pathfinder character creation help.

[Jgosse]

Hey guys I am building a character for a pathfinder game and looking for a little help. I have next to experience with pathfinder and I have not played 3.5in about 5 years. my idea is to have small mounted character with a medium mount. Trying to decide between a Ranger(my top choice), a Paladin , a Cavalier , or maybe even a fighter.
Core rule book, Advanced Players Guide, and Advanced Class Guide.
Regrettably it seems the only small races available to me are Gnome and Half-ling and both seem to have a bonus to CHA and a penalty to STR. I could deal with one or the other but having a penalty to a stat I want and a bonus in my dump stat really hurts. That leads me to why I am considering the other class options but I am not big on Paladin or Caviler.

also starting level is 5 and abilities I rolled are 11,12,12,12,14,16
after racial and a ASI a Halfling/Gnome ranger would have
10 STR
16 Dex
16 Con
12 Int
12 Wis
13 Cha

is there anything I am missing that could help me out?

[Pex]

If you're only interested in playing a warrior-type character then the following idea is not for you. If you're ok with only needing the image of being a small character riding his mount, then this might work for you.

Play a Summoner and build your Eidolon as your Ultimate Mount as you wish. The Mount does the fighting. You do the spellcasting.

[Geddy2112]

Even with the strength penalty, you will still hit like a mack truck on the charge, if you are going lancer. Have you considered going with a ranged build? You don't need as much strength if you go ranged.

Cavalier has the smite everything ability, while ranger's favored enemy is far more situational. In most campaigns smite is going to be an option on the majority of enemies nasty enough to warrant an x/day ability. Ranger and paladins have spells(even limited) making them stronger, with paladin having in class healing and heavy armor, as well as better abilities in my opinion.

If you want to stick with ranger by all means do it. 13 cha gives you a bonus to handle animal and wild empathy, and high charisma is useful if leadership is allowed at your table. Regardless, I don't see a need for more than 14 con. You have a d10 HD and good fort saves on any class you have mentioned. Most mounted builds will kill targets quickly and don't need to tank damage. If you go paladin swift action healing yourself lowers the need for con even more. Likewise, going ranged lowers the need for con. So max 14, then 12 if paladin/ranged. If you go paladin you can dump wisdom outright, but as a ranger you will want at least 14.

Ranger will have far more skills, and being mounted you will need to invest in ride, while paladins have precious few to spare.

[Jgosse]

If you're only interested in playing a warrior-type character then the following idea is not for you. If you're ok with only needing the image of being a small character riding his mount, then this might work for you.

Play a Summoner and build your Eidolon as your Ultimate Mount as you wish. The Mount does the fighting. You do the spellcasting.

yeah I was mostly interested in a warrior type. though I would consider a multi class.

[Jgosse]

Even with the strength penalty, you will still hit like a mack truck on the charge, if you are going lancer. Have you considered going with a ranged build? You don't need as much strength if you go ranged.

I am hoping to have him be capable with both range and melee .

Cavalier has the smite everything ability, while ranger's favored enemy is far more situational. In most campaigns smite is going to be an option on the majority of enemies nasty enough to warrant an x/day ability. Ranger and paladins have spells(even limited) making them stronger, with paladin having in class healing and heavy armor, as well as better abilities in my opinion.

I looked at cavalier and Paladin but I am not just feeling them even though the bonus to Cha makes more sense for those characters.

If you want to stick with ranger by all means do it. 13 cha gives you a bonus to handle animal and wild empathy, and high charisma is useful if leadership is allowed at your table. Regardless, I don't see a need for more than 14 con. You have a d10 HD and good fort saves on any class you have mentioned. Most mounted builds will kill targets quickly and don't need to tank damage. If you go paladin swift action healing yourself lowers the need for con even more. Likewise, going ranged lowers the need for con. So max 14, then 12 if paladin/ranged. If you go paladin you can dump wisdom outright, but as a ranger you will want at least 14.

I suppose I could Switch to a 14 con 14 Wis . I was also looking at the half-ling outrider racial ability to boost those abilities even more.

Ranger will have far more skills, and being mounted you will need to invest in ride, while paladins have precious few to spare.

the skills are a big part of who I am leaning towards Ranger, also I like the picture of it being hard to tell where the mount ends and the Rider begins.

[Geddy2112]

If you like the feel of ranger and the skills, as well as a mount/rider synergy, I suggest looking at hunter. You lose out on full BAB, but you gain 2/3rd spell progression and a mount from level 1, saving the need for boon companion feat. You also get MAJOR boosts to your companion to make up for lost power, and teamwork feats instead of bonus combat feats. You gain access to the druid spell list as well as ranger from the get go, while keeping the martial weapons and medium armor. Animal aspects make up for favored enemy and terrain, for your X/Day boosts.

You would need 16 wis eventually for hunter, but you want decent wis on ranger as is, not only for spells but to cover the weak will save. With ranger you might have enough feats to cover both melee and ranged(although melee really only needs power attack just about) but with hunter you will be scraping feats. You could lower your dex a bit to boost your strength more as well, increasing your damage done with a bow and melee weapons. I would spring for a 14 so you get the 1.5X bonus return on 2 handed weapon damage(including on power attack) as well as better to hit in melee. Put your 16 in strength, a 12 in dex, 14 in wis, 12 in con, 12 in int and 11 in CHA.

[Ceyx]

Solution: play as a Wayang Samurai. Wayangs are both PFS-legal, and the most widely used small race not to have a STR penalty. See if your GM will allow them. Samurai are basically Cavaliers who gave up a little bit of mounted competence to gain less dependence on their mounts and more focus on ranged combat.