Dragonslayers Society | Animal-Horse / Traits

Customizing Horses: Table 11

Horse Traits

As stated in the DMG, each horse has a total of 0-2 (1d3-1) traits that define the animal's personality.

1d100	Trait	Notes
01-03	Bites	The horse is 20% likely to attempt to take a chunk out of anyone within biting range.
04-06	Ricks	The horse is nervous and kicks out at anyone who is too near to its hindquarters.
07-08	Steps on feet	If the person leading the horse stops, or if anyone is within range, the horse deliberately steps on that personís foot 20% of the time, causing 1-2 hp damage.
09-10	Refuses to gallop	Unless beaten with a riding crop, spurred, or otherwise encouraged, this horse never attempts to reach its full galloping speed.
11-13	Chews fences	This may be just an annoying habit, but it can be an indicator of parasites in the horseís stomach or simply a poor diet.
14-16	Stops unexpectedly	This horse just isnít into exerting itself and simply takes random ěbreaksî during any journey. Check each hour to see if this has happened. If encumbered normally, the chance is 25%; if encumbered to half speed, 50%; and if encumbered to one-third speed, the chance is 90%. The horse delays its rider for a full turn at a time, snorting angrily and adamantly refusing any attempts to get it to continue moving.
17-19	Rubs against fences	This horse lives for pleasure and probably is just dying for a good grooming as well. Other than this and the possibility the animal is infested with fleas, ticks, mites or lice, it is not a particularly detrimental trait.
20-21	Bucks unexpectedly	There is a 10% chance per hour that this horse bucks for no particular reason. The rider must make a Dexterity Check to remain in his seat and keep the animal under control.
22-23	Rears unexpectedly	This trait is handled the same as 'Bucks unexpectedly,' above.
24-25	Bone-jarring gait	Poor alignment of the shoulders causes this animal to be particularly uncomfortable to ride. The rider must stop for a full turn each hour to rest and stretch and give himself a break from this torture; failure to do this puts the rider at -1 to hit for 10 minutes after dismounting.
26-28	Single rider only	This horse refuses to be overburdened and simply wonít take a second passenger, fighting and protesting if this is attempted. Similarly, it won't allow itself to be encumbered to the point of affecting its normal movement rate.
29-31	Headstrong	There is a 25% chance each hour of being ridden that this horse either attempts to head in a direction different than the rider desires, or that it pauses to either eat or drink for a full turn, ignoring all attempts to make it do otherwise. Increase this chance by 50% for passengers who are not proficient in Land-Based Riding. Those who are proficient can make a proficiency check to determine whether or not they can regain control of the animal immediately.
32-34	Exceptional leaper	When determining the maximum heights and lengths this animal can clear, add 1í to the former and 2í to the latter. When an animal makes its maximum leap in either case, the rider should make a proficiency check to determine whether he has kept his seat or fallen off upon landing.
35-36	Accepts master only	Unless the master is in the saddle, this horse accepts no other rider or passenger.
37-39	Robust	This horse has a powerful constitution and can move at great speeds longer than an average animal might. The horse receives a +3 on its saving throw vs. death when being forced to double or triple his normal overland speed.
40-42	Exceptionally fleet	Add 1-6 points to this horse's normal speeds for walking, trotting, cantering, and galloping.
43-45	Fearless	A fearless horse has exceptional morale. It will thus be average (8-10) 65% of the time; steady (11-12) 20% of the time; elite (13-14) 10% of the time; and champion (15-16) 5% of the time. Loud noises, sudden movement, etc. rarely upset this animal.
46-48	Skittish	This horse has an exceptionally low morale rating of Unreliable (2-4). These types tend to balk at the first sign of danger, loud noise, sudden movement, etc. and will then either buck, rear, flee, or freeze.
49-51	Strong	This animal is powerful and gets to add 10-100 units to his normal encumbrance rates right across the board.
52-56	Stable	Not quite fearless, this animal is still confident and not often frightened by loud noises and sudden movements, and it receive s a +3 bonus on any morale check.
