D&D General War Mounts for the Different Fantasy Races/Monsters

[doctorbadwolf]

I don't have cultures separated by race that much except some halflings, dwarves and the campaign-specific hailene, but I am a huge fan of riding weird things.

Yeah, I usually simplify for these discussions, but when I say “halflings do X”, what I mean is that cultures that are founded by or culturally dominated by halflings do X”. Only a couple places are even 70+% one race, and one of those, Albarona, has only been that way for about 50 years, since the Divine Queen Isabella and her Prince Ferdinando Patricio united the rival kingdoms and provinces of the Peninsula de los Leone (I think I’ve got the Spanish grammar wrong, but I’m not at home to check my notes) into the Empire of Albarona, and displaced many minority populations in the process. Basically, the Spanish Reconquista filtered through romantic works like Guy Gavriel Kay’s Lions of Al-Rassan.

And even there, there are areas of a strong remaining psuedo- Andalusian and Sephardic influence in the region.

Common mounts in the world include gatornis (think moas), utahraptors (called equiraptors because there's no Utah), and giant spiders.

The spiders have given rise to another mount, the fearbred horse, who are raised under giant spider cages so their entire existence is terror and they break, no longer capable of feeling fear at all.

The bigger folks like ogre, trolls and minotaurs tool around on ceratopsians, ankylosaurs and t-rexes.

In the jungles, giant bats are the choice, and in the cold, huge land seals called couaga are thenew hotness.

Of course this is a world with 1860's level tech, so there are also bikes, velocipedes, autocarriages and limited train service are also on the table.

Nice. I’ve been tinkering with the idea of a mid19th Century inspired setting.

I like the idea of a given world not existing on the same tech level all at once, unless it’s far future, so I might have a region with multiple larger landmasses similar to the islands of Indonesia, where there is naturally less magic users and fewer fonts of magic in general, and tech has developed much faster than in other regions as a result.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

In 1e we all used to chuckle about the legendary "Goat of Terror"..good to see it's still in 5e

Light foot halflings on mounts is a scary thought, because they can hide by being lightly obscured by their mount!

Also charging armored goats.

But also also, my world has halfling and gnome post carriers, and halflings started the practice of organized regular mail deliveries in the very early days of thier first civilizations, before they had enough contact with other folk to mix with them, as a way to keep in contact with other halfling communities. These also train and ride goats, so a hin (yes I stole hin from forgotten realms) post carrier with a goat is a common sight throughout the known world.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Also charging armored goats.

Read this as 'charging armored gnats' and the visual was amazing.

 

[Ixal]

Warforged ride autohorses.

Centaurs would occasionally ride elephants or mammoths, but more to show off than any practical purpose.

I tend to out dragonborn or a variety of dinosaurs myself.

It gets so tired that "the lizard race rides lizards/dinosaurs", etc.
By that logic humans should ride gorillas.

Let races use whatever is available in the environment they live in, not what looks like them.

 

[Vaalingrade]

By that logic humans should ride gorillas.

Well now they do.

That's amazing.

 

[David Howery]

It gets so tired that "the lizard race rides lizards/dinosaurs", etc.

I always wondered if a human size creature could actually ride a giant lizard.... lizards have a problem in that their legs splay out to the sides, and you'd be putting a lot of weight on that less than ideal setup. Dinosaurs, OTOH, have/had leg designs not so different from mammals, and riding some of the small-ish ones wouldn't be a problem...

 

[Vaalingrade]

Also, not-so recent science points out that lizardmen riding dinosaurs is lizards riding birds er... non-avian dinosaurs. Forgot the bird lobby got to them.

 

[Weiley31]

Trolls are particularly fond of their Bison mounts. However, another Troll's Bison does make for a tasty treat though when hungry and is not off limits.

High ranking Hobgoblin warchiefs forgo the Dire Wolf and go for the War Rhinoceros if a Worg isn't an option.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

Horses are an extinct animal on Salvera, having died out during the tail end of the Creator Wars (my world’s Dawn/God Wars) due to being overused as mounts and decimated as a result. Their remnants became the Drasill, a species of benevolent undead equines with eight legs that protect souls from corrupt forces and guide them to the afterlife. Many Clerics, Paladins, and other Champions of Gods that deal with death or the undead employ these noble creatures as battle mounts and spirits guides across both the Material and Ethereal Plane.

Scrap Gnomes (my world's rock gnomes) tame and ride living animal-like machines that roam alongside their flesh and blood counterparts on the continent of Multa.

Shadar-Kai that revere the Night Mother, Goddess of Darkness may be blessed with a Shadow Beast (as Shadowfell-Touched Displacer Beast) as a mount, with those who show exceptional resolve being blessed with a Gloomstalker mount.

Wood Elves who live by the savage will of the Primal Beast may tame a large Peryton to act as their hunting mount.

Those who serve the Arch-Devil Aphrothea may be gifted with a Frost-Maned Manticore for a mount.

Loyal followers of the Lord of Moonlit Winters may receive a Winter Wolf as a mount, and Arctic Dwarves loyal to him are known to go out and tame Young Remorhazes as mounts and guardians.

Particularly prominent members of the church of Zath'taron the Arch-Devil and God of Leadership, War, and Conquest may be gifted Infernal Chimeras as mounts.

 

[Quickleaf]

Dinosaurs!! From our table in Oct 2019