I use the term "Fighter" generically here it could be any melee based class. I have had a hankering for some time to create a character that starts out blind from level one, using Blind-Fight from players handbook and Hear the Unseen from Complete Adventurer to try and partially negate being blind.
I wanted some input as to other feats people would use to create this class. Ways to get listen as high as possible as fast as possible. and different classes that you would use to create it. I was planning on making the character human and I want him focused on fighting not magic. Obviously there are going to have to be a few levels of fighter for feat management.
I use the term "Fighter" generically here it could be any melee based class. I have had a hankering for some time to create a character that starts out blind from level one, using Blind-Fight from players handbook and Hear the Unseen from Complete Adventurer to try and partially negate being blind.
I wanted some input as to other feats people would use to create this class. Ways to get listen as high as possible as fast as possible. and different classes that you would use to create it. I was planning on making the character human and I want him focused on fighting not magic. Obviously there are going to have to be a few levels of fighter for feat management.
Have you thought about playing a Battle Oracle? It would come close to blindness with the Clouded Vision curse, plus it would still allow you to do some melee.
I'd also mention that if you were a dwarf and had a Wis 13 and had the Stonecunning racial trait, you could get the feats Improved Stonecunning then Stone Sense would give you tremorsense for 10 ft. Not sure if it would be worth that much though.
I miss that kind of stuff too, I was thinking of making it a flaw of sorts, so it would give an extra feat at first level as well as some other benefit since being blind is worse then normal flaws.
Bump, Anyone?
hi Alan,
well, you can take skill focus for appropriate skills, im sure theres a feat giving improved search/spot or perception stuff to
but i put the question to you, if you want to play a blind character is there really any point to skilling/feating out your character to counter the badness of blindness?, in a roleplaying sense you are better of just following the blindfighting feet line to"learn how to adapt" and enjoy the roleplaying that comes from the downside, it seems pointless spending all your skills etc to essentially create a blind character who can see but who is 5 lvls behind in feats etc
cool, i didnt even think of scent, but thats a great way to create a good feel for a blind character :)
There are feats and such to overcome, at least in part, the mechanical disadvantages of blindness for combat..
But, I would *seriously* advise you think it through a little more thoroughly before you pull the switch on this idea.
Being a blind adventurer is a severe, heavy hindrance to your entire party. Being blind isn't just a miss chance in combat- its an inability to see obvious things in your surroundings. the inability to see or even know a friend fell in combat, or to see that creature flying over the horizon or.. well, to *see* anything.
There is sort of a romantic attachment to the disabled hero in combat. We've all seen various movies where the blind/disabled people adapt and do fairly well.. But a medieval dungeon/adventure type scenario is *really* not well suited for it.
I mean, seriously. 3-4 guys are at the local adventuring hall. One guy stumbles in and asks for a job. the guys wave and say "we're over here".. You stumble around through all the noise in the room trying to find them. They are waving you over.. You have no idea.
They pick someone else. Why? You are -blind-. A blind adventurer is nothing but a liablity to the group- much as a child would be.
It *sounds* neat but I think in practice, unless the DM seriously coddles you through the campaign, you are going to be a major problem and hindrance for the group.
that is as you say selgard, but imo
there are many ways a character may become permanently blind, and lacking specific magics may not be able to reverse it for some levels, now in some campaigns your "Dps" fixated players may convince you to replace the now "useless" pc, but in a roleplaying sense you dont "dump" your adventuring mates but help him out, so maybe he learns blindfight, gets scent somehow(item maybe...wolf fetish?)and gets by, when (if )he gets his sight back later, he then carries experiences and abilities learned from them, to his benefit. And in all honesty its the travails the characters overcome and the personal tragedies, that make truly awsome characters with a feel of history, I feel sorry for the players who ditch characters purely cos they get a bit broke, they truly are missing the point of RPG
all that said, if your mage gets permanently blinded, you should probably leave him at the local temple with 50g, he aint casting no fireballs near me when he's blind lol
If you are going to play a blind warrior archetype, either play a battle oracle or ACTUALLY PLAY A BLIND CHARACTER. None of this, "he's been blind since birth so he has blindsight" BS. That's a munchkin cop out grab for MORE power, not a character concept.
If you want to be blind REALLY be blind. Being blind is a handicap. Make it as such.
