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I thought it might be fun to emphasize being a reptile character. Part of the plan is being at least dubious, if not outright disdainful of mammals. As such, I am looking for more thematic choices for animals that I adventure with. I noticed Pathfinder seems to have reptile humanoids, but lists lizards and dinosaurs as animals instead of as reptiles.
My plan is to take almost exclusively levels of Shaman. I really want to play the Shaman class. I know some would suggest I do a Druid instead but while I respect that class, I don't want to play one. I also want to take one level of either Fighter, Cavalier, or another class(down to archetypes now I think) with both martial weapons(I am definitely going to use a reach weapon) and heavy armor proficiencies . I might be persuaded to take the boon companion feat to go with one level of Cavalier. That feat might matter early on, but since
this is for an AP, it will not matter for long.
My character will likely be a Lizardfolk, but with some alterations. I'm trying to use the race builder to swap the claws for something else. Maybe a stronger bite, or poison from saying he is half Lizardfolk & half Nagaji. Also happy for any advice there. I also plan to swap the swimmer trait for the climber trait. Another player will be a swimmer Lizardfolk, so I thought it would be Funny to instead play a climber and then we can roleplay back and forth about is life is harder in the swamp or an arid environment.
So I am looking for reptiles to serve as either a spirit animal for the Shaman and/or a mount, even if not as a Cavalier mount, some sort of mount down the road.
I saw some of the dinosaurs and lizards came close to fitting the bill but nothing that seems ready to propose to the GM as a suitable Cavalier mount. I also don't want the lizard that is too small to threaten on his own. I really like the goat and dodo bird since they can threaten instead of having a zero reach. Any suggestions?
Both the Drake and Spirestalker have been mentioned and are probably where I would start looking.
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Thank you for the feedback so far.
That Draconic Shaman definitely fits the theme but the pros and cons of the class seem way too heavy on the con side for my gaming taste.
I did think the giant gecko might be a solution but it does not exactly fit the bill for a medium sized PC. The "giant" gecko is itself size medium so it would not be big enough to serve as a mount for another medium creature. I might be able to get around that by picking it at regular size just as a pack animal and attack "dog" at first. Then maybe get the creature templated to a large size creature somehow around d level 3 when I think I would take cavalier level. Might be able to justify it with the boon companion feat at that level. All that would be hoping a GM goes along with it though, I Ave a bit of doubt there.
I saw monitor lizards were listed as a possible mount for orcs but they are also size medium so that would be odd.
Does anyone know of a feat or archetype that allows a rider to use a mount the same size as itself?
I saw a Cavalier archetype that replaces a mount with a dog and liked it but it losing heavy armor killed it for me. I would also Wan t a reptile I stead of a dog.
If you're going with a shaman's spirit animal they can take familiar archetypes. Like mauler, which gets them up to medium size regardless of their starting category. This opens up the dinosaur options (compsognathus or rhamphorhynchus) or the weaker lizardy options (lizard or tuatara).
Edit: you realise you can just take the heavy armor proficiency feat if that's a dealbreaker for you? Or there's the first mother's fang cavalier archetype if a large snake you can ride would be suitable.
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That mother's fang archetype sounds very interesting. Never heard of it before. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Thanks for the mailer info, I will see if I can use it.
I feel the Shaman is feat starved. That is why I was looking at another class instead of taking the feat for heavy armor. Same goes for all martial weapons. Getting a bonus feat from a level of either Fighter or cavalier(with an challenge and mount to boot). I know conventional wisdom is to take full caster levels. I have forfeited that before and was happy with a one level dip before. I am confident I will be again.
Riding Nagini around would be cool, and that cavalier archetype is loaded with cool things like exotic weapon proficiency and combat expertise as bonus feats.