Ravenloft 3.5 Paladin calling for special mount...

[JarethDM]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to forum, but have been DMing 3.5 Ravenloft for over 5 years.

I just started running Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

Everyone in my current gaming just entered the start of the adventure and is still at the Inn just before Barovia before we had to packup.

The Paladin of the group then decided to call for his summoned mount for the first time.

Paladin is level 6 any suggestions next gaming session would be helpful
I do have some ideas but it would be nice to hear from other DM's and Players first.

Thanks

[A G Thing]

Mysterious but less mystical... That's how I go about it more or less... I generally run the rule that the mount is a full creature that never disappears once summoned but when I do run such I make it appear out of view and have the empathic link connect them. They then meet each other as they wander near to each other.

But for each time you summon it then I guess you could perhaps make it so that he knows exactly where it appears. But introducing it should be in my style less of a mystic force of ravenloft and more a very odd occurance that comes to pass when ever the mount appears. Then later you can have one of the party witness it form and have them question the paladin why it's horse assembled it's self from the mists or such.

Any way on to history class for me but more later if I have time...

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

You could also consider the Pathfinder option of having the Paladin form a special bond to a holy weapon, rather than a mount...

[Rotipher of the FoS]

The simplest option would be to set things up so that the paladin acquires the mount within the context of another adventure. The steed might be a gift from a band of Vistani horse-trainers, grateful for how the paladin PC helped them; it might emerge from the Misty Border with the corpse of a slain paladin slouched in its saddle, obliging the PC to help track down its former master's slayers; it might be liberated from the clutches of a mad scientist who'd been experimenting on dumb animals, thus accounting for its unusual intelligence without divine intercession. IIRC, there was once a solo adventure in Dungeon designed to let a paladin find his or her first mount, so having a PC paladin meet up with the future steed instead of summon it has clear precedent, and it'd make the mount's acquisition pretty memorable.