basic yak costs 24gp, a bison trained for riding costs 50gp, and a combat-trained bison costs 75gp. Once you have 2,000 to 3,000gp spare, upgrade to a woolly rhinoceros (8 Hit Dice, 76 hit points, AC 19 before barding, Strength 28, Constitution 21) or something (a mastoden has 14 Hit Dice and 133 hit points - and Golarion sports an entire country based on riding the things!). Purchased mounts are mostly seen as a poor choice due to sentimentality - players like to have one loyal mount they ride for their entire adventuring careers. As long as your chosen mount has enough hit points to not die instantly, it can be healed up... just like any other living thing in the party.
Jeez, you can be level 1 with a combat bison for only 75gp?!
Is that pfs legal?!
PS: still want to know if using familiars as a mount is confirmed pfs legal.
Well, for a halfling, the Barbarian makes a good mount.
For the summoner, Succubi make great mounts.
For the more common purchased mounts, consider that they are quite cheap. If you loose one, you can easily buy another. You only have a problem if you want the mount to be an additional combatant. They are not designed for that, and it takes a lot of magic to buff them a sufficient amount to last in a boss fight. So don't get attacked to purchased mounts. They die too quick, and are easy and cheap to buy another.
/cevah
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Hah! Just checked my copy of People of the North, and it turns out that a combat-trained mammoth (same as a mastodon) is only 2,250gp (and a 'mammoth goad' which gives you +2 on your Handle Animal checks to control the thing is only 5gp). So, even cheaper than a combat-trained woolly rhino... That's less than a quarter of your WBL by level 5 for a 14 HD huge-sized beast with 34 Strength and 21 AC... Compared with your average Animal Companion or Familiar, I'd think that keeping it alive wouldn't be an issue...
... fitting it into a dungeon? Now that could be tricky...
8) Are level 1 characters with bison mounts pfs legal?
9) Is using familiars as mounts pfs legal?
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This PFS legal stuff list suggests that you can indeed buy yourself a bison (it's from page 14 of the Animal Archive, which is on the list as legal) - but I'm not a PFS player, so someone may want to clarify (PFS stuff gets weird...).
A PC can only purchase an animal, mount, or similar creature if its Challenge Rating is lower than that character's level
Thanks!
Well, if you're good friends with a necromancer, you can get at least one more use out of your mount should your mount meet an unfortunate end.
Good god that's awesome, makes me want to roll up a mounted necromancer. Or are there other ways to get a skeletal mount? ;)