I'm building a Cavalier/Hunter for a new campaign and I'm wondering if there's anyway to make it so that I can always take 10 on my ride checks.
I know about the rogue talent skill mastery, but I don't think I can take that many levels in rogue to get it.
Magic Items, feats and/or traits would be ideal, but I could consider a level dip provided I'm not having to take more then 3 levels in something. Also, since my character isn't a crafter, I should probably avoid custom items.
I'm allowed anything that's not 3rd party.
I don't know of any magic items, traits or feats which allows you to take 10 on ride checks.
Is there any particular reason you want to take 10? As Cavaliers don't take any ACP on Ride checks, you should auto-succeed on most checks rather quickly even with a low Dex mod. Since you don't auto-fail skill checks on a natural 1.
You could start out with a Quintain for an easy +2 bonus to fight with a combat-trained mount, later on buying a Qadiran saddle and a +1 Ioun Stone for cheap bonuses.
If you are wearing light or no armor, Trick Riding might be something that could help your situation. Otherwise, the Rogue Skill Mastery is the only thing I can think of.
I don't know of any magic items, traits or feats which allows you to take 10 on ride checks.
Is there any particular reason you want to take 10? As Cavaliers don't take any ACP on Ride checks, you should auto-succeed on most checks rather quickly even with a low Dex mod. Since you don't auto-fail skill checks on a natural 1.
You could start out with a Quintain for an easy +2 bonus to fight with a combat-trained mount, later on buying a Qadiran saddle and a +1 Ioun Stone for cheap bonuses.
I was mainly looking at the 1st couple levels and noticing that while the checks I would need to make are relatively easy I still have a chance of failure until about level 5 or so. I was also concerned that later in the game I might have to make those checks under difficult situations. It was the fighting with a combat trained mount check that I'm primarily concerned with.
I will look into the items you mentioned, but I did find the equestrian belt last night that should solve the problem. It doesn't let me take 10, it just makes me auto-succeed which is actually better. Though, if I ever want to get full plate it'll have to be mithril.
If you are wearing light or no armor, Trick Riding might be something that could help your situation. Otherwise, the Rogue Skill Mastery is the only thing I can think of.
Yep, trick riding is worth considering regardless since if I remember right there's a couple of nice mounted combat feats that have it as a pre-requisite. I was surprised I wasn't able to find anything since the couple times I've looked at optimizing a skill I was able to find a trait or magic item that let you take 10 on said skill check, making me think such things existed for most skills.
I appreciate the responses in any case.
Are you using a military saddle? While it may not be taking 10 it still gives you a +2 bonus. For feat you have Animal Affinity or Skill Focus. For traits Beast Bond gives you a +1. If you can use the retraining rules from ultimate campaign you can retrain the feats when you no longer need them. If you are human you can take both at 1st level. Assuming a DEX of at least 12, that would give you a +11 to your ride and a +13 to stay in your saddle at first level.
Are you using a military saddle? While it may not be taking 10 it still gives you a +2 bonus. For feat you have Animal Affinity or Skill Focus. For traits Beast Bond gives you a +1. If you can use the retraining rules from ultimate campaign you can retrain the feats when you no longer need them. If you are human you can take both at 1st level. Assuming a DEX of at least 12, that would give you a +11 to your ride and a +13 to stay in your saddle at first level.
the military saddle is a good call. I will look at beastbond again, I think I may have passed on it since ride is already a class skill for me. I currently have an exotic riding saddle and the military costs 60. last I checked I only had 20gp left but I might be able to drop some gear to afford the upgrade.
my current build is as follows.
