Beast-Rider

Description: The Beast-Rider is a warrior in a tribe or clan (usually a barbarian tribe) which has a strong affinity for one type of animal. The animal is the totem of the tribe, and the Beast-Rider makes friends very easily with that type of animal and can train it into a riding-beast. . . even if it's a type of animal not normally considered a riding-beast.

In a campaign, the Beast-Rider is an exotic warrior who is notable for his kinship with his animal; like the Barbarian, he brings a wild, outsider's attitude into the adventuring party. His animal also has abilities which can benefit the adventuring party. However, the more unusual the animal is, the harder it is to accommodate in all situations: It's no problem to stable a horse at the inn, but just try stabling a great white wolf, a wild boar, or a dolphin!

To be a Beast-Rider, the character must have a Charisma of at least 13. (Naturally, there are members of the Beast-Rider's tribe who are not themselves Beast-Riders; the Beast-Riders are the tribe's elite warriors.)

Role: As mentioned, in his own society, the Beast-Rider is the elite warrior, and he commands a lot of respect among his own kind. Outside his tribal grounds, however, he's very definitely an outsider. His barbarian mannerisms and his obvious and very unusual friendship with his animal set him apart from most societies. Because of this, the Beast-Rider may become especially attached to the other player-characters (if they treat him as an equal and not a freak), even if he'd never admit it to them.

The DM needs to reinforce this social role by having NPCs react to the Beast-Rider's strangeness. For instance, NPCs will be leery of speaking to or negotiating with the Beast-Rider if there's a more "civilized" character on hand to perform those functions. The DM needs constantly to use the Beast-Rider's reaction modifiers, listed below under "hindrances."

Secondary Skills: If you're using the Secondary Skills rules, the character must take the Groom (Animal Handling) secondary skill.

Weapon Proficiencies: Required: None. Recommended: All the weapons commonly associated with mounted warriors—Bow (composite short, and short), Horseman's flail, Horseman's mace, Horseman's pick, Lance (any, according to the size of the animal), Spear, Bastard Sword, Long Sword.

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Bonus Proficiencies: Animal Training, Riding (Land-based). The character must declare which one sort of animal both these proficiencies pertain to. Recommended: General—Animal Handling, Direction Sense, Fire-building, (Priest) Healing (specifically veterinary), (Warrior) Animal Lore, Hunting, Mountaineering, Set Snares, Survival, Tracking.

Equipment: When he is first created, the Beast-Rider may only have Hide, Leather, or Padded armor (plus shield and helm). Later in the campaign, he may switch to more advanced forms of armor. . . as long as his mount can carry him and the armor both, of course. When first created, he may have only weapons from the list above under "Weapon Proficiencies." (The DM may change or add to this list to reflect specific cultural details of the Beast-Rider's tribe.)

Special Benefits: The Beast-Rider has an amazing rapport with one type of animal. The animal must be of a species normally strong enough to carry the Beast-Rider and act as a mount. With the DM's permission, the Beast-Rider character gets to decide what sort of animal this is; the DM is encouraged to disallow any sort of animal that will give the Beast-Rider a great advantage in the campaign (for example, a pegasus or griffon).

The Beast-Rider gets a +5 positive reaction adjustment whenever dealing with these animals. He finds it easy to make friends with them; on a die-roll result of 9 or less (on the "Hostile" column of the Encounter Reactions Table, Dungeon Master's Guide page 103), he can even persuade attacking animals of this sort to leave him and his allies alone.

Additionally, the Beast-Rider begins play in the campaign with one of these animals as his personal friend and mount. This animal is devoted to him and will risk (or even sacrifice) its own life to save the character; and the character is expected to behave the same way toward his mount. (If he doesn't role-play this attachment to his animal, the DM should decide that the character has abandoned this Warrior Kit, as per the guidelines given later in this chapter.)

The Beast-Rider has a telepathic rapport with his animal. When in contact or visual line of sight with his animal, he can tell what the beast is feeling, even thinking if it has some intelligence; he and the animal can communicate with one another without appearing to. When the two are not within line of sight with one another, each will know the other's emotional state and whether or not the other is hurt; each will know the direction to travel to find his friend, and the approximate distance (a hundred yards, an hour's travel, several days' travel, for instance).

If the animal ever dies, the Beast-Rider can choose another animal of the same type as his companion. However, the DM must include this situation as part of the campaign story: The character must seek out another such animal, and may only be satisfied with the healthiest, strongest, greatest examples of this animal (in other words, if the character appears to be content to settle with less, the DM tells him, "You sense you won't be able to bond with this animal . . . "); then there must be some sort of bonding ritual between beast and man (for example, a physical combat where the human must be able to saddle and ride the animal in spite of its spirited attempts to throw him). Only then can the character have his new animal.

Following is a list of many animals which are appropriate mounts for the Beast-Rider. Note that not all of them are included in the Monstrous Compendium® series; if a player chooses one not included there, and the DM approves the choice, the DM will have to work up the animal's abilities.

Bat, Huge *+ (mobat) (gnomes and halflings only may ride)

Bear

Boar

Buffalo

Camel

Dolphin &

Dragon *+ (only allowable in very high-powered heroic campaigns) Elephant

Griffon *

Hippogriff *

Horse

Hyaenodon

Lizard (Fire, Giant, or Minotaur)

Lobster, Giant &

Pegasus *

Ray, Manta &

Sea-Horse, Giant&

Smilodon

Tiger, Wild

Unicorn (traditionally, only virgin lawful-good females may ride)

Wolf, Dire (evil characters could bond with a Winter Wolf)

* Flying animals do tend to change the nature of a campaign, especially a low-level campaign, by making it easy for characters to go long distances quickly, to avoid difficult terrain, etc. The DM should disallow any such choice if it will cause problems in his campaign.

+ Since many of these creatures are evil, the DM may have to introduce into his campaign a nearly-identical race with neutral or good tendencies.

& This species only works if most of the campaign takes place in watery domains.

To calculate the weight-bearing abilities of these animals, compare them to the list on page 78 of the Player's Handbood. Choose the animal from that list most resembling your animal in size and mass, and then use the values for that animal.

Special Hindrances: As mentioned earlier, the Beast-Rider is out of place in most societies. He takes a –3 negative reaction adjustment when meeting NPCs from any culture but his own. (The player-characters do not have to be hostile to the Beast-Rider if they do not wish, however.)

Also, should the Beast-Rider's animal ever die, whether it's in the Beast-Rider's presence or far away, the Beast-Rider immediately takes 2d6 points of damage and must make a saving throw vs. spells. If he fails the saving throw, he behaves as if he were a magic-user hit with feeblemind for the next 2d6 hours. Even if he makes the saving throw, the player should role-play the character's reactions—he's just felt, through their telepathic link, the death of his beloved friend, after all.

Wealth Options: The Beast-Rider gets the ordinary 5d4x10 gp for starting gold. Like the Barbarian, however, he must spend it all (before starting play) except 3 gp or less.

Races: This is a kit that is especially appropriate for demihuman characters. It's easy to envision dwarves on boars, elves on dire wolves, sea-elves on giant sea-horses, and so on.

Notes: It adds a lot of detail and color to a campaign if the DM does a certain amount of work creating the society of each Beast-Rider tribe. The tribe's behavior and activities would be dictated by the type of animal it was tied to: Horse-Riders would live on the plains, riding far and wide, while Boar-Riders would live in forests and moist bottom-land, few ever travelling more than five miles from their home village.

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