Cavalier and Paladin Mounts

[Shane Weber]

Hi All,

I am currently trying to decide where to go next with my paladin and I want to branch out in to mounted combat, so I thought about taking a few levels of Cavalier.

However my question comes from how do the paladin and cavalier mounts stack? Do I have the option for two mounts? Do both classes stack for my total druid level? Do I get both the Int 6 mount and the Cavalier ability to ignore armor check penalty?

Any thought or can anyone point me to anything official?

[DesolateHarmony]

PFS FAQ entry for mounts

APG FAQ entry on Cavalier mount stacking with druid's animal companion

Note that the cavalier mount can be stacked with druid animal companion if the conditions are met. Ranger is also called out as possibly stacking, but paladin is not mentioned. I believe this is because a paladin's mount is a magical beast and not an animal, so it therefor doesn't stack.

Edit: punctuation

[Victor Zajic]

I think as long as you pick a horse and not a camel with the cavalier they would stack.

[Bbauzh ap Aghauzh]

As long as tge animal is on both lists for each class they will stack. But taking a level in another class with a more expansive list does not expand animal options for both classes and will not stack. In this case you could have two animals, but would have to choose which one goes on the adventure with you at the start of the scenario.

The above is for PFS. I see this got moved to the rules section.

[Shane Weber]

I would agree, that they both stack, up until paladin level 11 when the paladins mount becomes a magical beast, but before that point it is still just an animal with int 6.

[Lord_Malkov]

Well.. I think the issue at hand here is that you can't get both the starting bonus for the cavalier (free armor prof. feat) and the 6 int of the paladin.

Once you have one 'type' of mount, you can stack levels for progression, but that does not retroactively give you new abilities.

For example, a cavalier's mount does not get 'share spells' so if you are a level 6 cavalier and decide to go into druid, your companion does not suddenly gain that power retroactively just because a druid's companion would have. That is how I see it.

It can still become magical, and gain the celestial template just like a Mammoth Rider can have a huge mount. There is really no issue there. The problem is that you are stacking levels with a different base creature. You can stack those levels if both classes have the same creature option, but that still seems to prevent you getting the bonuses that are listed for when a mount is "gained".

[Shane Weber]

If I were a paladin first and then mutliclassed cavalier, would I still ignore armor check penalies when riding my mount, as it seems it a function of the cavalier and not the mount. I am less concerned about the feats.

[SwiftyKun]

Yes, they stack. It is listed under animal companion that for determining your animal companions "level" or "hit dice" all classes that are ELIGIBLE to get an animal companion stack when determining level for the Hit dice of your animal companion. I too have a paladin and cavalier. I got a mount from my cavalier and chose the paladin bonding spirit.

If you're talking about taking the paladin mount feature instead of the spirit and cross classing into cavalier, you take whichever animal companion bonus is higher, but they don't stack. Just like everything else.

To make it more clear, you would essentially have 2 animal companion mounts, one which is a mundane horse and the other is a magically summoned one, each one having their own stats. I believe you can only use one of them at a time for Society games, but the GM may let you have as many as you want for home games.