Halfling mounted Archer

Hello everyone I was wanting try my hand at building a small mounted Archer.i know what I know the standard archery feats I need and mounted archery feat as well but is there anymore? And what would be stat allocation I'm was going to use composite longbow and all paizo books are aloud is well.also tips for bow or ammo enchantments would awesome thanks.

What level range are you looking at?

Hello everyone I was wanting try my hand at building a small mounted Archer.i know what I know the standard archery feats I need and mounted archery feat as well but is there anymore? And what would be stat allocation I'm was going to use composite longbow and all paizo books are aloud is well.also tips for bow or ammo enchantments would awesome thanks.

There are a couple of routes you could go.

Please be aware that you can't fire a longbow (composite or otherwise) from horseback. The Mounted feats chain you want is:
Mounted Combat
Mounted Archery
possibly Shot on the Run (or it's mounted equivalent)

Honestly, Mounted Archery is probably optional. There is no penalty at all if your mount just moves, it is only with a double more or a run that the feat does anything for you. Most of the time, a single move is plenty to get you where you want to be.

I was thinking the way to go for Halfling Mounted Archer is to take levels in Fighter with the Eldritch Guardian Archetype. Get a Bat Familiar with the Mauler Archetype. Mauler Familiars grow to Size Medium in Combat, so your Size Small Halfling can then ride it. Now you have a Flying mount. And I don't think you even to make Ride Checks because it is a Familiar, and therefore very intelligent and can talk to it rather than kicking it or pull on reins or anything. You might still have to make Fly Checks.

I was thinking the way to go for Halfling Mounted Archer is to take levels in Fighter with the Eldritch Guardian Archetype. Get a Bat Familiar with the Mauler Archetype. Mauler Familiars grow to Size Medium in Combat, so your Size Small Halfling can then ride it. Now you have a Flying mount. And I don't think you even to make Ride Checks because it is a Familiar, and therefore very intelligent and can talk to it rather than kicking it or pull on reins or anything. You might still have to make Fly Checks.

A bat familiar (like a Dire Bat) tends to have relatively low STR for a mount. That means it's carrying capacity is low, and it's movement is hindered (40 -> 30 for medium load, -> 20 for heavy load?). I looked at that for my Halfling Cavalier, and the Str was 9. 35 LB halfling plus weapon plus armor plus saddlebags had the critter slowed from medium load to heavy load... maybe the medium familiar has higher Str?

A Feather Domain Inquisitor who rides a Giant Gecko is strong.

Geckos have natural spider climb so they can go down into dungeons and run along the ceilings and walls. Helps in scouting and such. The Inquisitor comes with a nice package of SKills, SPells, and Abilities. You can buy a war-trained Gecko for the first bit of your career for cheap then make it your animal companion once it would be medium and you can ride it.

There is also the Beastmaster Ranger which would be a good class to do this style of character with.

Scott Wilhelm wrote:

I was thinking the way to go for Halfling Mounted Archer is to take levels in Fighter with the Eldritch Guardian Archetype. Get a Bat Familiar with the Mauler Archetype. Mauler Familiars grow to Size Medium in Combat, so your Size Small Halfling can then ride it. Now you have a Flying mount. And I don't think you even to make Ride Checks because it is a Familiar, and therefore very intelligent and can talk to it rather than kicking it or pull on reins or anything. You might still have to make Fly Checks.

A bat familiar (like a Dire Bat) tends to have relatively low STR for a mount. That means it's carrying capacity is low, and it's movement is hindered (40 -> 30 for medium load, -> 20 for heavy load?). I looked at that for my Halfling Cavalier, and the Str was 9. 35 LB halfling plus weapon plus armor plus saddlebags had the critter slowed from medium load to heavy load... maybe the medium familiar has higher Str?

That's why you go with a flying fox familiar instead. All the fun of a normal bat, but by level three it has a 16 strength in mauler form, allowing it to carry up to 76 lbs. as a light load. That's more than enough for a mounted halfling. What's more, the flying fox has a glorious 60 ft. fly speed, allowing you to zoom around the battlefield to your heart's content as you rain down death from above. Give it quilted cloth barding to shield against ranged attacks from the ground, and you should be ready to take to the skies!

