Hello, I have questions about the embodied dragoon subjectivity.
... You can cast feather fall and phantom steed once per day as innate occult spells. ...
and when you cast phantom steed in this way, the steed physically protrudes from your own lower body. Neither of these cosmetic changes alter the spell's effects; for example, the foes can still attack the phantom steed as normal.
You conjure a Large, magical, equine creature that only you (or another Medium or Small creature you choose) can ride. The horse is clearly phantasmal in nature, has 20 AC and 10 Hit Points, and automatically fails all saves. If it's reduced to 0 Hit Points, it disappears and the spell ends. The steed has a Speed of 40 feet and can hold its rider's body weight, plus 20 Bulk.
Heightened (4th) The steed has a Speed of 60 feet, can walk on water, and ignores areas of natural difficult terrain.
Heightened (5th) The steed has a Speed of 60 feet, can walk on water, and ignores areas of natural difficult terrain. It can also air walk but must end its turn on solid ground or fall.
Heightened (6th) The steed can walk or fly at a Speed of 80 feet, can walk on water, and ignores natural difficult terrain.
0/ Is the character Large ? Reach ?
1/ Is it possible to increase the AC and Hit Points of the Phantom Steed ? Or is it possible to prevent an attack on the Phantom steed ?
2/ If a character with this feat has a spellcasting class, is it possible to have the same effect that the feat ?
3/ Is it possible for an other character to mount this equine character ?
Thanks for tour future answer.
0. No. This doesn't alter the rider's statistics in any way except for being able to target them in the same squares as the steed when mounted on it. (They would also get lesser cover from them in this case, but that's it.) I technically wouldn't even give the creature stats outside of its listed AC and HP.
1. There are spells and abilities that could work this way, but it's honestly going to be worse and worse for you if you prepare for this. Some of them might also not be fool-proof in regards to preventing attacks. As for increasing HP and AC, there are certain spells that can do this, but they are largely superficial given the lack of scaling on the spell, and they will eat into your action economy/daily resources more than what the spell already does. It would have been nice if heightening increased AC and HP in addition to the speed/mobility effects, but it is what it is.
2. No, because it only refers to if you "cast Phantom Steed in this way", referring to it being an innate Occult spell. It being from an Occult spell list doesn't make it innate, meaning it doesn't work that way if cast from spell slots. In addition, with it being an innate occult spell, it doesn't heighten to be able to fly 80 feet, for example, whereas if it were from spell slots, it could definitely heighten up to that, if so prepared or memorized.
3. For Feather Fall, it would seem you can target others, based on a lack of explanation behind it, but for Phantom Steed, a case could be made that it only refers to yourself, since it would make no sense for the steed to protrude from your own body if cast on someone else. A sensible GM would rule that the description is more for a given target than it is for solely yourself, because the spell is designed to target specific creatures, and doesn't make any special targeting restrictions in the description. Just as well, it states that this description is cosmetic and doesn't alter the actual effects in any way, meaning if it did somehow give some sort of mechanical advantage (such as not needing to spend actions to mount or dismount the steed), it just doesn't do that. You would still need to spend actions to do that, it would be targetable from yourself, etc. Any sort of advantage you'd think to gain from its cosmetic benefits do not exist, and the effect calls it out as such.
1/ Is it possible to shield block to protect a phantom steed ?
1/ Is it possible to shield block to protect a phantom steed ?
The only feat I know of that lets you do anything similar to this is the Shield Warden feat. Here's what it says:
When you have a shield raised, you can use your Shield Block reaction when an attack is made against an ally adjacent to you. If you do, the shield prevents that ally from taking damage instead of preventing you from taking damage, following the normal rules for Shield Block.
The big thing is that the ally must be adjacent to you for you to be able to do this. If you were Large (or larger), being within 10 feet (your natural reach) would not work for this ability (even if it would make sense to). Furthermore, adjacent doesn't have an in-game definition, meaning the real world definition would apply, and given that you would share vertices by being in the same square, it would make sense that you can shield block for them with this feat.
Whether that's a good idea is a whole other matter. The creature only has 10 HP. And most things hit way harder than Shield Hardness value, meaning even if you do block it, the creature is still going to most likely die. You would need something more potent (which costs more resources to do) if you want a more "permanent" solution.
Spirit link ?
Shoulshelter vessel ?
Spirit Link requires a willing creature (and nothing in the Phantom Steed spell makes it a willing creature), for starters. Even so, it only regains HP if it has any left to gain; if it takes 10 HP's worth of damage, it instantly dies, and the Spirit Link spell will end because there is no longer a valid target, meaning it can't be brought back to positive HP with the spell. So, no go on that one.
Soulshelter Vessel is an uncommon, AP-specific spell, meaning you would need access to it somehow. It also has the same willing creature clause, as well as an additional non-magical stone component to target (though incidentally, it doesn't matter if you are in possession of said stone or not). That being said, it's a decent "death-prevention" spell, since the odds of the creature being reduced to 0 HP is pretty easy to do the higher level you get, so it can function. But it only functions once, and you otherwise need to recast the spell for it to work consistently, which requires the same non-magical stones. Hope you got the bulk capacity for it...
Spells and effects which give Temporary HP might be something to consider as well, since this raises the effective HP pool of the target considerably. I know Zealous Conviction does this for sure (and is helpful if you know you'll be in a fight soon), but there may be other spell effects or items that do this.