[DnD 3.5] Increasing a mount's reach

[theonesin]

I'm making a Strongheart Halfling Fighter(Horseman variant) who will use a lance and ride a Riding Dog. The lance can't attack adjacent creatures, but if I'm far enough away to hit with the lance, the mount itself can't attack.

Other than Willing Deformity -> Deformity(Tall), or Aberration Blood -> Inhuman Reach, is there any other way to allow the dog to attack when I do? Or anything that will let a lance attack adjacent creatures?

[Fyermind]

There are a few ways of short hafting a reach weapon. None of them stand out as fantastic to me. Animal Growth seems like the best option to me. If cast at opportune moments you will ride a large dog into battle.

[Curmudgeon]

Other than Willing Deformity -> Deformity(Tall), or Aberration Blood -> Inhuman Reach, is there any other way to allow the dog to attack when I do?

Neither of these will work on a riding dog. Willing Deformity requires Evil alignment (Heroes of Horror, page 125). The Monster Manual says that's not viable for an Animal (page 268):

Animal Traits: An animal possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry). ...
—Alignment: Always neutral. Animals are not governed by a human sense of morality.

There's no "otherwise" note for a Dog.

Aberration Blood (Lords of Madness, page 178) has a prerequisite of Humanoid, so again an Animal cannot qualify.

[theonesin]

Neither of these will work on a riding dog. Willing Deformity requires Evil alignment (Heroes of Horror, page 125). The Monster Manual says that's not viable for an Animal (page 268): There's no "otherwise" note for a Dog.

Aberration Blood (Lords of Madness, page 178) has a prerequisite of Humanoid, so again an Animal cannot qualify.

Well I saw another feat called Mourning Mutate that counts as Aberration Blood, and doesn't have requirements.

Either way though, the feats aren't thematically appropriate to me.

[JeminiZero]

Lord of Madness has the Mouthpick weapon, which can be wielded by any creature with a bite attack. Presumably, you could get one of those for a reach weapon for your doggy to wield.

Of course your puppy won't *normally* be proficient in it, and will take -4 penalty to hit. Unless your DM lets you retrain one of his feats with weapon proficiency. Its also a +1 magical property, that must be put on a weapon that is already at least +1, so it costs at least 8k gp.

For attacking adjacent, there is the sizing enchantment from MiC for 5k gp, which lets you resize your weapon. You could shrink it down to tiny, in which case you can use it to attack adjacent, at the cost of inapprorpriate weapon size penalty of -2 to hit.

Or you could just but a spiked gauntlet and punch anything that come close, while holding the lance in your other hand.

[theonesin]

The Mouthpick weapon looks perfect, though the text said something about them being Large weapons. Is this just in relation to Beholders, or does it really have to be a large weapon for all creatures?

[Invader]

There's this which isn't really increasing your mounts reach but it solves the problem of you not being able to use you lance up close.

Short Haft
( Player's Handbook II, p. 82)

[Fighter Bonus Feat, General]

You have trained in polearm fighting alongside your comrades in arms, sometimes reaching past them while they shield you, and sometimes shielding them while they attack from behind you.
Prerequisite

base attack bonus +3, Proficiency with a reach weapon, Weapon Focus with a reach weapon,
Benefit

As a swift action, you can choose to lose the benefit of wielding any reach weapon other than a spiked chain or a whip. In return, you can use that weapon to threaten and attack spaces adjacent to you. With another swift action, you can give up this feat's benefit in order to regain the use of your weapon's superior reach.

[JeminiZero]

The Mouthpick weapon looks perfect, though the text said something about them being Large weapons. Is this just in relation to Beholders, or does it really have to be a large weapon for all creatures?

I would check with the DM. The text does describe them as being large only, but I see no logical reason why they can't be applied to smaller weapons. Otherwise, you might have to add sizing on top of everything, or just live with the -2 inappropriate size penalty.

Also, checking the text, apparently merely wielding the weapon grants proficiency, so you could give your doggy a spiked chain or something.