Allow me to help.
Step 1) Declare that your character is blind.
This means he will suffer the following penalties: You cannot see. You takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, lose your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and take a –4 penalty on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks and on opposed Perception skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Perception checks based on sight) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) against you. You must make a DC 10 Acrobatics skill check to move faster than half your speed. If you fail this fail this check you fall prone. If your character has remained blind for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them (by getting a walking stick, by folding your bills, and training with feats and skills, NOT be getting blindsense or blindsight for free).
Step 2) Mitigate the penalties as much as you can. Start with a high Wisdom score, max out your ranks in Perception, and take feats such as Alertness, Blind-Fight, Greater Blind-Fight, Improved Blind-Fight, and Skill Focus (Perception). This will allow you to better "hear" where the enemy is at and allow you to avoid ranged attacks coming out of the darkness.
Step 3) Play the character and understand that no matter what you do, he is handicapped. Playing such a difficult challenge will be a lot of fun if your GM cooperates a little.
Personal Note: I have a pet peeve about roleplayers who want to play blind characters that are not only not really blind, but are more powerful than sighted characters. Total cop out munchkinism.
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I'd like to second Odraude's battle oracle idea. The Clouded Vision curse really does make you blind beyond 30 feet (and if you stop taking oracle levels before level 5, you'll keep a nice, short 30-foot range, with darkvision to boot).
Darkvision doesn't pick up colors or writing, so you can think of it like supernatural Daredevil-vision. You'll have much of the "flavor" of being blind (you'll never spot the enemies hiding at your peripherals, and you'll need your team to fill you in on some of what's happening in the battle, since you can only "see" a few squares away).
However, you aren't mechanically disadvantaged in melee. Your Daredevil-vision can "see" just fine at close-range, and you're getting something out of the mechanical disadvantage (oracle class features) instead of just taking a disadvantage that offers nothing to the party, mechanically.
Darkvision doesn't pick up colors or writing
Creatures exclusively relying on darkvision CAN and DO read just fine.
I use the term "Fighter" generically here it could be any melee based class. I have had a hankering for some time to create a character that starts out blind from level one, using Blind-Fight from players handbook and Hear the Unseen from Complete Adventurer to try and partially negate being blind.
I wanted some input as to other feats people would use to create this class. Ways to get listen as high as possible as fast as possible. and different classes that you would use to create it. I was planning on making the character human and I want him focused on fighting not magic. Obviously there are going to have to be a few levels of fighter for feat management.
There are a couple of ways to do what you want... but all of them need high level play to work.
The superstitious archetype barbarian gets scent at level 13, blindsense at 16 and blindsight at 19.
A level 11 life oracle can have blindsight 30 against living targets only.
A gnome blind oracle can have blindsense 30 and blindsight 15 at level 10 (the blind sense would be at level 7).
If you go dragon disciple 5 you get blindsense 30.
A level 18 summoner can have blindsight 30 feet by taking 3 evo points from his eidolon and getting blindsense and blindsight for himself.
If you have 3.5 books available there is a blindfold of darkness in the magic item compendium that grants blindsight 30.
Ever read The Dark Elf Trilogy? Montolio DeBrouchee is an excellent example of how to fight blind, even with ranged weapons.
Ever read The Dark Elf Trilogy? Montolio DeBrouchee is an excellent example of how to fight blind, even with ranged weapons.
I almost brought him up earlier myself.
Montolio was a blind archer ranger who would send his animal companion (a falcon or a hawk) flying over his enemies' heads. The bird of prey would then call out to its master so Montolio always knew precisely where to shoot his arrows.
I can totally imagine a blind ranger doing this quite well with greater blind-fight, a flying animal companion, and full attacks.
Montolio was a blind archer ranger who would send his animal companion (a falcon or a hawk) flying over his enemies' heads.
Owl actually, but that not the point.
If you are going to play a blind warrior archetype, either play a battle oracle or ACTUALLY PLAY A BLIND CHARACTER. None of this, "he's been blind since birth so he has blindsight" BS. That's a munchkin cop out grab for MORE power, not a character concept.
I want to play a blind character, I was not the one that brought up blind sight or tremor sense. I am unsure of what this Battle Orcle is I haven't heard of it before.
