I am playing a ranged paladin (composite long bow). If I want to get the divine bond for a mount, is it optimal to spend 3 feats on Mounted Combat, Trick Riding, and Mounted Skirmisher so I can take advantage of my mount's movement?
Otherwise, what are the optimal combat feats to get?
Also, what kind of multi-classing options should I be considering?
Thanks!
Sohei monk gets 2 mounted feats without the pre req for the first 2 lvls. Not a bad dip if you ask me.
Bump
That's interesting. What about dipping 2-3 levels in to Zen archery?
Or is it better to just stick 100% in paladin and spend 1 feat on Mounted Archery?
Well, do you want to focus on mounted, or archery? You could always take 6 lvls of sohei to be able to flurry with your bow as well as get some wicked mount feats and abilities. If you dump your wis (10) then you will still have three points of ki to get an extra iteration with your bow flurry (+smite = ouch), and you won't need to take rapid shot or many shot... But you would give up a lot of paladin levels for that.
Reversly, only a 3 lvl dip of zen archer gets you pretty good returns as well, but you may end up finding yourself MAD as hell.
If you go zen, make sure you are an assimar.
|
If you're planning on going ranged, forget about Mounted Skirmisher. You only need it to Full Attack with a melee weapon. You can always full attack with a bow. I would go straight paladin and don't waste too much time on mounted combat feats, focus on your archery feats instead. You're going to be moving with your mount and then dumping Smite arrows, so Mounted Skirmisher is a wasted feat. Mounted Combat and Trick Riding are okay, but less useful when you aren't in melee. Trick your mount out in some solid gear and barding and call it good. I probably wouldn't bother with Mounted Archery until you've finished your other archery feat chains either. Mounted Archery doesn't even kick in until you start double-moving or charging, and your mount's base movement is already going to be greater than than most of the party's move speed anyways.
^ agreed. I think you can pull off everything you want without dipping to be honest.
|
|
It's a little bit easier to do if you're playing a human since you still need to pay the Precise Shot feat tax, but you can build a great mounted paladin archer using just the base-line paladin and taking the standard archery feats (Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Manyshot, Deadly Aim, etc.) without ever needing to worry about the Mounted Combat feat chains.
I recently ran one using the Musetouched Aasimar variant and it went swimmingly.
Ssarlarn, but you can't full attack with the ranged weapon (rapid shot multiple arrows with the bow) while mounted if the horse moves at all, right? So I don't understand what you mean that you can always full attack with the bow and that mounted archery doesn't kick in until a double move...
Wouldn't you get a -4 penalty on even a SINGLE move made by the horse while you're trying to do an attack?
How do you move and attack with no penalty and no mounted feats...
|
|
Ssarlarn, but you can't full attack with the ranged weapon (rapid shot multiple arrows with the bow) while mounted if the horse moves at all, right? So I don't understand what you mean that you can always full attack with the bow and that mounted archery doesn't kick in until a double move...
Wouldn't you get a -4 penalty on even a SINGLE move made by the horse while you're trying to do an attack?How do you move and attack with no penalty and no mounted feats...
You are misunderstanding the rules on Mounted Combat. Any character can climb up on a horse, and as long as that horse doesn't take more than a normal move, full attack with a bow without penalty. If the horse double moves, they can still full attack, there's just a -4 penalty. That penalty is what Mounted Archery mitigates.
See this line in the mounted combat section:You can use ranged weapons while your mount is taking a double move, but at a –4 penalty on the attack roll. You can use ranged weapons while your mount is running (quadruple speed) at a –8 penalty. In either case, you make the attack roll when your mount has completed half its movement. You can make a full attack with a ranged weapon while your mount is moving. Likewise, you can take move actions normally.
Mounted Skirmisher is for taking full attacks with a melee weapon, which you normally can't do if your mount moves more than 5 feet.
There is no feat required to Full Attack with a bow or other ranged weapon from the back of a moving mount. There isn't even a penalty as long as the mount doesn't double move or run.
Oh, cool. So there's little reason to get any mounted combat feats, right?
Also, assuming I choose to bond with my horse at level 5 (cuz, that just seems cooler than getting a weapon), what kind of stats does it have? It seems like a paladin's magical horse should be a lot stronger than a normal horse.
It looks like I get the horse animal companion from the druid, (found here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions#horse) but that seems way less powerful than just a 'heavy horse' that farmers use, found here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/horse/heavy-horse
Also, how much health does the horse have? And how does it ever stay alive in higher level combat?
Thanks!
|
|
Oh, cool. So there's little reason to get any mounted combat feats, right?
Also, assuming I choose to bond with my horse at level 5 (cuz, that just seems cooler than getting a weapon), what kind of stats does it have? It seems like a paladin's magical horse should be a lot stronger than a normal horse.
It looks like I get the horse animal companion from the druid, (found here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions#horse) but that seems way less powerful than just a 'heavy horse' that farmers use, found here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/horse/heavy-horse
Also, how much health does the horse have? And how does it ever stay alive in higher level combat?
Thanks!
The horse uses the stats for the horse listed under the druid entry, but will start out as a 5th level animal companion since you use your paladin level as your druid level. It'll also pick up the celestial template at level 11, and since it always has an intelligence of at least 6, you can take pretty much whatever feats you want for it.
"At least 6" Do we roll dice or something to determine its ability scores, or at they static and it just gets +1 every four levels?
Also, I've never used a mount. So at level 5, what are the few few things I'd want to buy for it as an archer?
|
|
"At least 6" Do we roll dice or something to determine its ability scores, or at they static and it just gets +1 every four levels?
Also, I've never used a mount. So at level 5, what are the few few things I'd want to buy for it as an archer?
The "at least 6" functionally means "it starts at 6, and where it goes from there is up to you". Animal Companions get an ability score increase every 4 levels that you could potentially spend on intelligence if you really wanted to. You're going to have a couple feats when you get this thing, I recommend picking up armor proficiency and putting your mount in some barding. consider dropping some cash on some Horseshoes of Speed or Horseshoes of A Zephyr if you want to boost your mobility.