Putting together a halfling cavalier.

[Jasevaati Hskori]

Last session our group played a 4-7 module and had some serious issues putting down the BBEG. We don't have a reliable fawk-you-and-your-little-dog-too kinda guy and I want to fill that gap, so I'm currently looking at a halfling gendarme/beast rider cavalier.

I have enough chronicle sheets from playing pregens lying around that I'm probably gonna do one more session and then start at level 5 and here's what I'm currently looking at;

Oliver Cates, halfling cavalier (5) Order of the Sword

Str: 19 (16 +1 at level 4 + belt of giant's strength)
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 10
Cha: 9

Feats:

1: Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack (Gendarme BF)
3: Spirited Charge
5: Power Attack, Wheeling Charge (Gendarme BF)

Gear:

Masterwork lance
Rhino hide armor
Belt of giant's strength +2

All of this lines up to give me (!!!) 1d6x3 + 36 + 2d6 damage on a charge...at level 5. That's 41-66 damage. If I slap on my Order of the Sword challenge that's another 21 (5, +2 for order of the sword, tripled for spirited charge) flat damage, which brings it to 62-87 damage. And if I decide to pounce with my mount, I get another 1d6+2 + four 1d4+2 attacks, for a total of 15-32 extra damage if all attacks hit. So if I roll incredibly well, that's 77-119 damage on a charge...at level 5. That's without any spells or assistance from allies.

So basically I'm going to eat bosses for breakfast while having virtually no out of combat use.

Any suggestions or tweaks? I'm probably going to take Risky Striker at 7, but I'm open for other suggestions or ideas on gear and feats following that.

[Secret Wizard]

Why not go with a larger race? Should strain your stats much less.

[Jasevaati Hskori]

Mount for a medium sized race is going to be large, unless I burned a feat on undersized mount, which is something I really don't want to do. Normal sized mounts are a pain to get around in dungeons with. Plus I love halflings flavorwise.

[Secret Wizard]

1. Hussar archetype makes it easier to move with whatever mount. It also gives a lot of skill economy, as you can just have your mount take ranks in stuff like Acrobatics or Climb and such since it gives you those ranks for free when you mount it.

2. Actually, you don't need Undersized Mount. All it does is remove the weird mount penalty (which is -5 to Ride if I'm not mistaken). What you need is a way to pick a Medium sized mount as a Medium dude... my way to do this is to take Monstrous Mount and get a Worg. Worgs are medium, have a ton of STR to bear your weight, and have extra abilities that justify the feat expenditure. You need to be TN to pick them though.

3. As for your loving Halflings, whelp, not much I can say to counteract that. Keep in mind your dude needs to come from Lastwall for Wheeling Charge.

[Jasevaati Hskori]

Hussar doesn't get its juicy bits til 9th level, which leaves me four levels until I can squeeze. Plus it'd mean giving up the gendarme archetype and thus dropping power attack and wheeling charge for some garbage teamwork feats (also the reason I looked right past horselord, despite the fact that that'd get me triple damage scimitar charges...the critfishing would be insane.)

Monstrous mount is an option I'll consider if I do go human. I still adore the idea of being a tiny charger though (and it's honestly terrific mechanically as well, outrider/adaptable luck racial traits are golden and halflings have exclusive access to risky striker for even more ridiculous damage.)

I somehow completely missed that it was a local feat. I'll rewrite the relevant tidbits of my backstory. Thanks for the pointer mate.

[Jasevaati Hskori]

So no one asked for this but just in case a fellow newbie happens to stumble across this thread, I'm going to put out some more DPR math because it's simply astounding what this build is going to be capable of.

Approximate DPR for level 5 is in the top post (although you can add another potential 15 to the mount's attacks since, thanks to the mounted challenge feature that the mount gets, it'll be adding 1/2 of the rider's cavalier's challenge bonus to its attacks at 7 divided by 2 = 3.5, rounded down to 3, multiplied by 5 attacks)

Now since we're level 7 let's say we decided to do the optimal think and grab a deinonychus. Deinonychus has pounce and nastier attacks than the lion, + it'll be medium, not large like the lion thanks to its size increase at level 7. Let's also say we were able to afford a +1 lance and took Risky Striker as our level 7 feat.

So now we get...

Rider's lance attack w/ spirited charge (1d6x3 + 39 + 27 + 2d6) assuming no buffs from the party, which comes to 71-96 damage at a +15 to hit If the foe is size large or bigger, risky striker adds another 12 flat damage, bringing us to 83-108 damage at a +13 to hit.

Now the deinonychus, which has pounce, gets 5 attacks (bite, two claws, and two talons) at (1d6+6, 1d4+6, 1d8+6) all at +9 to hit since it's charging, AND it gets to tack another flat 4 damage on each attack since it benefits from half the damage bonus of the cavalier's charge. That's 1d6+10, 2d4+20, 2d8+20 damage on top of the 83-108 we just did. If we were EXTRA nasty, we got the deinonychus its own set of rhino hide, which adds another 2d6 damage to each attack, or another 10d6 total.

So the math on that would bring us to another 65-195 extra damage. Now let's say (fixing to research this) that rhino hide only adds a flat 2d6 on a charge, and not one for each attack, so knock 8d6 off that potential. That'll bring us down to 57-147 more damage, for a grand total, between mount and rider, of 140-255 damage on a charge, AT LEVEL SEVEN.

If some of those attacks start critting? (Seems incredibly likely rolling six attacks a round) then it goes even higher.

I mean seriously. What the hell. Actual on-table damage is going to be significantly lower since obviously not all attacks are going to hit, so I'm going to spit out a number and say it knocks it down to the 100-180 damage range. Stil crazy.

