Hey all,
I am playing a gestalt Cav|Pal in a one-on-one (I know gestalt=munchkin, but having those Paladin levels make one-on-one much more survivable.)
I have just watched the movie 'Tangled' again. (No snickering. It may be a kid's movie, but it's pretty damn good.) In the film, there is a horse character, named Maximus, who is more than just a horse, he's also (to my eyes) part ranger or fighter.
I've seen questions about animal companion/cohorts on the boards, but I can't really find the clear q & a. So I'll do my best to ask clearly, if you all do your best to answer clearly, and not knock my childishness for liking a Disney movie/being a powergamer who can't find enough time in his week to do more than play by IM with one friend in another state.
As a Cavalier, I have a mount who advances as a druid's animal companion. If I take the Leadership feat, I gain a cohort as well, but what if I want the animal companion to be the cohort? After I take Leadership, as I advance in level, so does the cohort. Here are the 40k gp questions...
Can an mount/animal companion be a cohort once Leadership is taken?
If so, instead of continuing to advance the horse as an animal companion, can it be advanced in class levels?
Thanks in advance for clearly stated answers that have rules cited to support them.
Failing that, thanks for any advice, too.
That.. actually sounds really cool.
I think you'd be adding INT for your animal's attribute increases. As an animal with INT 3 or higher can select any feat it qualifies for and can put ranks into any skill.
Don't know how you'd add class levels to it, but it might be possible. The PF leadership feat doesn't really get into making your animal companion your cohort.
[quote "PRD: Bestiary: Monster Cohorts"]
The Leadership feat allows a character to gain a loyal cohort. With the GM’s approval, this cohort can be a similarly aligned monster rather than a humanoid with the appropriate number of class levels.
No, an animal companion cannot gain class levels. Is worth noting that a paladins mount is particularly intelligent, wich means is able to understand a single language, and some GMs may aloud for allocating the favored class bonuss on animal companion skill points.
However, an awakened horse can be picked as cohort and it will advance by gaining class levels. The problems comes from adjudicating its effective cohort level. An awaken horse is CR 2 so its effective cohort level should be about 3. I would personally give a an effective level of 2, but the table implies otherwise.
Humbly,
Yawar
Worth noting.. you can use Leadership to take a Monster Cohort that is a Unicorn.
A unicorn can gain class levels and can talk, but is considered level 8, so you wouldn't be able to get it til level 10.
Maybe your DM will let you "reincarnate" your mount into a unicorn?
EDIT: Or you could try a Pegasus which only requires you to be level 8 and can gain class levels.
Yawar,
Thanks for pointing out the 'awakened' rule. Is that in the bestiary?
Nevermind, is see that it is a spell. Hmmm...
Yawar,
Thanks for pointing out the 'awakened' rule. Is that in the bestiary?
From what I can see it's a spell called Awaken and you'd cast it on your horse.
However... "An awakened animal gets 3d6 Intelligence, +1d3 Charisma, and +2 HD. Its type becomes magical beast (augmented animal). An awakened animal can't serve as an animal companion, familiar, or special mount. "
Yawar,
Thanks for pointing out the 'awakened' rule. Is that in the bestiary?
However... "An awakened animal gets 3d6 Intelligence, +1d3 Charisma, and +2 HD. Its type becomes magical beast (augmented animal). An awakened animal can't serve as an animal companion, familiar, or special mount. "
Right, but I could dismiss the 'mount' and gain the cohort if I had the appropriate Leadership score after the spell was cast. Then it would NOT be an animal companion, familiar, or special mount, but just my buddy.
Of course, in gaining 2 HD, it makes the timing of the whole thing tricky, but I just had the thought of sending my horse off to 'riding school' for a couple levels, and coming back like a fricking Lipizzaner!
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The leadership+animal companion thing doesn't really stack too well. You can have your mount as an animal companion, OR as a cohort as long as your leadership and level total are good enough.
A cohort is an npc with class levels. An animal companion does not possess class levels. A list of monster cohorts can be found in the bestiary on page 316, followed by a list of animal companions.
The big problem here is that in order to be a cohort/gain class levels, the creature has to be intelligent, which means at best you're looking at a magical beast and not something available as an animal companion.
When considering this issue, contemplate the party balance. If you make your mount *as* effective as a pc, then you're effectively twice as powerful as the other pc's.
On the other side of the coin, if your mount isn't powerful enough, it will end up being too weak to survive hauling you through combat. So my suggestion involves making a request from your gm.
Start with the horse, progress it as an animal companion. Determine whether you want a pegasus or a unicorn for a mount. Once you can gain your chosen mount through leadership, use the *awaken* spell as a method to transform your animal companion from the original horse to the pegasus or unicorn. I.E. upon the awaken spell being cast on it, the horse grows wings, or a horn, whichever it might be. It storyboards the whole thing.
Note that it will be possible for some dramatic changes in your mount here, so I suggest you pick a *theme* for your mount, which your cohort can follow using feats. That will help with the continuity of the creature.
At this point, you'll have to make another decision. By using a cohort for your mount, you'll effectively be ignoring the animal companion class feature.
The animal companion feature increases the base creatures HD, ability scores, skills, feats, saves, and so on. Really consider whether what you want to do with the mount could be achieved by increasing its intelligence through the animal companion/magical item route and providing it with the appropriate feats/skills. An animal companion can purchase any skill once you boost its intelligence a bit.
Finally, if you do decide to go the cohort route, ask your dm if there's some way you could put that class ability to good use. Some DM's might allow limited bonuses from it to stack with the cohort, or switch it out for another feature or ability. Others will tell you no, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Really consider whether what you want to do with the mount could be achieved by increasing its intelligence through the animal companion/magical item route and providing it with the appropriate feats/skills. An animal companion can purchase any skill once you boost its intelligence a bit.
This is really good advice because you just have to get your horse to INT 3 to learn any feat (almost) or take any skill. The horse already starts at INT 2 so that should be easy...
Thanks guys. I have already talked it over with my GM, and we are going to go with the 'sent to riding school' route. I take Leadership, send my animal companion away for a couple levels, get him back as an 'awakened' cohort, and then he starts advancing as a Fighter.
This has the most payoff for what is essentially a party of one (my Cav|Pal), effectively making it a party of two, and is most thematic with what I had in mind: the skilled fighting horse.
And seriously, if you haven't seen the movie that inspired this thread, go see it. You won't be disappointed unless you are a complete sociopath. Then again, this is a forum for gamers...