Question on the Axe Beak mount

[Pogiforce]

So I just finished the third part of the Quest for Perfection quest line. On the chronicle sheet,

Spoiler:

it says that if I have completed all three parts with this character, which I have, "you may gain an axe beak as a loyal mount or companion". Now I use hero lab for building and tracking characters, and Hero Lab says that an Axe Beak costs 1500 GP as a mount. Now the Chronicle sheet does not say I have to buy the mount, but it doesn't explicitely say it's free either. Do I have to pay the 1500 GP?

[SCPRedMage]

Hero Lab is not a rules source. Do what the chronicle tells you, not what the third-party tool that isn't aware of the chronicle tells you to do.

[Majuba]

A) Please remove the references to the scenario from your original post - it's consider spoilers (if old ones)
B) You get exactly what it says, which is the option to select Axe Beak as a Mount or Animal Companion, *if* you have one of those class features.
C) While you do not simply get an Axe Beak for free, neither would you have to pay for one as a mount or animal companion.
D) What James said.

[Nefreet]

Flagged for spoilers.

[Pogiforce]

I'm sorry for the spoiler, I would remove it but I don't know how to edit my post.

And I know Hero Lab is not a rules source, but I wasn't sure what happened based on how the Chronicle was worded. I don't know if I just GET the mount, or it's just made available to me as an option to purchase. And according to Hero Lab if it's the latter it costs 1500 GP.

I also don't understand what you mean by "If you have one of those class features" since, from my understanding, anyone can have a mount. Cavaliers just start with one for free and theirs grows with them.

[Abyssian]

The axebeak boon is an addition to the list of available mount or animal companion options if you have either as a class feature (and if you have Bestiary 3).

[Qstor]

There should be an edit button near the top of your post.

Mike

[Sniggevert]

Pogiforce wrote:

I'm sorry for the spoiler, I would remove it but I don't know how to edit my post.

And I know Hero Lab is not a rules source, but I wasn't sure what happened based on how the Chronicle was worded. I don't know if I just GET the mount, or it's just made available to me as an option to purchase. And according to Hero Lab if it's the latter it costs 1500 GP.

I also don't understand what you mean by "If you have one of those class features" since, from my understanding, anyone can have a mount. Cavaliers just start with one for free and theirs grows with them.

Anyone can buy a mount, true. The chronicle is not opening up any new purchases though.

Cavaliers start with one because their class gives them one...it's a feature of that class. The phrase Class Features is actually called out as a subheading for each and every class in the rulebooks.

If the mount/animal companion feature is one of your class features then you can gain the bird as a mount/companion. If you do not have either feature, the boon grants you nothing.

[Pogiforce]

Kevin Ingle wrote:

Pogiforce wrote:

I'm sorry for the spoiler, I would remove it but I don't know how to edit my post.

And I know Hero Lab is not a rules source, but I wasn't sure what happened based on how the Chronicle was worded. I don't know if I just GET the mount, or it's just made available to me as an option to purchase. And according to Hero Lab if it's the latter it costs 1500 GP.

I also don't understand what you mean by "If you have one of those class features" since, from my understanding, anyone can have a mount. Cavaliers just start with one for free and theirs grows with them.

Anyone can buy a mount, true. The chronicle is not opening up any new purchases though.

Cavaliers start with one because their class gives them one...it's a feature of that class. The phrase Class Features is actually called out as a subheading for each and every class in the rulebooks.

If the mount/animal companion feature is one of your class features then you can gain the bird as a mount/companion. If you do not have either feature, the boon grants you nothing.

I understand what a Class Feature is. The way the boon is worded just had me doubtful that it was exclusively for those with the class feature. Thank you for clearing it up.

Qstor wrote:

There should be an edit button near the top of your post.

Mike

For whatever reason there isn't. It might be because Nefreet flagged my post, and I guess now I can't edit it. The post I JUST made has an edit button, but the one I opened the topic with does not.

[claudekennilol]

Pogiforce wrote:

For whatever reason there isn't. It might be because Nefreet flagged my post, and I guess now I can't edit it. The post I JUST made has an edit button, but the one I opened the topic with does not.

The edit button only sticks around for the first hour after posting--it has nothing to do with Nefreet flagging it.

[Nefreet]

The edit window only lasts for an hour.

Since I knew you could no longer edit your post, I flagged it for a webmaster to edit.

