... I am helping a player of mine on their character.
They're playing a Gnome Emissary (Archetype) Cavalier and using only content from CORE, APG,Ultimate Magic,or Ultimate Combat. the feats I recommended are:
1)**Mounted Combat (Combat)
1)Ride-by Attack (Combat)
3)Spirited Charge (Combat)
5)Skill focus (Ride)
5)**Mobility
6b)Agile Maneuvers (Combat)
7)Power Attack (Combat)
9)Animal Empathy
9)**Trick Riding (Combat)
11)Improved Overrun (Combat)
12b)Charge Through (Combat
13)Trample (Combat)
14)**Mounted Skirmisher (Combat)
15))Greater Overrun (Combat)
17)Mounted Shield (Combat)
18b)[Undecided]
19)[undecided]
**Denotes A feat from a class skill.
I am allowing them to take the Order of the sword 8th level ability in place of any other order's.
The idea is to charge through combat and stay away from the bulk of fighting.
Bump
Skill Focus Ride isn't really necessary. As long as he puts ranks in it every level he should be fine, Ride skill hasn't really been demanding except for fast mounting on sparing occasions. Remember, no check penalty for the Ride skill.
Agile Maneuvers shouldn't be on that list, if his Dex is higher than str something must be wrong. Cavalier is a very str dependent class and that should be his highest stat.
Remove all of the Combat maneuver feats like Improved Overrun/etc. His mount would make overrun checks, so his mount needs to take them.
Remove Trample, the Overrun feat tree is far superior while providing better effects.
Remove Trick riding, first off by the time he qualifies for it, he will almost automatically succeed the checks anyways so the feat is redundant. Plus, the Cavalier should be in Plate. The being able to negate hits on the mount one extra time isn't worth it imo unless he knows you're going to zero in on his mount with a vengeance.
Those are a list of the feats that won't do much for him, can't really say I have any replacement suggestions except for Leadership if you're allowing that feat. Cavalier really benefits from that feat.
The Emmisary archetype gives trick riding and puts the cavalier in medium armor, not much to do about that. I'll keep in mind the mount doing the cmd stuff, that's good to know and frees up some feat space. Also, the mount is the one that takes the attacks of Opportunity for running through combat. As far as Dex being higher than Str, I am allowing the Order of the Sword 8th level which allows them to use their mounts strength on attacks in addition to their own.
thanks for the help ^_^
The fact that the Archetype gives both feats aside, Trick Riding is a prerequisite for Mounted Skirmisher so it's worth taking for that reason alone. Martial classes love anything that offers the option to move & full attack.
As for armor, there's no reason you can't spend a feat on heavy armor proficiency. The only thing you'd lose out on is not auto-passing DC 15 and below ride checks, which is a pretty insignificant benefit.
Mounted Shield can't be taken on this character, because you don't have the prerequisites (Shield Focus). Also "animal empathy" as the level nine feat is, so far as I can tell, impossible since animal empathy isn't listed as a feat.
I'll second Commando's advice on Skill Focus Ride and the maneuver feats.
Ah! I didn't mean animal empathy, I meant Animal Affinity. The idea behind that one was a passive +10 feat bonus, 10 ranks, +3 class skill, and +2 Stat Bonus would give a base ride score of 25. Shield focus is easy to add in when I take out the overrun feats and charge through.
Which leaves us with 6 or so feats to figure out.