I am curious has anyone tried playing a ranger that uses their animal companion for a mount. I was thinking of using a horse until a large cat or wolf would become large sized then train them as a combat mount. Any experience and advice regarding this idea would be great.
I'd say maybe ... 25% of all rangers do this...., I'd say nearly all small race rangers do it for that very reason ;)
with APG in particular the gnome favoured class ability to grant up to DR10/magic to your mount is pretty nice ability, and since your mount is medium he fits in dungeons just fine.
its a good combo to be sure just be wary your mount is a bit behind the hitdice curve and you'd lose the ability to flank with him if your riding him.
also while riding you only get a standard action, and can't perform full round actions.
otherwise everything that applies to using mounts in combat in general applies. you have some spells which help too.
thxs Phasic
I want people to remember that I can only use the core hand book (that means not APG.) I am also playing the Kingmaker campaign and am wearing medium armor so speed is down. A mount would be a great way to up the speed factor.
if your worried about your speed you can get into mithral medium armor fairly early if its not enchanted for like 4500gold and its considered light armor so your speed goes back to 30
you can also take a level dip in cleric taking the travel domain for a +10 speed boost to negate the armor penalty at the mere cost of 1 level. (in fact I'm building a ranger right now for kingmaker and I'm probably going to take a level of cleric at level 2 for just that reason)
I just read to part where you are saying that while riding you only get a standard action. How does that play in. I guess it would make sense on the move up to the enemy, but a ranger can handle their animal for free so the full attack action would be open.
Are you only talking about this is the animal attacks too?
in a nut shell you animal companion get a full round action you only get a standard even if the animal companion doesn't move or even dose nothing you still only get a standard action , and there's no easy way around that.
Actually the APG has a feat allowing full attacks while mounted. Has high ride skill preq though.
OP can't use APG material
I agree. The 'Move action to control' is for a non-combat-trained mount.
For a combat-trained mount:
"If your mount moves more than 5 feet, you can only make a single melee attack."
This says pretty strongly to me the if your mount does not move more than 5 feet, you can make a full attack.
what do people think of using a lance as a primary weapon for a mounted ranger. It is only a 1d8 weapon but is double dmg for the charge and is x3 for a spirited charge. Does this apply for str bonus and such? Even further it is a two handed weapon so it gives 1.5 str
its probably your best option especially if you combine with vital strike, improvd vital strike and greater vital strike , becuase now you standard attack is doing massive base damage.
you can use it 1handed on a mount so shield is also a good chocie, also have a backup weapon in case you get knocked off
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what do people think of using a lance as a primary weapon for a mounted ranger. It is only a 1d8 weapon but is double dmg for the charge and is x3 for a spirited charge. Does this apply for str bonus and such? Even further it is a two handed weapon so it gives 1.5 strits probably your best option especially if you combine with vital strike, improvd vital strike and greater vital strike , becuase now you standard attack is doing massive base damage.
you can use it 1handed on a mount so shield is also a good chocie, also have a backup weapon in case you get knocked off
An appropriately enchanted and decked out spiked shield can make a mighty nice backup weapon. It also helps with any AoO you might get to make while you are mounted and only threatening at range.
the lance and shield with a back up falchion/scimtar would be nice especially for high level crits. What would people do with the lance when one is under ground and cannot ride. Wait the lance could be attacked to the large wolf mount my ranger could get.
On another note I just love the image of a ranger roaring towards a creature wielding a lance on a snarling heavily armored wolf/cat.
hence alot of mounted character are small and use medium mounts that can fit everywhere.
also riding animals that have the pounce ability means they can full attack on the charge.
