Buy Mounts and Mules! D&D 5E
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- Buy the mounts! They enhance your builds by a lot! I'm dead serious!
Special thanks to these people for helping me out with art stuff!
Mrakobulka: / mrako_bulka
Min: / flufle Min drew the mule btw. 
Хобби
This is great! But I have one doubt: you say "If it disengages from the enemy, neither you nor the mount trigger opportunity attacks." I certainly buy that the mount wouldn't, but is your reasoning that the rider wouldn't be subject to OA because he's not using his movement? Is there confirmation of that somewhere in the rules, Sage Advice, etc.?
If so, my wizard's gonna be using Phantom Steed, with 100' movement (200' dash!), every damn chance he gets.
Opportunity attacks: "You also don't provoke an oppertunity attack when you teleport or when someone or something moves you without using your movement, action or reaction."
That someone is the mount moving you.
@@PackTactics That is awesome...my DM's gonna love this. 😈
@@JeffreyGuevin Thank you for the question, forgot to add it to the video. Pinned!
@@PackTactics And the mount is technically making the disengage action, so it can't be hit with opportunity attacks either.
PHB: "...if the mount provokes an opportunity attack while you're on it, the attacker can target you or the mount." It's literally IN THE VIDEO. Bottom of the scream, when it shows controlling mount rules.
The only weakness to this build is if you get... emotionally attached.
RP value!!!
@@PackTactics I remember playing the sunless citadel on a local "adventurer's league". We were fighting a troll in the advnenture as level two adventurers. It ended up killing my mule, and after that there was no retreat. We ended up winning, but my character lost his first mount. Because of that experience he is now riding a Triceratops from chult because he never wanted to experience that loss again.
Lizardfolk: Are you sure about that
"It's a mount. It's walking food wrapped in shoes!" -Denis Leary probably.
@@SetzerII also the lizard folk.... Though to be fair they think that about most edible things.....
Pact tactics: endorses mule
Me: looks at carrying capacity for mule
Me: nice
@Andrei Salvaleon Tortles are medium sized, they can't use a mule as a mount anyway.
@@Keenath I mean, they could surf on them, and from what i read mules can be ridden by humans so i guess it's just rules being rules.
@@Keenathin mordekainen presents:monster of the multiverse tortles can be medium or small size
Don't forget to name each new mule with the next letter of the alphabet. Makes for a good story at the end when you say goodbye to Zebediah.
If you go through enough you can eventually call AAA for a ride.
@@SetzerII the joke is that Zebediah would be like the trillionth mule
@@zimzimph you mean the 25th?
@@codebracker no the first horse is a the 26th horse is aa lmao
AAron we will miss you!
This may be subject to DM interpretation, but consider the joys of the mounted grapple. When your mount is booking a 60 foot movement speed and you can strong arm someone such that you drag them along the side, spike growth starts looking really fun.
Oh absolutely, but thats a quick conversation about controlled mounts and if you really do control it and how spooks is defined and so on. I wouldn't be hesitant to try it. If it doesn't work out at all in the fights then try the next animal like a horse. If nothing works then just make them pack mules or kill them for food. Like theres a lot more stuff you can do to make it practical either way.
And the mount wouldn't die after 2-3 squares?
@@zimzimph The mount just needs to run around the spikes, not through it.
Lasso and drag.
This is evil. I love it.
Last game we purchased our first Mule, named it Arrissa the Ass after a wizard we hate. First session with it we went by astral silver cord to the start of the adventure. Turned out to be a dust goblin shack precariously perched on the top of a titanic slug frozen in battle against a titan, swarming with two dust goblin clans at war with each other. We could climb down, but it was treacherous, only panicked option was to polymorph into a giant eagle, grapple Arissa and fly her down to the desert floor. Would take 4 rounds, on the 3rd round Arissa bet my grapple check as she was panicking, fell 100' to the sands exploding with all our supplies and waterskins...Our pack animal survived 10 minutes real time! Whether we survive is another matter.
Just a role-playing note here, horses and mules scare easily and I imagine you would have a hard time getting them into a dungeon, even if there was plenty of space. For a small size race, I'd suggest you spend the extra gold and get a mastiff. A dog doesn't have the natural fear of a grazing herd animal.
