>From: AJ >Subject: Levels advancement for mounts - comments? >Date: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 3:41 AM > >After a sabbatical (I'm feeling much better now, honest) I'm going to start >DMing again. A house rule I was thinking of introducing was level >advancement for mounts. Basically, if you have a mount trained for combat >and you use it in an adventure it gets half the XP your character gets and >would advance in levels as if they were a fighter. With every 3rd level >gained the horse could gain a special skill -- follow simple commands or >"specialize" in their hoof attacks. For example, a medium war horse could >gain a special skill such as burst of speed (doubling movement rates for a >few turns) at 6th level. > >My thought behind this is to give characters a reason to care about and >protect their mounts, and also to give the mounts a fighting chance as the >characters advance in levels. > >Any thoughts? Ideas for special abilities? Mount Lvl 1: Regular Horse Lvl 2: +1 To hit, +1 hit die. Lvl 3: Horse has become accustomed to it's rider. The rider may make any 'Riding/Land Based' maneuvers at a +3 on this horse. Lvl 4: +1 hit die, -1 AC. Lvl 5: -1 AC, +1 Movement Rate Lvl 6:* Horse has grown attuned to it's rider and vice versa. When in contact or visual line of sight with the animal, the rider can tell what the beast is feeling and vice versa. The two can communicate simple information and instructions (within reason, a horse could communicate 'Danger!' for instance, but not 'Watch out for the rocks about to fall on your head) with one another without appearing to. *The Beastmaster Warrior kit includes this ability. For a Beastmaster's mount at this level, the ability is not limited by line of sight up to half of the level of the Warrior in miles away ( A twelveth level Beastmaster with a sixth level horse could sense and communicate with it up to six miles away.) Lvl 7: +1 Movement Rate, +1 to hit. Lvl 8: +1 to hit, +1 hit die. Lvl 9: Horse has grown bonded to it's rider. The horse may take one of the following abilities based upon it's rider's class: Mage: The horse can and will intuitively detect magick. How the horse displays this varies from horse to horse. Perhaps the horse shies away from magickal items, perhaps it paws them with it's hooves. Thief: The horse can 'hide in shadows' and 'move silently' like a thief of two levels lower if it's master so desires. Cleric: The horse can and will intuitively detect the alignment of persons opposed and aligned with the Priest's religion, even if those persons do not know. (A War Priest's horse may take a liking to soldiers of another land, even if the Priesthood is not known of in that land. Likewise, the Horse may take a disliking to the strange pacifistic priest who joins the party.) Warrior: The horse gains an additional two attacks per round, lashing out with blinding speed. Technically, there isn't much reason why a horse should or could advance much beyond this. On the other hand, if you want them to, there really isn't much reason why they shouldn't. I think that if the horse is sold or lost and recovered by another rider it should probably be treated like a dual class human changing to another class. It keeps it's new HP's and Movement Rate, but loses the combat bonouses and special abilities until it regains them. Of course it doesn't increase in hit die with a second rider either.