I've actually made a few bat-riding characters myself. Here's a samsaran bonded witch with Undersized Mount, to cast spells and deliver slumber hexes from the air. And here's a halfling aberrant bloodrager wielding a lance for airborne mounted charges. But going with eldritch guardian for archery is also a solid plan, if you're interested in a flying mount.

There are a couple of routes you could go.

1) Ranged Cavalier, special mount, lot's of mounted feat/order bonuses
2) Mounted Ranger, major archery class support, can get an animal companion
3) Mounted Fighter, lot's of feats - build it yourself
4)I have also heard of an Archer Paladin (but i know nothing of the build).

Please be aware that you can't fire a longbow (composite or otherwise) from horseback.

The Mounted feats chain you want is:

Mounted Combat
Mounted Archery
possibly Shot on the Run (or it's mounted equivalent)

The mounted archer has all the same defensive considerations of a mounted knight, with merely a different style of offense. So, do not neglect Mounted Combat, Indomitable Mount, Boon Companion (if necessary), and so forth.

- - -

halfling 20pt, de-tuned
str 12-
dex 17+
con 12
int 12
wis 12
cha 14+

1. barbarian (Savage Technologist) or Bloodrager (urban)*, Extra Rage
2. cavalier1 or samurai1 (mount)(teamwork feat)
3. fighter1 (weapon master:longbow)(feat: Mounted Combat), Boon Companion
4. fighter2 (any combat feat)
5. fighter3 (weapon training +1), Indomitable Mount
6. paladin1* or cav/sam2 (...or other mount/animal companion classes)

(* Bloodrager if going paladin rather than cavalier)

[Trick: If desiring paladin in a build constructed thus, keep the cavalier1 level at 2nd, then, when later on you're 3rd-level paladin at 8th and about to level to 9th, retrain the cavalier level to paladin, for paladin5 total after leveling. Why the goofing around? -- To get the mount and all associated general feats squared away sooner.]

...the idea here is to ensure a dope ride right away at levels when twinky bows are still unaffordable, then back-fill on the bow feats later after you've plunked down for a +1/Adaptive special-materials bow.

If cavalier, pinch your pennies for a Daikyu of Commanding Presence (that way you be of any archetype, or none, or even a samurai, and get Challenge damage in a ranged weapon).

We'll be starter at level 3 and I might go ranger use a wolf were playing a home brew campaign he said there would be open areas as much as close quarters areas. And would it be worth it to take snap shot feats if I didn't want a melee weapon? I'm going archery style for Archer for free feats and will pick up mounted feats and boon companion.

if you want to go small, halfling is the route, unless your gm approves kobolds and / or goblins.

if you're going halfling, why not consider urban barbarian and a sling?
That said... a gunslinger has more bang.

Snap Shot (Beware the sneaky Paizo wording: the Snap feats only let you take AoOs!) is not as good as Point Blank Master (actually lets you shoot a bow on ordinary attacks without provoking).

But the best way: give your mount Ride by Attack. It'll just move past the opponent's reach, then you shoot when safely past.

You are going to want other weapons; ranged/piercing doesn't work on everything. Sometimes you just want to Power Attack the thing your wolf just tripped, and then hit it again when it tries to stand up. And then hit it a third time when your bardiche's Fortuitous activates.

...That's more of a strong-character option, though. Your halfling will probably have a sizable disparity between strength and dexterity, and it might serve you to mix in some levels (no more than four) of Unchained rogue.

