In the Saddle: Horses and other Mounts
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In the Saddle by Darkquest Games
In the Saddle is a nice little pdf all about horses and mounts. Its 101 pages in length filled with great detail good art. The text density is fine and the two column layout is easy to read.
Like many of Darkquest Games pdf’s In the Saddle is filled with detail to the overflowing point. The first chapter describes horses and taking care of them in great detail. No longer will horses just be a way to get from point A to point B. With this the horse can be given personality and style. One can spend time properly caring for the mount and criticize others who do so poorly. There is information on breeds, different types of horses, and a nice random horse trait table. I really like the detail and research that must have gone into this first chapter. It really can bring a level of detail to mounts that would be impossible otherwise.
The second chapter goes into who has needs for what type of mount. Sure, through the forest it’s easy to decide but what about in other terrains and other areas? How about the best beast of burden to carry along all those coins and treasures adventures find? Well, this chapter helps answer those questions.
Chapter three goes into what races like what mounts. Humans of course like their horses, but what mounts does a half orc prefer?
Now that one has his mount, one needs to train it. Chapter 4 goes into training and the skills and feats that are most beneficial to a mount. It also goes into many tricks both common and uncommon that mounts can be trained to do. Need one’s horse to wear armor or smile? This is how one does it.
Chapter five deals with new rules through feats, skills, and spells. It starts off with new uses for old skills as they apply to mounts as well as veterinary healing. There are new feats like ride by larceny and nap riding that will really make riding mounts more versatile and useful. The spells are simple ones like create fodder (food for mounts) to dragon mount, it gives the half dragon template to your mount temporarily.
The sixth chapter goes into prestige classes. I really like that they have a good mix of combat oriented ones like the Fog Rider, and have a good mix of non combat ones like the Galloping Trollop and the Wandering Merchant. They do include a Mongol core class that seems a bit on the powerful side. I like the class but would need to find a way to scale it back. Aside from that, though, all the classes are both interesting and balanced.
The seventh chapter goes into detail on chariots. This is much better then the information found in Sword and Fist. They even have chariots for non humans as well as historical information on chariots. This chapter might just convince people to start using them in their campaign.
The eighth chapter covers equipment, and mounts need lots of equipment. It starts out with a simple table with the prizes and weights of everything presented here and then it moves on to the descriptions of the items. There are even some new and alternate types of mounts here.
The ninth chapter covers everything magical: from horseshoes to saddle, and carts to lassos. It has rules for making magical horse like weapons as well as miscellaneous items like flying wagons and feedbags a plenty. There are many good items here that will allow any mount to become helpful in combat and not be placed at so much risk.
Lastly, we have chapter ten: The Bestiary. This chapter fully stats out all the new mounts from chapter seven. There are some very interesting ones like the Saddle Hopper which is a giant grasshopper, to things a little more mundane like Frostfox. I think the mounts are mostly hit or miss, but if one is looking for something other then a horse there is a good chance it will be found here.
This is another good Darkquest Game’s book. They are a about the details and this books goes into the details on mounts and especially horses. Anyone looking to bring a little more character or interest level into mounts really should be looking at this book for all the mount needs.
In the Saddle is a nice little pdf all about horses and mounts. Its 101 pages in length filled with great detail good art. The text density is fine and the two column layout is easy to read.
Like many of Darkquest Games pdf’s In the Saddle is filled with detail to the overflowing point. The first chapter describes horses and taking care of them in great detail. No longer will horses just be a way to get from point A to point B. With this the horse can be given personality and style. One can spend time properly caring for the mount and criticize others who do so poorly. There is information on breeds, different types of horses, and a nice random horse trait table. I really like the detail and research that must have gone into this first chapter. It really can bring a level of detail to mounts that would be impossible otherwise.
The second chapter goes into who has needs for what type of mount. Sure, through the forest it’s easy to decide but what about in other terrains and other areas? How about the best beast of burden to carry along all those coins and treasures adventures find? Well, this chapter helps answer those questions.
Chapter three goes into what races like what mounts. Humans of course like their horses, but what mounts does a half orc prefer?
Now that one has his mount, one needs to train it. Chapter 4 goes into training and the skills and feats that are most beneficial to a mount. It also goes into many tricks both common and uncommon that mounts can be trained to do. Need one’s horse to wear armor or smile? This is how one does it.
Chapter five deals with new rules through feats, skills, and spells. It starts off with new uses for old skills as they apply to mounts as well as veterinary healing. There are new feats like ride by larceny and nap riding that will really make riding mounts more versatile and useful. The spells are simple ones like create fodder (food for mounts) to dragon mount, it gives the half dragon template to your mount temporarily.
