I'm running this campaign and we're now in the Valley of Brain Collectors. The barbarian wants to get himself a flying mount. He desperately wants a Pteranodon. He thinks it would be cool. I agree that it would be, with the exception that much of the campaign seems to take place indoors or underground.
I have asked him why he wants to invest in something that he may not get much use out of and his response is that he wants it. That's fine. It's his character and if he wants to do this that's his choice, his character.
Is this a good idea? Is there something I can do as GM to help him get this beast? Will it actually be useful as a flying mount at any point?
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I would say have him take the leadership feat and count the Pteranodon as a cohort. You can get a pegusas at 8th level (if your leadership score is that high) and they are the same CR 3.
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As for taking the mount along with there is the Figurine of the Concealed Companion the can help with that.
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The Animal Ally feat gives a character a Companion with a Druid level of -3. You could just let him retrain to take Nature Bond.
Would it be worth the effort in this adventure path?
I'm running this campaign and we're now in the Valley of Brain Collectors. The barbarian wants to get himself a flying mount. He desperately wants a Pteranodon. He thinks it would be cool. I agree that it would be, with the exception that much of the campaign seems to take place indoors or underground.
I have asked him why he wants to invest in something that he may not get much use out of and his response is that he wants it. That's fine. It's his character and if he wants to do this that's his choice, his character.
Is this a good idea? Is there something I can do as GM to help him get this beast? Will it actually be useful as a flying mount at any point?
You do realise that you are talking about a creature that at full size only weighs 40 lbs? That's from the bestiary entry. Despite television, Pteranodons were essentially oversized reptillian seagulls, not actually capable of carrying anything larger than a tiny poodle.
Unless your barbarian is a pixie, he's not going to be riding this thing.
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I'm running this campaign and we're now in the Valley of Brain Collectors. The barbarian wants to get himself a flying mount. He desperately wants a Pteranodon. He thinks it would be cool. I agree that it would be, with the exception that much of the campaign seems to take place indoors or underground.
I have asked him why he wants to invest in something that he may not get much use out of and his response is that he wants it. That's fine. It's his character and if he wants to do this that's his choice, his character.
Is this a good idea? Is there something I can do as GM to help him get this beast? Will it actually be useful as a flying mount at any point?
You do realise that you are talking about a creature that at full size only weighs 40 lbs? That's from the bestiary entry. Despite television, Pteranodons were essentially oversized reptillian seagulls, not actually capable of carrying anything larger than a tiny poodle.
Unless your barbarian is a pixie, he's not going to be riding this thing.
Pteranodons are Large size and as long as the bird is strong enough the rules allow for it to carry a medium sized rider.
But as a GM I would not take the weight capacity into consideration just reduce the fly speed like they do for normal speed. As the flying animal and weight rules makes almost any mount un-flyable.
The Animal Ally feat gives a character a Companion with a Druid level of -3. You could just let him retrain to take Nature Bond.
The pteranodon as written cannot be used as a mount. You may have to create a new species of pteranodon that can carry a person.
Monstrous Mount or Monstrous Companion can swap an animal companion or a mount for one that can fly. However, a griffon or hippogriff obtained through Monstrous Mount requires a second feat, Monstrous Mount Mastery to serve as a flying mount. Monstrous Companion has some confusing rules about the effective cohort level of the animal companion which would require an 9th-level druid for a hippogriff.
In addition, Monstrous Mount requires a 4th-level druid-equivalent animal companion and Monstrous Companion requires a 7th-level druid-equivalent animal companion, so the barbarian cannot simply grab a level of Druid, Hunter, or Cavalier to qualify.
Animal Ally gives an animal companion at character level minus 3. Burn Rider barbarian archetype gives an animal companion at character level minus 3. Mounted Fury barbarian archetype gives an animal companion at character level minus 4. So Nature Soul and Animal Ally is the best bargain. An 11th-level barbarian would have the animal companion of an 8th-level druid. Alas, that is one level too low for a hippogriff companion via Monstrous Companion, but it might work for a homebrew riding pteranodon.
As for the adventure, the Scar of the Spider, AKA the valley of the brain collectors, is quite wide and a flying mount would be good for scouting. In addition, neh-thalggu fly, so an aerial combatant would be useful if the party encounters one on patrol in a random encounter. Underground is also common, but a few opportunities to excel will make up for the times he has to leave his mount outside. Sometimes caves have large caverns and buildings have large rooms; unfortunately, pteranodons fly clumsily.
The next module, Palace of Fallen Stars, is a city adventure, so the mount won't be much use, but the barbarian could fly it around town for fun.
Geographically, Castle Urion, a base for griffon-riding paladins, is 100 miles south of the Scar of the Spider. Perhaps some fool was inspired by the paladins and trained a riding pteranodon.
