Paladin Holy Mount: Celestial Dire Chicken?

[Allyx]

Well my party died in Runeforge, and all the players now have new 14th level characters, one of which is now playing a Gnome Paladin of Erastil who gains a Holy Mount. All good so far, except she wants it to be a Celestial Dire Chicken that she can ride, and I'm not sure that I'm building it correctly.

My understanding is that I take the base stats of a Chicken animal Companion for a 14th level Druid, add the Dire Template and add Celestial template.

Is that right? Or am I doing it wrong? Does adding the Dire template mean I should be lowering it's HD to compensate for the increase in CR from adding Dire?

Help please?

[Java Man]

There is no chicken companion, or dire template (at least outside of 3pp). Best bet is using the axebeak companion. There are feats and archetypes that allow the celestial template to be added, if one of those is used follow it's rules. Otherwise there is not a way to add it.

[mardaddy]

So it's a chicken mount for flavor, but follow the guides for an axebeak.

[Evilserran]

YOU could have permenancy animal growth cast on a chicken.... and because its "unique, gm caveat it as your mount/animal companion.

[Agénor]

What you talk of strongly reminds me of an illustration by Omar Rayyan.

[CloudCobra]

It's actually now Simple Template: Giant (although Animal Archive still refers to Dire Ape, etc.). Dire Creature was D&D 3.5 (not that I don't still tend to use that material, because Pathfinder 1st Edition was advertised to be backwards compatible...*stopping myself from ranting*), but that's just quibbling...

You are using the same rules for an animal companion that are in the Druid class description in the core rule book. Then add whatever Animal Companion archetype you want from the splat books. As you go up in level, the mount's statistics will change not just from the animal companion rules but in additional abilities of the paladin class progression (example -- adding the celestial template at level 11).

Just keep in mind:

Quote:

From the "FAQ on Intelligent Animals" on the Paizo blog:

The Handle Animal skill functions similarly no matter how intelligent an animal becomes. A character must still make Handle Animal checks to train his animal and get him to perform the appropriate tasks. A GM should, however, make exceptions in the case of how such an intelligent animal might react in absence of instructions. It might not know to unlock a door to escape a burning building—as that's a fact that's learned over time and experience—but a smart animal might have a better chance of finding a way out.

*singing* You wear a disguise to look like human guys. But you're not a man; you're a chicken, boo.