Stonelord companion question

[Xavier319]

Does the stonelord's elemental companion dying give you the penalties of losing your mount? Or can you simply summon another one after 24 hours? It doesnt seem like it should cause such problems, considering how weak and disposable it seems.

In addition, it states that the elemental increases in size as you level up. I have seen this argued that it only gets size benefits, and nothing else, which I find absolutely ridiculous. COuld it perhaps be that the elemental increases in size, and therefore power and HD, as per the elemental classifications in the bestiary?

At 5th level, a stonelord may call a Small earth elemental to her side, as a paladin calls her mount. This earth elemental is Lawful Good in alignment and possesses the celestial template, and it increases in size as the stonelord gains levels, becoming Medium at 8th level, Large at 11th level, Huge at 14th level, Greater at 17th level, and Elder at 20th level.

This ability replaces divine bond.

This leads me to believe that it is treated like the bonded weapon, you summon it, for one min per level, and it goes away at the duration's end. and since it uses 'elder' and 'greater' as classifications, that you do not just increase the size, but use the monster from the Bestiary, with the celestial template added on.

Thoughts? I want to play one of these, so figuring this out would be important.

[balderdash]

the stone lord mount is the best mount in game hands down.. you summon a small earth elemental which is like the paladin mount which is like the druid animal companion.

This mount
functions as a druid’s animal companion, using the
paladin’s level as her effective druid level. Bonded
mounts have an Intelligence of at least 6.

Once per day, as a full-round action, a paladin may
magically call her mount to her side. This ability is
the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third
the paladin’s level. The mount immediately appears
adjacent to the paladin. A paladin can use this ability
once per day at 5th level, and one additional time per day
for every 4 levels thereafter, for a total of four times per
day at 17th level.
At 11th level, the mount gains the celestial template (see
the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary) and becomes a magical beast
for the purposes of determining which spells affect it. At
15th level, a paladin’s mount gains spell resistance equal to
the paladin’s level + 11.
Should the paladin’s mount die, the paladin may not
summon another mount for 30 days or until she gains
a paladin level, whichever comes first. During this 30-
day period, the paladin takes a –1 penalty on attack and
weapon damage rolls.

the differnce is that the stone lord starts with the celestial template and changes size as the stone lord levels

[Xavier319]

alright, so it does it count as an outsider? and if so, does it get outsider hit dice, and BAB, and saves and all that? and what does "elder" and "greater" mean then? those arent sizes.

[asthyril]

the ability described is what you get in place of a mount. you get a small earth elemental, which increases in size as you level, using the bestiary description of earth elementals. it does not include anything else, it does NOT use the druid animal companion table. if it did, the description of the ability would say so, and tell you how to apply that table to a bestiary entry for earth elementals.

also lacking from the description is the penalty that normal paladins get when it dies, which is nice because the small earth elemental is a horrible companion for a 5th level paladin. the only thing that is mentioned is the calling ability, which is once every 24 hours as a full round action.

it also doesn't provide a way to speak to it, which is a problem, since it only speaks terran.

the sizes it refers to are the sizes of earth elementals in the bestiary. you use those stats. if you can make it to 11th level when it is large and uses those stats it gets pretty decent.

So basically the power gives you the ability to call an earth elemental of the appropriate size for your level, once a day at 5th, pus another every 4 levels, as a full round action. you use the bestiary for its stats, except that it is lawful good and has the celestial template.

note that it does not say you can change the abilities or feats that it gets, so the feats listed in the bestiary are the ones you get.

[Xavier319]

Thank you. that's exactly what I thought. but so many different interpretations of this ability are around it confused the bloody hell out of me.