Archetypes
There’s a few awesome options and a few head scratchers. In general the things I look for are:
-Either upgrade the mount or enhance it in some manner, or if it is replaced it is replaced with more awesomesauce.
-I LOVE the tactician ability. If I’m losing it and my teamwork feat the replacement needs to be super sexy.
-Banner is meh to me, replacing it is fine.
-I’ll strongly consider not taking an archetype that keeps mount but takes away expert trainer if I intend to multiclass.
Beast Rider trades heavy armor and expert trainer for a really nice mount upgrade that continues to upgrade at 4th and 7th levels. Really solid choice. The expert trainer hurts if you want to multi though and if you start with a rideable AC from another class most GMs are likely to let them stack rather than deal with 2 ACs.
Castellan as it is designed this kinda sucks, combine it with one of the races that gives you flight (check with your GM that they rule flying as high ground) take fly-by-attack and a reach weapon and this becomes really good. Be sure to take an AC that also flies off the Ranger list and get the boon companion feat.
Charger a good not great option for a Centaur, but absolutely not the only good option so niche.
Circuit Judge just dip into or play an Inquisitor since you’re replacing most of your good Cavalier abilities for judgement.
Constable want to trade your mount for Improved Unarmed strike and a bonus to perception checks? It starts that bad and doesn’t improve much.
Courtly Knight want to trade a feat and the ability to use it as a buff for scaling skill bonuses and a niche AF verbal dual benefit? Who hurt you?
Daring Champion is pretty much your best Paizo option if you do not want a mount, if however you can do Shield Maiden or Briar Knight they are both better but I’m a bit biased.
Daring General if your GM hates the Leadership feat butallows this because no magic users ok then this is moderately useful otherwise I’d just take the frakin’ leadership feat and get myself a buffing cleric cohort to heal and buff my cavalier.
Disciple of the Pike you’re trading all of your mount abilities and banner but getting amazing bonuses if you wanted to go with a reach weapon. This is very good with a flying race and even a 3 level dip in this would be awesome for a reach cleric build.
Dune Drifter if you wanted a gun but don’t want to be wisdom based multiclass into gunslinger with the mysterious stranger archetype for like 5 levels or do Cavalier for like 4 levels to get expert trainer and be human. It’s massively better than doing this.
Drake Rider you’re trading a lot to get a customizable dragon buddy but it’s as close to the Legend of Huma cover art you’re going to actually be able to PLAY.
Emissary you gain things you can gain in other ways and lose things you cannot gain in other ways.
Esquire so a straight downgrade if you start at 1st level, otherwise this is pretty much trade a mount for a flanking warrior buddy starting at 3rd level. Technically this is an upgrade but you’re basically playing 2 characters and equipping 2 characters and all the things that entails but they also are pretty similar people so from a player standpoint yay I get to play an NPC… meh
Fell Rider is amazing. I just wish it came with mount options. If you’re GM lets ACs from other classes stack in the mount levels as long as the beast is rideable do this with a Bull/Yak/Oxen
First Mother’s Fang I’d consider the mount change an upgrade, the skills and weapon profs get straight up upgrades, then you get an upgrade to the order ability. Snake knights are pretty rad.
Gallant okay so let’s start by being more restrictive for no benefit ohhhkay what do we replace banner which is meh with an equally meh replacement ability then an actually good ability but it comes in at like 14th level. TRASH.
Gendarme be less versatile for no good reason
Ghost Rider it’s neat and combine it with being a Dhampir and get your GM to rule you both heal by negative energy and it would be a seriously rule of cool option I’d consider with some neutral cleric dipping.
Green Knight I really wanted to rate this green but it’s just not very good. If you want Diehard play a half orc.
Herald Squire takes out some of the best parts of being a cavalier, no dice
Honor Guard another spellcaster’s cohort
Hooded Knight I loath giving up tacticial but they fey touched mount and the 9th level Dimensional door abilities are super freaking cool and worth the trade.
(Qadirian) Horselord ok if you wanted to make a dex/dervish build but if you’re doing that why cavalier?
Huntmaster it is a really good trade low-mid levels a sad mistake in high level play.
