'High level' horses?

[Li Shenron]

Why should he complicate things that much?

Just advance the horse by increasing its "animal class" HD: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#animalType

It's the easiest way mechanically, and you know that the CR increases by +1 every 3 HD.

It's a progression, which means that the same individual horse can improve (you're free to say it's because of training or experience in battle), without the PC needing to retire a horse a buy a bigger one.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey all!

Technically a Horse should have from between 4 HD (light horse) to 7 HD (draft horse).

I think 5 HD for a light warhorse and 6 HD for a heavy warhorse would be far more appropriate than the current figures.

Slightly higher constitution (19-23) would also seem appropriate for these beats of burden.

So a heavy warhorse might have 6d8+36 hp. A thoroughbred might have maximum hit points.

So the most prized warhorses could have up to about 84 hit points.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Perhas take a plot device from the Runelords series? The idea of "Force Horses" the use of some magical method, doesn't matter how, to suck the life(energy/soul/etc) from other horses and use them to make one horse more powerful. Most likely done by progressing its animal HD infinitely, with speed and saving throw bonuses at regular intervals.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

I've allowed NPCs/PCs to use leadership to gain a horse cohort who advances by hit dice (for determining ability scores use whatever is your preferred method with cohorts then add the horses bonuses/penalties, int automatically 2).

Sometimes they'll have the animals awakened in which case I allow the extra hit dice to be transferred into an appropriate class (fighter or barbarian) after some training and allow the animal to continue to advance by class.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I want to design some encounters for high level military combat, and I want people to be able to ride mounts without them being a liability.

Don't overlook the benefit of Mounted Combat feat either - it means that a high level rider has an excellent chance of making an attacker miss their mount. The only thing that they remain liable to is area effect damage, so you might want to think about something similar to that (such as a feat that allows a rider to grant evasion to his mount and/or substitute a ride check for his mounts Reflex save? Paladin mounts and animal companions get evasion to give them a chance of surviving area effect damage).

The other big option would be to decide what price increases to pay for horses with better than the standard (or elite) array of attributes, and for more hp per HD too. If the standard horses assume 10 in all attributes (I've not looked), then a horse with +8 to Str, Dex and Con - along with maximum hit points, would be an excellent high level mount along with his Mounted Combat rider.

 

[maggot]

I'd riff off of the Leadership feat and create a leveled horse based on that.

 

[trav_laney]

I think the easiest way to handle what you need would be to advance the HD. You know, give the horse more "levels of Horse," with all of the increased BAT, saves, hp, and skill points that comes with it.

If you want some special abilities, you could always slap on a template...celestial, half-fiend, etc. would make for an interesting variation on the standard horse, without going too far over-the-top. (I wonder how much a celestial warhorse would cost?)

 

[RangerWickett]

The thing is, I'm looking for a full suite of mechanics for a product I'm writing. So while in my home game I'd just wing it, I need something that will satisfy rules gurus. I don't want something that requires a feat, because I want even the wizards to be able to take advantage of mounts if they so desire.

Two options that are a little weird but fun and core are:

1. Hire a druid who can wildshape and use natural spell.

2. Hire awakened heavy warhorses with barbarian or monk levels.

 

[BRP2]

I always thought it would be neat if there was a feat or something that allowed a mount to use the rider's reflex save against spells and ect.

Hey guys, I was actually kind of curious about this. What would people think of this?

 

[Kaodi]

The problem with druids and awakened mounts is that realistically, they stop acting like mounts and start acting like non-player characters. Essentially, you want tough horses, not supporting characters, right?