While I would say this is moderately true and justifying them in enclosed spaces is tricky, there's a reason the Mounted Combat is in the game. Horses have historically had a *huge* impact on combat, and even today are still used when horseback is a better alternative to cars or tanks. We have ridden these guys into war for millennia, and not just at range. Yes, horses can still be startled, but remember, a hourse is a prey animal that usually weighs over 500 lbs. They themselves can be deadly opponents. A single wolf *can't* take down a healthy horse usually. A single human isn't much better. So if anything, a startled mount should become Uncontrolled briefly and act on its own until the rider passes a save, maybe like the 3 death save system.
@@coin0matic just keep a horse for combat on outside areas and a mastiff that you can mount in enclosed spaces
@@coin0matic A further consideration - Using a horse as a skirmisher is a lot different from charging a horse into melee. With the former a well trained riding horse will suffice as you are engaging the enemy from range, for the latter you need a horse specifically trained for combat - a warhorse.
Another thing about Phantom Steed to note is that because it doesn't take concentration and is a ritual spell with no cost, when you need to travel a long distance you can repeatedly ritual cast the spell to maintain 5 Phantom Steeds for the party (or have them pull some carts/wagons if your party is larger/needs to move something). Unlike actual horses, they won't get tired so it should be a lot faster.
strangely the phantom steed has two listed speeds for longer distances
Combine with totem barbarian for 20-26 mile an hour travel in medieval time
@Andrei Salvaleon what about them?
@Andrei Salvaleon it's a ritual spell, so for ritual casters it only takes 10 min for a free horse. Wizards can cast it all day long.
@@Athkore Any decent GM should keep that in mind also. Mounted elves with phantom steeds should be a thing. I see a TPK in the making. :)
It's not a pegasus, but a mule will serve until such a time that you reach level 10 as a bard ;) Humble beginings and all that
Better option: Be a Biker Kobold.
Seriously though, Battle Smith is *amazing* for a kobold, since Steel Defenders tend to be around Medium size, and can look like whatever you want. Steel Defender died? You're an Artificer. You can just build a new one, rather than having to buy more mounts. Plus, the Defender can self-repair, be patched up with Mending, gets stronger as you level, has various immunities, and can even deflect attacks. Need I say more?
You loose the extra actions though :/
@@macaronedelpdm932 Only if you use your bonus action to command your mount to dash or something. Otherwise, your Steel Defender can act completely independently from you, moving and dodging as programmed. Mostly, you're just using its 40 movement speed to kite the enemy, thanks to how most of the dangerous threats in the Monster Manual don't go too far past 30 movement speed. Something tells me your mount doesn't need to bust out the turbo-boosters too often.
I'll admit, it does take your bonus action to get that 80 movement speed out of your mount, but on the other hand, other flesh-and-blood mounts have a notable problem, which is... "temperament." Don't get me wrong. A mule is a cheap-ass mount (pun intended). However, the phrase "stubborn as a mule" didn't pop into popularity for nothing. You know this. I know this. However, the real fun doesn't begin until your DM knows this, especially if your DM controls the personalities of all hired/purchased allied units.
If he does, your DM can decide that, instead of having the mule help you fight the BBEG, your mount has noticed that there's a lovely patch of grass in the exact opposite direction, and that it requires your mount's full attention. As the flip-side scenario, that giant Orc over there looks similar to the one that insulted the mule's mother in a previous engagement, and your mount is gonna run straight up to that giant orc and give said beef-stick a piece of its mind, regardless of if he's dragging you to your death in the process. Better start rolling Animal Handling, because the DM decided that it's gonna matter right here, right now. Not proficient? Stubborn mule don't give two dandies. Stubborn mule does what stubborn mule wants. This can extend to other biological mounts as well, as training to carry riders doesn't always extend to martial combat, and some mounts can be... "skittish," to say the least.
Meanwhile, your Steel Defender? That thing was custom-built by *you specifically.* Each cog and screw was placed exactly where you wanted it, *when* you wanted it. Through trial, error, and only the occasional explosion, you created a beast of a machine whose sole purpose is to serve you, and in a way that only a machine built by *you specifically* could serve. Sure, your Steel Defender can have its own personality (many DMs prefer this), but its every action is performed with your safety and strategy in mind, since that's how *you specifically* programmed it.
Wanna take on the BBEG? As soon as the fight starts, the Steel Defender's gonna lock onto the target, and it will move and perform based on how it was programmed, rather than based solely on temperament. Want to stay away from the giant Orc, because it'll cleave you in half the second you're within range? Kiting protocols engaged. Hope the big green meanie can keep up with superior speed. Every aspect of your mount's involvement in the fight is dependent on how you the player want your mount to perform. It literally cannot be stubborn or skittish, unless you specifically program it that way.