Hussar trade most of your combat bonuses for skill bonuses and all your bonus feats. I genuinely wonder if this was designed by someone who has ever played the game.
Knight of Arnisant this is similar to my own Shield Maiden archetype but trades things other than the mount and has a little less power than Shield Maiden does earlier and loses tactician but it gets the mount. Preference wise I favor my own but I could see picking this.
Luring Cavalier Cavalier’s aren’t great archers, if you are hell bent on this path this is for you.
Musketeer dune drifter does it better
Oceanrider boringly obvious design for the aquatic campaigns that I suspect maybe 3% of us have ever played outside a one shot.
Outrider (Lashunta) basically this is a decent teamwork focused archetype.
Saurian Champion you’re trading a ton to ride a dinosaur which still nets positive right up until you have to do a dungeon crawl. Drakerider does it better.
Sister in Arms this trades mount and tactician for getting 2 sets of order abilities that are about an even trade if you want to be teamwork savvy. I don’t like the trade but don’t blame you if you do like it.
Standard Bearer great way to get banner instead of mount for a cavalier dip, for a standard cavalier this is not a good option.
Strategist improves cavalier’s best abilities, swaps one of the worst.
Verdant If you want to play a vine leshy this is awesomesauce
Vermin Tamer I know a gal with a gecko and she’d not take kindly to it being classified as a vermin. This is okay but kind of uninspired. My co-owner and GM made a little better version of this idea a few years back for a gripli character I played called the Chitin Rider. I’ll link the page.
Wave Rider not an aqua campaign? red, aqua campaign? Blue
Flying Pincushion Archetypes I’m linking as a gift. I love all of these of course and have played all 3.
Multi-classing
Thanks largely to boon companion you can dip up to 4 levels in a full bab or ¾ bab class with little to no pain, there are some truly solid options that reward you for doing so. The Horse master Feat (got to have 6 levels of ride and Expert trainer) means you can safely exit Cavalier at 6th level and pursue another class entirely without losing any momentum with your Mount. This is an amazing help for multi-classers.
Generally your want:
-A way to start with a more powerful companion (hunter, ranger, druid, sorceress)
-To lose as little BAB as possible
-Possibly a good spell list you can wand (wizard, cleric, hunter)
-Help on weak saves (Cleric, wizard)
-More class skills (Rogue, Ranger, Vigilante)
-Faster feat progression or a better damage output (Barbarian, Ranger, Vigilante)
Look for archetypes that swap attributes to Cha like the gunslinger’s Mysterous Stranger or UnMonk’s Scaled Fist.
UnBarbarian- solid option if you want a damage upgrade and lose no BAB. The rage powers you gain usually trump feats and you get a few bonus goodies to boot. There’s some rage power that give your mount rage as well, which is particularly gross with some of the alternate mount options.
Bard - For 1 BAB and a feat you get to be even more of a team player than a normal cavalier, gain a boatload of skill points and class skills, some ok spells, and shore up your 2 weak saves. It is a solid option
Cleric - for a 1 level dip you can gain 2 domain powers worth way more than that feat, for 3 levels you can self buff a bunch as well. You’re a little more MAD but not overly much.
Druid - I love druids but you’re way too into metal for this to work, unless you’re gonna be a Briar Knight.
Fighter- only reason to bother is weapon specialization.
UnMonk- basically add an extra fighting style, go for the Cha based archetype.
Paladin/Antipaladin - It’s a good match if you’ve got the Cha. It stacks really well with Shield Maiden if you want to be a crazy borderline broken bulwark.
Ranger not a terrible route, not a great one either. Better way to grab feats then fighter.
UnRogue or Ninja go with a small race so you can have a wolf flanking companion for fights and get those sweet sweet skill points.
Sorcerer -sorcs are very all or nothing, exception is to get into Dragon Disiple which is an awesome prestige class for you.
Wizard good utility but you’ll mostly cast from wand.
Alchemist -Vivisectionist and mutagens sell me.
Inquisitor -cleric dip is way better.
Magus -One of my friends mixed these two together while partnered with a Swashbuckler. They added a heavy armed spear fighter and a ninja into the mix and get boosted by a Skald. Basically everyone flanks when attacking the same target with a +4 and can trigger and pass crits and 3 of them are crit fishers. It is gross. I’m the GM and call that set up the blender.
