D&D 5E Question before Curse of Strahd

[TrueBagelMan]

TL;DR Is CoS Mounted Combatant friendly? How common are enemies Large or bigger?


So I am going to make a new character since I dislike my old one, and was digging through old posts and saw the Outrider subclass for rogue. I looked at it and fixed issues. (mostly flavor, and I found a name that doesn’t have a historical evil attached.)
I will not post the new name, but look up your second self that is around during the day and add Rider. A book should show up called that written by Christine Feehan. So I asked the DM if I could play one since playing this subclass would be fun since I don’t have to worry about my Mount dying every session. The question I ask is in CoS would Mounted Combatant feat be worth it to grab for the

 

[ccs]

Shadow Rider?
I don't get it. Why wouldn't you just post the name vs beat around the bush?

Anyways, as to the usefulness of the feat.... Maybe. There's definitely areas where you might be able to set up a mounted combat.
Of course my opinion is that you should come up with a cool character (not just a pile-o-stats & powers) & pick whatever options best express that - regardless of how optimal they might/might not be. If that meant taking the mounted combat feat? Then that's what I'd take.

 

[MNblockhead]

Personally, I wouldn't find CoS very satisfying if were using a character built around mounted combat. As DM, while I would generally try to work around player preferences, in this case I would suggest that they try a different concept, otherwise I feel I would be trying hard to alter things to make the adventure interesting for one player at the expense of other.

Playing it as written, Barovia is not a large area, but having mounts can help getting from one place to another more quickly. Random wilderness encounters with wolves, werewolves, and zombies can be expected, which I hope isn't considered a spoiler.

Few of the big bads are encountered outside of buildings.

Without getting into spoiler territory, I just don't think CoS provides many interesting opportunities for mounted combat without significant revision by the DM, in which case, the entire party needs to be on-board with the concept.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I agree. Set piece places where Mounted Combat is set up to be useful are few and far between in CoS. Now if your DM throws out quite a lot of random encounters while you are walking the roads, then maybe... but even then I don't think you'd end up all that happy.

Mounted Combat is one of those things where specializing in it only works if the campaign is set up to highlight it-- lots of open-field mass combat and wartime battles and such. Normal adventuring just doesn't lend itself to it (unless you go the halfling/gnome on a war dog, medium-sized mount that can travel in dungeon corridors route.)

 

[Retreater]

It is probably no great surprise that Castle Ravenloft features prominently in CoS. Galloping a horse through a gothic castle? That's not going to be fun. The only published adventure I've seen that could somewhat accommodate that would be Storm Kings Thunder.

 

[ccs]

It is probably no great surprise that Castle Ravenloft features prominently in CoS. Galloping a horse through a gothic castle? That's not going to be fun. The only published adventure I've seen that could somewhat accommodate that would be Storm Kings Thunder.

Oh I can envision doing that. Done it in a few games, seen it/similar done in any # of action movies. Realistic?? Maybe not, but then some of Castle Ravenloft's architecture lies in the realm of fantasy anyways. So no harm in describing halls & corridors large enough to accommodate. Stairs might be a problem, but I get the impression the OP has some way to summon/dismiss their mount.
Heck, if memory serves there's a Nightmare down in one of the crypts (or am I remembering a previous version?)

 

[Iry]

The only mounted combat that might be generally useful in CoS is a small character riding something medium.
There are quite a few large enemies, but far far more medium enemies.

 

[Eltab]

I also think Curse of Stradh is not a good fit for Mounted Combatant. Reading through the adventure gave me a claustrophobia-like impression. Storm King's Thunder (because giants) or Tiamat (because travel) would work out better.

 

[Omand]

TL;DR Is CoS Mounted Combatant friendly? How common are enemies Large or bigger?


So I am going to make a new character since I dislike my old one, and was digging through old posts and saw the Outrider subclass for rogue. I looked at it and fixed issues. (mostly flavor, and I found a name that doesn’t have a historical evil attached.)
I will not post the new name, but look up your second self that is around during the day and add Rider. A book should show up called that written by Christine Feehan. So I asked the DM if I could play one since playing this subclass would be fun since I don’t have to worry about my Mount dying every session. The question I ask is in CoS would Mounted Combatant feat be worth it to grab for the

Hello,

I think you have your answer from those who have played or run the adventure.

Count me in the camp, however, that does not understand the beating around the bush about taking the Outrider subclass and naming it to Shadow Rider.

What historical evil are you talking about? I have a couple of degrees in history and did a fair bit on Europe from the classical period through to the modern age. I cannot recall anything associated with these terms that would come across as problematic.

Cheers

 

[Eltab]

Count me in the camp, however, that does not understand the beating around the bush about taking the Outrider subclass and naming it to Shadow Rider.

What historical evil are you talking about? I have a couple of degrees in history and did a fair bit on Europe from the classical period through to the modern age. I cannot recall anything associated with these terms that would come across as problematic.

The earlier 'Outrider' thread was working on a 'mounted rogue' concept that travelled constantly and would stop off in a town to do a good deed or two, then headed on before The Authorities could be alerted to his presence. Very like a Western TV show of the 1950s or 1960s.
The phrase 'Knight Rider' came up, along with the 1980s TV show of the same name (featuring an AI car). Episodes of which had a similar plot.

Somebody then tossed a bucket of cold water on the discussion by observing that 'knight riders' also referred to KKK members in action, 1870s.