Third level is good for you. I have a couple build suggestions:

1. Luring Cavalier is a brilliant archetype for this. It's a very simple but straightforward archetype that makes it easy to play a mounted archer. If you're new to this combat role, I highly advise taking this route, and ignoring my other class suggestions.
2. If you're playing a martial mounted archer of some kind, a 2 level dip into Sohei Monk is cheesy buy can nab you things like Mounted Skirmisher for free. It's... very cheesy, actually.
3. If that's too cheesy, I actually like 2 levels dip into Dragoon (Fighter archetype) instead. This isn't as game-breaking as Sohei, but you get a lot of bang for your buck.
4. If playing halfling, sling can be a fun option, but it requires having feats to burn. I'd advice playing a Fighter and getting a mount somehow. Spend gold on a mount (meaning buying new mounts as you level), or spend feats on a mount (Nature Soul > Animal Ally > Boon Companion), or take Leadership for an appropriate mount if allowed. All are good options.
5. Carry backup melee weapons just in case, as you're not high enough level to have point blank master. A lance (for charges) is probably wise. A smaller weapon for personal range combat is also wise. And nobody ever regretted carrying a dagger - well, almost never.

Beyond all that... Stat-wise, you want high DEX and high STR. Use a longbow; if a halfling, you can consider a sling + startoss feats as a fun option, but again, that requires a Fighter route (or Warpriest) to make truly effective.

You want Improved Precise Shot sooner than later. You want Mounted Skirmisher, probably, hence why the Sohei dip is so good. You want the mount archetype that increases movement speed (in my opinion at least) so you can always run away from your enemies when necessary.

At low levels, consider the following situations:

1. An enemy moves around a corner, out of sight, and you would have to enter melee range to see them.
2. You need to climb up some steep terrain that a normal mount would normally have difficulty traversing.
3. Your enemy is fighting in melee, has cover, and other conditional effects making it difficult to attack him.
4. Your enemy is hiding in a fog effect, such as Obscuring Mist, and you cannot see him.
5. You have been separated from your mount somehow.

These are all bad situations for a mounted archer. You need to have answers for each of them at low levels. For situation 1, you want a backup melee tactic. Situation 2? There are magical solutions, there's rope (ow), and there's also just having a mount with a climb speed. For situation 3, keep a lance (it's a reach weapon) in case reach is an effective answer, and also try to keep moving to a better shooting angle an option (later you'll have improved precise shot and ignore these problems). 4 can be tricky, because an enemy you can't see is an enemy you can't shoot, and could force you into a melee situation - so, again, have a melee tactic prepared at low levels. And 5 is just a warning to make sure you have decent enough defenses that you aren't mincemeat when separated from your mount.

Hopefully this helps!

Mounted Skirmisher is almost mandatory if you wish to full-attack with melee weapons while astride a moving mount, but it is unnecessary with archery provided your mount has a reasonable speed.

I'd advice playing a Fighter and getting a mount somehow. Spend gold on a mount (meaning buying new mounts as you level), or spend feats on a mount (Nature Soul > Animal Ally > Boon Companion)

That seems horrible compared to going cavalier, saving two feats by getting the animal free. (And archers are ideally suited for the Weapon Master archetype, and so needing only three levels of fighter, four if they want Weapon Specialization too.)

Cavalier also provides Bluff and Diplomacy as class skills (handy if you're a halfling with a Cha bonus, especially since Diplomacy is the second-most rolled skill in the game).

Divine Commander Warpriest

That seems horrible compared to going cavalier, saving two feats by getting the animal free. (And archers are ideally suited for the Weapon Master archetype, and so needing only three levels of fighter, four if they want Weapon Specialization too.)

Which is why I listed, y'know, BUYING the mount before I listed Animal Ally. You'd be surprised how easy it is to just outright purchase a solid mount every few levels. Bonus points if Leadership is allowed, because then you can get a magical beast buddy or the like to serve as your mount AND it scales up as you level.

Animal Ally is a good option if you have more feats to burn (which Fighters do), but I'd sooner just use gold.

With that said, this was mostly me saying "If you want to do halfling and use a sling, go with something that gives tons of feats." Warpriest and Fighter are the ways to go if you do that.

If you're NOT using a sling, then just play a Luring Cavalier or something else, probably. But taking advantage of the sling means Startoss Style feats means you ought to have more feats.

Straight fighters are not particularly adept at controlling animals, because, even with Handle Animal on their class list, they just don't have enough skill points to spread around. If your GM never asks for handling checks, then I guess you can get away with it. If not, it's a pain in the ass dealing with recalcitrant mounts.

