Prerequisite: Halfling, Talanta Plains Background, Beast Mastery Class Feature, beast companion (lizard)
Benefit: You gain the benefits of the mounted combat feat. Additionally, your lizard beast companion gains the following two special traits:
Medium Mount: Your lizard companion can act as a mount for small creatures.
Cooperative Charge: When you are riding your lizard companion and you use the charge action, your lizard companion can make a melee basic attack as a free action.
Otherwise, it seems ok to me.
What do other people think? Am I right, or is Mikron right?
Yeah, I don't think that's too overpowered. I'd say go for it.
Huh. I was just trying to give it the same abilities as the clawfoot mount from the ECG. Is that second attack really unbalanced? Considering the fact that most of a rangers benefits, from their animal companion, comes in the form of flanking (which they can not do when they are riding their beast companion, and which is a pretty hefty benefit), that rangers already get an at-will that allows them to make an attack with either hand (thus getting two attacks with a standard action), that only halflings can take this feat (who are already stuck using weaker weapons as a ranger due to their small size, and who don't gain a benefit to either strength or wisdom, a beast masters two primary stats), that when riding an animal companion a ranger looses the ability to use their animal companion to attack a target while they themselves stay at range, and that only halfling ranger beastmasters can take this feat (which means that you have already given up playing a race with a bonus to strength and/or wisdom, and chosen a small race, which stops you from using more powerful 2d4/1d10/1d12/2d6 two handed weapons that beastmaster rangers could typically use) I thought that balance wise it should be fine. What do other people think? Am I right, or is Mikron right?
I played two beastmasters before (LFR dwarf with bear level 10 and a half-orc with tiger in Eberron) and first thought this to be unbalanced with my dwarf in mind.
He would charge (+1 to attack) with his fullblade sitting on a bear - d12's all over the table!
After reading your valid points about halfling rangers, I reconsider my opinion and will say that it looks fair.
This makes for very cinematic use of the "Beastprotector" feat. Sitting on the back of his thrashing raptor, the halfling swings his sarrash wildly to fend of attacks on his mount.
