04-30-2016, 12:23 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
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".
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04-30-2016, 12:28 AM | #12 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
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.
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04-30-2016, 12:18 PM | #13 | |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
Quote:
I typically use riding vs hiking as one of the markers of wealth vs commoner in a low tech society.
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04-30-2016, 02:01 PM | #14 |
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: New Zealand.
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
Regarding riding as a limiting factor of skill. Time use increases riding at a fairly steady rate (depending on the campaign).
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04-30-2016, 02:18 PM | #15 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Northern Virginia, USA
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
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. |
04-30-2016, 06:00 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Apr 2015
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
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.
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04-30-2016, 06:20 PM | #17 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
Quote:
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.
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04-30-2016, 07:51 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Australia WA
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
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. |
05-01-2016, 06:11 AM | #19 | |
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
Quote:
That reminds me, I've never been sure - do flying supers (or wizards or whatever) who carry a teammate with them use Mount? |
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05-01-2016, 07:45 AM | #20 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Mount and Riding
Quote:
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.
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