We are looking to make an all mounted group.
So far we have a druid, a cavalier and a Rage prophet who is taking levels of nature oracle to get a mount.
We might have an inquisitor who takes an animal domain or something.
Looking for an arcane who can keep up with a survivable mount and summoner occurred to me, never built one, nor do I know anyone who has.
Suggestions?
It's for the Reign of Winter AP.
Don't forget to buy an exotic saddle. -5 to ride checks without one.
Alternatively, just cast Ant Haul on someone else's mount and tag along.
taggin along is less cool.....
forgot about sorcerers bloodlines letting you get an animal companion, GOOD call!
could you do a cross blooded sylvan/draconic and PRC into dragon disciple? She had asked about a dragon disciple.... she likes dragons.
We are looking to make an all mounted group.
So far we have a druid, a cavalier and a Rage prophet who is taking levels of nature oracle to get a mount.
We might have an inquisitor who takes an animal domain or something.Looking for an arcane who can keep up with a survivable mount and summoner occurred to me, never built one, nor do I know anyone who has.
Suggestions?
It's for the Reign of Winter AP.
The most powerful character I've ever made was a mounted Summoner - a Half-elf who took 8 levels of Summoner, then 1 level of Dragoon at 9th, then going Summoner the rest of the way thereafter. Remember the benefits of Mounted Combat as well as the Shield Ally class feature.
The character had a high Strength augmented by the Eldritch Heritage feats for the Orcish Bloodline - he used Power Attack, Furious Focus and Arcane Strike to further enhance the damage done by his lance, and between his lance and his eidolon's reach/push attacks foes had to brave multiple AoO's to even get within melee range as often as not.
The character had a lower than average Charisma (though still high) and focused more on buff spells than spells that might require saves. For levels 1-8 he fought with a longspear behind/alongside his eidolon, not taking the Mounted evolution until the creature qualified for Large size at 8th... and then eventually gaining large size himself through Power of Giants just when his eidolon got the Huge evolution.
You can go this route with Wild Caller or standard Summoner, you just have to decide if getting the Large/Huge evolutions earlier is worth the other evolutions you miss out on (like DR or SR). And don't forget Aspect and Greater Aspect as well. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask here or in mail.
Another completely different option is to make a Master Summoner with a small sized character like a Halfling and create your eidolon purely as a mount (you can get Flying as early as 5th), relying on spells and summoned creatures to do your fighting for you.
The mounted summoner is a neat idea. You won't be able to pile on the attacks like many summoners like to do (that will have to wait until 3rd level plus, but you will have a cool serviceable mount.
Base Form Serpentine: you get free evolutions; bite, reach, climb, tail slap. So two attacks with reach pretty good at 1st level.
1st level 3 evolutions:
evol 1: mount
evol 2-3: fly
Now you have a flying mount at 1st level. The only drawback is you are slow 20 ft. base speed. You will fix that at 2nd level.
2nd level 1 evolution:
evol 4: increased speed: you now have a 40ft fly speed.
3rd level: start adding/ improving your attacks or go for magic flight, etc.
Eidolons make other people's mounts look pretty lame by comparison.
Now you can just fly over the fray and summon monsters down on the bad guys.
Can you just buy a horse and then do wizard stuff to it to make it magical?
The mounted summoner is a neat idea. You won't be able to pile on the attacks like many summoners like to do (that will have to wait until 3rd level plus, but you will have a cool serviceable mount.
Base Form Serpentine: you get free evolutions; bite, reach, climb, tail slap. So two attacks with reach pretty good at 1st level.
1st level 3 evolutions:
evol 1: mount
evol 2-3: flyNow you have a flying mount at 1st level. The only drawback is you are slow 20 ft. base speed. You will fix that at 2nd level.
2nd level 1 evolution:
evol 4: increased speed: you now have a 40ft fly speed.
3rd level: start adding/ improving your attacks or go for magic flight, etc.
Eidolons make other people's mounts look pretty lame by comparison.
Now you can just fly over the fray and summon monsters down on the bad guys.
As Shfish said, the flight evolution is only available at level 5, and it is only bite that has reach.
You also have to be small size, as the Eidolon is medium, and can't become large until level 8.You also can't have the Eidolon out at the same time as you use your Summon Monster Spell Like Ability, not unless you are a Master Summoner, which means you probably aren't going to afford it, since you only have 4 evolution points at 5th level (baring being a half-elf or take the extra evolution feat).
What you can do, at level 10, is to use your Aspect ability, and grant yourself permanent flight.
Have you read the flight evo? It specifically closes with "The summoner must be at least 5th level before selecting this evolution."
