Trample is ridiculous

[yukongil]

beautiful!

[Sysryke]

You throw in a penchant for stopping to smell the flowers in every serf lady's kitchen garden, and I almost built this character.

Name him Ferdinand obviously.

[Mark Hoover 330]

So, just a quick follow up to this thread over a year later. We only play 1/month and had to miss a couple sessions, so the PCs are only L9. That being said, the PC with the war bull mount is a weapon and armor smith in his Downtime and took Craft Magic Arms and Armor as a feat. His war bull meantime took the feat Hefty Brute and Mobility.

So... it has an AC 30; 34 either when it moves through a threatened area or when its Trample victims choose the AoO option. It can target up to Large sized foes and wears a +1 Amulet of Mighty Fists. It only does a paltry 15 avg damage but there's no rule that the PC can't be on the bull's back while it Tramples so that's an EXTRA 15 damage on top of whatever the paladin is doing.

The damage isn't as combat-ending as it used to be but it is still ridiculous in my opinion. I've tried targeting the bull with Will saves, but it's made them; I've tried foes using spears but they can't hit it through the armor its wearing; I've thrown out Difficult Terrain and obstacles but it ended up slowing down the melee types on both sides of the fight.

Ref saves are so far the bull's only weakness. It is a big, ponderous beast lumbering through the landscape; both a breath weapon and a Lightning Bolt have taken full effect on the creature. These don't affect it's Trample at all, but they give the player pause to sending it into harm's way as much.

I'm just glad there isn't much the PC can do to increase the bull's Trample damage. Right now he's saving money for the next Downtime sesh. He wants to improve the AoMF and create a Str enhancer with the wizard's help. He's given it magic Tusk Blades, but these only help with it's Gore attacks.

[TriOmegaZero]

Can't wait for it to hit a nemhain or something else with incorporeal touch and nasty ability drain.

[Mark Hoover 330]

As written, the mega-module I'm running this from has no Incorporeal creatures besides a ghost the PCs have already encountered and dealt with. That said, I could certainly add some. The mega-module was intended for Slow progression up to APL 5 so I've been modifying things for some time now.

Incorporeal, Tiny or smaller Swarms, foes with high DRs, or Evasion are all options. I have to factor in the relative threat these enemies pose to the other PCs though. A single nemhain would likely slay the wizard PC and all of the cohorts/familiars in the party before being defeated, not to mention the bull.

Trample usually only comes into play though as a tactic when I put multiple lower CR foes in a fight, not one big monster. I throw out a single nemhain, the bull may not even be involved in the battle. I drop in 3 ghasts with the Advanced template and levels of brawler to put each of them at CR 6? Guaranteed the PC and his mount will risk the Fort saves and Trample each of these villains.