Campaign: Wrath of the Righteous
Race: Human (Mwangi-Bonuwat)
Religion: Shimye-Magalla
Racial Traits: Eye for Talent, Fey Magic [Urban](Stabilize,Purify Food, Create Water, Rite of Centered Mind), Fey Thoughts(Perception, Sense Motive)
Traits: Caretaker, Blackthorn Rancher, Touched by Divinity (Shimye-Magalla / Travel Domain)
Draw Backs: Warded Against Nature
Class: Cavalier (1)
Favored Class: Hunter
Archetype(s): Packmaster, Roofrunner & Blight Scout(Hunter), Mother’s Fang (Cavalier)
Feats: Exotic Heritage [K. Nature] (1st)<I have specific DM approval to take Eldritch Heritage(Sylvan)>, EWP Butcher Axe [Cavalier](1st), EWP Orc Hornbow [Cavalier](1st), Combat Expertise [Cavalier](1st), Precise Strike[Cavalier](1st)
Stats: Str: 18+2, Dex: 14, Con: 12, Int: 14, Wis: 11, Cha: 13
<all players have the same stat array to work with>
Skills: Ride, Heal, Perception, Sense Motive, Handle Animal,K. Nature
Gear (300gp to spend): Four Mirror Armor(125), Butcher Axe(65), Exotic Mount Riding Kit(36), Barding Stitches(50), Reinforced Tunic Barding(4),Silver Holy Symbol[Shimye-Magalla](0), 20gp
It's true that I only need to roll a 4 or better to make the dc 10 ride check, but I also have really bad dice karma.
A Ioun Stone (Magenta Prism (cracked)) costs 800 gp, and gives a daily floating +2 competence. You can switch it to a skill other than Ride when you no longer need the bonus.
/cevah
Horsemaster’s Saddle give a +5 competence bonus on ride checks for the rider AND +5 competence bonus on acrobatics checks to the MOUNT.
In addition, the mount gains the benefits of any teamwork feats possessed by the rider.
Although if your really worried about it I suggest swapping out the hornbow exotic feat for Skill focus Ride. Skill focus will serve you immediately at level 1 making your rolls for a 10 automatic (since +9 on a roll of a 1 is 10) and you can always use just a regular bow until a level or so later.
A Ioun Stone (Magenta Prism (cracked)) costs 800 gp, and gives a daily floating +2 competence. You can switch it to a skill other than Ride when you no longer need the bonus.
/cevah
Very cool, I will definitely look into that one since it should continue to be useful at any level.
Horsemaster’s Saddle give a +5 competence bonus on ride checks for the rider AND +5 competence bonus on acrobatics checks to the MOUNT.
In addition, the mount gains the benefits of any teamwork feats possessed by the rider.
Its a nice item, but its usefulnes dramatically drops off once I hit 4th level since the bonus will be less useful and I will already be sharing teamwork feats via hunter. At 12,000 gp, it seems unlikely I'd be able to grab it before 4th level. But I'll put it on the list of things to look at.
Although if your really worried about it I suggest swapping out the hornbow exotic feat for Skill focus Ride. Skill focus will serve you immediately at level 1 making your rolls for a 10 automatic (since +9 on a roll of a 1 is 10) and you can always use just a regular bow until a level or so later.
If I could do this I absolutely would, unfortunately the feat is coming from my cavalier archetype "first mother's fang" which specifically gives me exotic weapon proficiency in the ranged weapon of my choice. So, I could change orc horn bow to some other exotic ranged weapon, but I wouldn't be able to trade it in for skill focus. It's a nice thought though, since when I priced out the orc hornbow my character would need to take full advantage of his 20 str It was like 700gp and that was before making it masterwork, much less magical. I plan on using whatever the 1st bow we find is until I can afford the hornbow.
Thought Mother's Fang was Nagaji only? Or is that just flavor text?
hmm.... the flavor text certainly suggests that it is. When I'm looking at it on archives of nethys and d20pfsrd there was no indication that it has a race restriction. Compared to something like Fell Rider which clearly states it's a cavalier archetype that is hobgoblin only.
edit: I've looked closer at it and it is in fact flagged as Nagaji only, so I guess my 1st level feat will be racial heritage Nagaji. Thank you for pointing this out.
Didn't mean to make things harder for you! Sorry about that. However, you should definitely get the feat Throat Slicer if you're going non-good or evil... Have the constrictor get that easy attack > grab. Pin enemy next round, coup de gras as a standard action. It's a dirty dirty dirty tactic
No worries, I prefer to do things properly. I do wish it's something I had noticed earlier since it does foul up my feat progression. I'm not as upset about it though as I might of been since I'd decided that I probably wouldn't be pursuing Celestial Servant (which requires assimar) when I realized on a closer reading that it would only apply to one of my animal companions instead of all of them.
Throat slicer seems like a great feat for my snake to have. Eye for Talent lets me boost its Int to 3 meaning it can take any feat it's capable of using.