Caleb Neel 567's page

I’m planning on rolling an order of the paw cavalier and wanted to know the rules for changing mount at level 4 from wolf to dog (PFS).

Will I be able to simply declare it or do I need to purchase a level 1 dog and be training it for when I get to level 4 in order to have it have combat training and light armor proficiency?

Or should I just declare from level one my ‘mount’ is a dog and wait for it to advance?

If a small cavalier takes a Pony as the starting mount and has the 'combat trained' as a class feature, would it take the template of the war pony (linked below):

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/horse/pony/pony-w ar/

Or would you still have to wait for the level four advancement for the benefit to be received? Any explanation on this would be helpful!

I’ve been GMing for some friends who are interested in PFS and we want to be able to open up the table to others in the area as we know sessions can be hard to come by, but one concern I would have is that we are a more “immersion” group and love lore as much as action. How much authority does a GM has to enforce the RP side of things?

For example, at my home brew table someone can’t just role a Diplomacy Check,they have to say something (really *anything*) within reason to make the roll to start to make an interaction. This prevents trolling and foster immersion and the “RP” part of Pathfinder. I try to give them equal respect and have in character responses from NPC’s that match the interaction- not simply “you fail.”

I guess in a sense I am asking how much authority the GM has to foster RP at a table.

When we start I intend fully to make that clear to anyone how I run things as a heads up.

For animal companions is their starting HP 16+CON since they start with 2HD?

Or is it 8+5+CON?

Two questions regarding shield spikes:

1) Are a shield and the attached shield spike considered different in their own right for considering enhancements, costs, benefits? So that is to say can you have a standard spike on a masterwork shield, or a spike made of cold steel and a shield made wood?
2) Can you transfer a spike from one shield to another if you get an upgrade (presuming same type: heavy to heavy, light to light?)

RAW do not show the need for a free hand to ‘hold on’ to the mount when making a DC for cover.

I can’t find any clarification on this, and while it would make sense to need a free hand I don’t want to presuppose rules rational that a skilled rider could do it with an arm slung around neck of mount while holding a weapon or shield.