So, when I found the drake companion archtypes, I was really exited for it, and they quickly became one of my favorite archtypes in the game.
There was just one notable problem- they were kind of... Mediocre, at best.
Usually, the animal companion replaced could end up more powerul then the drake every step of the way, and it cost you extra class features to get it.
So, I decided to foucs on two archtypes that have normally restrictive animal companions,
The cavalier and paladin's.
The cavalier gives up most of it's teamwork feat synergy and the paladin gives up an assortment of class features, changes it's spellcasting, and gets less smite evil, for the best drake- the only one that gets mount for free.
So, the drakes have a few notable advantages, and a few glaring disadvantages-
Pros (over paladin/cavalier mounts)-
The drakes get 1d12 HD, full bab, and great con.
The drakes get immunity to sleep and pearalyis, and can fly.
Can take a lot more versatile feats, and can't be handle animal'ed by other charecters.
Cons-
Bad AC compared to an average animal companion, can't wear barding, can only wear one magic item (much to my frustration), lower STR then most animal companions, lower DEX then most animal companions. No replacement, ever. Really back loaded.
So, how to make it work-
There are a few skeletons of drake builds that I came up with that might help make drakes work a bit better-
Water drake-
Free drake power (swim)
1st drake power (intellect)
2nd drake power (breath weapon (acid))
Free drake power (mount)
3rd drake power (improved swim)
4th drake power (keen mind)
5th drake power (scent)
Skill points-
Maxed preception, maxed swim. Spread the rest as you deem fit.
Feats-
While not strictly required, deific obeince (iori) is grest for this. But, one could argue the drake would never worship a deity, so this is up in the air if it's allowed.
Versatile obedience gets you acess to 1/day haste, and let's you get it sooner.
Noxious bite- a cornerstone of all my drake builds. Every bite is a fort save or become more or less useless for 1+the drake's con rounds. Really good.
Required feats for the paladin-
Unsactioned knowladge-
The 1st, second, and fourth level spells don't matter. But you want sky swim as your third level spell.
Mounted comabt and trick riding- this is how you prevent your sub-par ac from destroying your drake.
Air drake-
(free) Glide
1st- acid breath weapon
2nd- mount
3rd- flight
4th- improved flight/improved mount
5th- improved flight/greater flight
Feats-
Noxious bite
Improved unarmed strike
Dodge
Toughness
Crane style
Draconic defender
Required feats for rider-
Mounted comabt, trick rider
aether drake-
Free (magic attacks)
1st- acid breath weapon
2nd- mount
3rd- improved breath weapon
4th- greater breath weapon
5th- aether bite
Feats-
Noxious bite
Distracting charge
Duck and cover
Coordinated charge
Ability foucs (breath weapon)
Power attack
Required feats for rider-
Mounted combat
Trick riding
Duck and cover
Coordinated charge
Distracting charge
Other things to note-
Consider a permanenced magic fang instead of an amulet of mighty fists.
permanenced resistance can be handy, too.
The rider might want a perm ended reduce person spell or a hat of disquise (greater) for the levels where the drake is medium size.
If you can get the drake to agree, order of the sword is a favorite of mine- adding the drake's STR to damage on a charge at level 8 is far from insignificant.
If anyone else has ideas, I'm open. Also considering making a full guide, if people like this.