A Few Cavalier Questions

[Krky77]

Hi all!
Once more, I have to turn to this awesome forum for help! Even my DMs suggested this option, since the think tank here really has the answers to all the questions! :)

1)
My Cavalier is level 9 now, and so is my mount, a combat-trained horse. I finally managed to get the horse's INT score to 3, and I picked a few skills in addition to the eight skills the mount can normally possess.

But for the life of me, I can't find the skill progression for mounts anywhere. Do the mounts get ranks in skills like the standard PCs? Or do I just assign the ability bonus to the skill? Does the mount get +3 bonus for "class" skills same as PCs? And how many skill ranks - if any - does a mount get on each level? The druid's animal companion chart is pretty clear and very helpful in many regards, but I've drawn a blank in this particular case.

2)
I'll try to make my Masterwork mace a Valiant mace, as soon as I financially bounce back after spending everything I had on +3 hosteling full plate armor :), and I think Valiant ability can do wonders for a cavalier, but what do you guys think would be a good choice for the lance? How best to enchant it? On level 9, I'm more often than not faced with enemies that only a magical weapon can hurt, so I need a bit of a boost here.

3)
My mount has Horseshoes of a Zephyr equipped on its hooves. Do the horseshoes count as magical weapons if the horse was to perform a hoof attack while wearing the Horseshoes of a Zephyr or do those horseshoes count as magical strictly for the transport purposes, but don't really add a magical effect to the horse's attack?

Thanks a million!

[Darksol the Painbringer]

1. Follow the Druid Animal Companion rules for Cavalier Mounts.

2. Maximum Enhancement Bonuses, hands down. Very rarely does a weapon property supersede accuracy and DR bypassing.

3. They aren't +1 or Magic Weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, if that's what you're asking.

[Cavall]

I'd look into menacing enchant, with outflank and pack flank feats. You will enjoy a massive bonus to attack. 2 for charge 4 flank 2 menacing and against certain foes +1 for higher ground. Basically, you can't miss, meaning feel free to power attack and really enjoy that bonus damage on a charge.

Training enchant works well to make up some of the lost feats.

I also like valiant.

[Name Violation]

Animal companions and mounts have 1 skill per hd unless you can get int to 10 or better.

Always have your mount take 1 rank in linguistics so it can understand things. Like language dependant spells

[Cavall]

That would require at least int 3. They can't have ranks in every skill up until then.

[Krky77]

Thanks for the answers and suggestions, everyone!

[Jakkedin]

Increasing your animal companion's Intelligence to 3 does-

1) the animal companion is no longer restricted to assigning skill ranks to only those listed as Animal Skills.
2) while animal companions can take almost any feats, now some of those would make more sense. For instance, Skill focus (CRAFT- Painting).

The animal companion is still limited to max skill points assigned to any one skill equal to their Hit Die. And cannot get bonus skill points until their Intelligence becomes 10 or greater. Until its Intelligence is 10 or better, it can only have a total amount of skill ranks equal to its Hit die.

You are level 9. By the Druid Animal Companion chart, it has 8 Hit Die so it has 8 skill points because its intelligence is only 3.

[Krky77]

Jakkedin wrote:

Increasing your animal companion's Intelligence to 3 does-

1) the animal companion is no longer restricted to assigning skill ranks to only those listed as Animal Skills.
2) while animal companions can take almost any feats, now some of those would make more sense. For instance, Skill focus (CRAFT- Painting).

The animal companion is still limited to max skill points assigned to any one skill equal to their Hit Die. And cannot get bonus skill points until their Intelligence becomes 10 or greater. Until its Intelligence is 10 or better, it can only have a total amount of skill ranks equal to its Hit die.

You are level 9. By the Druid Animal Companion chart, it has 8 Hit Die so it has 8 skill points because its intelligence is only 3.

Thanks a million!

It doesn't get clearer than that!
That really tells me all I need to know.