The sixth chapter goes into prestige classes. I really like that they have a good mix of combat oriented ones like the Fog Rider, and have a good mix of non combat ones like the Galloping Trollop and the Wandering Merchant. They do include a Mongol core class that seems a bit on the powerful side. I like the class but would need to find a way to scale it back. Aside from that, though, all the classes are both interesting and balanced.
The seventh chapter goes into detail on chariots. This is much better then the information found in Sword and Fist. They even have chariots for non humans as well as historical information on chariots. This chapter might just convince people to start using them in their campaign.
The eighth chapter covers equipment, and mounts need lots of equipment. It starts out with a simple table with the prizes and weights of everything presented here and then it moves on to the descriptions of the items. There are even some new and alternate types of mounts here.
The ninth chapter covers everything magical: from horseshoes to saddle, and carts to lassos. It has rules for making magical horse like weapons as well as miscellaneous items like flying wagons and feedbags a plenty. There are many good items here that will allow any mount to become helpful in combat and not be placed at so much risk.
Lastly, we have chapter ten: The Bestiary. This chapter fully stats out all the new mounts from chapter seven. There are some very interesting ones like the Saddle Hopper which is a giant grasshopper, to things a little more mundane like Frostfox. I think the mounts are mostly hit or miss, but if one is looking for something other then a horse there is a good chance it will be found here.
This is another good Darkquest Game’s book. They are a about the details and this books goes into the details on mounts and especially horses. Anyone looking to bring a little more character or interest level into mounts really should be looking at this book for all the mount needs.
In the Saddle: Mounts in All their Glory
In the Saddle: Mounts in All their Glory is a d20 pdf product from Dark Quest Games, volume one in the Fur and Feather series. In the Saddle features detailed information on horses and other mounts, including new types of mounts, spells, feats, prestige classes, mount training and caring and much more. This pdf has a page count of 101 pages, 1 page devoted to OGL declarations, 1 page to the cover, and 1 page to a table of contents and the credits, leaving 98 pages to present mounts in good detail. In the Saddle: Mounts in All their Glory normally retails on RPGNow for $7.95. In the Saddle was written using the D&D 3e ruleset. This review was done as part of Crothian's Review Project.
Initial Impressions:
If you've ever wanted to expand on mounts and mount-related roleplaying in your campaign, this is a very valuable resource. It provides lots of solid and useful information on mounts, and is well supported by excellent artwork, clear and concise writing, and a good understanding of the underlying mechanics. The cover art features a red-haired woman riding a stunning black stallion, and the same art is used to complete the pdf borders in this product. Interior arts consists of some very nice and detailed pencil sketches, supporting the material written and giving some compelling illustration of the various new types of mounts presented. The interior presentation is in two columns, with tables provided where required, making for an easy and enjoyable reading experience.
As mentioned before, there is a lot of material contained in this book, all of its useful if you wanted to expand on a characters mount or simply for roleplaying the proper way to take care of a mount after a long day. The pdf starts out by detailing a short story, describing the encounter between a young noble and an elderly druid. The druid trains the noble in the proper care and knowledge of mounts and horses, hence the content of this pdf. It's all very well done, as the tone is continued throughout the book in a very talkative style of writing that pleasing to read. And by the end of reading the pdf, I was pleased to find that there is a lot of good material in here, that can certainly enhance any campaign, and not at the expense of adding unnecessary detail. But, on to the details.
The Details:
The pdf contains 10 chapters, each covering a different aspect of mounts or mount related gear, prestige classes and a large number of different mounts.
Chapter 1: This chapter deals with those mounts that we are most familiar with - the trusty horse. It covers everything that one would imagine would be needed, such as locations to find horses, the differences in behaviour between stallions, geldings and mares, types of horses such as packhorse or riding horse, different breeds of horses and a very handy random horse generator. The latter offers useful descriptive information regarding horses, so DMs won't be left saying only that a man is riding a horse, but can now add much more detail to an otherwise mundane description, including behavioural characteristics.
The last part of the chapter delves in the details of caring for horses, including such details as grooming, weather and horses, and caring and treatment details for the new types of mounts contained in this pdf. Several mount related diseases are described in great detail, from barbick to spring tongue. Overall this is a very solid chapter, even if you only take it from a fluff point of view, offering some valuable descriptive and role-playing information to any reader, but also provides some valuable information on properly caring for horses. Campaigns that involve long journeys on horseback will find this very useful.