[Secret Wizard]

Jasevaati Hskori wrote:

Hussar doesn't get its juicy bits til 9th level, which leaves me four levels until I can squeeze. Plus it'd mean giving up the gendarme archetype and thus dropping power attack and wheeling charge for some garbage teamwork feats (also the reason I looked right past horselord, despite the fact that that'd get me triple damage scimitar charges...the critfishing would be insane.)

Wait, I don't get it. Both Hussar and Horselord trade the garbage teamwork feats for good stuff. Why are you discarding them?

[Zedorland]

I would recommend sticking to halfling, the shenanigans to get to medium size on a medium mount is too much effort.

I would also recommend dropping you strength a bit, it will give you so much more defence and utility to run something along the lines of:

16 (14)
12 (14)
14
12
14
7 (9)

Your will save is going to be terrible otherwise, and without iron will you will end up a liability to the party in some scenarios, or just out of it for the fight. Also, more skill points is nice.

[Secret Wizard]

No, no, no. With Cavs, you go with 10 WIS and pump CHA to then pick up Steadfast Personality.

[Zedorland]

Eh, steadfast personality is nice where the charisma is already high, maybe, but the only thing a cavalier might want charisma for, apart from social skills (which are nice, admittedly) is chain challenge.

Even if he bumped his charisma to 14 (which would cost 6 points in either build, after racial modifier) it would still be worse than iron will, which gives a flat +2 to all will saves. Having 12 wisdom and iron will is better than 16 charisma and steadfast personality.

[Zedorland]

Additionally, steadfast personality protects from none of the following (some of these will not affect a halfling, but i got tired of adding new filters):

Spell like abilities:
Innumerable auras, areas, unique abilities and non mind affecting abiltiies

Hexes:
Slumber
Evil eye
misfortune

Spells:
Analyze Dweomer
Banishment
Bestow Curse
Bleed
Chill Metal
Chill Touch
Command Plants
Command Undead
Control Plants
Control Undead
Death Knell
Dimension Door
Discern Lies
Dismissal
Halt Undead
Harm
Heat Metal
Imprisonment
Inflict Light Wounds
Inflict Critical Wounds
Inflict Critical Wounds, Mass
Inflict Light Wounds, Mass
Inflict Moderate Wounds
Inflict Moderate Wounds, Mass
Inflict Serious Wounds
Inflict Serious Wounds, Mass
Magic Jar
Magic Mouth
Plane Shift
Sanctuary
Seeming
Sequester
Shatter
Delay Pain
Slow
Aboleth's Lung
Teleport
Teleport, Greater
Undetectable Alignment
Veil
Baleful Polymorph
Mark of Blood
Cast Out
Crafter's Curse
Ghostbane Dirge
Ghostbane Dirge, Mass
Jester's Jaunt
Nature's Exile
Oracle's Burden
Sculpt Corpse
True Form
Unwilling Shield
Anticipate Peril
Curse, Major
Kalistocrat's Nightmare
Disfiguring Touch
Forced Quiet
Ice Crystal Teleport
Imbue with Aura
Interplanetary Teleport
Mad Hallucination
Marionette Possession
Share Memory
Utter Contempt
Bite the Hand
Bite the Hand, Mass
Eldritch Conduit
False Future
Hostile Juxtaposition
Hostile Juxtaposition, Greater
Hostile Levitation
Negative Reaction
Summoner Conduit
Twisted Space
Parasitic Soul
Soul Transfer
Black Spot
Malediction
Severed Fate
Unravel Destiny
Black Mark
Old Salt's Curse
Veil Of Heaven
Wind Blades
Undine's Curse
Shadow Anchor
Project Weakness
Detect Relations
Telepathic Censure
Bleed Glory
Mythic Severance
Steal Power
Share Skin, Greater
Carrion Compass
Undeath Inversion
Early Judgment
Misdirection
Spell Scourge
Touch Of Bloodletting
Tracking Mark
Unwelcome Halo
Mathematical Curse
Bestow Curse, Greater
Sculpt Sound
Shadow Walk
Curse Of Burning Sleep
Dimensional Bounce
Hex Vulnerability
Mark Of Obvious Ethics
Spellcrash, Lesser
Spellcrash, Greater
Spellcrash
Isolate
Spellsteal
Twisted Futures
Disrupt Link
Empathy Conduit
Alter Summoned Monster
Body Double
Calm Spirit
Entrap Spirit
Ethereal Envelopment
Mind Thrust II
Mind Thrust III
Mind Thrust IV
Mind Thrust V
Mind Thrust VI
Possession
Possession, Greater
Purge Spirit
Riding Possession
Respectful Quiet
Quell Energy
Pesh Vigor
Secret Sign
Curse Of Keeping
Shadowmind
Mydriatic Spontaneity
Mydriatic Spontaneity, Mass
Baleful Shadow Transmutation
Masochistic Shadow
Shadow Trap
Shadowform
Umbral Infusion
Umbral Infusion, Mass
Build Trust
Foster Hatred
Conditional Curse
Deceitful Veneer
Illusion Of Treachery
Illusion Of Treachery, Greater
Open Book
Red Hand Of The Killer
They Know
Treacherous Teleport
Phasic Challenge
Spellcurse
Alaznist's Jinx
Flexile Curse
False Vision, Greater
Itching Curse

[Secret Wizard]

Gotta admit, I hate when people cast Command Plants on my Cavalier.

[Zedorland]

A sudden attack of hay fever as plants nearby hurl pollen in your general direction.

Also, i just noticed the spell "They Know" in that list.

What a delightful name for a spell. Very ominous.

[HyperMissingno]

Yeah, will saves are no joke. Even if the GM has a "no save or die" policy like myself you're still risking a -12 to attack rolls if they bring out a bad touch oracle, and that's only in two rounds.