Astride her noble destrier, the knight in shining armor charges a looming giant.

The vicci paladin emerges from a shadowy forest on her unicorn steed.

Copper, Standard-bearer of the Chain of Acheron, bounds across the rooftops of Capital on the back of Big Cat, his loyal feline mount.

The image of the mounted hero is indelibly marked in our imagination. But the core rules of the world’s greatest roleplaying game don’t support this fantasy as well as they could. This section expands and explores where the rules fall short, and presents alternative mounts in Essa that capture the excitement of riding a powerful beast.

Riding in Review

The rules for mounted combat can be summed up into the following points:

• A creature must be willing, at least one size category larger than the rider, and have the proper anatomy to serve as a mount. 

• A trained mount acts during the rider’s turn, and an independent mount acts on its own initiative or if the rider wants, on the rider's turn. 

• Mounting and dismounting a creature costs the rider half their movement speed. 

• A trained mount can move and take the Dash, Disengage, or Dodge action on their turn. 

• If an effect moves the mount against the mount’s will, or the rider is knocked prone while mounted, the rider must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall off the mount. 

• If the mount provokes an opportunity attack, the attacker can target the mount or the rider.

The rules focus on the mount’s movement. A creature’s unique actions and traits don’t arise while being ridden. With these rules, the main advantage of having a mount is to increase movement speed or gain an alternate movement type like flight. Opportunities to set up powerful maneuvers between mount and rider are rare. Creature stat blocks are also static; mounts acquired at lower levels become liabilities as the character advances and the mount does not. Characters often acquire mounts to haul a wagon or travel long distances, but the advantages of owning a mount don’t justify the cost and upkeep. Let's change that in Essa.

New Mount Options:

The following trained mounts presented—the Eagrecean basilisk and axolottle, the Khazarian variety (the cheetah, bulette, purple worm, and chuul), Vassussian fellion, Khazarian great raven, Raegentis hippogriff, nightmare of Ankhmet, wild owlbear, and the all-around, valiant war-horse—synergize with their riders, granting unique abilities and movement options. These creatures adapt to working with a rider, and grow into dependable allies. While each mount presented has a stat block as part of the core game, the expanded stat blocks in this article add traits and actions that make these creatures into worthy adventuring companions.

Working with a Rider

Creatures with the Mounted trait have several adjustments to the standard mounted combat rules, including references to the rider, a creature designated by the mount that has ridden the mount within the last 10 days. The experience of working with a rider empowers a mount. Each mount gains a number of temporary hit points based on its rider’s character level or challenge rating after every long rest, representing the rider’s ability to keep the creature out of harm’s way.

The mount must use the rider’s proficiency bonus (PB) in place of its own proficiency bonus, so a less skilled rider might impair the mount’s own ability to act and defend themselves. The rider’s proficiency bonus is applied to the mount’s AC, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, and the DC to resist effects of the mount’s actions as listed in its stat block.

In combat, the trained mount shares the rider’s turn. The mount can move and take the Dash, Disengage, or Dodge action on their own, or they wait for the command of their rider. While mounted, the rider can also use a bonus action to command the mount to take one of the actions in the mount’s stat block. The rider and mount work in tandem and can take their respective actions in any order during the turn.

For example, the undead rider Tenn starts her turn by instructing her mount, Nash the nightmare, to move to her next foe. Tenn then uses her bonus action to have Nash attack the adversary with his flaming stomp, which uses the nightmare’s action. Afterwards, Tenn uses her action to attack an enemy with her rotting whip.

Vaulting Attack

A rider can also use their bonus action to dismount spectacularly and perform a vaulting attack. The rider must make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. The DC is equal to 10 + the mount’s challenge rating. On a success, the next attack the rider makes before the end of their turn has advantage. Otherwise, the rider falls prone in an unoccupied space adjacent to the mount and the rider’s speed becomes 0 until the start of their next turn.

Trained Mounts without Riders

The GM decides how a trained mount without a rider acts. As a guideline, a trained mount takes the Dodge action if it receives no command from its rider while the rider is present. However, if the rider is incapacitated or absent, the mount acts on its own under the control of the GM. Without a rider to command them in combat, most mounts focus on running away or defending themselves.

Mounted Creature Taming

Most mounts sold by breeders and merchants are trained and ready to ride, but making friends with a mount and training it yourself can be a big part of the fun. Wild creatures must first be tamed by an aspiring rider to become a trained mount. In order to tame a mount, a rider must succeed on a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check with a DC equal to 13 + the creature’s challenge rating. The “Taming Mounts” table below features a scale of consequences based on the result of the rider’s Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. At the GM’s discretion, a rider who feeds and cares for the animal has advantage on this check.

Taming Mounts

Distance from DC - Result

-5 or lower - The mount is hostile towards the rider and attacks. The DC on the next check to tame the mount increases by 2.

-4 to -1 - The mount attempts to fling the rider off its back. The rider must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. The DC on the next check to tame the mount increases by 1.

0 (meets DC) - The mount is temporarily trained for 8 hours. The rider must then attempt to tame the creature again.

+1 to +4 - The mount is temporarily trained for 24 hours. The rider must then attempt to tame the creature again.

+5 or higher - The mount is permanently trained and loyal towards the rider.

Omnimounts and Mass Transportation

Omnimounts are massive creatures that can carry multiple riders at once and travel across continents effortlessly. An omnimount may have a designated driver in place of a single rider, or the creature might be an independent agent offering their services to adventurers in need of transportation. Omnimounts are utilized by the Iikhazar Khaganate as they have properly domesticated these massive creatures. A legendary omnimount with the power to traverse worlds could slumber deep beneath the depths waiting for people to find it. An omnimount under the control of an evil giant may reward whoever frees it.