Thoughts on balance of a "Hippogriffon Lite"

[relasine]

I'm working on a setting that is rather airship-intensive, and I'm trying to figure out a way to make the Lancer work as a class in that context.  My thought is that the airships have a compartment in the stern of the ship that holds a small stable for hippogriffons that can launch while the airship is in-flight.  Unfortunately, hippogriffons rate at 65 Experience and are consequently out-of-reach for most first-level Lancers who will most likely only be able to grab a mount at 60 Experience (if they take a terrain feat to boost it up by 5).  The only way I can think of to get a 65-Experience mount at 1st level is to take the Druid Specialization with the Lancer class and another terrain feat, but that's awfully specific.  If there's another way, please let me know...

My solution is to write a "Hippogriffon Lite".  I'm really just taking the Hippogriffon from the bestiary (FC 2nd, p. 268) and reducing stats and abilities down to 55 experience.  STR and WIS are reduced by 2, Superior Runner is removed, bleed and keen 4 are removed from the bite attack, and RES and Health are bussed back to III.  The justification is that these are "training" hippogriffons, as 1st-level Lancers aren't quite ready for the full war hippogriffon yet.

Is this too much for a 1st-level character? 

There will be a means for characters to jump back and forth between airships in battle (short burst jet-packs of sorts) that will grant winged flight 60 ft per turn.  To stop abuse of it, they can only be used twice per scene before needing to be recharged (jump in, jump out). 

Thoughts on this?

[Bhurano]

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

Cool idea with the jump packs and don't worry about the animal partners in your group. Important point to keep in mind is that they pay for the right to have that support via their feats. So if it fits in their XP-limit for their companion it should be all right. Just keep an eye out for companions who are geared solely for open-a-can-of-whoop-ass... some might try to get some nifty combos past your radar... in that case: Hand them some of their own medicine.

I also like your approach to picture them as hippogriffons-in-training... nicely done.

Hope that helps.

[Sletchman]

I can't see a problem with just reducing the Hippogriff slightly to fit 55/60xp, especially if you just lower a few things.  The real problem that can arise from the NPC system is when players take cheap, abusive things for their pet.  Most of those things are pretty easy to spot and say no to anyway.

For the jump packs, if you make them a prize that can cast Fly I or Fly II on the wearer there really shouldn't be balance issues - that's effectively a default item.  The only issue is that spells are 1/scene until 5th level using the prize system, and that depending on how rare you want these packs to be a prize might make them too rare and costly.  Either way, if it's part of the setting and equally available to PCs I can't see it wrecking things - all you're doing is letting melee dudes participate in ship to ship combat, which seems pretty fair to me.

[relasine]

Either way, if it's part of the setting and equally available to PCs I can't see it wrecking things - all you're doing is letting melee dudes participate in ship to ship combat, which seems pretty fair to me.

That's the gist of it, yeah.  It's just about getting melee combatants from ship-to-ship quickly.  I can explain it in the setting pretty easily.  I'll just make it so that these packs belong to the airship captain, who, at low levels, will not be a PC.  The packs are relatively expensive, so they don't leave the ship unless they're being used for boarding actions.  At higher levels, PCs can purchase or earn them as prizes, so it doesn't matter at that point if they want to use them off-ship.  I should probably just have them cast Fly I per the normal rules.  The act of getting back to the your proper airship in a hurry will be a challenge, but that could be a good thing.  Jumping from ship-to-ship should represent a pretty big commitment to danger.  

Of course, a Lancer could certainly help there by swooping in and grabbing a friendly, flying them to safety.

[pawsplay]

I would probably just take a horse, add a bite attack and wings, and call it a day.

[Eärendle]

Happiness!

Alternatives to the Druid include the Miner, Ranger and Warden. Each will get you a 65xp mount with the selection of a Terrain feat at level 1 and Lancer as your base class. There might be home-brew specialties that grant a Terrain feat as well. The only example of Terrain Expert that I could find was Glacier Born Dwarves, which are probably as much a stretch as Miner for your concept.

[relasine]

Happiness!

Alternatives to the Druid include the Miner, Ranger and Warden. Each will get you a 65xp mount with the selection of a Terrain feat at level 1 and Lancer as your base class. There might be home-brew specialties that grant a Terrain feat as well. The only example of Terrain Expert that I could find was Glacier Born Dwarves, which are probably as much a stretch as Miner for your concept.

Thanks for those suggestions; I mustn't have noticed them.  Unfortunately, none of these specializations really fit the theme.  I'm trying to avoid home-brew stuff as much as possible.  That aside, I think the reduced EXP, training hippogriffin works fine. 

[paddyfool]

Great, now I want to build a Glacier-born dwarf Ranger Lancer who rides a bear...

[relasine]

Great, now I want to build a Glacier-born dwarf Ranger Lancer who rides a flying bear...

Fixed that for you. 

[paddyfool]

Great, now I want to build a Glacier-born dwarf Ranger Lancer who rides a flying bear...

Fixed that for you. 

It would indeed be best if the bear always wore with a magical jetpack.

[pawsplay]

Great, now I want to build a Glacier-born dwarf Ranger Lancer who rides a bear...

Not a panzerbjorn who rides a glacier-born dwarf?... A Panzerbjorn with a chainsaw riding a glacier-born dwarfblooded centaur!

[Eärendle]

Glacier-born Dwarf Corsair Lancer that rides a flying fiery shark that shoots bears what are also on fire.

Back on topic, I used a hippogriffon air corps in my FR/Spelljammer campaign. One of the PCs was a ranger and served as the animal master. Another was chief of security which would probably become Warden in a conversion (selecting Indoor/Settled for Pathfinder Basics to get Sneak DR).

[MilitiaJim]

What about playing a fire breathing flying bear (Drake) Captain with a dwarf Personal Lieutenant?