I was originally thinking straight fighter and then going into a prestige class that had heightened senses or something so that I could "listen" to where everything is and pin point it that way, but I have been as yet unable to find anything.
Montolio DeBrouchee sounds pretty awesome though and that gave me a whole other idea for this character to go, I was originally planning on just using melee attacks but using a pet to call out where enemies are sounds cool.
DId anyone else watch "men in tights"? XD
Yes, Blinkin is awesome :)
If you are going to play a blind warrior archetype, either play a battle oracle or ACTUALLY PLAY A BLIND CHARACTER. None of this, "he's been blind since birth so he has blindsight" BS. That's a munchkin cop out grab for MORE power, not a character concept.
If you want to be blind REALLY be blind. Being blind is a handicap. Make it as such.
*snip*
I think this is an important point, and made me think of the following question: How receptive is the rest of your group going to be with this idea?
It is nice to come up with a certain character idea and back-story and all, but you do have a responsibility to the rest of your gaming group not to cause more problems or lessen their "gaming experience" (I hate that term, but there it is...) because you are intent on running a character whose handicap could endanger their characters.
It is a group game after all. Have you asked them about this character idea of yours?
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There was a magic item in the Magic Item Compendium (and probably in another book, but I can't be sure) called the "Blindfold of True Darkness". While you wore it you couldn't use your normal mode of vision, but it gave you blindsight 60ft. I believe it was 9000gp, so if you start at a slightly higher level it may be viable, but definitely not a first level thing.
There was a magic item in the Magic Item Compendium (and probably in another book, but I can't be sure) called the "Blindfold of True Darkness". While you wore it you couldn't use your normal mode of vision, but it gave you blindsight 60ft. I believe it was 9000gp, so if you start at a slightly higher level it may be viable, but definitely not a first level thing.
I think this is exactly what RD was complaining about. XD
There was a magic item in the Magic Item Compendium (and probably in another book, but I can't be sure) called the "Blindfold of True Darkness". While you wore it you couldn't use your normal mode of vision, but it gave you blindsight 60ft. I believe it was 9000gp, so if you start at a slightly higher level it may be viable, but definitely not a first level thing.I think this is exactly what RD was complaining about. XD
yeah well first time he finds an antimagic field he'll still be boned now won't he?
Look blind is a horrible condition to have, and with any game you want to have a bit of a perk to make up for boning yourself so hard. Looking for a way to lessen the hurt of being blind some is just making sure you don't suck all the fun out of the rest of the party and end up just draining resources.
It's not like the OP asked "Hey I want to be blind with no side effects" he said, "Hey I want to be blind but understand this could hose the party -- can you help me still be blind but not hose everyone else in the process?"
Which is a good player trait -- he wants the odd but is considerate of the other players without wanting to completely write off the bad parts of being odd.
Look blind is a horrible condition to have, and with any game you want to have a bit of a perk to make up for boning yourself so hard. Looking for a way to lessen the hurt of being blind some is just making sure you don't suck all the fun out of the rest of the party and end up just draining resources.
It's not like the OP asked "Hey I want to be blind with no side effects" he said, "Hey I want to be blind but understand this could hose the party -- can you help me still be blind but not hose everyone else in the process?"
Which is a good player trait -- he wants the odd but is considerate of the other players without wanting to completely write off the bad parts of being odd.
Exactly, so far I havnet gotten much help on the matter :/
Exactly, so far I havnet gotten much help on the matter :/Look blind is a horrible condition to have, and with any game you want to have a bit of a perk to make up for boning yourself so hard. Looking for a way to lessen the hurt of being blind some is just making sure you don't suck all the fun out of the rest of the party and end up just draining resources.
It's not like the OP asked "Hey I want to be blind with no side effects" he said, "Hey I want to be blind but understand this could hose the party -- can you help me still be blind but not hose everyone else in the process?"
Which is a good player trait -- he wants the odd but is considerate of the other players without wanting to completely write off the bad parts of being odd.
The problem is getting to the point where you can negate some of the penalties really is a higher level endeavor. It's simply not something available at lower level.
A thought on how you could do it:
Use an inquisitor. Inquisitors get detection abilities -- which aren't tied to sight. So you'll use your detection abilities as a "radar" of sorts to get you into position and then whack at the target using blind sight -- or a magical precision long bow (since this negates the miss chance so long as you aim at the right square).
