Post/Author/DateTime	Post
jay 10-08-05, 11:38 AM	I'm probably playing a Knight Phantom this Sunday. It's an Eberron Ftr/Wiz class that uses phantom steeds for dragoon tactics: use mounts to travel, dismount, fight on foot. However, I've noticed that the ride DC for soft fall after you're mount is dropped is relatively low (15), and since you're neither paying money for the steeds nor are they your cherished companions, you might as well go into battle on one. When it's killed, well, you're no worse off than if you entered the battle on foot (if you made the DC 15 ride check to land on your feet). Of course, you're not getting that much benefit either, if you don't take mounted combat feats, and if you do, the cost of a steed dying suddenly goes sharply up: you have feats that are of no use now! Still, a wizard charging into battle with a sword, mounted on an unnaturally silent grey horse that just turns into fog when hit, with the wizard dropping to his feet unfazed... very cool, IMO. So if you make it standard practice to ride into battle on the steed... why not try to make it more durable, if possible? So is it? It doesn't seem to be, really. The steeds hp are terrible: 7 hp + 1/level mean they go down in one hit, and there seems really to be little you can do about that. But I might be missing something, so I call upon the collective wisdom of the WotC boards...
Jaid 10-08-05, 10:05 PM	there are spells that can grant temporary hit points... might those help? you could also apply other spells to protect your steed, such as displacement/blur. potentially, if you had ghost touch gear (or force armor of some kind) you could cause the steed to go ethereal when riding into battle, which would look really funny, 'cause from their perspective you're riding nothing... but should work just fine, i think. 'course, your steed would be much slower, but i guess you can't have everything. (if the speed is a huge issue, consider getting the steed to be incorporeal... still vulnerable to magic weapons and attacks, but at least it's better than if it's physically there. combined with a displacement effect, that would be two 50% chances of the attack doing nothing). hope that helps.
IMarvinTPA 10-09-05, 11:54 AM	Spiderskin ('http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndLive/spells.asp?ID=4325') provides an enhancement bonus to natural armor. (Dragonskin is personal.) I'll look for more ideas. I couldn't find much that You could cast to buff temporar HPs, but I did find a few cleric/rangers spells that did. IMarv