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I am thinking about building a mounted barbarian. I will be starting at a higher level. Let's assume 14th level.
The idea is to get the Horsemaster's Saddle to have my mount benefit from my teamwork feats, one of which would be amplified rage.
I take ferocious beast or ferocious mount so that the mount can rage when I do. And we both get the bonuses of amplified rage.
Because of that I need at least that one teamwork feat. But to get the full benefit of the saddle I would aim to have more than one. Options would be: Escape route (Some will cry foul with this one), lookout, shake it off.
It seems there are three obvious ways to do this:
1) Mounted fury for full rage and a mount at level -4
2) Mad dog barbarian for full mount that can be any AC and rage at level -4
3) Cavalier 4/Barbarian 10 with horsemaster for full mount and rage at level -4. But he will have other nice things to offset the reduced rage.
With the cavalier there are two possible archetypes: Gendarme and emissiary. Both loose tactician but get another feat that I'd want to have instead: Mounted combat. And both get nice things at level 5 which might be reason enough to stay cavalier a level longer.
Taking the cavalier route would allow me to be either an armored hulk or an invulnerable rager, which would not be possible with mounted fury or mad dog. But the other options have their own merit, too. More AC options to choose from or having a faster mount, for example.
Could it be done if you just didnt invest points in dex? Thats one stat i cant ever remember having less than 10. Usually at least 12-13.
I would probably do the above like this:Barbarian 2 (for access to ferocious mount) / Oracle 2 (Cha to AC in order to avoid MAD issues, Bonded Mount)/ Barbarian 4 (for access to spirit steed) / Oracle 2 (2nd lvl spells, no loss of BAB) / Rage Prophet X.
I do not think I want to be an oracle for this one and with your proposed build my mount would loose out a couple of levels. Even with boon companion it would still be at -2.
But I'l take another look at the rage prophet.
I think I will do a build for an armored hulk/ Order of the shield cavalier first. Both rely on heavy armor and that way I retain a certain degree of mobility while on foot.
I would probably either go cavalier 14 or a Human barbarian with the animal ally feat for aquiring a mount.
Neither of those two would allow me to use amplified rage. Unless, as a human barbarian if I take racial heritage in addition to the three feats to get a full AC.
My way I'm just one level away from greater rage and already have +8 str and con while raging. Sure, I burn through my rage at double the normal speed but I think it will still be enough on most days.
Far from complete but here are the first bits of this build:
Half-Orc
Cavalier order of the shield 4/ Armored hulk 10
Str: 20 (+2 racial +3 level)
Dex: 13
Con: 14
Int: 14
Wis: 10
Cha: 10
I still might change this a bit. Like switch dex and wis.
Feats:
L1: Power attack
L3: Mounted combat
Tactician: amplified rage
L5: Paired opportunist
L7: Horse master
L9: Combat reflexes
L11: Extra rage power (Spirit steed)
From that on: ?
I guess I'll throw in skillfocus (ride) somewhere to offset the armor check penalty. And I could see me learning some more teamwork feats that could be of use for my horse and I. Apart from that I'm not sure if I should take ride by attack and spirited charge.
Rage powers: (Only looking at barb levels)
L2: Ferocious mount
L4: Superstitious
L6: Witchhunter,
L7: spirit steed
L8: Ferocious mount, greater
L10: Unexpected strike
At L12 I'll take come and get me but that will be at char level 15.
I made, but never played a half-orc mounted barbarian build because it was too stupid for my not-really-optimized party. I didn't want to stand out so much.
So, half-orc. Obviously take the Mounted Fury archetype, and I tacked on Elemental Kin because to hell with trap stuff and any extra rounds of rage are welcome. To that end, I put every favoured class point into +1 rounds of rage/day.
I picked up Power Attack at 1st, then Amplified Rage, then boon Companion at 5th when the mount shows up. The idea is to ride a regular horse or buy some other mount until 5th, then settle for a horse for a while, and then at 7th level take Beast Rider and take your pick. I went with elephant, as it fit the setting. Next stop was Sympathetic Rage.
Regular rage is +4 Str/Con. Amplified is another +4. Sympathetic Rage is another +2. By the time you hit Greater Rage you're looking at +12 Str/Con. Because this is a pure Barbrian build, you'll even hit Mighty for +14.
Meanwhile, your mount can't take Sympathetic Rage, but it does get +2 str whenever you rage, so it gets the same bonuses as you just shy 2 Con.
When you pick up Greater Ferocious Mount, the thing also gets your friggin' rage powers. By now you've taken the entire Beast Totem line, so your mount is rockin' pounce, a natural armor bonus, and two claw attacks. Yeah, an elephant with claw attacks. I don't know how to picture that either, but I'll happily add them to the gore and slam, thank you very much.
I'm sure it can get a lot more optimized than that, but that's where I stopped working on the concept and opted for something a little less silly.
While doing the armored hulk/cavalier build I stumbled upon the thoroughbred trait and immediately liked the idea of being a desert nomad guy with a big crush for horses. Now the armored hulk doesn't fit that concept too well. Because of that I'll change it to the invulnerable rager with extreme endurance for hot climates. I just have to find a new order. Perhaps I make him a knight errant.
Half-Orc
Alternate racials: Mystic tattoo, shaman's apprentice
Cavalier 4/ Invulnerable rager 10
Str: 20 (+2 racial +3 level)
Dex: 13
Con: 14
Int: 14
Wis: 10
Cha: 10
Traits:
Faith's favoured, thoroughbred
Feats:
B: Endurance
L1: Power attack
L3: Mounted combat
Tactician: amplified rage
L5: Paired opportunist
L7: Horse master
L9: Combat reflexes
L11: Extra rage power (Spirit steed)
From that on: ?
I could see me learning some more teamwork feats that could be of use for my horse and I. Apart from that I'm not sure if I should take ride by attack and spirited charge.
Rage powers: (Only looking at barb levels)
L2: Ferocious mount
L4: Superstitious
L6: Witchhunter,
L7: spirit steed
L8: Ferocious mount, greater
L10: Unexpected strike
At L12 I'll take come and get me but that will be at char level 15.
Mount:
Horse with the charger archetype
Equip so far:
Comfort celestial plate
Jingasa of the fortunate soldier
Horsemaster's saddle