Another thought for low level:
Use a half orc and take the scent feat -- with scent you can pinpoint the square to attack, and with your fighter level getting you blind fight you have a half decent chance of hitting still.
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Perhaps I can help by explaining what everyone means when they talk about a "Battle Oracle."
The Oracle is a new base class that came out in the Advanced Player's Guide. The get to choose a Mystery(similar to a Wizard's School or a Sorcerer's Bloodline) at 1st level, and extra stuff called Revelations(like special features from a bloodline, except you get to choose which ones you want). Battle is one such Mystery.
But in exchange for all of this, the Oracle also has a Curse. Clouded Vision is one option you can pick, which limits your range of vision. You do get nice abilities from the Curse as you level up though, like Scent or Blindsense(sight? don't have my book in front of me.) from Clouded Vision.
The problem is getting to the point where you can negate some of the penalties really is a higher level endeavor. It's simply not something available at lower level.
A thought on how you could do it:
Use an inquisitor. Inquisitors get detection abilities -- which aren't tied to sight. So you'll use your detection abilities as a "radar" of sorts to get you into position and then whack at the target using blind sight -- or a magical precision long bow (since this negates the miss chance so long as you aim at the right square).
Another thought for low level:
Use a half orc and take the scent feat -- with scent you can pinpoint the square to attack, and with your fighter level getting you blind fight you have a half decent chance of hitting still.
Is the inquisitor a prestige class or a core class? I have looked through all my books and cant find it and while finding mentions of it on Google none of them specify what book it comes from.
Is the inquisitor a prestige class or a core class? I have looked through all my books and cant find it and while finding mentions of it on Google none of them specify what book it comes from.The problem is getting to the point where you can negate some of the penalties really is a higher level endeavor. It's simply not something available at lower level.
A thought on how you could do it:
Use an inquisitor. Inquisitors get detection abilities -- which aren't tied to sight. So you'll use your detection abilities as a "radar" of sorts to get you into position and then whack at the target using blind sight -- or a magical precision long bow (since this negates the miss chance so long as you aim at the right square).
Another thought for low level:
Use a half orc and take the scent feat -- with scent you can pinpoint the square to attack, and with your fighter level getting you blind fight you have a half decent chance of hitting still.
Inquistor and Oracle are both new core classes introduced in the Advanced Player's Guide.
I'm glad you're trying a fighter for this and not a wizard or similar. I'm imagining a fireball specialist who is blind.....
I'm glad you're trying a fighter for this and not a wizard or similar. I'm imagining a fireball specialist who is blind.....
Following the example of the blind ranger with the animal companion above... that's why wizard's familiars have evasion. ; )
Got the PDF for APG its pretty good, the Inquisitor seems like it could work pretty well, more so since it has detect (alignment) at will to use as a sort of sonar if needed. That way it would be pretty easy to tell party members apart from enemies unless Im with an evil party or we are being accosted by city watch or something lol.
of course it would take 3 rounds to tell exactly where the people are and i would have to cycle through detect evil/chaos/law to make sure i am seeing everyone so it wouldnt be all that effective for combat but hey once I found a target it would work pretty well
are there any other classes (other then palidin) that get detect (alignment) at will?
are there any other classes (other then palidin) that get detect (alignment) at will?
I think not ... maybe some cleric domain ...
On other hand - do note that paladin gets only detect evil, not all alignments.They never guessed someone will want to play blind paladin, simply cause add-on on Detect Evil, make 0 sense, you can't really choose an individual if you are blind ...
See with your DM, but being that you are willing to gimp yourself for character concept and being how Paladins don't have ability to detect all alignments but just evil - i would house rule that move action is actually to activate 2nd round of detect evil, and than for 3rd that you need to concentrate.
I would propose this if you were my player, simply cause animals are not evil, neither are most magical beasts, etc.
If you are going with human then the APG has a feat called racial heritage you can take. It would let you count as a half orc for taking feats which would allow you to take the half orc scent feat at first level.
Scent is honestly about the best means of dealing with blindness at lower levels (that and blindfighting in combination).
What book is the half orc scent feat in?
What book is the half orc scent feat in?
APG same as racial heritage. Just for general reference almost everything I've offered currently is in the APG, except the stuff I specifically point out as coming from somewhere else.
