A knight charging into battle on a warhorse, a wizard casting spells from the back of a griffon, or a cleric soaring through the sky on a pegasus all enjoy the benefits of speed and mobility that a mount can provide.
A willing creature that is at least one size larger than you and that has an appropriate anatomy can serve as a mount, using the following rules:
Riders one size smaller than a mount have their melee reach measured from the edge of the mount. However, riders more than two categories smaller would need a special circumstance such as adequate reach to perform a melee attack.
Mounting and Dismounting
Once during your move, you can mount a creature that is within 5 feet of you or dismount. Doing so costs an amount of movement equal to half your speed. For example, if your speed is 30 feet, you must spend 15 feet of movement to mount a horse. Therefore, you can't mount it if you don't have 15 feet of movement left or if your speed is 0. See additional rules regarding this further below.
If an effect moves your mount against its will while you're on it, you must succeed on a DC 10
Dexterity saving throw or fall off the mount, landing prone in a space within 5 feet of it. If you're knocked prone while mounted, you must make the same saving throw.
If your mount is knocked prone, you can use your reaction to dismount it as it falls and land on your feet. Otherwise, you are dismounted and fall prone in a space within 5 feet it.
Untrained and Wild Mounts
You can control a mount
only if it has been trained to accept a rider. An independent (or wild/untrained) mount retains its place in the initiative order. Bearing a rider puts no restrictions on the actions the mount can take, and it moves and acts
as it wishes. It might flee from combat, rush to attack and devour a badly injured foe, or otherwise act against your wishes.
If the mount provokes an opportunity attack while you're on it, the attacker can target you or the mount.
When riding an
untrained mount, considerations need to be taken as to how it follows instructions. An example tool for this is to treat the wild mount as an Ally and use the
!ART alias or use something like
!heydm to help with your justifications.
Mount Training
Training a mount takes both time and effort on the part of a dedicated trainer. All training must be done at a dedicated (NPC) trainer at this time, at prices found in the !mount alias. These mounts can be purchased pre-trained up to a training level of 6. The list of training levels and what they mean are shown below:
| Training Level |
Effect |
| Level 0 |
Untrained and Wild Mounted Rules |
| Level 1 |
Mount moves on it's own turn, rolling initiative as normal. Can take the dodge or dash action only if the rider uses a bonus action on their turn.1 |
| Level 2 |
Mount moves on rider's turn, can take the dodge, dash, or disengage action if the rider uses a bonus action.2 |
| Level 3 |
Mount moves on rider's turn, and can dodge, dash, disengage, or make a single attack.2 |
| Level 4 |
Mount moves on rider's turn, and can dodge, dash, disengage, or make a single attack and will attempt to get the rider to safety if they fall unconscious.2 |
| Level 5 |
Mount moves on rider's turn, and can dodge, dash, disengage, or make a single attack. Will attempt to finish off enemy or get rider to safety if they fall unconscious. (Player's Choice) 2 |
| Level 6 |
Mount moves on rider's turn, and can dodge, dash, disengage, or make a single attack. Will attempt to finish off enemy or get rider to safety if they fall unconscious. (Player's Choice). Mount also has access to any special attacks or abilities it may possess.2 |
1 Mount is treated as training level 1 while rider is dismounted.
2 Mount is treated as training level 2 while rider is dismounted.
Rider Training
Anyone can get from place to place on a
trained mount in good conditions, but a
trained rider is capable of some amazing exploits. Any character proficient in
Animal Handling,
Land Vehicles,
Horsemanship Supplies, or with
any ability that expects the character to be mounted counts as a
trained rider.
Untrained riders suffer disadvantage on any attack roll and ability check made while on even a
trained mount. Additionally, any
trained mount counts as 1 training level lower than it's actual training level when being ridden by an
untrained rider. In this way, a TL 1 mount ridden by an
untrained rider counts as an
untrained (TL 0) mount.
Trained riders make ability checks and attacks normally when controlling a mount based on levels of mount training.
Trained Rider Mount Bonus
From the basic rules:
Riders must spend half their movement to mount a willing creature within 5 feet or to dismount.
Additional Benefit for trained riders:
The movement cost to mount or dismount may be reduced to 5 feet for a trained rider with a successful DC 15 Dexterity (Acrobatics), Strength (Athletics), Wisdom (Animal Handling), or Horsemanship Supplies check. A failure means you either fail to mount and stop moving, or fall prone if dismounting.
Casting While Mounted: Untrained riders can’t cast spells with somatic components while mounted without passing an ability check using your spellcasting ability modifier. The DC for this check is 10 + spell level. Failure means the spell is lost.
