Native Shifter mounts

[Chaoszero]

Oh the creativity of me tonight!

I'm reskinning the races of ol' DnD (see my halfling thread) and I'm now on Shifters.

I've decided long ago that they were to be spiritual plains folk, hunting the purple buffalo, or mastadons or whatever.

I got to thinking about plains people across the globe (the sioux, the mongolians, the Sarmatians) and they all have a horse culture, like Rohan. But shifters can ride something as simple and human as horses. So I was thinking Smilodons, but real world sabercats are medium sized. (I know I could resize them for the campaign) Dire lions? Dire wolves? Shifters do seem like they would use predators. I refune to use wemics, that's just cruel and embarrasing.

Any other cool mount ideas for the plains dwelling shifters?

 

[fba827]

well, typical riding themed animals are ..
horse-kind
cat-kind
lizard-kind
canine-kind
etc.

i have to say, out of everything i can think of, the idea of riding a battle cat style creature (picture He-man's battle cat companion) those seem the best fit for a shifter to me.
Another possibility is a slightly ferocious style dinosaur if they exsit in your game's plains.
A spin on the above - bememoth (or however it's spelled - it's in the 4e MM; it's kind of dinosaur/modern day animal mixed... hulking like a boar, ferocious like a predatory dino)

 

[Nightson]

Plainstriding
Shifters are capable of running long distances at speeds comparable to many mounts. A shifter must spend one minute running to warm up, after that he moves at overland speed X for a number of hours equal to his con modifier. After that he must make endurance checks of Y to continue, if he fails he must spend an hour walking to rest.

 

[Loonook]

Gotta say, I support the idea above of plainstriding (akin to the Greensong in the Alvin Maker series). Good stuff, has a very 'one with nature' feel, allows for fast overland travel outside of combat.

Slainte,

-Loonook.