Anemic Horses

[Plane Sailing]

Personally I quite like the flavour of Dragonborn who just don't ride horses because they are too heavy. Would warforged come into the same category BTW?

It adds a distinctiveness which I like.

 

[Klaus]

As a note for everyone suggesting using exotic mounts--think about this. I did the math on how much mounts of any given level should be able to carry based on DMG 184. If a 300 lb dragonborn runs around naked, it needs something with 24 strength to carry it around, i.e. a level 16 quadrupedal brute. Btb mount rules mean Dragonborn have to walk until they're ready to leave the material world and shake the foundations of the universe. I rest my case. ;-) Proposed house rule--when mounted, a character is assumed to be carrying all the gear on the mount. The mount shares whatever encumbrance category the rider has. Unrealistic? Yes, it means a halfling wizard's horse carries far less than a dragonborn fighter. But, it's superior, imo, because it takes away all of the hidden punishments for choices the PCs don't fully understand at character creation.

Why does it have to be a Level 16? Monsters don't play by the same rules as characters, nothing is stopping you from giving a Rage Drake a Str 24 and say it's the strongest drake of its species. Either that or coming up with a special quality, like:

Dragonborn-bred: This creature can carry twice its usual load capacity, thanks to being bred by the dragonborn for war.

 

[darkadelphia]

"when mounted, a character is assumed to be carrying all the gear on the mount. The mount shares whatever encumbrance category the rider has." This. It was getting late, I was feeling impatient. With two riders, a strong character may very well be able to carry a halfling or a lightly loaded wizard, and it's still better than using mount encumbrance and simpler than anything else. I would probably allow very small characters to use their own encumbrance value, or the mounts btb (whichever is most beneficial). As far as using magic items to make mounts work for dragonborn, a poor solution imo, because, once again, it's a hidden disadvantage unless you give out that magic item for free to every dragonborn, in which case, why not just change the rules. Furthermore, I was looking into it further and realized this problem doesn't just affect dragonborn. A 200 lb human fighter with a heavy shield, a bastard sword and plate armor tips the scales at 271 lbs. So it's not really a DB problem, it's dragonborn, humans and dwarves who are likely to be slower on mounts than on foot.

 

[Keenath]

In real life, most mounted fighting men had three horses -- a warhorse (or "charger") for battle, a riding horse (or "palfrey") for travel, and a second riding horse (or "sumpter") to carry his gear.

I have no problem with the idea that a truly massive character will have a harder time finding an appropriate horse. For that matter, I feel no particular need to have all horses be the same. I'd certainly let the dragonborn find a mount.. a massive draft horse that can lift him but just doesn't gallop no matter what you do, the most stoic horse imaginable...

 

[Old Gumphrey]

Yeah, I pretty much know that a real Earth horse can't strap on 720 lbs. and haul balls for eight hours. I just offered a quick fix to get D&D horses to be able to carry human riders. Honestly, half that figure should be reasonable if you get a really beefy horse.

Yes, rage drakes are cooler mounts for dragonborn than horses. No, they cannot carry dragonborn fighters with 20 str @ 320+ lbs. bodyweight in the RAW. Yes, this is stupid. No, it's not for balance reasons. Yes, it's because designers didn't pay much attention to something this extraneous. Yes, I will be changing it.

And FYI I gave our dragonborn pally a genetic freak Warhorse. It's 24 hands tall and weighs about 2600 lbs with a Str score of WTF. It eats like 50 lbs of oats a day and then craps pure lightning.

 

[Klaus]

And FYI I gave our dragonborn pally a genetic freak Warhorse. It's 24 hands tall and weighs about 2600 lbs with a Str score of WTF. It eats like 50 lbs of oats a day and then craps pure lightning.

Sounds like the William Wallace of horses!

 

[darkadelphia]

What doesn't work, imho, is a fix that ignores that maxim and instead takes the approach of using the sledgehammer of instituting a global fix (like increasing the carry weight formula for all quadrupeds) to solve a narrowly focused problem.

Carl

But it's not narrowly focused. Let horses carry extra--fine, that fixes early heroic. But then the PCs might want/get griffons, then you have the exact same problem.

The strongest mounts in the game, atm, are wyverns (lvl 10) and rimefire griffons (lvl 20) at strength 24. This allows them to carry 350 pounds, still leaving many reasonably geared Dragonborn up poo creek.

 

[Tony Vargas]

It's just dramatically apropriate for a hero on horseback to ride in, scoop up a damsel in distress and gallop off into the sunset. Let it happen.

 

[Syrsuro]

But it's not narrowly focused. Let horses carry extra--fine, that fixes early heroic. But then the PCs might want/get griffons, then you have the exact same problem.

The strongest mounts in the game, atm, are wyverns (lvl 10) and rimefire griffons (lvl 20) at strength 24. This allows them to carry 350 pounds, still leaving many reasonably geared Dragonborn up poo creek.

And yet - I don't mind that.

If it comes to pass that my party is wheeling around the world on flying mounts and the Dragonborn is feeling left out, I'll worry about it then.

But by the time my players get to that level, I figure WoTC will have added cheese like a Dragonborn racial feat to let them grow their own wings anyway.

And if not, I'll deal with it then using another specific fix rather than changing the underlying global rules.

Carl

 

[Klaus]

But it's not narrowly focused. Let horses carry extra--fine, that fixes early heroic. But then the PCs might want/get griffons, then you have the exact same problem.

The strongest mounts in the game, atm, are wyverns (lvl 10) and rimefire griffons (lvl 20) at strength 24. This allows them to carry 350 pounds, still leaving many reasonably geared Dragonborn up poo creek.

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.