Anemic Horses

[darkadelphia]

Any *extremely heavy*, reasonably geared dragonborn. Your 320lbs. dragonborn is at the uppermost extreme of the weight range.

The dragonborn warlord in my campaign is 6'5" tall and weighs 220 lbs (the player himself chose those, and he's 6' tall and weighs 170 lbs).

It's entirely believable that the riders among the dragonborn are lighter than average, and the heavyest ones must resort to charioteering or walking.

The easiest fix? Have the player reduce the character's weight to 230 lbs. Add in another 32 lbs. of equipment and the character can ride a warhorse unhindered.

A bastard sword, a heavy shield and plate mail weigh 71 pounds, that means a 280 lb dragonborn is out of luck--this is right in the middle of the weight spectrum. I don't see why people keep portraying this as some sort of extreme case bizarre example. Humans, Dwarves and Dragonborn have difficulty riding normal mounts and Dragonborn have difficulty fitting into the strongest mounts. You can pretend that this is "desirable" or "an extreme example," but these problems affect players who aren't doing anything inappropriate or unusual.<br /><br />

There needs to be a fix. For some people, it's perfectly fine to just arbitrarily make adjustments each time it comes up--that's fine by me too. Personally, I want to make a consistent house rule to handle the situation. What seems ridiculous to me is the people saying Dragonborn should just be left out. Seriously, let me sit in on a game with a Dragonborn Fighter so I can see how the player reacts when you tell him ol' Balasar Drakerider is too heavy to ride anything--ever.

 

[Caliban]

Proably handle it the same way we handled lack of mounts in 3e - just ignore unless it's important to the current adventurer.

With all the flight spells, teleport, plane travel, area damage spells, etc, most of our PC's never bothered buying a horse anyway - you were just going to leave it behind or have it killed out from under you anyway.

Outside of Paladins and some fighters or prestige classes, very few 3e characters cared about mounts - and paladins could summong the poke-mount whenever they needed it.

4e doesn't have the pokemount, and paladins don't get special mounts.

I personally don't have a problem with some dragonborn (and even some humans) not being able to ride a standard mount because they are too heavy. If you have a dragonborn who is going to focus on riding, make sure he's near the bottom of the of the dragonborn weight range instead of the top. Or make a special mount just for the heavyset dragonborns.

 

[Staffan]

I think a better solution to the problem is to change the consequences for being encumbered. "Slowed" is a pretty steep movement penalty. Maybe change it to 2/3 speed or something instead?

 

[Syrsuro]

I think a better solution to the problem is to change the consequences for being encumbered. "Slowed" is a pretty steep movement penalty. Maybe change it to 2/3 speed or something instead?

That thought occured to me (I debated a rule that would allow quadrupeds who were slowed due to being overloaded to move 4 rather than 2).

But just to be sure we consider all angles, remember a slowed horse can still move 8.

Slowed equals 2.
Run adds 2 to that movement for 4.
Double move makes it 8.

So in the original example that started this thread out, they could still grab the girl and ride off. You aren't going to catch a slowed horse on foot unless you either run yourself or are double moving. I'm not sure it needs to be changed and am willing to wait until it comes up in my home game before worrying about a need to change that rule.

Aside: I am working on a Drake that will serve as a mount for a Dragonborn. It doesn't actually have to be a rage drake. Its actually easier to just create a new drake type and give it the necessary characteristics to serve as a Drake mount. After all - with an article in the Dragon about the Dragonborn specifically mentioning a clan named "Drakeriders", you'd think a few of them might actually ride drakes.

Carl

 

[Ulrik]

That thought occured to me (I debated a rule that would allow quadrupeds who were slowed due to being overloaded to move 4 rather than 2).

But just to be sure we consider all angles, remember a slowed horse can still move 8.
<snip>

Sorry, but slowed states that you can't increase the speed above 2. So no running when you're slowed

 

[Patlin]

There is a pokemount in 4e, but it's mid to late epic. The Cleric utility power, Cloud Chariot.

 

[Syrsuro]

Sorry, but slowed states that you can't increase the speed above 2. So no running when you're slowed

That is your opinion.

But the opinion of WoTC differs.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ask/20080715a

Q: Can a creature run while affected by the slowed condition?
A: Yes. The slowed condition reduces your speed to 2 squares. When you run, you move your speed +2 squares. Unlike the slowed condition, the run action does not change your speed; it allows you to move two extra squares beyond your speed at the cost of a -5 penalty to attack rolls, granting combat advantage until the start of your next turn, and provoking opportunity attacks.

Carl

 

[Ulrik]

That is your opinion.

But the opinion of WoTC differs.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ask/20080715a



Carl

Huh. Actually. I think that ruling sounds a bit weird, but I can agree that's what the RAW states.

(Although I can imagine an irate GM if I tried that "it doesn't increase my speed, it allows me to move 2 extra squares!" on him.)

 

[Keenath]

(Although I can imagine an irate GM if I tried that "it doesn't increase my speed, it allows me to move 2 extra squares!" on him.)

Why? That IS what it says, and it's intentionally written that way. It doesn't say your speed increases by 2 -- there are effects that say that, but this isn't one of them. It says the action causes you to move your speed, plus two squares.

 

[Grabuto138]

Any *extremely heavy*, reasonably geared dragonborn. Your 320lbs. dragonborn is at the uppermost extreme of the weight range.

The dragonborn warlord in my campaign is 6'5" tall and weighs 220 lbs (the player himself chose those, and he's 6' tall and weighs 170 lbs).

It's entirely believable that the riders among the dragonborn are lighter than average, and the heavyest ones must resort to charioteering or walking.

The easiest fix? Have the player reduce the character's weight to 230 lbs. Add in another 32 lbs. of equipment and the character can ride a warhorse unhindered.

This is an important point. If the character wants to be a mounted warrior their build (physical and character) should reflect this. If we are to believe civil war sources, that an ideal cavalryman "stood no more than five foot, seven inches, and weighed 125 to 140 pounds" than the player should make a character that reflects this. To avoid a complicated historical tangent we should note that the use of heavy versus light cavalry and the weight of the riders and their gear has varied over time. The most important factor, however, was how they used their horses. Even if a character concept demands that the rider is in heavy armor, the fact is that heavy cavalry was not used for scouting, casual riding and transportation. Even a paladin in plate is using his horse more as light cavalry in a standard campaign.

I am a big fan of hand waving. Basically, the player takes a stab at fitting the mold, so no hugantic buff warriors in plate. If you wanna be a cavalryman, look like a cavalryman, act like a cavalryman and have a background appropriate for a cavalryman. The DM meets half way and doesn't question if the addition of a grappling hook or some gold slows the mount.