Cavalier Conundrums

[Koron of Burning Sigil]

Hi guys,

Just wondering, can a cavalier work without a horse? So far I've been tanking on dungeons without having my horse enter and such, and it just seems to be somewhat a vestigial addition in all the games I've played lately.

Thoughts?

[Jiggy]

Koron of Burning Sigil wrote:

Hi guys,

Just wondering, can a cavalier work without a horse? So far I've been tanking on dungeons without having my horse enter and such, and it just seems to be somewhat a vestigial addition in all the games I've played lately.

Thoughts?

Depends on the build. You could build your cavalier to be very mount-independent or very mount-dependent, or anywhere in between.

[ShadowcatX]

If you're not using your mount, I'd highly recommend you swapping it out for an archetype you will get use out of, Samurai perhaps, or if your DM is a bit lenient, the Hound Master archetype posted for the RPG Superstar contest a couple years back (search for Hound Master) is an awesome archetype.

[WalterGM]

Let me just leave this here.

[Dessio]

An oft overlooked option is to treat the horse as a combat pet, rather than specifically a mount.

A four hooved, biting, skull-shattering, armored 'fluffy'. One that looks like a horse, smells like a horse, and walks like a horse.

Investing in the UMD skill & Scrolls and/or potions of reduce animal/spider climb makes for avoiding any underground obstacle challenges, to boot. A UMD'd scroll of Heal Mount makes for one wonderful ace to keep in your sleeve in case the party healer proves to disapprove of diluting his heals to your additional melee combatant companion.

Don't overlook the synergy you can attain by teaching your mount teamwork feats, to boot. (once you get it's INT to 3, of course) Since a cavalier gets them for free, may as well have at least one N/PC to use your TWFeats w/o wasting actions to trigger Tactician.

[Korpen]

Koron of Burning Sigil wrote:

Hi guys,

Just wondering, can a cavalier work without a horse? So far I've been tanking on dungeons without having my horse enter and such, and it just seems to be somewhat a vestigial addition in all the games I've played lately.

Thoughts?

Do what any sensible adventurer do; divert a suitable river or stream to the dungeon opening to either drown its denizens or force them into the open.

Or just collapse the opening, if it is something inside that wants out one can fight it then, and if it stays underground, what is the problem?

[Lady Bluehawk]

Jiggy wrote:

Koron of Burning Sigil wrote:

Hi guys,

Just wondering, can a cavalier work without a horse? So far I've been tanking on dungeons without having my horse enter and such, and it just seems to be somewhat a vestigial addition in all the games I've played lately.

Thoughts?

Depends on the build. You could build your cavalier to be very mount-independent or very mount-dependent, or anywhere in between.

Brilliant! How? Our party pretty much gave up on the class because of a perceived lack of versatility: without a mule mount (and yeah, they can get as big as horses) or riding dog for Smalls, how do you function underground? Even with shrink animal and similar spells, if most of what you do depends on doing it on the back of something...how do you go mount-independent? :-/

LB

[avr]

Take an archetype which replaces or modifies the mount? Daring Champion, Huntmaster, Ghost Rider, etc. Rocket science that isn't.

Or get a small character so you have a medium mount; anywhere you can take a str 8 wizard you can take a riding dog, you'd probably want to have a BSF or magic to get either up a cliff.

[666bender]

Without it - take archtypes.
But i would go small on medium mount or lrder of the dragon hound master , with hosteling armor. Enjoy all worlds.
Dont invest in mounted feats even.

[derpdidruid]

I feel that this is usually enough for me to not have problems with larger mounts.

[666bender]

derpdidruid wrote:

I feel that this is usually enough for me to not have problems with larger mounts.

it will allow you to move with a mount. not charge with one.

i find the up side of halfling on a medium mount well worth it.
the lower damage is just a tag less - but the movement options? wow.

[logan grayble]

If you play a Small race, your mount can travel almost anywhere your medium companions can. I recently made a Halfling cavalier for just this reason.

[666bender]

it also mean that a single spider climb spell \ item will allow you to charge off the ceeling as you take only 5' and it normally 10' ceilings.

[Lady Bluehawk]

avr wrote:

Take an archetype which replaces or modifies the mount? Daring Champion, Huntmaster, Ghost Rider, etc. Rocket science that isn't.

Or get a small character so you have a medium mount; anywhere you can take a str 8 wizard you can take a riding dog, you'd probably want to have a BSF or magic to get either up a cliff.

Okay, got the Daring Champion from the ACG, where are the others? It may not be rocket science, but if you don't have all the books, it's a bit hard to find.

LB

[Hubaris]

I use this site. Generally just go to a class page, scroll to the archetypes at the bottom and see what replaces what you want to replace (via the chart).

The sources (books) are at the bottom of each archetype in the Copyright Notes section.