57-60	Gentle	The animal has a kind and tolerant temperament, making it a good horse for new or inexperienced riders, as well as children and ladies of gentle birth.
61-64	Sure-footed	A good animal to have when traveling through mountainous areas, this horse receives a +3 to all Dexterity checks or saving throws when footing is precipitous or unstable.
65-68	Loves particular food	The animal is fond of a particular type of foodósweet grass, apples, carrots, etc. It can sometimes be easily coaxed with such offerings.
69-71	Intolerant of poor handling	These high-bred types won't put up with an inexperienced rider or handler and are quite likely to bite, kick, buck, or rear at the indignation of being subjected to such a situation. There is a 75% chance of this each turn the horse suffers abuse.
72-75	Affectionate	This animal is particularly fond of its master or any other individual with whom it normally comes into contact. A +3 bonus should be applied to any proficiency checks this person needs to make when working with this animal.
76-78	Vengeful	This animal does not easily forget wrongs that have been done to it and seeks to strike back at those who have abused it when it has the opportunity.
79-80	Exceptional intelligence	This animal is particularly clever. The majority of these types (75%) are semi-intelligent (2-4) and the rest (25%) have low intelligence (5-7). For each point of Intelligence the animal gains an additional ěslotî to use toward learning tricks during training.
81-83	Sickly	This animal has a poor Constitution and is prone to sickness. A penalty of -3 should be applied to all saving throws vs. death this animal must make when forced to move at double or triple speed.
84-85	Freezes when frightened	The majority of horses tend to flee if they experience a failed morale check, but this type freezes on the spot, refusing to move. Only a rider who has the Land-Based Riding proficiency can get the horse moving again.
86-87	Desires freedom	This animal wants its freedom very much and seeks it at every opportunity. If the animal is not tethered or hobbled when not being ridden, it certainly makes a break for it. It wonít openly fight a rider, but it does tend to be uncooperative so the proficiency checks of any rider should be rolled with a penalty of -2 on the die.
88-89	Dislikes certain individual	For no particular reason, this animal takes an instant disliking to a particular individual, possibly another member of the adventuring party. The animal is openly hostile and uncooperative to this individualóbiting, kicking, nudging, and otherwise being a nuisance at every opportunity.
90-91	Dislikes certain sex	This animal wonít tolerate being handled or ridden by a particular sex of human, humanoid, or demihuman. It is uncooperative with such a handler and has a 75% chance per turn of bucking or rearing to dislodge such an individual from its back, forcing the character to make a Dexterity check to remain seated.
92	Dislikes certain animal	The horse is either hostile to or fearful of a certain type of creature, usually one that is really no threat to its well-being. Dogs, sheep, pigs, birds, and cows are some likely possibilities. The horse acts completely out of character when encountering such creatures, requiring a morale check at -3 to keep it from either bolting, rearing up in fear, or attacking the creature.
93	Dislikes certain race	Similar to 'Dislikes certain sex' above, the fear or hostility in this case is applied to a particular race-dwarves, elves, gnomes, orcs, goblins, humans, etc.
94-95	Strong swimmer	This animal is adept at swimming and may well enjoy it as well. The DM should take this into consideration and afford the animal certain bonuses when attempting to cross rivers, swollen streams, etc. A +3 bonus is suggested against a predetermined number depending on the strength of the current, etc.
96-98	Fear of water	Horses of this persuasion are terrified of water and neither leap over nor attempt to swim across it. Characters with the Land-Based Riding proficiency may attempt to force the animal to do so, but there is a -5 penalty on the die roll.
99-00	Won't jump	The animal will not jump, no matter how low or short the obstacle is. It frequently stops just before an obstacle, forcing the rider to make a Dexterity check to remain in his seat or be unceremoniously dumped over the horseís head (for 1d6 hp damage). Characters with the Land-Based Riding proficiency may attempt to force the animal to jump, but with a -5 penalty on the die roll,