As a side note, some DMs will allow your Steel Defender to follow the standard mount-specific rulings while mounted. If so, you can probably pre-program your Steel Defender to use its Dash action whenever enemies get too close. The reason I say this is because there's a bit of rule-conflicting going on between Steel Defender combat and Mounted combat, likely because Steel Defenders were probably not designed with mounted combat in mind. To me though, it makes sense to let the player pre-program their Steel Defender to use certain actions on certain occasions, so long as those actions are within reason, and so long as the DM's okay with it too.
@@gamecavalier3230 Some DMs like to take control of any characters that aren't specifically part of your character sheet. This can include hired mercenaries, purchased mounts, and even extend to certain familiars and pact boons. Just because the book states that you control their actions, doesn't mean the DM can't overrule the book.
Plus, not *everything* I said was homebrew or flavor. I did initially mention various benefits you get for using your Steel Defender as a mount, that most other ten-penny mounts can't achieve. After all, I've yet to see a mule heal its own wounds, be completely immune to several conditions (and one form of elemental damage), negate surprise attempts, possess darkvision, deflect attacks at its riders, speak comprehensive languages, and most importantly, *scale with your level.*
I mean sure, if you're not going with a Ranger, Artificer, or any other class that can conjure a companion or two, and you just so happen to be a kobold, buy a mount. Just don't expect it to be as useful for mounted combat as a badass Devil's Ride that you can revive for free, and that does its darnedest to not go down in the first place.
@@gamecavalier3230 Again, your Steel Defender can be allowed to act completely independently from you, even *if* you're sitting on top of it. Yes, you can use a bonus action to command it to do various things, and arguments can even be made for using it as a controlled mount, but that doesn't restrict it from being able to function on its own, should you take a more superior route.
Independent Mounts are a thing, and bearing a rider puts no restrictions on the actions the Independent Mount can take. You aren't gonna accidentally delete System32 from your Steel Defender *just* because you installed a cushioned seat. Not unless your internal wiring resembles a Gordian Knot. If it does, fix it.
@@gamecavalier3230 I'd probably agree with attacking-then-moving being a problem, if the best use for riding on a mount as an Artificer was to try to move towards the enemy, and then attack. Often enough, if you're using a Steel Defender to reposition around the battlefield, what you're trying to do is kite the enemy instead, and if the enemy's on top of you, it might be better to cast Longstrider on your mount, then command it to GTFO. Of course, proper strategy would dictate that they shouldn't be able to get that close to begin with, under normal circumstances.
In most instances, the enemy's supposed to try to move towards you, to stop you from sniping them with a hand crossbow from a long distance away, or from using other magical (or scientific) effects to ruin their lives from outside their reach. As they move closer to you, you get to decide how to respond to their advance. Should you have your mount move 40 feet back, against the person whose movement speed is 30? Should you use a bonus action to have it dash, to counteract your opponent's attempt to dash? Should you shoot them anyway, because you've doubled their weight in crossbow bolts by this point, and one more Fire Bolt will finally drop them before they can get in a single attack of their own? You don't have to worry about charging into the fray point-blank in order to deliver an attack, if the enemy's within range of your bolts or spells already, especially if you have Spell Sniper and/or Sharpshooter. If you do, then your target's gonna have a lot farther to run away from you, than you do from them.
Plus, it's not like the Steel Defender's meant to go on the offensive in the first place. There's a reason it's a Steel *Defender.* It's supposed to use the Dodge action to keep itself defended, and use its Deflect Attack reaction to defend those nearby. Most often, the worst thing you can do is to move too far away from the Steel Defender in the first place, since that leaves ample opportunity for someone to attack from a location where your Steel Defender can't defend you. Plus, by using your Steel Defender as a mount, it's a quick, free, and easy way to artificially bump your movement speed up by 10.
Of course, while tethering your movement to an uncontrolled mount might seem hazardous, don't forget that you yourself built this particular mount from the ground up. Yes, your Steel Defender can do whatever it wishes as an independent mount, but what it wishes to do is usually to serve you in all the best ways possible. It wishes to keep you alive, since its life is literally tied to yours. It wishes to move the way you programmed it to wish to move, acts the way you programmed it to act, thinks the way you programmed it to think. An uncontrolled mule might go gallivanting on its own, and drag you off as a consequence, but a Steel Defender will defend you with its last circuit if it has to, if that is what you built it to truly wish to do. As such, hazard eliminated.