Cool, thanks for the input guys, I could either go blind fight, hear the unseen, then detect abilities (which would probable be really good for a ranged character) or blind fight, hear the unseen, then scent (which could be effective for a melee character since you can pinpoint someone within 5ft of you with the scent ability). The possibility of using an animal companion as a help never occurred to me either so thanks for all the ideas. Any other input would be more then appreciated.
I am thinking of trying both characters out in a couple of test games at low mid and high levels just to see how they fair.
Cool, thanks for the input guys, I could either go blind fight, hear the unseen, then detect abilities (which would probable be really good for a ranged character) or blind fight, hear the unseen, then scent (which could be effective for a melee character since you can pinpoint someone within 5ft of you with the scent ability). The possibility of using an animal companion as a help never occurred to me either so thanks for all the ideas. Any other input would be more then appreciated.
I am thinking of trying both characters out in a couple of test games at low mid and high levels just to see how they fair.
Little bit late in the game...but I thought I toss in a few things.
Something possibly overlooked is that the Scent ability allows you to track by scent as well so you would be able identify and follow your companions as you'll be highly familiar with their individual odors after traveling with them.
If you have a rogue flank-buddy, the rogue could go into combat ahead of you and tumble around a target to set up a flank. You could then follow the rogue's scent trail right up to the enemy.
Alchemist fire and burning flesh would both have very strong smells, thus you could easily target an enemy that has been "softened" by another PC.
Being blind does mean you'll have reduced movement speed, one might attempt to mitigate this by increasing your movement speed so that even reduced, you'll not be slower than other party members. A Half-orc Barbarian with the scent ability and movement rage powers could work well.
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If you are interested in a Gish, you always have the combination of telepathy (mindbender, complete arcane pag 54) and mindsight (lords of madness, pag 126)and there are spells that can help too (mage eye,chain of eyes of spell compendium) we had a blind sybil in our campaign who used chain of eyes at low levels to see with hilarious results. She didnt used fireball tough.
Make him a Cavalier. It's a melee class that gets an animal companion at level 1, usually a horse. Use your horse for your eyes.
There are problems with that... the animal is still just an animal. It cannot converse with you or share what it sees past making the limited sounds a horse normally does. A blind horseman will only urge his animal over a cliff.
Only a caster with a familiar that can communicate on a intelligent level would be able to tell you what it sees in enough detail to perhaps help.
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Make him a Cavalier. It's a melee class that gets an animal companion at level 1, usually a horse. Use your horse for your eyes.There are problems with that... the animal is still just an animal. It cannot converse with you or share what it sees past making the limited sounds a horse normally does. A blind horseman will only urge his animal over a cliff.
Only a caster with a familiar that can communicate on a intelligent level would be able to tell you what it sees in enough detail to perhaps help.
A cavalier at the first level available (4th, or with a headband of intellect) could increase the AnCo's intelligence to 3, that makes it sentient and able to understand one language, think of animals like Lassie or Comet from the Adventures of Brisco County Jr. that don't talk but seem to understand everything people say about them.
Also they would have the intelligence to not run over a cliff even if their blind owner tries to make them go that way.
And animals can be quite expressive even without language. When riding a horse, I know when what I'm commanding it to do is something it doesn't want to do, because it will try to nip at your legs or headbut you, they also have grunts and whinnies that sound different when they're trying to express different things as well as the fallback of trying to throw the rider.
Make him a Cavalier. It's a melee class that gets an animal companion at level 1, usually a horse. Use your horse for your eyes.There are problems with that... the animal is still just an animal. It cannot converse with you or share what it sees past making the limited sounds a horse normally does. A blind horseman will only urge his animal over a cliff.
Only a caster with a familiar that can communicate on a intelligent level would be able to tell you what it sees in enough detail to perhaps help.
A cavalier at the first level available (4th, or with a headband of intellect) could increase the AnCo's intelligence to 3, that makes it sentient and able to understand one language, think of animals like Lassie or Comet from the Adventures of Brisco County Jr. that don't talk but seem to understand everything people say about them.
Also they would have the intelligence to not run over a cliff even if their blind owner tries to make them go that way.
And animals can be quite expressive even without language. When riding a horse, I know when what I'm commanding it to do is something it doesn't want to do, because it will try to nip at your legs or headbut you, they also have grunts and whinnies that sound different when they're trying to express different things as well as the fallback of trying to throw the rider.
