Cavalier, mount building and general help.

[BigCoffee]

I recently got into pathfinder society and decided to have some fun with a class I've never played before, the cavalier. I made a gnome, to be able to bring my mount in dungeons, and managed to get him decent stats with the 20 point buy ratio.

But the rules to make my mount seemed to elude me. Some of the orders seemed highly specific to different types of campaigns (where are those orders situated anyway?) and information about weapons for them seemed lacking.

I got him a lance because I think you can use it one handed while on a mount, and some other weapons for back-up but that's it. Do I need to roll ride checks every time I want to move, or can I just assume that for 90% of the time my wolf mount is my set of feets?

I was also wondering why a riding dog isn't an option at level 1 compared to say, a wolf, which seems much stronger.

We had a decent party and I managed to finish the adventure without ever using anything my mount could and would do, the DM hand-waiving for now so we could get the session going.

I'd like to work on building a proper cavalier for the next sessions, but perusing the advanced players guide doesn't bring all that I need.

I think 16-12-14-12-10-9 is a good stat spread for the gnome for this class and is what I'm working with, that and 150gp base.

[Phosphorus]

The rules for how the mount levels are under the Druid, in the Companion Animal section.

I think the best orders are the Order of the Cockatrice (free dazzling display, if small you need to take taunt), and the Order of the Sword (Level 8 power gives you a bonus feat and adds the mount's strength to your charge damage).

Is the gnome for flavour? If so, I would always have a minimum Charisma of 11 to gain the gnome's spell-like abilities. This also allows you to access the Arcane Strike feat.

The halfling is also a good race choice, as the halfling can get a +2 on racial bonus on handle animal and ride. Also you can take the Lessons of Chaldira trait for a saving throw re-roll once per day. (You can take it as a gnome too, but it would be odd for a gnome to worship a halfling deity).

Important feats are: Mounted combat, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge, Power Attack, Furious Focus, Wheeling Charge, Indomitable Mount. For your mount take IUS & Dragon Style as soon as it has 3 int to allow it to charge over difficult terrain.

A lance can be used in one hand while mounted, but it remains treated as a two handed weapon for damage and power attack. This allows you to use a lance and shield mounted.

A dog is out until level 4 sadly as it is small sized until then. A pony is worse in battle than a wolf, but more acceptable in towns.

For equipment - get a lance, shield, longsword as backup while on foot. Scale armour is cheap and has good AC early, but later get full plate. Make sure you get rope and a block and tackle so you can lift your mount up and down ladders, and out of pits etc.

You may want to read up the ride skill rules here:

Ride Skill Rules

It is a DC 5 check to control your mount with your knees, if you fail this, you need a free hand to control your mount.

As for charging, the RAW seems very unclear, and I am trying to get an FAQ here:

shameless plug for my FAQ thread on Mounted Charge

If you can click on FAQ I would be grateful :-)

[BigCoffee]

Gnome seemed to fit better in my idea, in the end it was only choosing between a con bonus and a dex bonus really, putting my gnome's charisma to 11 means losing out on 12 int instead of 10, I felt like they needed all the extra skill points they could get. That and Knight's challenge is worthless with 11 charisma. The free feat for

Cockatrice is the selfish one right? I seemed like an easy order (I still wonder where each order's HQ are) but it didn't fit with the backstory I had in mind.

Riding seems ok, I guess I'l just pump it sky high and roll for it every single turn, but rolling a 5 is easy. If I want to do a 5 foot step, it's my mount doing it, so could I still do full round attacks after moving? Or when faced with someone, can I stab them with a lance while my mount also bites or claws?

[PapaZorro]

Note that you do NOT automatically fail skill rolls on a natural 1.

This means that if your ride check is 4, you no longer have to actually roll to slow the game down, as on a 1 you still get a DC 5.

[Mathius]

Good feats for your mount would be improved overrun, power attack and charge through. Unfortunately you can not take any of those as you first feat for you mount. The charger archetype for your mount grants you access to charge through without and increase in int. You get access to greater overrun but your mount can not get it until 10th level. Barding training makes medium armor prof pretty nice to have.

If you do not take IUS and dragon style you can get close with acrobatic steps and nimble moves and they do not need extra int. Feather step the spell of the item that grants it all the time make any of these unnecessary.

If your mount moves 5 feet or less you can take a full attack. If the mount can move that 5 feet as 5 foot step it can also take a full attack. If it takes move action it can attack and if it takes a full round action it gets nothing but any way out you still get a full attack.

You need to make a DC 10 ride check to fight with your mount but since this a free action to try you lose only the mounts attack if you miss the roll. A halfling can fairly easily take 1 and make these and since a 1 does not fail a skill check turns go much faster once you do not need to roll for them. Gnome might need a few levels to reach a 9 in ride.

For your tactician feat i would go with lookout. If you take the strategist archetype you can use tactician more often and at 4th level you can give it to your allies for and extended period of time. If you and your mount have this feat ahead of time and neither of you are surprised then you can charge in the surprise round. At 9th level you can use tactician as a swift and give it to your mount during the surprise round and get in a charge that way. At 14th level and with the archetype you get movement on top of the lookout benefits.

[BigCoffee]

Thinking of reducing my strength to 15 to up another stat, I'l make it back even at level 4. I mostly need to hit more then I need to do damage with now. My only need is to be able to charge constantly, and when I can't move or properly charge, keep lancing while the mount does whatever attacks it can do (although it seems odd that a wolf can bite and claw while I'm on it's back. Does it have to worry about weight if I'm in a heavy saddle and wearing heavy armor and my backpacks?)

[Phosphorus]

BigCoffee wrote:

Thinking of reducing my strength to 15 to up another stat, I'l make it back even at level 4. I mostly need to hit more then I need to do damage with now. My only need is to be able to charge constantly, and when I can't move or properly charge, keep lancing while the mount does whatever attacks it can do (although it seems odd that a wolf can bite and claw while I'm on it's back. Does it have to worry about weight if I'm in a heavy saddle and wearing heavy armor and my backpacks?)

Yes, the wolf does have to worry about encumbrance. At low levels, your wolf will probably be moving at reduced speed (35). As you level up, your wolf will get significantly stronger. There is an encumbrance table in Additional Rules in the core rulebook. Remember to apply the increase to carrying capacity for being a medium sized quadruped.

It may be useful to invest in Charisma and UMD so you can use a scroll of the spell Carry Companion. This will allow you to take your mount anywhere that you can go. Otherwise, you can invest in the expensive hosteling armour special ability.

Ride-by Attack will help get in more charges.