Speaking of dying breaths though, what are you going to do if someone kills your mount mid-adventure? Are you going to trek miles back to town in order to buy a new one? And how often will you do so? I mean, a Steel Defender's health scales with you, and it's easily healed both by its own ability and by your Mending cantrip. Plus, he just takes a low-level slot to revive, and you get an hour to do so. Failing that, a single long rest will get you a whole new Defender, free of charge. No trip back to town necessary. Once you start running high-level adventures, you may start to realize how little health certain purchased mounts truly possess, which may start to give more reason for a sturdier ride, if the option's available.
As for the mentioning of the Drakewarden's ally being mountable, I think it has to do with the sudden growth stages of the companion, and helping to differentiate the functionality of the drake as a mount between three separate stages. People have mounted Ranger's animal companions before, and have even mounted Wild-Shaped Druid teammates. I doubt hopping on the back of a four-legged allied construct is anything too Anti-RAW.
Astuce for DMs: whenever your players bring this kinda stuff into the game (ex: your 6 Lvl1 players all brought mounts on the first session), remember that you, as a DM, can too, for free. Mounted skeletons are fun! Be creative with your encounters. No modules prevent you from doing so and players will love it. Orcs with a ballista. Feats, magic items, crazy combos...
bog unicorns(skeleton horses with a sword through their skulls, basically treat as horse with sword and add skeleton features) being rode by a halfling skeleton with a lance.
Yeah, I once had an undead legion show up as cavalry. Everyone was expecting them to be slowly walking instead of dashing constantly on skeletal horses that never tire.
This is wrong; you can't give "monsters" (bandits, orcs, whatever) mounts, especially at lv1, because the mounts are hostile creatures and therefore have CR (and are therefore worth EXP). You also can't change their AC or damage via items without changing their CR.
You technically can give them equipment or features as long as they don't change EHP, AC, to-hit or damage though. There are a few ways to adjust EHP like giving them resistance to a single specific damage type or immunity to crits. You can also give them alternative attack options that deal the same damage. Melf's Acid Arrow attacks everything in the targeted square, including familiars and mounts, so you can arm even low level monsters with an attack like throwing a molotov or acid flask that deals basically the same attack damage but hits everything in the square. If you want to be reasonably fair about it, maybe make it do a die step less damage, so d8 to d6, or d6 to d4 or something. Of course you're giving your players these items as loot and that might actually be nice.
But yeah you can't give every enemy monster Pack Tactics for free without adjusting CR.
@@hirumaryuei include the mounts in the calculation. a horse is what cr 1/2 with whatever armor it is wearing being ignored for purposes of calculating cr due to the variant warhorse rule.
@@hirumaryuei Well, it feels odd to have a player thats not even at my table telling me how I should DM my monsters. But I get that's not the point you are trying to make and will instead try to address those points.
There are many ways to make monsters much more dangerous without touching the stat block. You can change the environment, set up an ambush, make them use objects or their surroundings.
If a PC can pick up items monsters left behind, the monsters can as well.
Yes, the orcs that fleed the previous encounter stole the mounts a the local Inn, and the ballista on top of that.
The goblins bottlenecked the players in a room using the dodge action.
In one of my game, Strahd even picked a magic weapon from the players and decided to wear an armor, he has 20 INT score after all.
My games are fair, but they occur in a dynamic world that adapts to the PCs actions. Optimized PC face optimized enemies. And my players enjoy that because they feel the threat.
You can also arguably short rest while riding on a mount in overland travel. You can inarguably do it while in a cart pulled by a mount.
As someone who plays a Paladin a lot, I like to practice "Ancient Greek cavalry tactics" of having my horse ride me up to the combat, hopping off, and having the horse book it before it can get poof'd. Granted this only really works with a Paladin steed that will have the intelligence and coordination to pull off that maneuver independently.
If it were me, I'd limit the ability to short rest in the saddle either to those with a homebrew feat, training in Animal Handling, slow travel speed, or at least require specialized tack at a premium price. Riding a horse is actually pretty physically demanding for an amateur, even at low speeds.
I think they called this sort of "mounted infantry" soldier a dragoon in the late renaissance when such a thing became popular again.
If you have a carriage you can long rest. :)
@@Loalrikowki even if your experienced I dont think you could count it as resting. A short rest I imagine as seeing to your wounds and catching your breath. Unless you were moving at a very slow pace I don't see horse riding to be that.
