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Hello there fourms, I am currently making a Paladin for Society Play and was going to make it a small kind of Mounted person, I was hoping to make something really fun like a Paladin who charges along the walls on there mount with stuff like Spider Climb and such, but I'm still a bit iffy on It so I was looking for a hand making it a reality.
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I have an 11th level Pathfinder Society halfling paladin on a dog and he's been lots of fun to play. I took the shining knight archetype. It's got some nice features, but the biggest is at 3rd level any mount you ride gains your divine grace bonus and you don't take armor penalty checks to ride.
If you want to do max damage you'll certainly want to use a lance and take mounted combat, ride-by attack, and spirited charge. Eventually I'd recommend power attack and wheeling charge. You can take a hit to wisdom, it's really only boosting your saves and as a paladin you have good saves anyway. Int doesn't have to be high either unless you need skill points. I'd personally aim for a 20 charisma by 8th level through a combination of level bumps and gear, and you'll need a strength over 13 to use power attack. With gear my paladin has the following stats at 11th level: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 22. He's gotten as high as 150 points of damage doing a smiting spirited charge with a lance on a demon before. Since he has a high charisma I took the trait to make UMD a class skill bought first scrolls of spider climb and then eventually scrolls of fly. At this point he can make his mount fly three times per day with the sky steed spell.
The character is a bit of a one-trick poney, but he can heal in a pinch and with spider climb and an intelligent, sentient mount that's only medium size that he can call to him dungeons generally aren't a problem.
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Hello there fourms, I am currently making a Paladin for Society Play and was going to make it a small kind of Mounted person, I was hoping to make something really fun like a Paladin who charges along the walls on there mount with stuff like Spider Climb and such, but I'm still a bit iffy on It so I was looking for a hand making it a reality.
I've made Riding Geckos Cool.
A combat trained Giant Gecko is very cheap and you can afford one Level 1 for a really small gold investment. This will get you on the walls quickly and easily.
The downfall is that the Bought mount will be killed eventually come about level 5+. Lucky for you at this point you should have enough gold to get scrolls of spider climb for your Divine Bond mount.
I went ranger so my mount would be a gecko...however as a paladin you are stuck with a small list to choose from. Tho you can look at my feats to see the top choices.
Point buy should look something like:
Str: 16, Dex: 13, Con: 13, Int: 10, Wis: 7, Cha: 15
(I would pump Cha at 4 and Con at 8.)
Grab a Cold Iron Lance to start then Pick up a Adamantine Lance and enchant it as your main weapon. DR is not a Lancers Concern. I did carry a MW Cold Iron Longsword, QUickdraw Shield and a Halfling Sling Staff (For Ranged) as alternative weapons with power attack if I was ever dismounted. Hardly ever did I have to dismount...I rode my gecko everywhere. Being small helps a lot.
You will shoot for a +2 Str belt before the Headband of Cha. Str will help more on Non-smite targets. But the goal will be +4 to both stats. ending in a 20 str and a 20 cha.
I recommend the Rhino Hide as your armor. Full plate is amazing but as a lancer I killed most things before they could fight me...and did fine with Medium armor+shield+ mount using bodyguard. U could Buy your Mount MW studded Leather barding to start then upgrade to +1 Mithral armor. (I would not waste much into your mount more than Armor) OR you could get a wand of Mage armor and save lots of money over the long haul.
I will echo the feats:
mounted combat, ride-by attack, spirited charge, and Wheeling Charge
For damage feats:
Power attack > Risky Striker > Horn of the Cyrosphinx > Improved Critical
(Remember while mounted you are treated as using 2 hands. So you benefit from Power attack fully. And power attack gets the top spot for being used on and off the mount.)
As for Traits:
Dangerously Curious should be your go to. That way you can use scroll/wand of Spider Climb on your mount. UMD is very strong on a Paladin. A wand of Longstrider and Feather Step can go a long way on a mount in PFS.
Skills:
Ride Be an outrider Halfling for the bonus to ride
Diplomacy - To persuade folks against you getting off your mount. And other Roleplay purposes.
Use magic Device- How to buff yourself and your mount.
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Friend of mine suggested a Play a Cavalier cause I wanted to have my mount also attacking and well since a paladin is very restricted on mount types, I was a little iffy, so I was wondering if could stack cavalier mount with divine bond?
I suggest picking 1 or the other. Challenge and smite are both level dependent. Honestly Cavilier is the best damage wise. I just didn't take it cause the mount list did not include "Giant Gecko". PFS is very strict on that. But if I ever get a DM who allows it then I will defiantly run it!!!!
Secondly how are you wanting to fight?
As a lancer charging Build?
A Mounted Skirmisher Type?
Did you want to be on and off the mount letting it flank?
Those are all different builds that require different feats to focus on. And to become Good.
Pick 1 thing and stick with it. All those forms of combat are heavy feat investment. But Pathfinder rewards Focus.
From a Lancer standpoint it is a rough style to play. Many people call it a "One trick pony." But I will say it is a very rewarding feeling when you 1 even bosses. But having Power attack with a "Off mount" weapon like a Longsword/Shield combo you can still get decent numbers between Challenge+PA+your Str. You won't be terrible is all I am saying...just a good majority of your feats become useless. But you have enough to get by with. PFS is not optimized at all. But from a Mounted Halfling standpoint I was only Story dismounted 1 time for 1 fight in 24 sessions. so in about roughly 100 combats I spent 1 off my mount. And for that fight I had power attack+Favored Enemy+Str to fall back on...as well as the other freeloaders I was carrying around....they helped a little in that fight.
So you need to pick the Style and then we can help you pick the Class to go with it.
Oracle with the Nature mystery make good mounted characters, too. The fact that you have an Int 6 mount means that your mount can learn any feat, instead of just the restricted animal companion list. You may want to take a 1-level cavalier dip, though.