- - -

Consider a multiclass cavalier4/fighter4 eight-level "block" that can be plunked into any mounted archery concept. It offers:

* No armor-check penalties while mounted
* Eligible for the Horse Master feat (better than Boon Companion)
* Share a Teamwork with allies up to 60' away (see Vambraces below)
* Weapon Training (via Weapon Master fighter archetype)
* Challenge opponents in melee and at range (see Daikyu below).

Equipment at 8th:
* Gloves of Dueling
* Vambraces of the Tactician
* Champion's Banner
* Daikyu of Commanding Presence

Not counting BAB or any other feats, said character at 8th with that equipment is receiving a +7 bonus to attack and a +15 bonus to damage his Challenge target with archery.

Preface the build with urban or sav-tech to rage-pump Dex, and you're a mobile howitzer.

Straight fighters are not particularly adept at controlling animals, because, even with Handle Animal on their class list, they just don't have enough skill points to spread around. If your GM never asks for handling checks, then I guess you can get away with it. If not, it's a pain in the ass dealing with recalcitrant mounts.

Fair enough - though it's something you can overcome. Assuming Background Skills and a 20 point buy game, you could have 12 INT and thus 5 skill points/level. As a halfling, you get bonuses to dexterity (Ride) and charisma (Handle Animal), so that helps. A halfling fighter under these conditions can make a perfectly fine mounted warrior.

You can also purchase some intelligent mounts. A combat-trained griffon is 8k gold, which IS a big investment especially with magical or masterwork barding added on, but it's a pretty good flying mount. Riding geckos are also worth buying, especially at low levels (Rich Parents at level 1, yo). These and other options are great if you're not taking an animal companion by some means.

Leadership, of course, gives you access to things like blink dogs and pegasi and hell hounds and dragons and unicorns or whatever other mount buddy will work with you. Those all make great cohorts if you can get one. (The blink dog less so - you can't teleport with it - but it's still a good mount.)

But as you've observed, multiclassing is where mounted classes shine. Sohei, Fighter (Dragoon or Drill Sergeant or Weapon Master), Barbarian... All can make awesome dips for a mounted warrior.

Another aside: even if Mounted Skirmisher isn't a feat you want, Sohei is a quick way of getting Trick Riding (the better, bigger brother of Mounted Combat). Being able to ignore lots of Ride checks and ignore two attacks against your mount per round = AWESOME, especially if you can snag a level of Sohei at level 2.

I really kind of wanted to build with a sling staff instead but I seen it was extremely feat intensive I thought.but I like the luring cavalier and maybe dragoon with maybe spear(or glaive) and shield? I'll take power attack for melee and drop snap shot feats.and our gm is not a huge fan of using flying mounts so I try and stay clear of them. can you use slingstaff with luring cavalier? I know about the warslibger trait to get around juggle load I think it is?anyway any extra advice for this gear/feat wise would be cool. I'm not a huge min/maxer I like doing decent damage more than anything I just like to have fun and like the rule of cool too lol.

I noticed no one mentioned the Samurai. They get Mounted Archery and lessen the penalty for it. They get the same limitations as a Cavalier so no flying mounts, sorry.

I noticed no one mentioned the Samurai. They get Mounted Archery and lessen the penalty for it. They get the same limitations as a Cavalier so no flying mounts, sorry.

I really like samurai (and would go so far as to say that they're one of the better martial classes). The advantages of basic cavalier are Tactician and the ability to acquire the Horse Master feat (provided they're not an archetype which forfeits the prerequisite Expert Trainer class feature).

If you aren't interested in sharing Teamwork feats with your mount, and don't plan on more than four non-cavalier multiclass dip-outs, then samurai is arguably better: You get a better grade of melee weapons, and Resolve is a very powerful class feature.

Be sure to take a look at some of the special arrow types in the Alchemy Manual.

I esp. like Raining Arrows and Tangleshot Arrows - and Durable Arrows are a good idea for some Adamantine arrows...