Ok I am playing as a paladin and will be hitting lvl 5 soon and will choose my divine bond power(weapon or mount). I have decided to go with the animal companion/mount. Here is quick description of the divine bond power concerning the animal companion.
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
I am a human and considered medium size. My question is does the animal companion I choose have to be mountable(in my case large sized) right away. The animal companion I have in mind when I get it will be medium size until it hits level 7 using my paladin as the effective druid level then it will become large in size to where I can mount it.
I know then a caviler gets a mount at level 1 and the rules for it are:
A cavalier gains the service of a loyal and trusty steed to carry him into battle. This mount functions as a druid's animal companion, using the cavalier's level as his effective druid level. The creature must be one that he is capable of riding and is suitable as a mount. A Medium cavalier can select a camel or a horse. A Small cavalier can select a pony or wolf, but can also select a boar or a dog if he is at least 4th level. The GM might approve other animals as suitable mounts.
So it has to be mountable right away for a caviler, but the rules for the animal bond for a paladin doesn't specifically say that. So can I chose an animal companion that will eventually become a mount later on after a couple of levels or like the cavalier I have to be able to mount and ride it right away.
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LazarX, actually it is left up to the GM. What swordfalcon is asking, is can he have a mount that he can't yet ride.
RAW (reading as written), nothing prevents the paladin from taking a mount that is not yet ride-able. "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." It is up to your GM.
RAW, the cavalier follows a different, clearer, restrictive ruling, probably because cavalier was designed later on than paladin. It is up to your GM to rule on this one.
Strange that RAW, paladin has more flexibility in choosing a companion than cavalier, since cavalier has a bond at 1st level. Oh well. Let your GM rule.
To clarify I am trying to get a dragon as a mount. I am using a third party handbook called, Dragon Companion Handbook. It lets you take a dragon as an animal companion and uses a slight variation of the druid companion leveling chart. It has a couple feats you can take along with having a prerequisites: Knowledge (arcana) 4 ranks, animal companion, divine bond (mount), mount, or a nature bond (animal companion) class feature with an effective druid level of 4th: ability to speak draconic. The second feat increases it size to large. I can take the first dragon feat at level 5 and the second at level 7 for my paladin.
It also states that you acquire and advance these dragons as you would an animal companion or mount from the class feature you used as a prerequisite. Also if you multiclass as long as the classes you are using give an effective druid level for an animal companion or mount, they stack.
I have always wanted to be somewhat of a dragon rider and I know there is a third party class for it, but my gm looked at it and said it was too over powered for our campaign. I looked into other alternatives but could not find one that was viable until I found and bought this downloadable guide from Paizo. I showed it to my GM and he said he was fine with it, but I had to stay in the rules of the pathfinder game in order to get it. So hence my above question.