The Cavalrist - Special Mounts First Draft

Cavalrist's Mount (Ex): A cavalrist may begin play with a mount selected from the following list: camel, riding dog, horse (light or heavy), pony, or wolf. If the campaign takes place wholly or partly in an aquatic environment, the following creatures are also available: porpoise, or Medium shark. This mount is a loyal companion that accompanies the cavalrist on his adventures as appropriate for its kind.
The cavalrist receives a +2 bonus to Handle Animal and Ride checks made with his mount.
A 1st-level cavalrist' mount is completely typical for its kind except as noted below. As a cavalrist advances in level, the mount’s power increases as shown on the table. If a cavalrist releases his mount from service, he may gain a new one by training with a new mount for a week. This training can also replace an mount that has perished.
A cavalrist of 3rd level ro higher can bond with multiple mounts. Each additional mount gained this way decreases the cavalrist's effective level by 2. (If this adjustment would reduce the cavalrist's effective level to 0 or lower, he can’t have that creature as a mount.)
A cavalrist of 4th level or higher may select from alternative lists of mounts (see below). Should he select a mount from one of these alternative lists, the creature gains abilities as if the character’s cavalrist level were lower than it actually is. Subtract the value indicated in the parentheses from the character’s cavalrist level and compare the result with the cavalrist level entry on the table to determine the mount’s powers. (If this adjustment would reduce the cavalrist's effective level to 0 or lower, he can’t have that creature as a mount.)
A cavalrist's mount is superior to a normal creature of its kind and has special powers, as described below.

Class Level	Bonus HD	Natural Armor Adj.	Str/Dex Adj.	Special
1st–2nd	+0	+0	+0	Mounted Combat
3rd–5th	+2	+2	+1	Devotion
6th–8th	+4	+4	+2	Improved Speed
9th–11th	+6	+6	+3	Mounted Resistance
12th–14th	+8	+8	+4	Improved Speed
15th–17th	+10	+10	+5	Mounted Resistance
18th–20th	+12	+12	+6	Improved Speed

Mount Basics: Use the base statistics for a creature of the mount’s kind, but make the following changes.
Class Level: The character’s cavalrist level.
Bonus HD: Extra Hit Dice of the type normal for the mount's type, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the mount’s base attack and base save bonuses. A mount gains additional skill points and feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice. A mount does not grow in its size category
Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the mount’s existing natural armor bonus.
Str/Dex Adj.: Add this value to the mount’s Strength and Dexterity scores.
Mounted Combat: While riding his mount, the cavalrist is treated as having the Mounted Combat feat.
Devotion (Ex): The mount gains a +4 morale bonus on Will saves against enchantment spells and effects.
Improved Speed: One of the mount’s speeds increases by 10 feet.
Mounted Resistance (Ex): The cavalrist chooses a single saving throw category (Fortitude, Reflex, or Will). Once per round, if the cavalrist or the mount must make a save of that category while together, the cavalrist may instead make a Ride check with a -10 penalty.

ALTERNATIVE MOUNTS (Work in Progress)
A cavalrist of sufficiently high level can select his mount from one of the following lists, applying the indicated adjustment to the druid’s level (in parentheses) for purposes of determining the mount’s characteristics and special abilities.
4th Level or Higher (Level –3)
Lizard, monitor (animal)
Boar (animal)
Shark, Large¹ (animal)
Dire badger
Dire bat
7th Level or Higher (Level –6)
Dire wolf
Deinonychus (dinosaur)
Dire boar
Pegasus^?
10th Level or Higher (Level –9)
Megaraptor (dinosaur)
Whale, orca¹ (animal)
Nightmare^?
13th Level or Higher (Level –12)
Elephant (animal)
16th Level or Higher (Level –15)
Dire shark¹
Triceratops (dinosaur)
¹ Available only in an aquatic environment.