Nasty Nasty...my bad I knew there was something I was forgetting. I shouldn't have gone from memory. So you have a fast snake until 5th, then you fly. You will probably also need to be small, but not really a problem for a summoner.
Don't forget, Summoners can summon using spells as well. It is not ideal as you lose flexibility, but I know several that do so, or scrolls, or wands, etc.
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We are looking to make an all mounted group.
So far we have a druid, a cavalier and a Rage prophet who is taking levels of nature oracle to get a mount.
We might have an inquisitor who takes an animal domain or something.Looking for an arcane who can keep up with a survivable mount and summoner occurred to me, never built one, nor do I know anyone who has.
Suggestions?
It's for the Reign of Winter AP.
Just looked up my Mounted Summoner build, if you're interested:
Half-Elven 19th level Summoner or Wild Caller / 1st level Dragoon
Attributes: (20 point buy)
STR - 16 (+2 racial mod, +2 @ 11th, 15th & 17th level)
INT - 12
WIS - 8
DEX - 12
CON - 14
CHA - 13 (+1 @ 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th & 20th)
Traits:
Reactionary
Focused Mind
Feats:
1st - Arcane Strike
1st - Skill Focus: Survival
3rd - Power Attack
5th - Furious Focus
7th - Eldritch Heritage: Orc Bloodline
9th - Mounted Combat
9th - Skill Focus: Ride
9th - Ride-By Attack
11th - Improved Eldritch Heritage: Orc Bloodline
13th - Extra Evolution
15th - Extra Evolution
17th - Greater Eldritch Heritage: Orc Bloodline
19th - Quicken Spell
Skills:
Ride - 1/level
Survival - 1/level
Climb - 1st
Swim - 2nd
Knowledge: (Planes or Nature) - 1/level after 2nd
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We are looking to make an all mounted group.
So far we have a druid, a cavalier and a Rage prophet who is taking levels of nature oracle to get a mount.
We might have an inquisitor who takes an animal domain or something.Looking for an arcane who can keep up with a survivable mount and summoner occurred to me, never built one, nor do I know anyone who has.
Suggestions?
It's for the Reign of Winter AP.
Summoner:
I'd go with a standard halfling mounted summoner build.
Either focus a bit on strength, and get a lance, or focus on dex and get a light weapon, like a shortsword, and get the weapon finesse feat and agile enchantment. She doesn't actually need a shield (she'll get a shield bonus from being close to her eidolon), so a twohanded weapon would also work. Personally, I'd go with an agile weapon. She don't need all that much charisma, a base of 14 would suffice (making it 16 after the halfling racial mods), but she can't skimp on dex all that much, or her AC will be in the toilet. With an agile weapon, this isn't a problem, but an advantage.
A quadruped base form would be my goto form, it's faster, stronger and can get pounce. And while a lance charge on a pouncing creature is a bit controversial, it is rather effective if it is allowed.
She'd also want some mounted combat feats.
I wouldn't go for a mounted archer build. That negates the party piece of the standard summoner, the eidolon.
If she wants a dragon, then build the eidolon as a slowly emerging dragon (a dragon is a quadruped, but with wings and a tail).
From Ultimate Magic:
"Dragon
The eidolon appears to be a Medium dragon. Making a Small dragon eidolon creates a fairy dragon or pseudodragon. Large or Huge dragons can be created by exchanging one or more of the evolutions below for the large evolution.
26 points: Base Form quadruped; Primary Evolutions claws, tail, tail slap; Secondary Evolutions basic magic (any), blindsense, breath weapon, flight, frightful presence, immunity, magic attacks, minor magic (any), spell resistance, wing buffet."
Though I'd go with the melee stuff, and make it large when possible, and skip the magic, breath weapon, frightful presence, immunity and so on. They aren't really worth it. I'd also go with increased natural armour.
The tactical would be to have the rider buff the eidolon/party, and then join in the fight, unless of course she'd go with the mounted lance charge, then that has priority.
She could also go with the Master Summoner archetype, and have the eidolon be just an advanced mount. Here I'd probably go with a gnome. They have the advantage of having a 1/day speak with animals SLA, which is rather useful for any summoner, but especially the master summoner. Normally, to get your animal summons to do anything but attack your nearest enemy, you have to do a DC 25 Handle Animal check (Push Animal, a full-round action), but with speak with animals, they just obey your command. I'd still go with a quadruped (higher speed), and get flight ASAP. Besides that, higher movement and better AC is probably a good idea. Fluffed as a gnome riding as fairy dragon, summoning creatures from beyond the veil works well I think. It is also rather effective.