Chapter 2: This chapter looks a variety of different uses of mounted beasts, with reference to horses as well as those new mounts presented in this pdf. Areas such as gladiator arenas, beasts of burden, thievery, paladin mounts, scouting, underground mounts and even mounts as familiars are covered. A thorough and detailed presentation on the various areas that mounts find use with lots of information on appropriate mounts of every occasion. You might not be able to take that horse underground, but a rocksloth or fungglutton might be exactly what you are looking for.
Chapter 3: This chapter takes a look at the different racial views on horses. While humans might view mounts in one way, the half-orc or gnomish view might be very different. If you want to find out why dwarves do not ride horses, or what race breeds the best horses and what characteristics they would have, this chapter contains lots of useful information to expand on your character and mount's background and personality.
Chapter 4: If you've ever wanted to train your mount, then this is the chapter for you. It provides new rules to train mounts in a way that gives them new feats such as Run, Weapon Focus or others, as well as a large number of new tricks that can be taught to mounts. These include tricks such as Leap, granting horses a bonus to jump checks and riders a bonus on making them jump, to unusual tricks such as jousting or taking food from your hands when offered. Those that wish to expand on their horse's repertoire will find a vault of information in this chapter.
Chapter 5: This is a chapter devoted to the riders of mounts. It details new skills, new uses of old skills such as Craft and Profession, new feats to use with mounts and whole host of wonderful mount related spells. Wanted to turn your mount temporarily into a half-dragon or give it wings, or even find more comfort in the saddle on a long journey? This chapter contains spells that can do all that and much more. I'd be more than happy to use a lot of these spells in my campaign, as they appear both balanced and useful, although I may be tempted to reduce some of the durations when, for example, turning a mount into a half-dragon or celestial creature.
Chapter 6: This chapter offers several new mount-related prestige classes. Some of them will most likely require some tweaking, given that most provide all good saves and full BAB progression. In addition, some of the abilities of the classes may need balancing, such as a prestige class that can be taken at 4th character level and at 6th character levels offers the ability to go incorporeal for 1 hour per day. Having said that, a lot of these prestige classes appear more suited to NPCs than PCs, and would make good additions as such.
In addition to these flavorful classes, the last section of this chapter offers an alternative base class in the Mongol, a fighter-variant complete with history, new equipment such as the recurve bow, different types of arrows and even a new type of mongol horse. This is a good chapter, particularly for NPC characters
Chapter 7: This chapter delves into mount-drawn vehicles, in particular the chariot. Combat rules and new feats and skills are given, as well as several types of chariot or vehicle used by tribes of different races such as hobgoblins or lizardfolk. If you're playing a historical campaign or one that spends a lot of time on the open plains during wartime, this is a useful addition. Or simply if you wanted to surprise your players by having them attacked by chariot driving hobgoblins, this chapter offers an exciting alternative to mounted combat.
Chapter 8: This chapter covers mount-related items. Apart from a whole host of new creatures to purchase as mounts, and new types of saddles, this chapter also provides different means of transportation, and loads of essential kit for caring for your horse or other mount.
Chapter 9: This chapter details magical items, including crafting of said items, for horses and other mounts. Magical horseshoes and barding of a variety of different kinds can be crafted or purchased, enhancing the utility of your mount even further. New magical forms of transportation, new magical saddles, horse masks and other items can turn your horse into something truly formidable and special.
Chapter 10: The final chapter of this pdf details a whole host of new mounts, complete with stat blocks and other pertinent details not already discussed during the course of this pdf. If you wanted to ride a battle goat or riding hare, now you can, or if you wanted something more exotic like a three-headed horse, the dreadmare, or even an undead horse, then this is the chapter that provides the details. There are some interesting and unique mounts here, that can not only be used as mounts, but also as creatures the party may encounter and have to fight. The illustrations in this chapter were particularly well done, offering a realistic view of the mount detailed.
As can be noted from the breakdown above, this is a comprehensive guide to mounts and riding. It offers an immense amount of solid material for use in any campaign featuring mounts, and it's difficult to imagine not finding something in here that's useful, either from a fluff perspective or a crunch perspective. While some of the material may require a second look at, such as the prestige classes, most is well thought-out and detailed. Of course, being a 3e product, those that wish to update the material to 3.5e will find a little more work involved, but it should not be that difficult as the 3e mechanics was solid in most cases. Given that some campaigns take place in dungeons or cities, some may not find use for as much material as others, although even pack animals are useful for those environments.
Conclusions:
In the Saddle: Mounts in All their Glory, provides a well-written and solid look at mounts and all things mounts related. There's a lot of useful material in here, from paladins looking for something more exotic, to mounts as familiars, to useful spells that can enhance a mount for a specific purpose be it combat or flight. I think there's something for most campaigns, both for roleplaying or more crunchy material. Based on a solid, detailed pdf, with loads of utility and good presentation, although somewhat weak prestige classes, I'd grade this pdf as good and give it four stars.