Celestial or Fiendish Mount (An additional level -3)
Half-Celestial or Half-Fiend Mount (An additional level -6)
Half-Dragon Mount (An additional level -6)
Skeleton Mount (No change)
Zombie Mount, 5 or less HD (An additional level -3)
Zombie Mount, 6 or more HD (An additional level -6)

The Cavalrist - Balance Concerns

With the decision that the cavalrist should have 4 skill points, I'm in a bit of a bad corner. Level 1 of the Cavalrist class is currently almost strictly better than level 1 of the fighter class. That, obviously, shouldn't be. I see a few possible ways to remidy that:

• Delay the Mounted Combat feat, and grant a different feat at first level (such as Animal Empathy or Skill Focus (Ride))
• Reduce the Hit Dice to a D8. Still in line for a fighting class.
• Change the good save to Reflex. A fighting class without Fortitude as a good save is odd, but not without precedent (waves to the knight class).

I'm not yet sure where to go with that.

The Cavalrist - Expanding on the basics

You may have noticed that I jumped right into the class abilities of the cavalrist rather than take a look at the basics. I did so with the temporary assumption that these basics would be very similar to those of a fighter - d10 Hit Dice, good BaB, Good Fort, 2 skill points per level. Class skills Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), and Swim (Str).

For various reasons, at least the skills would be disappointing if they were exactly the same. A cavalrist certainly wants Ride, and probably Handle Animal. Add to that the fact that we'd want a few other skills so that the cavalrist can fulfill a few more roles, and the skill budget becomes tight, especially since they'll probably be cross-class skills under this assumption.

Let's build the list of class skills first - Handle Animal and Ride are musts. Craft and Profession are commonl found with most classes. That's four skills compared to the fighter's seven skills. To add a bit flexibility, I'll say that the cavalrist may choose three additional skills as class skills. That should give a bit of role flexibility.

But how many skill points should the cavalrist have? 2, like the fighter? As said earlier, that would be a tight skill point budget. An idea that would help with that would be virtual ranks - when interacting with his special mount, the cavalrist is treated as having level +3 ranks in Handle Animal and Ride. That would allow the cavalrist to skimp a bit on these two skills, and empathise the special bond between mount and rider. But it would become odd when the cavalrist has to change mounts, and appears to be a bumbling fool around horses!

Of course, there would be the solution to say that the cavalrist has full ranks for his special mount, and half ranks for other mounts (or whatever ranks he actually has). But honestly, this would be rather silly - at that point we could just as well remove the Ride skill from the class skill list. The solution seems to be to increase the number of skills to 4 per level. This needs to be kept in mind for class balance later on.

Semi-Random Crunch - The Cavalry Line

I mentioned previously that I wanted to talk abou the cavalry line. I feel that the basic idea can already be found in the SRD, in a different context. I a cavalry line, each member would occupy less space than normal. What other rule is there that does the same? Squeezing!

A quote from the SRD:

Squeezing: In some cases, you may have to squeeze into or through an area that isn'’t as wide as the space you take up. You can squeeze through or into a space that is at least half as wide as your normal space. Each move into or through a narrow space counts as if it were 2 squares, and while squeezed in a narrow space you take a -4 penalty on attack rolls and a -–4 penalty to AC.
When a Large creature (which normally takes up four squares) squeezes into a space that'’s one square wide, the creature'’s miniature figure occupies two squares, centered on the line between the two squares. For a bigger creature, center the creature likewise in the area it squeezes into.
A creature can squeeze past an opponent while moving but it can'’t end its movement in an occupied square.
To squeeze through or into a space less than half your space'’s width, you must use the Escape Artist skill. You can'’t attack while using Escape Artist to squeeze through or into a narrow space, you take a -–4 penalty to AC, and you lose any Dexterity bonus to AC.

The -4 penalty to attacks and Armor Class is likely too high, and since the "obstacles" are not as solid and unmoving as a wall, it can easily be reduced.

Forming a Cavalry Line: Mounted characters trained in the Ride skill can form a cavalry line, as long as each member is trained in the skill. In a cavalry line, the spaces of two Large or larger mounts may overlap, as long as no mount completely shares the space of another mount. Each member of the cavalry line takes a -2 penalty on attack rolls and AC.

