Must a cavalier always take a regular horse as his animal companion, or can they take a heavy horse?
A heavy horse would seem to make sense given that a cavalier is a "knight" type or character that will most likely be wearing heavy armor. I believe the knights of old had to use pretty strong, heavy horses to support them.
However, the rules as written only state "horse" or "camel" for the cavalier.
Thanks!
I don't have the rules in front of me, but are you sure in it saying 'horse', it just doesn't mean a horse in general? A light or heavy horse? I would figure if they were not allowing a heavy warhorse, it would say a 'light' warhorse or camel.
I don't have the rules in front of me, but are you sure in it saying 'horse', it just doesn't mean a horse in general? A light or heavy horse? I would figure if they were not allowing a heavy warhorse, it would say a 'light' warhorse or camel.
Per the APG: "A Medium cavalier can select a camel or a horse. A Small cavalier can select a pony or wolf, but can also select a boar or a dog if he is at least 4th level."
As written, the rules just say "horse". In the Bestiary, there's no entry for heavy horse. Under the horse entry it says you have to apply the Advanced Creature template to a horse to make it a heavy horse. Given how much better a heavy horse is than a regular horse, I don't know why any cavalier would take a regular horse over a heavy horse if they had the option.
The APG rules do also say, "The GM might approve other animals as suitable mounts". But that relies on the kindness of the GM's heart (or evil black heart as the case may be). =)
The cavalier's Animal companion isn't a light horse or a heavy horse. It is an animal companion.
I don't see where is the issue.
Use the rules for a Druid's animal companion. They follow different rules than any other animals in the game.
Use the rules for a Druid's animal companion. They follow different rules than any other animals in the game.
Thanks, Caineach. I see it now. Under the druid class description, down under animal companions, they specifically list the "horse" animal companion and the stats to use for it. Since the cavalier uses the druid's animal companion rules, that is the stats they should use for their horse mount.
A couple things to note though:
It does say under the cavalier that their mount is always considered combat trained, unlike the druid's horse animal companion. And in the Bestiary it does say under the horse description, under the Docile (Ex) ability, that their hooves are not secondary attacks if they are combat trained -- they are primary attacks, and should not have a -5 penalty to hit.
The horse listed under the druid class in the druid animal companion stat blocks states that the hooves are secondary attacks. For a druid, that's the way it is -- their horse animal companions are apparently not combat trained. For a cavalier, those attacks should be primary, and have a much better chance to hit. Correct?
It's also strange that the horse listed under the druid's animal companion has stats that are actually worse than a regular horse's:
Standard horse: Str 16, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 7
Druid animal companion horse: Str 16, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6.
Even when the druid hits level 4 and his horse gets a +2 to Str and Con, his animal companion horse will have inferior Dex, Wisdom and Charisma scores than a typical horse.
Given how the cavalier class is built around its mount, this seems a bit disappointing. Cavaliers on animal companion horses everwhere will be envying the mount stats of the fighter who bought his own heavy warhorse, and the paladin who got his heavy warhorse. =P
Its worse for your halfling friend who wants to ride a dog. Welcome to the wonkiness that is druid animal companions. Personally, I like that they standardized a lot of things to semi-ballance the animals. But this led to a lot of new wierd rules exceptions for them, like their stats being totally different from mundane versions. I think the horse is worse because the druid animal companions were written before bestiary came out.
By level 3 you will have the same Dex and the natural armor of the animal companion will surpass the standard horse's.
A druid's horse animal companion becomes combat trained at lvl 4 while a cavalier's is combat trained at lvl 1 so hooves are not a secondary weapon.
The elephant animal companion also has stats worse than an elephant. Don't try to find a justification there beside balance/streamlining.
I don't see how it is disappointing since your regular heavy warhorse won't give you a +4 bonus to wild empathy checks, won't gain feats, won't be able to raise it's intelligence to 3 in order to understand languages, won't gain more skill points, additional hit dices, additional saves, evasion and whatnot.
Cavaliers won't be envying anyone. At lvl 4 your horse has an effective +3 to str/dex and an additional ability point of your choice.
...Cavaliers won't be envying anyone...
Except those with awakened horses with fighter levels as followers. :)
Heavy horse is a variant, not standard. Its listed as fan content on D20PFSRD.
I would weigh in on the other stuff, but theres been plenty of topics on them so just do a search.
While it is a variant of the regular horse (see "heavy horse" in the horse description in the Bestiary, where it mentions adding the advanced simple template), it's actually not fan content.
The PFSRD at http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-lists-and-details/-h/horse has a separate entry for heavy horse and that's marked as fan content, but I believe this was just added as a convenience for those who don't want to bother figuring out how to add the advanced simple template to a horse to calculate its stats. In the Bestiary, they don't provide the heavy horse stats, they just mention that to make one, you add the template.