Medium -super versatile class but also kind fo a PITA, I wouldn’t make one but do you.
Oracle -Great options with revelations and opens up extra revelation. You can pick an AC and stack them which is another bonus.
Occultist -want to customize bonus powers on your weapons and armor for like 2-3 level dip? Underrated melee class that lacks the BAB.
Summoner -Not for you
Witch -not front loaded in the right way
Arcanist -the fun here is picking up exploits.
Bloodrager -good alternative to sorc dip for DD
Brawler -the fighter called, he wants his lunch money back. This class is broken because of that flexible feat.
Hunter -ok this can mix really nicely if you want to maximize your TW feats and pets. I’ll revisit this in the build section.
Gunslinger mysterious stranger is a good way to go I’d dip 5 levels to get Dex to damage in there.
Shaman -like the witch only worse.
Skald -it’s an ok option but I’m not sold for some reason
Swashbuckler -I used to rate this red then I played a grippli one. Best for dex builds.
Warpriest if you’re in this it is likely for sacred weapon meaning you’re in it for 4
levels. There’s a lot to like about warpriest but I’d rather dip 1-3 levels of cleric for the more powerful domain abilities.
Vigilante -such a serious upgrade to fighters or on par with unRogue. They are a little tricky but all their talents are worth 2-3 feats.
Prestige Classes
For this guide I’m going to stick to the ones that seem like they might make sense to a cavalier. If it isn’t called out specifically it is in all likelihood red.
Dragon Disciple -so many nice bits for a cavalier primary… the stat adds being the best part, but also the spells , and the wings, and the breath weapon.
Duelist -lose no BAB and get really good with 1 handed weapons, seems like it’d mix well with daring champion.
Eldritch Knight -lose no BAB but you’re mount is going to suffer and you’re just getting caster stuff in exchange.
Shadow Dancer -would mix well with daring champion but only take 4 levels.
Battle Herald -if you want to make your bard dip pay off a little more there are worse choices.
Celestial Knight -your mount suffers for your gain, might be worth it for some builds but nothing I’m about to present.
Chevalier -lots of the benefits of the paladin dip without the paladin code, or being specific to a deity.
Furious Guardian -if you were determined to make one of those awful guards the other character archetypes work this would be a decent way to finish the concept into something kind of awesome.
Golden Legionnaire -ok so make yourself even more of a team player for not at all painful requirements. Would mix well with a daring champion or something that loses mount in particular.
Grand Marshal -mixes great with your gun archetypes.
Gray Warden -gain judgements and divine caster levels and bonuses to intimidation. Good way to round out a cleric dip and order of cockatrice.
Hell Knight Commander -kind of awesome really.
Hell Knight Enforcer -loses too much
Holy Vindicator -could be worth it but I hate losing mount levels for this.
Inheritor’s Crusader -just be a paladin if you wanted this.
Justicar -sounds like something we’d want, we don’t
Liberator -weird combo that could make a fascinating character… Beast rider from isc + Liberator to make a wild savage that broke from slavery and now takes revenge. You’d be really good at sunder.
Low Templar -mix a little roguish dirty fighting in with your knight.
Mammoth Rider -no BAB loss and your companion gets better… if you’re not into dungeons and spend most time out in the open this is almost a straight upgrade
Nature Warden can be sooo awesome when combined just right with an oracle or cleric dip and aasamar
Pit Fighter -progresses BAB and gains a few nice dirty tricks and could mix well with a order of cackatrice
Stalwart Defender -mixed with barbarian and dwarf maybe this could be worth it but generally I prefer mobility to standing still and hoping to get attacked
Student of War -could be cool despite losing mount levels, there’s something for the stances and bonus feats.
Swordlord -not a good mix
Rogue needs a 4 level dip to be worth it, but can be potent. Scout rogue gets sneak attack any time it charges. If you're a half-orc you can add Skulking Slayer to turn the sneak attack into d8's. If you're unchained you add a rider to your sneak attack to make them loose attack or AC once you hit them, and a rogue talent will stop them from making AoO's as you ride away.
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