A small addition to the cavalier

[knoodler]

I've been thinking about a mounted Druud recently, and I was disappointed to see that there's currently no way to give an unconventional mount the Mount trait. So I came up with one by adding a little to the Cavalier archetype

Exotic Mount
Feat 4
Your animal companion gains the Mount trait if it does not already have it.

And in the dedication feat, a new clause:

If you have an animal companion from another source, you may instead gain the Exotic Mount feat for free as soon as you qualify for it.

[Seisho]

If you are a druid of the animal order you can get most (all? DM decision) exotic mounts anyway

and if you are playing some character from an exotic setting (not pfs I suppose) you could always talk with your gm to increase the range of animal companions you can choose from

this feat would be in most cases pretty much dead wheight
using a feat to gain almost no benefit but some choice of options seems like a bad investment

[knoodler]

It's not just about options. Having the Mount trait lets your animal companion move and support in the same turn while being ridden. It also lets it use speeds besides its land speed while being ridden.

Small correction: Mount is a special ability, not a trait.

[knoodler]

This should probably also have some limiters on movement methods based on level, like:

While you are riding your animal companion, it cannot climb or swim until you reach level 6, nor fly or burrow until you reach level 8. It can only use these movement options when unmounted or you are its sole rider.

[voideternal]

Seeing it's for your home games, you should do what works for your table, but unlimited duration flight is a benefit usually only unlocked at very late levels. Strix, the flying race, gets it at level 13. Aasimars and Tieflings get it at level 17. Champions get it at level 18, and dragon barbarians can get it at level 12 but only while raging. For items, there's the level 17 greater cloak of the bat.

[knoodler]

I appreciate the feedback. I was throwing out numbers before, but that gives a much better idea. There's also the uncommon level 9 orc racial feat that gives access to the riding drake. Based on items and feats for the other speeds, I'll probably make it climb and swim at 12, burrow at 14, and fly at 18.

[voideternal]

knoodler wrote:

I appreciate the feedback. I was throwing out numbers before, but that gives a much better idea. There's also the uncommon level 9 orc racial feat that gives access to the riding drake. Based on items and feats for the other speeds, I'll probably make it climb and swim at 12, burrow at 14, and fly at 18.

Sounds reasonable. Just a heads up, the riding drake doesn't actually fly on its own.

[HumbleGamer]

Burrow and fly seem ok to me.

About swim and climb, just to make a smoother progression, why not giving them at a separate level?

For example, swim lvl 8 and climb lvl 12.

I think it's not like swim is going to hurt, especially when characters gets it as heritage or lvl 5/9 with ancestry feats.