Example: Riders x, y, and z forming a cavalry line:

xyßz
xyßz

Rider x occupies the x and y squares. Rider y occupies the y and ß squares. Rider z occupies the ß and z squares.

Rider of the Line [General]
You are capable of fighting in a cavalry line more comfortably.
Prerequisites: Ride skill, Mounted Combat
Benefit: You do not suffer a penalty to your attack rolls while in a cavalry line.
Special: Fighters may take Rider of the Line as a fighter bonus feat.

The Cavalrist - Mechanics

Since the class concepts are pretty clear, I'll take a look at what mechanics I want to implement for the class.
The Mounted Combat feat is a must, of course, and the cavalrist should get it as a bonus feat. A small number of related bonus feats can be added to the mix as well for the later levels.

One problem people have with the 3.5 space rules is the idea that horses somehow became square, making cavalry lines impossible. I do plan to address this later, but for now, let's say the cavalrist can have an ability to help out with that. That ability would be part of a combat style ability set that the cavalrist may choose. Since I already planned a small number of bonus feats, the combat styles should not be feats - or at least, not only feats.

This leaves the mount. The cavalrist will get a special mount similar to a mixture between a paladin mount and a druid animal companion. The mount will improve by level, and the cavalrist can gain a more powerful mount, which will receive fewer benefits.

That's all quite a bit already. All this (Mounted Combat, Combat Style and Special Mount) does sound like it should be granted at first level. Obviously that's too much. An idea would be to give out Mounted Combat and Special Mount at first level, but the Special Mount does not gain extra abilities until a later (say, 3rd) level, and give out the combat style at 2nd level. That sounds good for now, but it may change as we develop the details.

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Mounted Combat,Special Mount
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Combat Style

Thoughts on new base classes

With Heroes of Horror, Expanded Psionic Handbook, the Complete Series, Tome of Magic, Miniatures Handbook, Magic of Incarnum, and now Player's Handbook II, we have a ton of base classes available for characters, and it does not look like the amount of new base classes will get any lower. One may ask - do we have too many base classes now?

The answer I can give for myself is - no! Surprising as that may sound, I believe that there are still nieches untouched, or at least barely explored (transformative base classes would be one example). Also, new classes can easily occupy existing nieches as long as they don't overshadow the existing classes in that nieche (knight to fighter and paladin).

However, that doesn't mean that I would support the creation of n fighter-like classes that differ in their choice of bonus feats and class skills. A new base class should do one of the following:

• Provide an ability set that was not seen yet.
• Provide a mix of abilities that is hard or impossible by multiclassing between base classes.

Let's assume we want to build a cavalrist base class. We should first define what we want out of that class.

1. Obviously, he should be an expert in mounted combat. [That's a fighter's territory]
   
2. To make the mount matter, it should improve as the cavalrist increases in level. [druid, paladin or ranger]
3. He should not be a spellcaster.
   
4. He should be both suitable for the role of a noble knight fighting in mele and a barbarian scout fighting with the bow. [Fighter, paladin, or ranger (via a ranger's combat style)]

It looks like such a cavalrist might make a decent base class, tough it might end up looking similar to the fighter or ranger. That leaves one topic I haven't talked about - how specific should a base class be?
In d20 Modern, there are three types of classes - Base classes, which are broad; advanced classes, which are somewhat specialized, and prestige classes, which are highly specialized. Is that actually the case with Dungeons and Dragons as well? Not if you use the core rules as written, with the Fighter being a lot more flexible than the Ranger, the Bard more specialized than the Rogue, Blackguard being a prestige class and Paladin a base class.

Of course, the core rules are not necessarily a good measure, but I think there is just one answer - it depends on the game world. In some worlds, it might be necessary to have a Elven Leafgatherer base class. In the Forgotten Realms, why shouldn't there be a Red Wizard of Thay base class (in fact, this class would have the added benefit that it could be used as an arch-specialist class)?