You do realise that you are talking about a creature that at full size only weighs 40 lbs? That's from the bestiary entry. Despite television, Pteranodons were essentially oversized reptillian seagulls, not actually capable of carrying anything larger than a tiny poodle.
Unless your barbarian is a pixie, he's not going to be riding this thing.
And yet with a 16 STR, it can carry a heavy load of 460 lbs.
Would it be worth the effort in this adventure path?
Why not? He knows he can't take it underground. If you're that worried about it, just throw some random encounters during travel between books. Also doesn't VotBC have a large amount of overland exploration?
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And yet with a 16 STR, it can carry a heavy load of 460 lbs.You do realise that you are talking about a creature that at full size only weighs 40 lbs? That's from the bestiary entry. Despite television, Pteranodons were essentially oversized reptillian seagulls, not actually capable of carrying anything larger than a tiny poodle.
Unless your barbarian is a pixie, he's not going to be riding this thing.
Yes but with the way Flying creatures work if it has a medium or heavy load it can't fly at all. That is why you should ignore the weight rules. Also why the Monstrous companion feats need 2 feats to actually carry a mount.
Yes but with the way Flying creatures work if it has a medium or heavy load it can't fly at all. That is why you should ignore the weight rules. Also why the Monstrous companion feats need 2 feats to actually carry a mount.
And yet with a 16 STR, it can carry a heavy load of 460 lbs.
You're thinking of barding. Flying mounts can't fly in medium or heavy barding. They can fly with any load they can carry.
Also Muleback Cords
The pteranodon as written cannot be used as a mount.
Source?
Any animal large and strong enough to bear it's rider can be used as a mount. There are no other limitations.
The pteranodon as written cannot be used as a mount.Source?
Any animal large and strong enough to bear it's rider can be used as a mount. There are no other limitations.
My mistake. I had looked only at the pteranodon's starting stats, Medium size and Str 8. I had not glanced lower at its 7th-level advancement where it essentially changes into another species with Large size and Str 18.
And since it is an animal rather than a magical beast, it would not require Monstrous Companion nor Monstrous Mount.
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Under Encumbrance by Weight it says " A medium or heavy load counts as medium or heavy armor for the purpose of abilities or skills that are restricted by armor." So a 16 Str Pteranodon would only be able to carry a 75lb. person and his gear. Which is why in monstrous mount mastery ability of the griffon and the hippogrif it says you can fly at half speed. Monstrous Mount feat.
As for Muleback cords they are a shoulder slot and Avians do not get a shoulder slot
Edit: you could say that because the rule says barding and not armor specifically then I am reading to much into it. But like I said up thread I think the weight issue should not be used to make it so the mount can't fly with his rider anyways, it should just make them slower like normal encumbrance.
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Under Encumbrance by Weight it says " A medium or heavy load counts as medium or heavy armor for the purpose of abilities or skills that are restricted by armor." So a 16 Str Pteranodon would only be able to carry a 75lb. person and his gear. Which is why in monstrous mount mastery ability of the griffon and the hippogrif it says you can fly at half speed. Monstrous Mount feat.
As for Muleback cords they are a shoulder slot and Avians do not get a shoulder slot
Edit: you could say that because the rule says barding and not armor specifically then I am reading to much into it. But like I said up thread I think the weight issue should not be used to make it so the mount can't fly with his rider anyways, it should just make them slower like normal encumbrance.
A pteranodon also receives the regular strength bonuses of an animal companion, so for an 11th-level barbarian with a feat or archetype giving him the animal companion equivalent to a 8th-level druid, the pteranodon would have Str 18, light load 100 lbs. Then give it a Heavyload Belt, because avians have belt slots, to increase its light load to 300 lbs.
For extra fun, take the Ferocious Mount rage power, too, so that the pteranodon can rage and carry even more.
I'm not overly worried about which mount he wants. We can deal with that in any number of ways. I am more concerned with it being a waste of an investment to have any flying mount.
I do like the idea of him reworking his character as a Mad Dog Barbarian. It's probably the easiest. I just don't want to rewrite the adventure just to accommodate one player. I have way too much going on to do that.
As for the adventure, the Scar of the Spider, AKA the valley of the brain collectors, is quite wide and a flying mount would be good for scouting. In addition, neh-thalggu fly, so an aerial combatant would be useful if the party encounters one on patrol in a random encounter. Underground is also common, but a few opportunities to excel will make up for the times he has to leave his mount outside. Sometimes caves have large caverns and buildings have large rooms; unfortunately, pteranodons fly clumsily.
The next module, Palace of Fallen Stars, is a city adventure, so the mount won't be much use, but the barbarian could fly it around town for fun.
Geographically, Castle Urion, a base for griffon-riding paladins, is 100 miles south of the Scar of the Spider. Perhaps some fool was inspired by the paladins and trained a riding pteranodon.
This is what I am looking for. I don't want to tell a player that they can't have something cool, but I also don't want the player to keep changing his build because it just doesn't work because he isn't listening.