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Oracle with the Nature mystery make good mounted characters, too. The fact that you have an Int 6 mount means that your mount can learn any feat, instead of just the restricted animal companion list. You may want to take a 1-level cavalier dip, though.
By 10th level, and perhaps earlier, the paladin's mount is int 6
True enough. It's still nice to get Charge Through at level 5 (of your mount), instead of level "very late", if ever.
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Halfling does sound fun to use, but the more I think on it the more a Non-mounted Cavalier sounds fun to, I guess I will have a look in to it, as I just enjoy a Martial Class with a pet really, if I was to play a Non-mounted I would more then likely go for a Beast Rider to just because large mount choose, and I like a Teamwork based Killing team haha, however is possible to give mounts/Animal Companions, Items to increase there intelligence?
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Halfling does sound fun to use, but the more I think on it the more a Non-mounted Cavalier sounds fun to, I guess I will have a look in to it, as I just enjoy a Martial Class with a pet really, if I was to play a Non-mounted I would more then likely go for a Beast Rider to just because large mount choose, and I like a Teamwork based Killing team haha, however is possible to give mounts/Animal Companions, Items to increase there intelligence?
First about the AC int. The very first skill point increase (Level 4) you take up Int. on a majority of Animal companions this will give them a Int of 3. That is enough to teach them many feats. They also understand 1 language. So they can actually be spoken to more than "attack""guard" options. I'm not sure what is so special about a 6 int they are talking about. I've found 3 Int plenty.
There are MANY options for a non mounted pet user:
Barbarian-
Brawler-
Cavalier
Hunter- (Not a Full martial but makes the strongest Animal companion class. Melee teamwork feats are really good.)
Ranger
Inquisitor with Feather Domain+Boon companion feat (again not a full BaB class but is really strong.)
My suggestion is to play a Medium race if your not going to be a mounted Lancer. Small makes staying mounted easy and that is the reason to be small.
When you get off the AC then the table opens up for some interesting pets.
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Well if I wanted to play a Hunter how would I go about building it?
Well here is a Basic Straight forward Hunter
Human 20 point buy
Str: 17, Dex: 12, Con: 14, Int 13, Wis: 14, Cha: 8
Traits: Transmuter of Korada- Cat's Grace
Your Choice: Threatened Defender or Dirty Fighter or anything really
Mandatory skills:
You need 5 ranks of Bluff by level 6 to qualify for Broken Wing gambit. It is a bit of a skill tax but the feat is ungodly strong. You get 8 skill points a level anyways so no big deal.
Feats by level:
Human: Combat Reflexes
1: Combat Expertise
2: Teamwork Feat: Outflank
3: Power Attack
3: Teamwork Feat: Pack Flanking
5: Improved Trip
6: Teamwork Feat: Broken Wing Gambit
7: Paired Opportunist
9: Greater Trip
9: Teamwork Feat: Coordinated Maneuver or Tandem Trip (Dealer's Choice)
11: Improved Critical-Reach weapon of Choice (pre-req for Seize the moment)
12: Teamwork Feat: Seize the Moment
A Sample Spell List:
(Trying to take advantage of Transmuter Trait)
((Remember you get summon nature's ally for Free))
0- Detect Magic, Read Magic, Create Water, Guidance, Mending
1- Obscuring Mist, Lead Blades, Faerie Fire, Resist Energy
2- Cat's Grace, Barkskin, Stone Call, Lesser Restoration, Summon Swarm
3- Cure Moderate Wounds, Greater Magic Fang or Strong Jaw, Stone Shape, Life Bubble (Underrated Protection spell..Stink Clouds and cloudkill are real things)
4- Animal Growth, Freedom of Movement, Cure Serious Wounds
5- Stoneskin,
Wands:
Cure light Wound
Feather Step
Long Strider
Gear:
Reach weapon of choice...preferably adamantine with a backup MW Cold Iron
+2 headband of Wisdom (So you can cast all your spells)
Belt of Strength or Belt of Str and Con
Good armor for yourself and Mithral Chainshirt Barding for your Animal companion
Amulet of Mighty fists for your Animal companion
Lesser Rod of Extend Spell
Alchemist Fires for damaging swarms early-> Swarm banes Clasp for higher CR swarms
There is also another build with a 1 level dip into Wild Child Brawler or Cavalier.
The Brawler gets you Martial flexibility, Unarmed strikes, and kills the Pre-req of 13 for Combat expertise.
The Cavalier gives Pack Flanking.
Both net you a +1 BaB at level 1. If you go with one of those builds I suggest Power attack Lvl 1 and use Shillelagh spell with a Club and Shield then switch to a reach weapon at level 3-4. It gives you a good AC and some good Damage output.
Check out this guide.
The guide is outdated before the fix to both verminous hunter and Primal erratas.
Also Brom was rather new at guide making at the time. Not the most veteran of sources. He is coming along but I would seriously take his advice with a grain of salt and double check the legality of your build on the forums for both PFS rules and make sure nothing was Errataed out of viability.
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For the build above a Menacing Amulet of mighty fists works great, as it grants the menacing bonus also to the ones you flank with:
This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons. A menacing weapon helps allies deal with flanked foes. When the wielder is adjacent to a creature that is being flanked by an ally, the flanking bonus on attack rolls for all flanking allies increases by +2. This ability works even if the wielder is not one of the characters flanking the creature.
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Carla the extended cats grace is to help that. By level 4 cats grace is a 10 minute buff per casting.
And storm with a 18 str by level 4 with power attack and a 2 handed weapon you have a very decent damage. Weapon+12 is pretty good. And when broken wing gambit kicks in you start generating a few AoO from both pet and PC. You have to remember that the AC is also greatly contributing to damage.
