Subtype: Beast Rider

April 14, 2015 Michael Varhola

Following is the Beast Driver, one of the more than 30 military Subtypes that appears in the best-selling Skirmisher Publishing LLC d20/OGL sourcebook Warriors.

Subtype: Beast Rider

Beast Riders are soldiers capable of riding upon and fighting from the backs of creatures at least two sizes larger than themselves (e.g., Huge for humans), such as elephants, mammoths, and dinosaurs. Such characters might also, but not necessarily, be adept at controlling such creatures (i.e., if they have allocated ranks in skill Ride to the creature type in question).

Benefit: When mounted on the backs of rapidly moving beasts that they themselves are not controlling, beast riders enjoy reduced penalties as a result of their specialized training (-2 rather than -4 for beasts moving at double speed and -4 rather than -8 for beasts moving at triple or quadruple speed). A beast rider responsible for control of the creature on which he is riding needs the Mounted Archery feat to receive these benefits.

Equipment: Beast riders almost always wear the heaviest armor available, but, because they generally receive some additional protection from the fortified platforms they ride upon, rarely use shields. Most use a variety of missile and close-combat weapons (e.g., bows for long range, javelins for short range, and longspears for melee).

Substitutions: Beast riders can substitute Shield Proficiency for Weapon Focus in any weapon usable from the back of a warbeast.

Special: If armed with reach weapons, beast riders receive a +1 elevation bonus on melee attacks against unmounted creatures two sizes smaller than their mounts (e.g., against size medium Orcs foot soldiers for beast riders mounted on size huge elephants). If not armed with reach weapons, however, they can assail such opponents only with missile weapons.