My PC usually carries the gnome of our party on his shoulder/back for RP/Lore purposes, but i was wondering if we could do the same during a fight?
Say the gnome becomes tiny with reduce person and stays on my shoulder during fights...Are there any rules for that? Could i provide her with some protection or does it change nothing?
Pathfinder doesn't have good rules for cooperative carrying. Most groups I've seen with that issue use some variation of the ride skill, even if it's not necessarily a great fit.
Familiar Satchel. :)
The rules utterly punt on what can constitute a mount. They mention that "ill suited" mounts impose a penalty on Ride checks, but they don't define what that means. I don't see any reason a sentient humanoid cannot serve as a mount for a smaller humanoid, though they're probably considered "ill suited" at best. But a GM is well within their right to say "yeah, no" if it'll complicate things too much.
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Dunkie, is that automatic in the rules?
Markie, there is no text saying that a tiny PC riding on the shoulder of a larger PC should use the 'mount' rules... but they ARE mounted on the other PC.
Does this mean that a PC's owl familiar (Valet) is considered mounted on them?
If it is riding on their shoulder then yes. If it is in some kind of familiar satchel then no.
This means that a level 7 wizard with an Owl familiar riding on their shoulder/in a Familiar Satchel must move to a point 25' from the front line and stay there prior to any use of their familiar's Deliver Aid ability where it can move and deliver Aid Another at any point in it's movement.
I don't follow. Is the familiar riding on the wizard, being carried in a satchel, flying out to use Deliver Aid, or some combination?
Owls have a 60' fly speed, so if it were riding on the wizard's shoulder it could fly out 30', aid an ally, and fly back to land on the wizard again... none of which involves mounted rules because the owl was moving on its own rather than riding on a moving wizard.
I thought to be considered mounted on a creature you had to be in control of said mount via the Ride skill?
So if you're on a unicorn or other intelligent creature you aren't mounted?
Does that mean that the Familiar or in this thread's case, the gnome, needs to make a Ride check for things like a Swift Dismount or to spur on the PC carrying them an extra 10' movement?
Most ride checks are to control / direct the mount and thus shouldn't be an issue for intelligent creatures that can communicate with each other (though there is no guarantee they will do what you want). The exceptions would be things where you need to avoid falling off (e.g. the familiar trying to use the wizard as cover, staying on the shoulder after being shot with an arrow, etc).
It should probably be a climb check to stay on a person who wasn't trying to shake you off. Pick up a second story harness so you can keep your hands free, have the carrier where a handle harness so you have some points of attachment available, and that should do the trick.
If the gnome can finagle a climb speed, all the better.
I don't see any reason to penalize the players for doing something different for flavor/lore... So I 'd just make it simple:
The "mount" decides where to go, and the "rider" is automatically carried. The "rider" occupies the square immediately above the "mount'. That's it.
There would be no other effects other than the occasional -2 penalty to certain skill checks (e.g.: trying to tumble or swim with a gnome on your shoulders).... Maybe add a few bonuses to skill checks here and there as well to reward the players for having a unique idea.
Adventure paths are full of skill challenges where you could use multiple skills to achieve the same thing. I agree this should probably be one of those cases.
Be sure to have your "mount" wear a "saddle" so you won't easily get knocked off.
/cevah