@@ddshocktrooper5604 Also used extensively by celts by bringing in infantry on chariots and have them hop off before getting the next warrior
In my current game im actually playing a kobold who uses mounts and oh boy its fun with all the shinanigans i can do like the mount counts as an allie so pack tactics is always active within 5 feet of me and as the video metion free dash and disengage.
"Another 8 gold and you can buy a new one"
Drakewarden Ranger: "haha, free mount go brr"
It never ceases to amaze me the amount of players that don't have pack mules, though the highly restrictive nature of 5E's starting wealth and treasure rewards do go some way toward explaining that.
If your pack mule dies deep in the dungeon, you are kinda screwed out of all your stuff. Every time you face a ladder or a bad enough river crossing, without a bridge, or a climb-up - that's right, your stuff and mule stays there, to be eaten by local flora and/or fauna.
It can be plain necessity in more hardcore campaigns with strict weight rules and low magic tho. You can still be screwed out of your pack mule, but it's either that or nothing at all.
Tenser's floating disk for horizontal traversal, levitate for verticals. Arcane casters get the goods. Besides, you're only losing stuff you wouldn't have been able to carry anyway without the benefit of a pack animal plus the cost of your mount.
Another common way to lose your mount, teleport.
Crit Rope campaign 2 is a great example of a party buying mounts and then losing them shortly after, i don't know the exact stats but i think they completely lost their mounts 3 separate times, atleast one of which was to teleporting between cities and never returning for them. Its honestly kinda frustrating when a group spends a bunch of gold on animals and forgets about them 30 real life minutes later.
I think you're forgetting the constant Animal Handling checks you're gonna have to make as you're bringing your mule a mile underground to volcanic caverns full of monsters, not to mention rolling to have to control it in actual combat. At least a warhorse is trained for combat...
If you have an military saddle it's with advantage and the warhorse doesn't have any bonus except the one you can argue with the DM for RP purpose.
@@Sir-Pleiades The military saddle just gives advantage to rolls to remain mounted, not to be able to control or "push" the animal.
Mounts react poorly to any situation that is not just riding down a trail from point A to point B. A horse requires 5+ gallons of water a day. Mules will act up and not move for any reason at any time. Horses do not like caves. To be fair a donkey or burro will follow you anywhere. But medium creatures can't ride them.
@@davidbeppler3032 thats why you get a mastiff. My wizard had a mastiff for carrying his stuff. Doubles up as a guard dog. I didn't have it get involved in combat though.
@@davidbeppler3032 Mules refusing to move have a damn good reason be it they feel its unsafe or danger or a predator is close or your trying to overwork them.
On one campaign I play in, most of the group uses mounts. They are agile, serve to add dynamism in combats and can make travels go by so quickly. But there is a detail about them that makes things even better: they can be sidekicks.
With Tasha, the sidekicks need to have a bond between the player and the NPC, but most of the options need to learn a language. Not Warrior tho. Warrior only requires the bond between you and the NPC, giving an extra boost to the mule you ride with. And it gains some sweet benefits, like gaining a health die and more HP per level, a saving throw and a skill proficiency and armor (that needs to be tailored, and it doesn't have official rules, but I don't see why not put Medium Armor on them)... by level 1. It gives RP value, more abilities for your mount and, by Level 11, it turns into a pretty alright self-suficient offtank, that while it can't fight a whole lot by itself, it turns into a monster by your side. So go on, my people, be the Don Quixotes and Sancho Pansas of the world, and beat your enemies with chivalry and a donkey. It can even apply to Mastiffs, another underutilized NPC.
I do enjoy the rules for sidekick when I read them. I'll actually be using them for Ireene (Curse of Strahd).
@@PackTactics I'm using it for Irenna, and it helps a ton.
Combine with the awaking spell to give them a language and more side kick options ?
I think there is actually mount armor in the phb labeled under barding it’s within two or three pages of mounts
Barding exists: it’s four times as expensive as the ”same type” of armour for a humanoid
I rode a horse for the first time in my life yesterday and it changed my life. If you ever want to play a mounted combatant, I can’t recommend it enough. It’ll give an understanding of what happens and how that I imagine will make roleplay on a mount so much more fun and real
Want to play a Dex party but worried about Str challenges? Block and tackle + mules!
Climbing is Athletics
I generally agree and want to see mounts used more in games, but I would like to mention that I wouldn't allow my players to ride mounts at dash speed for long periods of time without DC 10 con checks for the mount every hour leading to levels of exhaustion on a fail. Just to add a touch of realism, and counter the absolute brokenness of infinidash.
