Beastrider

In the thick forest, vast savannah or deep-sea reaches, elves have little use for stout but slow and ungraceful mounts such as horses, which have become fit to travel upon roads more than on the wilderness.

The Quintessential Elf

Author Alejandro Melchor
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2002

To better meet their needs, elves train special beasts to serve as mounts; beasts that are fit for the terrain and the elves’ need to complement their methods of exploration and warfare. Beastriders are elite cavalry who train in the handling of unusual mounts such as dire animals or magical beasts, stalking trespassers or conveying messages from one elven settlement to another. The bond between rider and mount is a strong one, as they learn to fight, move and live together, and this bond can grow potent enough that each would prefer to die than to continue their lives without the other.

Elven fighters and barbarians are those most commonly found in beastrider ranks, although the closeness with animals that rangers and druids have makes them excellent candidates. Other classes are less inclined to ride a huge beast or simply have no need to expand their abilities with those ones of the beast-riders, although bards and clerics may join if their ethos or personal inclinations take them that way.

It is easy to confuse elven paladins with beastriders if their mount is not a horse, but their functions and abilities are very different, even if they might fight well together. Wood and wild elves are the most common beastriders, although some high elves are attracted to the class. Grey elves almost never become beastriders, and sea elves and drow have their own versions. Beastriders found as Non-Player Characters are leaders of hunting parties or patrols in the periphery of elven lands, and tend to be harsh and uncompromising in their duties.

Hit Die: d10

Requirements

Race: Elf or half-elf.
Base Attack: +5 or higher.
Skills: Handle Animal 8 ranks, Ride 5 ranks for the specific mount to be chosen (see description), Wilderness Lore 5 ranks.
Feat: Mounted Combat.

Class Skills

The beastrider’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Animal Empathy (Charisma), Climb (Strength), Craft (Intelligence), Handle Animal (Charisma), Jump (Strength), Listen (Wisdom), Search (Wisdom), Profession (Wisdom), Spot (Wisdom) and Wilderness Lore (Wisdom).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier

The Beastrider
Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1	+1	+2	+0	+2	Special mount, control mount
2	+2	+3	+0	+3	Share senses
3	+3	+3	+1	+3	Call mount
4	+4	+4	+1	+4	Cloak of nature
5	+5	+4	+1	+4	Pack leader

Class Features

• Armour and Weapon Proficiency: Beastriders are proficient with all simple weapons and martial weapons. They are proficient with light and medium armour, and with shields. Note that armour check penalties for armour heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket and Tumble. Also, Swim checks suffer a -1 penalty for every 5 pounds of armour, equipment, or loot carried.
• Special Mount: By attaining the beastrider class, the character receives a special mount with which he bonds to become its rider. The ranks the character has in the Ride skill before becoming a beastrider must be devoted to the specific mount received, which includes: Dire Dog, Dire Wolf, Dire Boar, Bear Black ,Bear Brown. Sea elves may ride large sharks, and drow use Worgs. The Games Master can approve other mounts, provided that they fall within the 4-6 HD and CR 1-4 range and are large sized. It is recommended that these mounts possess no supernatural or spell-like abilities and be of animal Intelligence. If the mount dies, the character must make a Fortitude save (DC 12 + mount’s HD). If the saving throw fails, the beastrider loses 200 experience points per class level. A successful saving throw reduces the loss to half of that amount. This loss follows the rules of sorcerer and wizard familiars, and the character receives and bonds with a second mount a year and a day later if he spends that time with the trainer, or training the creature himself.
• Control Mount (Ex): The beastrider has supreme control of his mount, and need not roll a Ride check to direct the mount with his knees nor to attack with it and still have his own attacks available for the round. He ignores the penalties for riding bareback only with his own mount, applying them normally with other animals, even if they are of the same species as his mount.
• Share Senses (Su): All the time the beastrider is atop his mount, he can share its animal senses, granting him a +4 racial bonus to Listen, Spot, Search and Wilderness
  Lore checks.
• Call Mount (Su): The character and his mount are bonded so closely together that he can summon the mount from vast distances. The beastrider issues a mental command and his mount will make its best effort to come to his side. The range of this call is 400 feet plus 40 feet per beastrider level, and is usable once per day per beastrider level.
• Cloak of Nature (Ex): The beastrider and his mount become one with their surroundings, moving with such grace and skill that they may pass unnoticed. While they are together, rider and mount roll Hide and Move Silently checks as if they were one creature, using the highest skill modifier of the two with a +2 synergy bonus from the other.
• Pack Leader (Sp): Once per day, the beastrider can summon creatures of his mount’s normal species (wolves for a dire wolf, medium-size sharks for large sharks, etc.) and command them into action. He can summon 10 HD worth of creatures, plus 1 HD per Charisma modifier. The creatures remain for 2 rounds per beastrider level. This ability works otherwise as the summon nature’s ally spells as if cast by a 7th level druid.