Mount Bonding
A
trained rider who shows great care and spends adequate time may become bonded with a mount. Forming a bond with a mount requires effort to establish and maintain on the part of the rider. Following a process similar to social interactions in Chapter 8 of the DMG, a mount has a particular attitude toward the rider based on how it's been treated.
Untrained mounts usually start with hostile attitudes whereas
trained mounts start as neutral. During each long rest made with the mount, the rider may make a
!social check using
Wisdom (Animal Handling) or
Horsemanship Supplies with the appropriate modifier based on the disposition of the mount. This roll is made with disadvantage if stressed during that period such as by the rest being interrupted. A success means the mounts attitude improves by one category.
Once a mount is friendly, the
trained rider may designate the mount as
bonded. A rider and mount may only have one bond at a time. The DM may call for the bond to end after extended separations, or other circumstances like hard treatment or conditions.
A bonded mount counts as 1 training level higher than it's actual training level. In this way, a
trained rider who shows great care to even an
untrained mount will illicit some semblance of training. For example, a
trained rider can take an
untrained (TL 0) mount and make it act as a TL 1 mount.
Mount Buying and Availability
Buying mounts is currently the easiest way to acquire them. Mounts up to CR 5 are allowed (without specific exceptions) and your character's level limits the maximum CR of the mount you can purchase. The maximum CR mount a character can buy has a CR equal to or less than that player character's level divided by 4 (rounded down). This means that a level 4 character can buy up to a CR 1 mount and a level 15 character can buy up to a CR 3 mount.
Currently there exist only a handful of mount trainers across the archipelago talented enough to have a steady supply of
trained mounts. The most well known of these are Mad Max himself who has the following list of mounts available for purchase:
| Name |
CR |
Default TL1 |
Cost at Default TL |
| Draft Horse |
1/4 |
TL - 0 |
50 gp |
| Riding Horse |
1/4 |
TL - 1 |
75 gp |
| Pony |
1/8 |
TL - 1 |
32 gp |
| War Horse |
1/2 |
TL - 6 |
400 gp |
| Mastiff |
1/8 |
TL - 6 |
100 gp |
| Camel |
1/8 |
TL - 2 |
50 gp |
| Elk |
1/4 |
TL - 3 |
125 gp |
| Rothe |
1/4 |
TL - 4 |
150 gp |
| Worg |
1/2 |
TL - 5 |
350 gp |
| Rhinoceros |
2 |
TL - 2 |
1600 gp |
| Moorbounder |
1 |
TL - 3 |
500 gp |
| Elephant |
4 |
TL - 1 |
3600 gp |
1 The prices above are only for the default training level. A mount’s training level can be adjusted by consulting the !mount alias and paying the gp cost given.
Basic vs Exotic Mounts: Any mount not listed in the above list is considered exotic and not available for general purchase. Such mounts have to be discovered in the wild and either brought to a trainer or tamed/trained personally. Any exotic mount with alternative speeds (other than the normal ground speed) begin to cost more for both purchase and training.
These additional costs are denoted as an exotic multiplier applied to the cost based on the number of additonal movement modes the mount has. A creature with flying, for instance, has an exotic multiplier of x2 applied to the final total. Any mount with an exotic multiplier greater than x1 must be ridden with an Exotic Saddle.
If you choose to only buy or only train a mount, the exotic multiplier is applied to the total you pay for either activity. This means that if you break up the buying and training of a mount, both totals will have the exotic multiplier applied.
In order to ride your mount, you must also equip it with a saddle. For your reference, the cost of generic saddles are given here:
| Name |
Cost |
| Riding Saddle |
10 gp |
| Military Saddle |
20 gp |
| Exotic Saddle |
60 gp |
Mundane barding for your mount is also available at the rate listed in the PHB. 4x the normal cost of the armor.
New Abilities and Proficiencies
In response to these new rules, we are adding in the following new feature options available for any character able to take one:
New Homebrew Tool Proficiency
This tool counts as an artisan tool and can be chosen in place of any other artisan tool choice when given a choice.
Horsemanship Supplies Proficiency in this set of tools allows the user to be better prepared for handling and taking care of trained mounts and creatures able to be mounts.
New Fighting Style
This fighting style option is added to all lists of fighting style choices.
Mounted Cavalry Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses Horsemanship Supplies proficiency if you are proficient. If you lack proficiency with Horsemanship Supplies, you gain that proficiency. In addition to the above, you gain advantage on any roll to not be forced out of your saddle.
