Does the Stone Servant from the Stonelord archetype behave like the typical Mount bond?
"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."
A typical Mount bond would follow the rules for a Druid's animal companion (Bonus hit dice, feats, Natural Armor, etc). Does the stone servant do so as well? Or is it stuck on 3 level increments?
It's not a bonded mount. In fact, the stone servant ability replace divine bond which allows for the mount or weapon bond. The only way in which the stone servant function like a mount is the way in which the paladin may call it which is:
The second type of bond allows a paladin to gain the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her in her crusade against evil. This mount is usually a heavy horse (for a Medium paladin) or a pony (for a Small paladin), although more exotic mounts, such as a boar, camel, or dog are also suitable. 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 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.
They wrote it that way in the description so they didn't need to reprint those rules that I bolded.
So no, it doesn't advance like a bonded companion.
You may now be wondering if the Stone Servant class feature kind of sucks? I would have to personally say yes, it was only useful when I played it as a scout who could walk through stone. In combat I found its chance to hit to be pathetic along with the damage it dealt.
That makes sense, and is much less bookwork
