The light horse had 14 Str. That's 58 lbs light load, or as a large quadruped, 176 lbs. A person with weight on the low end of the scale would have no problems riding this creature (avg human female weight is 140 lbs, leaves enough room for some gear and a riding saddle).
Most of my players picked up a light warhorse though, which had 16 Str. Which is 228 lbs for a light load. Even the average human male using a saddle would still have room for about 25+ lbs of gear (light armor and a weapon). You know... like a message carrier or runner.
The point was though, it was an option. If you needed to get somewhere fast, you'd have the option to get there faster. Now that's been taken away.
I don't like the idea of removing options. Even if it means less whining from players. Because now it means more whining from me.
However, as James has said outright on the pathfinder forums, he's not against the idea of tweaking individual horses so they have some unique characteristics. They just didn't add it to the standard rules.
So I made up my own rules...
The following are templates that can be added to horses (although most creatures used as mounts should be fine).
Swift
This animal is particularly fast. It was either bred this way, or was born with natural talent.
- Increase speed by 10'.
- Decrease Strength by 2.
Work
This animal is hardier than normal, bred for carrying loads.
- Increase carrying capacity multiplier by one (a horse would have a x4 multiplier). Small and smaller creatures increase their carrying capacity by 1/2 instead (a dire rat would have a x1-1/2 multiplier).
- Decrease speed by 10'.
Wild
This animal is wilder than normal, and hard to control even when tamed.
- Automatically starts with the attack trick for free. If trained for combat, or trained the attack trick again, they are treated as being able to attack unnatural creatures for free.
- Does not have the docile trait (if the animal has it normally).
- Will not accept a new rider automatically, even when tamed. A new rider must roll a Handle Animal check to "Push" the animal (DC 25), after which the animal will accept that individual as a rider. This check must be made only once per individual.
The advanced trait already gives stat boosts (+4 str, dex, and con), and gives the horse a bite attack and increases damage.
In addition to these templates for bred creatures, I was thinking of making it possible to train animals in ability instead of just tasks.
This would be a handle animal check to add HD to the creature, but in the form of an NPC class: Warrior for combat training, or Expert for other purposes (gains 2 skillpoints per level, and has high Will save).
DC 25 check, 1 week of training to add 1 NPC class level. Max you can add is up to 1/2 your ranks in Handle Animal.
This allows for adding some "oomph" to the creature, without surpassing the abilities of Animal Companions.
I could see someone spending time training his Horse for combat, or perhaps a dog for tracking and scouting.
The only part I'm not sure about is how to assign a cost to buying such a trained animal. Perhaps 1000gp per class level added?
Gaining a 12 HD animal that can at least perform somewhat in combat or in a level appropriate task, but cost 10k gp, would be no different than say, buying a figurine of wondrous power for a similar effect.
Most of my players picked up a light warhorse though, which had 16 Str. Which is 228 lbs for a light load. Even the average human male using a saddle would still have room for about 25+ lbs of gear (light armor and a weapon). You know... like a message carrier or runner.
The point was though, it was an option. If you needed to get somewhere fast, you'd have the option to get there faster. Now that's been taken away.
I don't like the idea of removing options. Even if it means less whining from players. Because now it means more whining from me.
However, as James has said outright on the pathfinder forums, he's not against the idea of tweaking individual horses so they have some unique characteristics. They just didn't add it to the standard rules.
So I made up my own rules...
The following are templates that can be added to horses (although most creatures used as mounts should be fine).
Swift
This animal is particularly fast. It was either bred this way, or was born with natural talent.
- Increase speed by 10'.
- Decrease Strength by 2.
Work
This animal is hardier than normal, bred for carrying loads.
- Increase carrying capacity multiplier by one (a horse would have a x4 multiplier). Small and smaller creatures increase their carrying capacity by 1/2 instead (a dire rat would have a x1-1/2 multiplier).
- Decrease speed by 10'.
Wild
This animal is wilder than normal, and hard to control even when tamed.
- Automatically starts with the attack trick for free. If trained for combat, or trained the attack trick again, they are treated as being able to attack unnatural creatures for free.
- Does not have the docile trait (if the animal has it normally).
- Will not accept a new rider automatically, even when tamed. A new rider must roll a Handle Animal check to "Push" the animal (DC 25), after which the animal will accept that individual as a rider. This check must be made only once per individual.
The advanced trait already gives stat boosts (+4 str, dex, and con), and gives the horse a bite attack and increases damage.
In addition to these templates for bred creatures, I was thinking of making it possible to train animals in ability instead of just tasks.
This would be a handle animal check to add HD to the creature, but in the form of an NPC class: Warrior for combat training, or Expert for other purposes (gains 2 skillpoints per level, and has high Will save).
DC 25 check, 1 week of training to add 1 NPC class level. Max you can add is up to 1/2 your ranks in Handle Animal.
This allows for adding some "oomph" to the creature, without surpassing the abilities of Animal Companions.
I could see someone spending time training his Horse for combat, or perhaps a dog for tracking and scouting.
The only part I'm not sure about is how to assign a cost to buying such a trained animal. Perhaps 1000gp per class level added?
Gaining a 12 HD animal that can at least perform somewhat in combat or in a level appropriate task, but cost 10k gp, would be no different than say, buying a figurine of wondrous power for a similar effect.
