What mount should I try to get?

Question

I currently have a Heavy Warhorse, who is pulling a carriage. I soon want to upgrade my mount, but I couldn't find a simple list of creatures that can be mounted, and looking through all the books is something I won't even begin with.
The mount is not intended to be used in combat. It will mainly be pulling my character's carriage, or driving the character itself around.

All books are allowed, except for third party content. For the mount, I would like:

• A large size. My character is medium.
• At least 40 ft. speed. I don't want my mount as fast as me, or slower.
• Able to pull a carriage. I am not getting rid of my carriage.
• A fly speed. It would barely be an upgrade without. I want a minimal fly speed of 70 ft. (Right now, it'll leave the carriage behind when it's flying.)
• Average maneuverability or better. Better would be, well, better.

My character is a dread necromancer, so I could easily make my mount undead and Command it to let me ride it. However, if the mount is a magical beast, it might have some features that I would like to keep, that would disappear if I made it into an undead. For instance, if the creature would be able to cast spell-like abilities, I would want to keep those. Therefore, if it is a magical creature with spell-like abilities (or other special features), I would also like it to be:

• Trainable by another character. An NPC should be able to train it. The cost doesn't matter.
• A neutral or evil alignment. My character is neutral evil, and befriending a good creature could be a pain.
• (Preferable) Loyal. I would rather not have a mount that doesn't listen to me whenever he feels like it.

The mount will be a goal I will work towards, so level and cost shouldn't matter.

Answer 1

An Air Elemental makes an exceptional mount at any level for most any character. Acquirable via diplomacy, Planar Ally, Planar Binding, or the Air domain granted power (among other methods), Air Elementals have the following features as mounts:

Size: Air elementals come in sizes ranging from Small to Huge and thus can make excellent mounts for creatures of sizes Tiny to Large. A Large Air Elemental is, unsurprisingly, Large.

Speed: Air Elementals have a 100 ft. fly speed with maneuverability: perfect. It's not Dragon fast, but it's very, very nice, and Dragons (that aren't mercury dragons, and those are CG) don't fit your maneuverability requirements.

Carrying Capacity: A Large Air Elemental can carry a little over 1/3rd as much as your warhorse without strength boosts. This enough to pull your carriage as a heavy load (through the air, mind you) if the Warhorse was pulling it as a light load. In any case, you should be fine here with even a minimal investment in strength-boosting gear (or you could also get a bigger Elemental). Worth noting that 4 rounds every 10 minutes, your elemental can Whirlwind to carry whatever fits inside its increased volume at full speed, instead of the normal carrying capacity rules.

Fly speed: Check

Maneuverability: Check

Trainable by someone else: 1) You can Planar ally for these. 2) You can Planar Binding for these. 3) You can Command Air these. etc etc etc. Very much easy to get.

Neutral or Evil alignment: Check

Loyal: You can have them mindslaved for you by a Cleric, and as long as the Cleric's happy you're good. Alternatively, they speak Auran and are vulnerable to Diplomacy. Alternatively you can use Planar Binding to ensure service.

Bonus Features:

• Despite carrying your carriage in a whirlwind, the text of the whirlwind ability indicates that the Elemental has perfect control over the motion of objects it carries and their location upon exiting the whirlwind. Apparently it's a pretty smooth ride.
• +11 initiative score should help with keeping your stuff safe in unexpected combats and such.
• You can talk to it easy enough.
• Can handle itself okay in combat if forced to.
• Is eligible for both the Half-Fiend and Half-Dragon templates, which don't make the creature harder to train or obtain (availability permitting), but do make it more powerful (for example increasing its carrying capacity and adding useful SLAs)

Answer 2

A mount fitting for your requirements would be a hippogriff. It has a large size, a good speed, can fly with average maneuverability and has a good strength for pulling the carriage. It has an intelligence of 2, which means it has animal intelligence, and is trainable by a trainer NPC for 1,000 gold. Including the costs of the hippogriff itself, this would come to a total of 4,000 gold.

If you want to increase the strength of the hippogriff, consider adding the Half-Dragon template. It adds +8 to strength, which will help with pulling the carriage, alongside some other considerable additions. Do mind that it also increases the intelligence to 4, which means it will no longer have animal intelligence. It should still be trainable, however.

Answer 3

If an animal is going to turn heads will depend on the setting you're playing in. Ask your GM for advice on this, especially is he or she created the world. (A bat mount may seem normal in some settings, for instance).

You might not find something that fits all your requirements, so my suggestion is find something with the closest fit and rely on magic for the rest.

My recommendation would be to go for a nightmare. It's evil and matches your speed requirements. You'd probably want to find some way to disguise it though.