Hi everyone,
I'm looking into making a gnome illusionist, because illusions are fun and I enjoy using them, and Effortless Trickery and Threatening Illusion both sound like a lot of fun. The 20 foot move speed makes me sad though. My understanding is that this will be less of an issue in later levels when flight is more normal, but particularly for now it is a pain. Since gnomes are small, I thought maybe a riding dog was in order.
My understanding of mounted magikery is that as long as my mount is moving only it's normal (40ft) speed, no concentration checks are required and I still get my normal move and standard actions (or full round action). I can have my mount go up to twice it's speed, in which case I need to make a DC10+spell level concentration check.
Is that basic understanding correct? Do I need to invest in Handle Animal or Ride for this build? I would have to make a DC5 ride check if I needed both my hands, and thus wanted to guide my mount with my knees, but since I don't need both hands to cast this isn't required, right? Do I need to make the DC10 Handle Animal check every round to tell my mount to move? Are there any other gotchas I need to be aware of? Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks!
I was under the impression that the DC10 ride check didn't apply for combat trained animals, which a riding dog is.
That would be if I direct it to *attack* in battle; as long as I don't have my dog attack, and instead just have it move, no check, right?