Animal Companions and Mounts - Chapter 5
Customizing Horses
(from Dragon Magazine #191: Horses Are People Too)
The AD&D 2nd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide offers some ways to give horses more individuality and detail (see pages 36-37). The tables in this article give a player the further option to detail a mount's color, markings, height, weight, encumbrance, and jumping capabilities. This article also expands and details the list of possible traits, defines training procedures using a system similar to the Non-weapon Proficiency (NWP) system used for characters, outlines some tricks a horse may learn, and discusses horse care in general.
Appearance
The exact appearance and coloration of any particular horse can be determined randomly, using Tables 1-6, or can be chosen from those tables by the player at the DM's discretion. The tables are also useful for a DM who wishes to create and maintain information on breeds of horses unique to her own campaign world. These animals would have a typical appearance and possibly common traits, depending on the environment they occupy and the people who breed them. For instance, the dwarves of a particular region might maintain herds of strong, sure-footed ponies that are usually gray and shaggy-coated. These animals would be exceptionally strong to carry heavy loads (food supplies brought up from the valleys, raw ore, etc.) and may also be consistent in size and temperament.
Movement
Table 7 gives movement statistics for horses. When traveling, horses usually move at a walk or trot, and the rider must stop often throughout the journey to feed, water, and rest the animal. Faster speeds may be attained when necessary, these being the canter and the full gallop. As stated in the DMG (page 123), a horse moving at its normal rate may cover up to 30 miles a day; moving at a canter doubles this rate, but forces the animal to make a saving throw vs. death, failure indicating the animal has become lame or is spent and cannot move any farther for a full day. Finally, at full gallop, a horse triples its normal daily movement rate, but must again make the saving throw vs. death, this time at -3 on the die roll; failure indicates death from exhaustion.
Galloping speed can be maintained for one hour without harm to the animal, though the animal must thereafter walk for an hour before it can gallop again. A canter can be maintained for two hours without harm, but again the animal must be walked for a full hour before speed can again be increased. Bursts of speed like this are useful for putting distance between the rider and any enemies in pursuit.
The saving throws for increased daily movement are for normally encumbered animals, If the horse is encumbered to slow it to half its normal movement rate, the saving throw should be at -2 on the die roll, and at -4 if encumbered to one-third of its normal rate.
Encumbrance
Horses are useful for carrying baggage and supplies, and Table 8 lists the maximum rates according to the type of animal. Keep in mind the weight of the character, as everything he carries must also be applied when he rides the animal. As noted above, encumbrance affects how hard a character can push his mount when attempting to increase his normal daily movement rate.
Height
The height of the animal (determined by Table 9) must be known so that the character can calculate the amount of food the horse needs on a daily basis.
Jumping
Every horse is capable of a maximum height and length when it comes to jumping (see Table 10). Some are particularly adept at this (see Table 11), while some refuse to jump at all. Whatever an animal's capabilities, they should be kept on record so that both the player and the DM know the ability of the horse, and can weigh it against the immediate needs of any particular situation. Keep in mind that draft horse, mules, ponies, and the like are certainly not given to high performance jumping, so Table 10 is unlikely to apply to them.
Traits
As stated in the DMG, each horse has a total of 0-2 (1d3-1) traits that define the animal's personality. Though Table 11 was originally divided into two columns one applying to bags, broken-down, and average-quality horses, and the other to high-spirited horses and chargers it has not been done so here. Rather, it has been left to the DM to apply as he sees fit. Some of these traits are beneficial, others generally hamper characters in some way, and still others are just plain annoying. Many of the positive traits can be enhanced through formal training, which is discussed later. Some breeds of horses are known for having common traits that can make them either desirable or undesirable, and the DM should keep this in mind when creating different types of horses to populate his game world, ascribing one or two traits to a particular breed (these traits being independent of the random 0-2 rolled for above).
Training
Formal training for most horses begins at age three. These first few years have been spent getting the animal used to human (or demihuman, etc.) contact, and now it is ready to be trained to carry weight upon its back-either heavy baggage or a rider. A total of 11-17 (9+2d4) weeks are spent teaching this to the animal. A character must either seek out an individual with the Animal Training NWP to do this work, which costs 10 gp per week of training, or do the training herself, during which time she must limit all other activity or fail in the training attempt, as the animal requires constant attention. For every day the character misses, a cumulative -1 penalty should be applied to his proficiency check to determine the success of training the animal. Naturally, if the character trains her own horse, it cost her nothing beyond the usual care and feeding fees.
The basic training of wild or untrained adult horses requires the same training described above, but it takes a little longer, usually 15-20 weeks (14+ 1d6) and costs twice as much (20 gp/week) as it does to train a three-year-old.
Training for specific tricks (see Table 12) requires constant work of an even more intense nature. It requires the daily attention of either the trainer or the character, and if a single day is missed, the training automatically fails and must be started anew. All war horses, riding horses, and wild horses can be taught 2-8 specific tricks, plus one for each point of the animal's Intelligence. Draft horses, mules, ponies, and the like can learn only 1-4 tricks. The number of tricks any animal may learn is determined only once, and that number is the maximum number of tricks the animal can ever learn. Learning to carry baggage or a rider does not count as a specific trick; it is considered to be separate training.
Each specific trick requires 1-4 weeks of training, at a cost of 25 gp per week, unless the character is training the animal himself. At the end of the allotted time, the trainer or the character makes his NWP check to determine whether the horse has learned the desired trick. No more than one trick may be taught to a horse during any training period. Exceptionally intelligent horses (see Table 11) add a +1 bonus to the animal trainer's proficiency check for every point of Intelligence over one.
Breeding
Horses are mature at three years of age and are considered adults at the age of five. The gestation period is approximately 11 months. After mating, a mare generally gives birth to a single foal (85%), twins (10%), or triplets (5%). Foals are weaned after six months.
If horses are worked hard, they are rarely useful past the age of 12, though if they are well cared for they can be good for more than 20 years. The usual life span of a horse is 30-35 years, though rare exceptions have reached the age of 50 (see Table 13).
Care and feeding
The natural food for horses is the grass and clover that grows on the open plains, where equines evolved. Domesticated horses, however, are fed a diet of hay (bulk food) and grain (concentrated food).
The basic guideline for the proper feeding of horses is that they should be given small amounts of food on a frequent basis throughout the course of a normal day, simulating a life of periodic grazing in the wild.
Hard-working horses need a greater degree of concentrated energy food (grains) in their diet than those that are inactive, but otherwise eat a larger amount of bulk food (grass and hay).
Types of concentrated foods include oats, barley, corn, and bran. To round off a diet, fresh vegetable and fruit such as carrots, turnips, and apples should be offered as well to keep the animal healthy and happy. Hard-working horses are those animals that travel encumbered, plow fields, pull carriages, or are engaged in similar activity. Inactive horses spend most of their time in the stable and farmyard corral or are involved in leisurely, unencumbered travel (see Table 14).
Note that both traveling and stabled horses must be given either a suitable amount of hay or access to adequate grazing land for them to be able to get the required amount of bulk food in their diet. This required amount equals the total pounds of food needed per day minus the required amount of concentrated food.
Horses also require an average of eight gallons of water per day. A good guideline is one-half gallon per hand of the animal's height. An animal that does not receive the necessary daily amounts of food and water will suffer and eventually die, but the effects leading up to this must be defined by the DM according to the situation at hand during play.
[Previous articles on horses include: From the Sorcerer's Scroll: Warhorses and Barding, in issue #74; Let the Horse Buyer Beware, in issue #92; A Saddle's Not Enough, in issue #113; and The Dragonís Bestiary, in issue #149.]