Here you would have to focus on charisma though. The daily number of Summon Monster SLA depends on it.
Tactical would be to have the eidolon keep it's master out of melee, and summon monsters from afar (and buff the party).
Sorcerer:
Shfish explained quite well why there are some problems with Wildblooded. But without going into that, she can just take the feat Boon Companion at level 1 (or later), and have an animal companion at character level, instead of character level -3 (assuming no multiclassing). Again, few of the animal companions can be ridden at level 1, and none of the interesting ones. But then, you can switch them out more or less willy-nilly. I'd personally go with a human sorcerer, and go for a large sized giant wasp as my flying mount at level 7. The picture of a fireball (or other, more effective, spells) throwing maniac on the back of a horse sized flying wasp, is just too good to pass on. Of course, if she'd go with a gnome or a halfling, she could do it at level 1.
Another option, though it comes rather late, is the Leadership feat. It specifically allows you to get a dragon cohort/mount. THey are all underpowered, compared to the other mounts you can get from the feat (Kirin!), but it is an option.
Beyond that, there are some excellent guides to both classes. Or you could just ask for a more specific build, and I'll see what I can do.
she wont be a small charter, so halflings and gnomes are out.
she might go sylvan blooded sorcerer because she wants attack spells like lightening bolt.
might let her do cross blooded dragon/sylvan to let her go dragon disciple.
characters will all start at level 4, as this is a reboot. She will likely go for boon companion, as she will be very likely to go dragon disciple later.
I might fudge a bit to let her combine her animal companion levels and leadership (cohort) to get a dragon horse mount.... just for the cool factor.
Group will eventually be a very zany:
Battle Herald (elf)
Sylvan /Mounted Dragon Disciple (half elf)
Rage Prophet (of nature??) (half elf)
Inquisitor (with animal Domain??) (elf) ...possibly double as a rogue (take levels of sanctified rogue?)
one of the things I disliked about 3.5 is too many splat books.... to try and find the source material to look up the rules, especially when leveling was so time consuming.
One of the major complaints about cavaliers is that they are mounted, and the campaign isn't set up for them.
Trying to run a mounted campaign tho is kinda frustrating too.
Mounted rogue?
Doesnt exist.
Mounted arcane? Trying to whip one out.
I think mounts in general need a revamp.
In the olden days, you just bought or acquired mounts...first horses, then other things, eventually dragons... I think now with these rules sets, the mentality is to look too much toward the class feature to provide that.
IMHO, future rules sets should avoid including animals/mounts etc as part of class features. Instead offering feats or selectable features that are modularly swapped out for something else that can be used to more easily modify any selected beast, be it a war dog or a pegasus.
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@Pendagast Punching Expecations in the Mouth is an excellent guide for putting together a mounted summoner. I'd strongly urge you to read over it. The author is fairly comprehensive and covers a lot of things many people miss, like buying Reach for your mount so that its attacks and yours will land at the same time.
A summoner can learn Enlarge or buy it on a wand or scroll so a medium size race can take advantage of the mount during combat until L8 where you buy the Large evolution.
You can respend all of your evolution points when you level up to completely reconfigure your Eidolon, helping to maintain its effectiveness. You are stuck with your base form though. I strongly advise Quadruped.
Anyway, look over the guide and see if it helps.
Remember that any caster, arcane or otherwise, has to make a concentration check if the mount is moving. And they aren't all that easy to make in Pathfinder, so taking traits and feats that helps with that is probably a good idea.
And you can just buy your mounts. The difference is that you can't just buy intelligent creatures as mounts, which is IMHO perfectly sensible.
Flying mounts aren't cheap though, not unless you count dire bats, which are apparently problematic to keep, unless you get them from a drow (Animal Archive says you should make a handle animal check each day to keep a dire animal, but in Advanced Races, drows get a riding version with no such provisions, a bit more expensive though).
Animal Archive does have a rather long list of different mounts. The list can also be found here.
If she really wants a dragon for a mount, I'd just let her take a different kind of leadership feat, one that doesn't contain any followers, but instead loses the special dragon entry (i.e. just let the cohort level be = CR+3, just like all the other mounts are, it's powerful, but not more so than say a Kirin, which has a caster level of 15, and cast wish for free once a week, and you can get it at level 13 with some trait/prestige class shenanigans. Whoever thought that a Kirin should have a cohort level of 13, must have been rather drunk, because even if you do not do any early access shenanigans, you still get access to a 9th level spell, at two levels before you should. Bonkers.).
This way, the dragon horse has a cohort level of 12. Perfectly reasonable compared to the other choices (still one of the strongest, if not the strongest feats).