[Kilmannan]

On which note, can an Axe Beak be ridden? Isn't it a medium creature? I know there is a picture of someone riding it and it's described as having someone ride it, but I've been told by someone else that it's not a rideable mount by a medium character.

[Nefreet]

Before it advances to Large, it is Medium.

Until that happens, a Medium creature cannot ride it.

[Kilmannan]

I'm going to apologise here, I don't really know much about the game even though I've played a fair bit and GM'd on Roll20 - how does it advance to large? I can't see a reference to that in the beastiary.

[Nefreet]

Look in the back of Bestiary 3.

Edit: or HERE.

[GreySector]

Kilmannan wrote:

I'm going to apologise here, I don't really know much about the game even though I've played a fair bit and GM'd on Roll20 - how does it advance to large? I can't see a reference to that in the beastiary.

It is an option in animal companion advancement.

Nature Bond wrote:

Most animal companions increase in size when their druid reaches 4th or 7th level, depending on the companion.

[Kilmannan]

Aaah, thanks folks. Would that apply though to an Axe Beak won as part of the Chronicle for a Ranger who's level four already?

Oh god, tell me I can ride him into battle.

[claudekennilol]

Michael Eshleman wrote:

Kilmannan wrote:

I'm going to apologise here, I don't really know much about the game even though I've played a fair bit and GM'd on Roll20 - how does it advance to large? I can't see a reference to that in the beastiary.

It is an option in animal companion advancement.

Nature Bond wrote:

Most animal companions increase in size when their druid reaches 4th or 7th level, depending on the companion.

If I understand what you're asking properly, then no. If you're a 4th level ranger with an animal companion, then your animal companion is only level 1 and thus not "old enough" for a size advancement.

[WiseWolfOfYoitsu]

Nefreet wrote:

Before it advances to Large, it is Medium.

Until that happens, a Medium creature cannot ride it.

Unless they have the ACG feat Undersized Mount, which allows you to ride a mount of your PC's size category or larger.

[LazarX]

WiseWolfOfYoitsu wrote:

Nefreet wrote:

Before it advances to Large, it is Medium.

Until that happens, a Medium creature cannot ride it.

Unless they have the ACG feat Undersized Mount, which allows you to ride a mount of your PC's size category or larger.

Assuming of course the mount can bear the weight. The feat does not make your mount any stronger than what it was.

If you download Shadow Chemosh's adjustments, you can apply the PFS boon to make the mount legal and stop Herolab from sqawking.

[thaX]

Axe Beaks are large creatures.

But a few moments researching it, it starts out Medium sized for some reason. Is this different for the Caviliar?

I have Boon Companion, so that, for my character, makes it a large creature.

My question is why does the Axe Beak start out Medium sized when a Caviliar can have a regular horse from the start? Or am I also wrong on this?

[LazarX]

thaX wrote:

Axe Beaks are large creatures.

But a few moments researching it, it starts out Medium sized for some reason. Is this different for the Caviliar?

I have Boon Companion, so that, for my character, makes it a large creature.

My question is why does the Axe Beak start out Medium sized when a Caviliar can have a regular horse from the start? Or am I also wrong on this?

No you're not. the Axe Beak starts out medium, because it's a more powerful mount. My Samurai had to wait until 4th level before she could ride hers as well.

[Jessex]

Most AC's start out small or medium. The only 2, as far as I can tell, that don't are the horse and camel.

[kinevon]

claudekennilol wrote:

Michael Eshleman wrote:

Kilmannan wrote:

I'm going to apologise here, I don't really know much about the game even though I've played a fair bit and GM'd on Roll20 - how does it advance to large? I can't see a reference to that in the beastiary.

It is an option in animal companion advancement.

Nature Bond wrote:

Most animal companions increase in size when their druid reaches 4th or 7th level, depending on the companion.

If I understand what you're asking properly, then no. If you're a 4th level ranger with an animal companion, then your animal companion is only level 1 and thus not "old enough" for a size advancement.

Unless you have taken, or retrained into, the feat Boon Companion.