Whats that boy? Timmy fell in the well... AGAIN?!?
I understand what you are saying. I just don't see a horse...no matter how intelligent... communicating in a way that can give a blind person enough of a advantage to mitigate blindness.
Maybe you could teach it basic morse code it could tap out with a hoof. Yet unless it could answer questions quickly and describe the area in enough detail to prevent trips and falls and the like... *Shrug*
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Make him a Cavalier. It's a melee class that gets an animal companion at level 1, usually a horse. Use your horse for your eyes.There are problems with that... the animal is still just an animal. It cannot converse with you or share what it sees past making the limited sounds a horse normally does. A blind horseman will only urge his animal over a cliff.
Only a caster with a familiar that can communicate on a intelligent level would be able to tell you what it sees in enough detail to perhaps help.
A cavalier at the first level available (4th, or with a headband of intellect) could increase the AnCo's intelligence to 3, that makes it sentient and able to understand one language, think of animals like Lassie or Comet from the Adventures of Brisco County Jr. that don't talk but seem to understand everything people say about them.
Also they would have the intelligence to not run over a cliff even if their blind owner tries to make them go that way.
And animals can be quite expressive even without language. When riding a horse, I know when what I'm commanding it to do is something it doesn't want to do, because it will try to nip at your legs or headbut you, they also have grunts and whinnies that sound different when they're trying to express different things as well as the fallback of trying to throw the rider.
Whats that boy? Timmy fell in the well... AGAIN?!?
I understand what you are saying. I just don't see a horse...no matter how intelligent... communicating in a way that can give a blind person enough of a advantage to mitigate blindness.
Maybe you could teach it basic morse code it could tap out with a hoof. Yet unless it could answer questions quickly and describe the area in enough detail to prevent trips and falls and the like... *Shrug*
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that an AnCo, would fix all problems, no not hardly, but a trained intelligent horse, could take the rider straight to hostile enemies wherein, the abilities the person themselves have (scent, blindfighting, etc.) then kick in. He'll still be debilitated, but this is about mitigating the penalties and an AnCo in combination with other things would do quite well.
In fact I'm really thinking that my next character if I can find a game is going to be a blind human cavalier.
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Bestiary page 307 animal traits...
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Traits: An animal possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry).* Intelligence score of 1 or 2 (no creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher can be an animal).
...
That means that it no longer counts as an animal as its type, but that does not mean you can't raise an animal companions intelligence to 3.
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Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that an AnCo, would fix all problems, no not hardly, but a trained intelligent horse, could take the rider straight to hostile enemies wherein, the abilities the person themselves have (scent, blindfighting, etc.) then kick in. He'll still be debilitated, but this is about mitigating the penalties and an AnCo in combination with other things would do quite well.
In fact I'm really thinking that my next character if I can find a game is going to be a blind human cavalier.
I'm glad to see someone gets it. :)
And a horse can help a blind person avoid trips and falls very, very easily... by letting the blind person ride.
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that an AnCo, would fix all problems, no not hardly, but a trained intelligent horse, could take the rider straight to hostile enemies wherein, the abilities the person themselves have (scent, blindfighting, etc.) then kick in. He'll still be debilitated, but this is about mitigating the penalties and an AnCo in combination with other things would do quite well.
In fact I'm really thinking that my next character if I can find a game is going to be a blind human cavalier.I'm glad to see someone gets it. :)
And a horse can help a blind person avoid trips and falls very, very easily... by letting the blind person ride.
In real life I know that a seeing eye dog can aid a blind individual. I also know that animals can be quite perceptive and intelligent.
In the game a animal companion functions almost purely off of the tricks it knows. When I said "urged" I guess I should have instead said "pushed". In the case of a blind rider with high ranks in handle animal, you can "push" to have your animal do something it would not normally do. Thus, a blind rider thinking he knows what is best could indeed ride his horse right off a cliff despite what the animal might be trying to "tell" him.
If you increase a animals intelligence to 3 or higher, then the animal would indeed most likely attempt to throw its rider. A skilled PC might still be able to hang on and continue to force the issue.
Nickering and winnying and biting at a rider are no substitution for conversation.
Allot of the above would depend on the DM and how realistic the game is.