In the Saddle: Mounts in All their Glory is a d20 pdf product from Dark Quest Games, volume one in the Fur and Feather series. In the Saddle features detailed information on horses and other mounts, including new types of mounts, spells, feats, prestige classes, mount training and caring and much more. This pdf has a page count of 101 pages, 1 page devoted to OGL declarations, 1 page to the cover, and 1 page to a table of contents and the credits, leaving 98 pages to present mounts in good detail. In the Saddle: Mounts in All their Glory normally retails on RPGNow for $7.95. In the Saddle was written using the D&D 3e ruleset. This review was done as part of Crothian's Review Project.
Initial Impressions:
If you've ever wanted to expand on mounts and mount-related roleplaying in your campaign, this is a very valuable resource. It provides lots of solid and useful information on mounts, and is well supported by excellent artwork, clear and concise writing, and a good understanding of the underlying mechanics. The cover art features a red-haired woman riding a stunning black stallion, and the same art is used to complete the pdf borders in this product. Interior arts consists of some very nice and detailed pencil sketches, supporting the material written and giving some compelling illustration of the various new types of mounts presented. The interior presentation is in two columns, with tables provided where required, making for an easy and enjoyable reading experience.
As mentioned before, there is a lot of material contained in this book, all of its useful if you wanted to expand on a characters mount or simply for roleplaying the proper way to take care of a mount after a long day. The pdf starts out by detailing a short story, describing the encounter between a young noble and an elderly druid. The druid trains the noble in the proper care and knowledge of mounts and horses, hence the content of this pdf. It's all very well done, as the tone is continued throughout the book in a very talkative style of writing that pleasing to read. And by the end of reading the pdf, I was pleased to find that there is a lot of good material in here, that can certainly enhance any campaign, and not at the expense of adding unnecessary detail. But, on to the details.
The Details:
The pdf contains 10 chapters, each covering a different aspect of mounts or mount related gear, prestige classes and a large number of different mounts.
Chapter 1: This chapter deals with those mounts that we are most familiar with - the trusty horse. It covers everything that one would imagine would be needed, such as locations to find horses, the differences in behaviour between stallions, geldings and mares, types of horses such as packhorse or riding horse, different breeds of horses and a very handy random horse generator. The latter offers useful descriptive information regarding horses, so DMs won't be left saying only that a man is riding a horse, but can now add much more detail to an otherwise mundane description, including behavioural characteristics.
The last part of the chapter delves in the details of caring for horses, including such details as grooming, weather and horses, and caring and treatment details for the new types of mounts contained in this pdf. Several mount related diseases are described in great detail, from barbick to spring tongue. Overall this is a very solid chapter, even if you only take it from a fluff point of view, offering some valuable descriptive and role-playing information to any reader, but also provides some valuable information on properly caring for horses. Campaigns that involve long journeys on horseback will find this very useful.
Chapter 2: This chapter looks a variety of different uses of mounted beasts, with reference to horses as well as those new mounts presented in this pdf. Areas such as gladiator arenas, beasts of burden, thievery, paladin mounts, scouting, underground mounts and even mounts as familiars are covered. A thorough and detailed presentation on the various areas that mounts find use with lots of information on appropriate mounts of every occasion. You might not be able to take that horse underground, but a rocksloth or fungglutton might be exactly what you are looking for.
Chapter 3: This chapter takes a look at the different racial views on horses. While humans might view mounts in one way, the half-orc or gnomish view might be very different. If you want to find out why dwarves do not ride horses, or what race breeds the best horses and what characteristics they would have, this chapter contains lots of useful information to expand on your character and mount's background and personality.
Chapter 4: If you've ever wanted to train your mount, then this is the chapter for you. It provides new rules to train mounts in a way that gives them new feats such as Run, Weapon Focus or others, as well as a large number of new tricks that can be taught to mounts. These include tricks such as Leap, granting horses a bonus to jump checks and riders a bonus on making them jump, to unusual tricks such as jousting or taking food from your hands when offered. Those that wish to expand on their horse's repertoire will find a vault of information in this chapter.
Chapter 5: This is a chapter devoted to the riders of mounts. It details new skills, new uses of old skills such as Craft and Profession, new feats to use with mounts and whole host of wonderful mount related spells. Wanted to turn your mount temporarily into a half-dragon or give it wings, or even find more comfort in the saddle on a long journey? This chapter contains spells that can do all that and much more. I'd be more than happy to use a lot of these spells in my campaign, as they appear both balanced and useful, although I may be tempted to reduce some of the durations when, for example, turning a mount into a half-dragon or celestial creature.