There are several ways to get to ride that Axebeak "early".
Boon Companion for Rangers or Paladins.
Undersized Frame for most anyone, as long as your mount can handle the weight (Ant Haul, and several magic items can provide an effective Strength enhancement for that)

Edit: Fixed typo

[LazarX]

kinevon wrote:

claudekennilol wrote:

Michael Eshleman wrote:

Kilmannan wrote:

I'm going to apologise here, I don't really know much about the game even though I've played a fair bit and GM'd on Roll20 - how does it advance to large? I can't see a reference to that in the beastiary.

It is an option in animal companion advancement.

Nature Bond wrote:

Most animal companions increase in size when their druid reaches 4th or 7th level, depending on the companion.

If I understand what you're asking properly, then no. If you're a 4th level ranger with an animal companion, then your animal companion is only level 1 and thus not "old enough" for a size advancement.

Unless you have taken, or retrained into, the feat Boon Companion.

There are several ways to get to ride that Axebeak "early".
Boon Companion for Rangers or Paladins.
Undersized Frame for most anyone, as long as your mount can handle the weight (Any Haul, and several magic items can provide an effective Strength enhancement for that)

Boon companion means that the Ranger rides it at 4th level instead of 7th. And keep in mind that axebeaks don't have shoulders.

[thaX]

Boon Companion is limited by the total character level also. It is more for multi-classing, which my character is. (He dipped into Caviliar and went into Eldritch Knight)

He has mostly Sorcerer levels.

[kinevon]

thaX wrote:

Boon Companion is limited by the total character level also. It is more for multi-classing, which my character is. (He dipped into Caviliar and went into Eldritch Knight)

He has mostly Sorcerer levels.

But it will work fairly well for any of the classes which get delayed access to an animal companion or mount, where they normally have a Druid level equal to class level -3 or similar.

But the retrain part was that I don't think you can take Boon Companion until you actually have a companion.

[SCPRedMage]

kinevon wrote:

There are several ways to get to ride that Axebeak "early".

Boon Companion for Rangers or Paladins.

While Boon Companion would certainly get rangers a large axebeak early, it's of no use to paladins; they can't take it before they get their divine bond class feature at level five, and their effective druid level is their full paladin level, so as soon as they qualify, their mount already has any level four adjustments they might get.

[thaX]

Thank you, Kinevon. Not having played a Ranger, I didn't know of the lesser class level for their Animal Companion.

I assume that it would also work for my Inquisitor. (Scalykind domain) Though she does not have an Axe Beak.

[claudekennilol]

kinevon wrote:

Unless you have taken, or retrained into, the feat Boon Companion.

There are several ways to get to ride that Axebeak "early".
Boon Companion for Rangers or Paladins.
Undersized Frame for most anyone, as long as your mount can handle the weight (Ant Haul, and several magic items can provide an effective Strength enhancement for that)

Edit: Fixed typo

You're mixing two feats. Narrow Frame and Undersized Mount. The one you specifically meant would have been the latter.

thaX wrote:

Thank you, Kinevon. Not having played a Ranger, I didn't know of the lesser class level for their Animal Companion.

I assume that it would also work for my Inquisitor. (Scalykind domain) Though she does not have an Axe Beak.

I don't remember the wording of the feat, but I think it's something along the lines of "if you have a mount from a class feature that advances as an animal companion, then you get this mount". Your sorcerer wouldn't qualify for the axe beak if that's it. Rangers can get an Axe Beak without the boon as it's already an animal companion.

[Nefreet]

Rangers cannot normally select an Axebeak as an Animal Companion.

The Axebeak wasn't released until Bestiary 3.

[claudekennilol]

Nefreet wrote:

Rangers cannot normally select an Axebeak as an Animal Companion.

The Axebeak wasn't released until Bestiary 3.

Right, sorry, I forgot rangers had a limited list.

[Quadstriker]

Ugh saw one of these mounts go from 100% to dead in a trap last week. A very depressing burial took place afterwards.

[SCPRedMage]

Quadstriker wrote:

Ugh saw one of these mounts go from 100% to dead in a trap last week. A very depressing burial took place afterwards.

Well, the good news is the boon isn't limited to just one axebeak, so they can replace it with another one...

[Flutter]

Quadstriker wrote:

Ugh saw one of these mounts go from 100% to dead in a trap last week. A very depressing burial took place afterwards.

*tap tap tapts a foot*

And WHY was someones animal companion being used as a trap finder?

[kinevon]

Flutter wrote:

Quadstriker wrote:

Ugh saw one of these mounts go from 100% to dead in a trap last week. A very depressing burial took place afterwards.

