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Message: <blockquote data-quote="QuietBrowser" data-source="post: 7137239" data-attributes="member: 6855057">Since I feel no reason to abide by Tolkienisms, allow me to offer my input on this.The first thing you should consider is where your dwarves are living. Underground? Aboveground in mountainous terrain? Elsewhere? What's available to them will affect what kinds of steeds they can consider taming.Duergar have, to my knowledge, traditionally ridden giant spiders and giant geckoes, with Pathfinder adding giant beetles. All of these make sense given where they live.In Scarred Lands, a Duegar-esque dwarven offshoot worshipping one of the local gods of evil rides either mountain goats or bighorned mountain sheep, which are actually descended from dwarves who were transfigured into this shape to help their non-transformed brethren win a battle. Whilst I would avoid the whole "dwarves and sheep must occasionally interbreed still to preserve the strength of the sheep's bloodline" from that setting, it's a good example.As just "generic" options...Giant Vermin: Massive beetles, scorpions, worms and centipedes all make sense for a burrowing, cavern-dwelling race. Giant spiders are their own category of useful because their climbing adds great mobility in deep caverns and steep peaks.Giant Ravens or Raptors: Both types of bird tend to favor mountainous terrain, so giant versions are great "cavalry" for above-ground battle.Giant Moles, Badgers and Weasels: Surprisingly fast-moving mammals with considerable burrowing aptitute; an excellent mesh for dwarves.Mountain Goats/Sheep: Naturally adapted for moving quickly and with great agility over high mountains.Giant Bats: Like dwarves, they're adept at maneuvering in the darkness, they like to live in caves, and flight is always a huge advantage.Boars: These are more associated with orcs, because of Warhammer, but they're tough, surly, adaptable and  vicious, all good dwarfy traits.Giant Lizards: These would mostly be gecko-like climbers, creatures that can carry them swiftly over even the worst terrain.Bears: They don't normally respond well to training, but in forested mountains, some particularly crazy dwarves might try riding them.Griffons or Hippogriffs: People will call you on the Warcraft connection, but these are vicious flying monsters native to the mountains. Non-sapient manticores and wyverns could work for the same reason.Drakes: Whether winged or not, climbing or not, runners, burrowers, whatever, dwarves live in places where dragon-kin tend to gravitate to, so them training or selectively mutating & breeding dragons for calvary does make an ironic sense.</blockquote>

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