Riding/War Dogs & Other Exotic Mounts

[Japic]

Now available through the academy: War Dogs. Riding dogs are given additional training in the arts of war, making them quicker and tougher than before. As noted below they can be purchased for 225 gp, but any riding dog can be trained for 100 gp. See full details for these wonderful creatures below.



Riding/War Dogs: This category includes working breeds such as collies, huskies, and St. Bernards.

Carrying Capacity: A light load for the dogs are up to 100 pounds; a medium load, 101–200 pounds; and a heavy load, 201–300 pounds. They can drag up to 1,500 pounds.

Combat: The dogs can fight while carrying a rider, but the rider cannot also attack unless he or she succeeds on a Ride check.

Skills: Riding/War dogs have a +4 racial bonus on Jump checks. *Riding/War dogs have a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent.

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Riding Dog: 125 gp *new price*
Medium Animal
Hit Dice: 2d8+4 (13 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+3
Attack: Bite +3 melee (1d6+3)
Full Attack: Bite +3 melee (1d6+3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Jump +8, Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +3, Survival +1*
Feats: Alertness, Track (scent)

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War Dog: 225 gp
Hit Dice: 2d8+5 (15 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 14
Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d6+4)
Full Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d6+4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Jump +8, Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +3, Survival +1*
Feats: Alertness, Track (scent), Trip Attack (see below)

Trip: A War Dog that hits with a bite attack can attempt to trip the opponent (+1 check modifier) as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the dog.

[Japic]

Ok, once again we need to make up rules for what we lack.

As it stands I have no resources telling me the cost of exotic mounts, nor the training costs thereof. As such, it falls to us, the Keepers of KMans^TM to make them up.

Based on the cost of animals already in effect through the SRD we've come up with the best rule of thumb possible. If there are rules written elsewhere please step forward and we'll review them. Thanks.

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With all trained animals a person must choose what they're trained to do. Following is a list of packages available and the commands a creature with the package knows. (Packages out of my copy of the SRD)

Combat Riding (H.A. DC 20): An animal trained to bear a rider into combat knows the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel. Training an animal for combat riding takes six weeks. You may also 'upgrade' an animal trained for riding to one trained for combat riding by spending three weeks and making a successful DC 20 Handle Animal check. The new general purpose and tricks completely replace the animal's previous purpose and any tricks it once knew. Warhorses and riding dogs are already trained to bear riders into combat, and they don't require any additional training for this purpose.

Fighting (H.A. DC 20): An animal trained to engage in combat knows the tricks attack, down, and stay. Training an animal for fighting takes three weeks.

Guarding (H.A. DC 20): An animal trained to guard knows the tricks attack, defend, down, and guard. Training an animal for guarding takes four weeks.

Heavy Labor (H.A. DC 15): An animal trained for heavy labor knows the tricks come and work. Training an animal for heavy labor takes two weeks.

Hunting (H.A. DC 20): An animal trained for hunting knows the tricks attack, down, fetch, heel, seek, and track. Training an animal for hunting takes six weeks.

Performance (H.A. DC 15): An animal trained for performance knows the tricks come, fetch, heel, perform, and stay. Training an animal for performance takes five weeks.

Riding (H.A. DC 15): An animal trained to bear a rider knows the tricks come, heel, and stay. Training an animal for riding takes three weeks.

There are of course ways to teach your animal more tricks than his package includes, see the Handle Animal Skill for details.

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Prices for teaching animals additional tricks will be covered as they are requested. The cost of a single additional trick shall not exceed the cost of standard packages. Standard training is one week per trick.

Money pays for the trainers wages and any materials they need to complete the animal's training.

[Japic]

Ok, slight change in plans. I removed the above portion about training because of the guidelines found in the Arms and Equipment Guide (AEG).

To help folks understand cost I'll break down a riding dog for you.

The AEG suggests 50 gp being the cost of a young dog. They also suggest 10 gp in training of said dog. Rather than the cost of a fully trained full grown riding dog being 60 gp (based on the above values) the Riding Dog in the SRD is 150 gp.

To get our puppy grown up we'll break down the adult. The 150 gp dog underwent three weeks of training to learn his set of tricks. At 10 gp a week for training the dog its self should be worth 130 gp. That's 2.4 times the cost of the young animal.

Since that's the only firm example we've got I'm going to use that math.

Cost of young x 2.4 (more if the animal is difficult to raise) + ? gp each week in training.

The '?' is because the handler is going to treat every animal differently. The more dangerous or unusual they are, the more he's likely to charge. 10 gp for a Dog vs 75 gp for a Dire Boar as an example. The dog is pretty easy too train and while it may snap at him; at least he won't be gored by a creature his size.

If requested I can put up some prices for unusual mounts and their relative training costs. I'll not waste my time if folks aren't interested. Besides, the list is fairly small anyhow; I'd probably have to make something up if you had a specific creature in mind.

Game on; let me know if you have questions or concerns.