Chapter 6: This chapter offers several new mount-related prestige classes. Some of them will most likely require some tweaking, given that most provide all good saves and full BAB progression. In addition, some of the abilities of the classes may need balancing, such as a prestige class that can be taken at 4th character level and at 6th character levels offers the ability to go incorporeal for 1 hour per day. Having said that, a lot of these prestige classes appear more suited to NPCs than PCs, and would make good additions as such.
- Fog Rider: A bandit that prowls the night and the fog, making use of fog as both a defensive and offensive tactic while robbing those that travel through its territory.
- Galloping Trollop: A seductive female with numerous social flares that aid her in lucrative dealings with the opposite sex. A very nice NPC class to use with some good roleplaying opportunities.
- Moon Rider: Good-natured riders of the night, fighting evil and in particular lycanthropes. These riders attack evil with deadly fury at night, and have the uncanny ability to wander while dark without getting lost.
- Mounted Arcane Spellcaster: A prestige class where the mount is turned into a familiar, and the rider gains several abilities to aid mounted spellcasting.
- Phantasmic Scout: A rider that can appear almost ghost-like as he travels, hiding himself behind illusions and being quick to flee and escape when trouble is around.
- Saddleback Explorer: An adventurer comfortable to spend his entire career in the saddle, happy to wander from place to place. No matter how far he travels the Saddleback Explorer is quick to find his mount food and travel in the right direction.
- Travelling Collector: A bounty hunter that can track and find even the most elusive criminals or others, prepared to work for anybody who would offer him the right incentive.
- Wandering Merchant: A skilled merchant, capable to detecting thieves with a mere look, or haggling with the best.
In addition to these flavorful classes, the last section of this chapter offers an alternative base class in the Mongol, a fighter-variant complete with history, new equipment such as the recurve bow, different types of arrows and even a new type of mongol horse. This is a good chapter, particularly for NPC characters
Chapter 7: This chapter delves into mount-drawn vehicles, in particular the chariot. Combat rules and new feats and skills are given, as well as several types of chariot or vehicle used by tribes of different races such as hobgoblins or lizardfolk. If you're playing a historical campaign or one that spends a lot of time on the open plains during wartime, this is a useful addition. Or simply if you wanted to surprise your players by having them attacked by chariot driving hobgoblins, this chapter offers an exciting alternative to mounted combat.
Chapter 8: This chapter covers mount-related items. Apart from a whole host of new creatures to purchase as mounts, and new types of saddles, this chapter also provides different means of transportation, and loads of essential kit for caring for your horse or other mount.
Chapter 9: This chapter details magical items, including crafting of said items, for horses and other mounts. Magical horseshoes and barding of a variety of different kinds can be crafted or purchased, enhancing the utility of your mount even further. New magical forms of transportation, new magical saddles, horse masks and other items can turn your horse into something truly formidable and special.
Chapter 10: The final chapter of this pdf details a whole host of new mounts, complete with stat blocks and other pertinent details not already discussed during the course of this pdf. If you wanted to ride a battle goat or riding hare, now you can, or if you wanted something more exotic like a three-headed horse, the dreadmare, or even an undead horse, then this is the chapter that provides the details. There are some interesting and unique mounts here, that can not only be used as mounts, but also as creatures the party may encounter and have to fight. The illustrations in this chapter were particularly well done, offering a realistic view of the mount detailed.
As can be noted from the breakdown above, this is a comprehensive guide to mounts and riding. It offers an immense amount of solid material for use in any campaign featuring mounts, and it's difficult to imagine not finding something in here that's useful, either from a fluff perspective or a crunch perspective. While some of the material may require a second look at, such as the prestige classes, most is well thought-out and detailed. Of course, being a 3e product, those that wish to update the material to 3.5e will find a little more work involved, but it should not be that difficult as the 3e mechanics was solid in most cases. Given that some campaigns take place in dungeons or cities, some may not find use for as much material as others, although even pack animals are useful for those environments.
Conclusions:
In the Saddle: Mounts in All their Glory, provides a well-written and solid look at mounts and all things mounts related. There's a lot of useful material in here, from paladins looking for something more exotic, to mounts as familiars, to useful spells that can enhance a mount for a specific purpose be it combat or flight. I think there's something for most campaigns, both for roleplaying or more crunchy material. Based on a solid, detailed pdf, with loads of utility and good presentation, although somewhat weak prestige classes, I'd grade this pdf as good and give it four stars.
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