*tap tap tapts a foot*

And WHY was someones animal companion being used as a trap finder?

Probably because it had the highest Perception in the party. Which is an ... interesting ... route for the party, but I have seen it before with other parties.

[Quadstriker]

It's not like we were sending in an AC to check for traps. The mounted character just happened to be first into the room.

Also the player in question isn't a "oh well who cares time for my next duplicate mount" type of player. The character is changing from the experience and going in a different direction emotionally speaking.

But trust me there have been plennnnty of jokes thrown around in the home game with the same players who were there.

[WiseWolfOfYoitsu]

Quadstriker wrote:

It's not like we were sending in an AC to check for traps. The mounted character just happened to be first into the room.

Also the player in question isn't a "oh well who cares time for my next duplicate mount" type of player. The character is changing from the experience and going in a different direction emotionally speaking.

But trust me there have been plennnnty of jokes thrown around in the home game with the same players who were there.

Well, that was an unfortunate turn of events. Looks like "chicken" for dinner tonight guys... Dibs on a leg!

[claudekennilol]

WiseWolfOfYoitsu wrote:

Quadstriker wrote:

It's not like we were sending in an AC to check for traps. The mounted character just happened to be first into the room.

Also the player in question isn't a "oh well who cares time for my next duplicate mount" type of player. The character is changing from the experience and going in a different direction emotionally speaking.

But trust me there have been plennnnty of jokes thrown around in the home game with the same players who were there.

Well, that was an unfortunate turn of events. Looks like "chicken" for dinner tonight guys... Dibs on a leg!

We ended up eating the druid's animal companion a few weeks ago. We were sick of the dungeon, had no way in and no way out and his AC died.

[WiseWolfOfYoitsu]

This would probably be traumatic enough for a druid I controlled to retrain into the blight or cave druid archetypes.

[Flutter]

claudekennilol wrote:

We ended up eating the druid's animal companion a few weeks ago. We were sick of the dungeon, had no way in and no way out and his AC died.

taps a pointy stick I hope the animal companion got a fair chance in the lottery?

[Eisenbaer]

Hillis Mallory III wrote:

Boon Companion is limited by the total character level also. It is more for multi-classing, which my character is. (He dipped into Caviliar and went into Eldritch Knight)

He has mostly Sorcerer levels.

Just some minor necromancy on the thread, there is the Horse Master feat, allowing you to count your character levels instead of just your Cavalier levels for your critter companion.

[Valor Axeflail]

If you recognized that this thread had died, why bring it back?

Horse Master wouldn't work for thaX since he only dipped into Cavalier before going into Eldritch Knight. Horse Master requires Cavalier-4.

[GreySector]

Valor Axeflail AKA Nefreet wrote:

If you recognized that this thread had died, why bring it back?

Because it was on topic, so why not keep it all in the same thread?

As an aside I'm curious as to why you post under numerous aliases, even in the same thread.

[Nefreet]

Michael Eshleman wrote:

As an aside I'm curious as to why you post under numerous aliases, even in the same thread.

Greetings! And welcome to the Paizo forums!

On this website it is possible (and quite common) to post using different aliases. Paizo even makes it easy to tell when someone is doing so by color coding the name of the alias that's posting. A name in [blue] is someone's original username. A name in [green] is someone's PFS character. A name in [red] is just another alias.

People may post with different aliases for any number of reasons, but usually it's because that particular alias has a theme related to the post being made or the thread being posted in.

In this particular case, since the post being replied to regarded a Cavalier class feature (Horse Master), I responded with the alias of my Cavalier PFS character. In the future, if I'm searching my posts for Cavalier-related comments, I know which alias i can search to speed up the process.

That, and I didn't realize I'd posted in this thread before. It was over a year ago, after all.

See also: BigNorseWolf, TriOmegaZero, and anyone else who's been on these forums for years.

[Quevven]

Just as a question: Do you need a boon to use an exotic mount if you are using the Beast Rider archetype for the Cavalier?

[SCPRedMage]

Quevven wrote:

Just as a question: Do you need a boon to use an exotic mount if you are using the Beast Rider archetype for the Cavalier?

Not so long as the mount is listed as an option under the Exotic Mount class feature, and isn't further restricted by the Additional Resources entry for the book with the appropriate animal companion stats.