[Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding

[Phil Masters]

Yeah, Riding is really required for low-tech characters who want to get around. One can sit on a horse and just kind of hope, but that's asking for the GM to (rightly) point up the problems with any kind of fast or rough-terrain journey.

I've not seen real Riding challenges other than maintaining speed brought up in play much, though. It's probably something that GMs ought to think about more. "A fine horseman" is one of the classic attributes of the pre-modern hero, after all, and getting somewhere despite obstructions is a proper action "bit".

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

One can sit on a horse and just kind of hope ...

Riding isn't like sitting in a car. You need to use your legs fairly continuously to keep from being jolted to a pulp. This is simple enough that you learn it in your first day's familiarisation, but it's why people who have never ridden at all find the first day so bad.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Riding also caps any weapon skill (B397), which makes sense to a degree but can seem a bit harsh for people with higher skill levels. For example, a master rider with Riding-20 may still have his Sword-30 or Guns-30 skill effectively penalised by -10 when he's sitting on his horse.

I've seen some alternate house rules, but can't recall them specifically. Maybe something like: apply (18 - Riding skill) as a penalty instead of using it as a cap, i.e. Riding-12 gives -6 to weapon skills, Riding-16 gives -2.

My favorite is changing all capping skills to 'averaging' skills. Though I think I saw it in the context of environment suits and swimming rather than riding though.

I typically use riding vs hiking as one of the markers of wealth vs commoner in a low tech society.

[(E)]

Regarding riding as a limiting factor of skill. Time use increases riding at a fairly steady rate (depending on the campaign).

[dripton]

In my current DF game, the PCs started off hiking from the town to the dungeon. It's a pretty long walk, so they eventually acquired some horses (from some dead bandits) and learned to ride a bit, just to make the commute more comfortable. But they didn't hire guards for their horses, and the third or fourth time they left them unguarded outside the dungeon, the horses disappeared. The PCs still have no idea who took them. (Nobody with Tracking skill or the right Information spells.)

One tip: if your IQ is 3+ points higher than your DX, it's as cheap or cheaper to buy Animal Handling instead, and default Riding from it.

[VariousRen]

I've seen a lot of people buy horses for pulling carriages and wagons, and a few for travel. The biggest advantage I've seen is that when trouble strikes, you may be able to just ride away from it. Without good barding (which is expensive) a horse is a nice big target for people with low skill, and it's surprisingly easy to take a leg off of it with an AOA(Strong), so you have to be careful if you plan on riding one into battle. The initial charge and slam into a rank of enemies can be devastating though, and it lets you use a lance to devastating effect.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by VariousRen

I've seen a lot of people buy horses for pulling carriages and wagons, and a few for travel. The biggest advantage I've seen is that when trouble strikes, you may be able to just ride away from it. Without good barding (which is expensive) a horse is a nice big target for people with low skill, and it's surprisingly easy to take a leg off of it with an AOA(Strong), so you have to be careful if you plan on riding one into battle. The initial charge and slam into a rank of enemies can be devastating though, and it lets you use a lance to devastating effect.

A very large fraction of cavalry use missile weapons or reach weapons. A mounted PC would be wise to do the same - it's a lot harder for anybody to kneecap your mount if you stay two yards away from them at closest approach. Three+ yards is a lot better than two. With the right Maneuver selection, you should even be able to stop the first one who tries to Wait-AoA rush you.

Mounts also mean saddlebags, which are a delightful way to cut down on your encumbrance problems without the...extremely poor cross-country performance of a wagon.

[Leynok]

One of my players got the power to turn into a bear, and then broke another PC out of prison. I was one of those memorable moments when I asked the player being rescued to make a Riding (Bear) check.
Of course they got loads of bonuses, that in hindsight the check was rather meaningless, but it was still a fun moment for us all when I asked for it.

Surprisingly I've seen the Mount skill get a decent bit of use (well, compared to almost never), usually for characters who can turn into, or are ridable creatures. I've also used it once as a human to represent being good at giving people piggyback/shoulder rides.

[CoyoteGestalt]

Originally Posted by Leynok

One of my players got the power to turn into a bear, and then broke another PC out of prison. I was one of those memorable moments when I asked the player being rescued to make a Riding (Bear) check.
Of course they got loads of bonuses, that in hindsight the check was rather meaningless, but it was still a fun moment for us all when I asked for it.

Surprisingly I've seen the Mount skill get a decent bit of use (well, compared to almost never), usually for characters who can turn into, or are ridable creatures. I've also used it once as a human to represent being good at giving people piggyback/shoulder rides.

Those moments are often the most fun :)

That reminds me, I've never been sure - do flying supers (or wizards or whatever) who carry a teammate with them use Mount?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by CoyoteGestalt

That reminds me, I've never been sure - do flying supers (or wizards or whatever) who carry a teammate with them use Mount?

Not if the teammate is held in their arms. That's just ordinary lifting and carrying, or maybe Lifting skill. If they're flying horizontally, and the teammate is on their back, Mount might be suitable.

Or I suppose you could give Mount to an acrobat whose stunts include being on the bottom of a two- or three-man stack of people. That would be an entertaining use of the skill.