I really really like the flavor for this archetype, and the "dragonrider" and "dragon knight" aren't usually things I can play in Pathfinder without some serious houserules.
But, if I wanted to play Dragonmaster Alex from Lunar, would I want to go drake rider or silver champion? And does it break the game if I give the drakeriders drake companion mount as a free evo when it is the "correct size" like the pally gets?
Even if you are a small race, I would highly recommend going with the Summoner class. By RAW, you cannot ride your Drake companion until level 9 if you're Small, or level 13 if you're Medium. At least Summoners only have to wait until level 8 if they're medium.
Personally, considering how much the Drakenrider actually losses to get a Drake they can't even use for their class until level 13, I don't see why not. Again, if you're not small, don't even look at Drakenrider.
Paladins are a little better, but suffer from the same "level 13 until you can mount" problem, but at least they give their companion a free evolution at that level.
Actually, if you think about it, Drakes are only watered down versions of Eidolons. They have "Evolutions", base forms, all of the good stuff taken and blended together to make them absolutely horrible. lol
TLDR: Just play Summoner and pretend your a Dragon Rider.
Well, to be honest, the source concept doesn't have him riding his dragon until the end of the game anyway. Nall is a support character for most of the game (Ruby can help fight in the second though as a sort of air support). Also I really just want it to be a more persistent "dragon" for roleplaying aspects... that and full BAB.
Of the two, I'd recommend Silver Champion, since it gets the mount power for free along with a decent enough spell list.
Lets not forget that it doesn't completely scrap anything and everything that was designed about the class in the first class, for an underwhelming Eidolon. Comparatively, you only loss 3 smite and 3 lay on hands and 1 level of spell progression to the [EVERYTHING] that the Cavalier losses.
~Edit~
Scratch that, I misread
3 Levels of Smite, 3 levels of Mercy and the following: Divine bond, channel energy, aura of justice, and aura of righteousness.
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See if your GM would allow the following archetype fixes from this thread.
Drakerider (Cavalier) (Legacy of Dragons)
Drake Mount (Ex): A drakerider gains a drake companion instead of a mount. Unlike a standard companion, the drake is either Medium (for a Small drakeriders) or Large (for Medium drakeriders), following the drake companion's increased size rules. The drake mount does not increase in size regardless of the drakerider's level. The drake mount may increase its size by one category instead of selecting a drake power, and it gains the Mount power as a bonus power. She gains cavalier’s charge at 9th level instead of 3rd.
Hey, do you want an archetype that doesn't let you ride your drake until level 13th? Me neither :P I don't know if it was to prevent having a flying mount at low levels, but right now, a Small drakerider can ride his drake only until 9th level, while a Medium drakerider can ridert his only until 13th level. Beside, flight is optional for the drakerider; it's tempting, but not mandatory. You could build your mount with a breath weapon and burrowing speed if you want instead of flying.
Silver Champion (Paladin) (Legacy of Dragons)
Drake Mount (Ex): At 5th level, a silver champion gains a drake companion. Unlike a standard companion, the drake is either Medium (for a Small champions) or Large (for Medium champions), following the drake companion's increased size rules. The drake mount does not increase in size regardless of the drakerider's level.The drake mount may increase its size by one category instead of selecting a drake power. However, a silver champion doesn’t gain additional uses per day of smite evil at 4th, 10th, and 16th levels, and doesn’t gain mercies at 6th, 12th, and 18th levels. Also, the drake mount's alignment is within one step of Apsu's, which is Lawful Good, Neutral Good or Lawful Neutral.
Same exact problem with the Drakerider, having to start with a drake too small to ride. I know that the Undersized Mount feat is there for something, but you're wasting a feat that will be rendered useless at 9th or 13th level. Furthermore, a drake of "any nongood alignment" is pretty dumb for a paladin's mount. The drake is intelligent enough that if it decides to ally itself to a paladin, it should act accordingly.
Though both the book itself and fix leave out that Drakerider cavalier should definitely lose expert trainer given that you aren't going to be training your drake like a normal animal.
The drake deigns to allow its charge to ride it, as long as she is at least one size category smaller than the drake. While carrying a rider, the drake can’t burrow and it loses the benefits of the highest-level drake power it has from the following list (ordered from highest-level to lowest-level): greater flight, improved flight, flight, or glide. To select mount, a drake must have glide and its charge must be at least 7th level.
Hm.... nope - Undersized mount is not a "thing" for this dragon, it specifically states you MUST be one size smaller than the dragon. Honestly, why they didn't do that to begin with, I'll never know. Right now, the only possibly viable classes with Drakes are Shaman and Druid. Cavalier is absolutely gutted to the point of being literally a Joke (you sold everything you had for "magic beans", and no, these won't get you the golden goose this time).
Granted but i think for the most part the fixes are fairly simple to each archetype. Also going by the fixed version the cavalier just has to wait on the charge and lose expert trainer.
Much sadness. My only question/concern is how well does the drake do if it's specc'd as less of a mount and more of a fighting companion? Does it do well, or die instantly?
It dies near instantly as published. I play tested both the default version of the drakerider and JiCi's fix. The default version was handedly our performed by our winged marauder's giant vulture at very turn. It was a better mount, better fighting companion, and better scout.
Using JiCi's fix the drake was a better mount than the vulture and generally able to contribute to fights on an even keel. Though their combat purposes diverged. Once the alchemist got a large enough number of bombs to rarely run out his mount's main melee purpose was just to get harassers away, whereas the drake was expected to be in the thick of things with me. By being large sized and generally having a more capable rider the drake survived almost all melees.
Though I doubt any animal companion/eidolon would have survived the kraken spawning pool enounter.
@Alex: What about a Fox Mauler with Toughness* and their master getting Toughness and Mauler Toughness? (*Witch Bonded Beast). Human Eye for Talent +2 Constitution (or maybe Strength?). Oh god, I want to make my Eldritch Guardian again....
We have not been playtesting with any optimized familiars. At least not since my castlevania boss necromancer and his flying skull throne. That died to a colossal sized mimic cleverly disguised as a zeppelin. Which was an overall less lethal encounter but had one hell of a surprise round. I'll miss you battle chair skull friend.
It dies near instantly as published. I play tested both the default version of the drakerider and JiCi's fix. The default version was handedly our performed by our winged marauder's giant vulture at very turn. It was a better mount, better fighting companion, and better scout.
Using JiCi's fix the drake was a better mount than the vulture and generally able to contribute to fights on an even keel. Though their combat purposes diverged. Once the alchemist got a large enough number of bombs to rarely run out his mount's main melee purpose was just to get harassers away, whereas the drake was expected to be in the thick of things with me. By being large sized and generally having a more capable rider the drake survived almost all melees.
Though I doubt any animal companion/eidolon would have survived the kraken spawning pool enounter.
Vultures, vultures everywhere...
What about the Roc? XDD
Jokes aside, a Roc is Large by level 7, be for a Small or Medium companion handler.
My fix basically replaced the drake's leveling-up growth in order to be a suitable mount. Many people think that it was to limit flight at low levels. The thing is that flight is an optional power and it takes 2 powers to offset the limitations of the initial flight power. As a drake is fully customizable, you can go for intelligent drakes, breathing drakes, aquatic drakes, name it, not to mention that Air Walk and Fly can be used as alternate ways to fly :P
I chose vultures for my initial math breakdown in the product thread because of our group playing with a winged marauder. It also had very directly comparable stats. The roc and quetzalcoatlus are arguably much better, but have a few drastic differences that would have made the demonstration of why the drake as written is horrible harder to definitely prove.