"For short spans of time (up to an hour), many animals move much faster than Humanoids. A mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace. If fresh Mounts are available every 8 to 10 miles, Characters can cover larger distances at this pace, but this is very rare except in densely populated areas."
RAW you shouldn't even make them roll for exhaustion, horses simply can't ride (while carrying a humanoid + equipment) at a gallop for more than an hour straight. Horses and mules aren't made for endurance.
@@Omni-kyun oh cool I just assumed there wasn't rules for it since its a bit niche so I thought of my own. I'll be using these rules instead then.
In real life, over very long distances, a horse isn't THAT much faster than a human - unless the horse is killing itself.
@@Technodreamer humans are even faster. At least ones that have heroe-like capabilities like adventurers have. Sweating and upright walking makes us endurance beasts.
Although: most of this comparison only hold when not considering heavy burden. Obviously a horse can carry more before it slows down
As someone who wants to play as a Kobold soon, this video is quite useful! Thanks Pack Tactics, very cool.
I think it's important to note that RAW you can't dash during overland travel. It uses the slow/regular/fast pace so the fastest you can go is is 1 and 1/3 times your normal speed.
Actually, there is a rule in the PHB for galloping with mounts. PHB p. 181
"Mounts and Vehicles. For short spans of time (up to an hour), many animals move much faster than humanoids. A mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace"
Imagine a kobold riding in on a ambush drake.
even if we ignore the combat applications, mules should be a must by for any low lvl party. why make your resident SWOLE BOI the pack mule when you can literally BUY one for a negligible amount of gold?
Be a geenie warlock and just stuff all the treasure into your lamp
Until the mule decides to just stop moving. For no reason. They do that. Frequently.
Always interesting to be this far into 5e and see super mundane stuff that everyone ignores get a bit of a spotlight.
Well played
You convinced me here take my gold
Cast dragons breath on your mount to give it a 3d6 15foot cone attack, the spell gives a creature you touch the action so they should be able to take this action.
Bruh, imagine seing an Warhorse riding at max speed in your direction breathing fire everywhere.
The main reason mounts aren’t more commonplace in DnD is simple. Most players play medium size races, and most large size mounts can’t fit through the standard dungeon without significant effort. Find Steed is a workaround but it can rapidly burn a Paladin’s precious 2nd level slots, sometimes rapidly if you need to do it multiple times. Mounts are also inherently vulnerable to AoEs, and unless your dm winds up giving your mount sidekick levels or fighter levels or whatever for participation in enough combat, they become increasingly fragile and hard to manage. Find Greater Steed and mounted combatant can help mitigate this but only somewhat.
The real key to mounted combat is to use what is probably the least standard mount available. I’m of course referring to the party’s moon Druid. If the party has a moon Druid, and you have various feats or class level abilities that allow you to quickly hop on their back after they wild shape, you’re able to reap the benefits of a mount, including the fringe benefits of an uncontrolled mount, without needing to worry nearly as much.
Alternatively, technically any medium creature can be a mount for a small creature. It doesn’t need to be a beast. This invokes meme imagery of halflings in baby carriers sure, but it’s actually surprisingly practical to just hop on your Barbarian buddy’s back. If you have abilities that pertain to a mount, those will apply here as well.
The trouble with mounts is one you touch on, but gloss over far too quickly: they're fragile. Sure, cheap ones are replaceable...when you can go to town to buy them. And sure, if an enemy specifically attacked the mount rather than you, that's an attack that didn't hit your own hp. But one AoE is highly likely to take out a mule at level 1, let alone level 5+. A riding horse doesn't fair much better. No extra actions for the attacker, either, as they caught you in it, too.
And the phantom steed has only one hit point.
And as soon as the mount goes down, you're back to being mountless. Again, you could argue that that's fine: you are, after all, no worse off than if you didn't have one in the first place. It is, however, a hassle - you've had to keep food around for it, you've had to track its stats, and you got maybe one fight out of it if you were lucky.
Phantom Steed is a little better in this light than I had previously given it credit for, but it's going to be almost comedically dropping in round 1.
For non-phantom steed mounts, there IS a solution: Sidekick rules. If your DM will let you train up a beloved mount as a sidekick, it can get surprisingly beefy.
Me and my brothers played D&D in an improv sort of way when we were younger.(we didn’t have all the books and we did custom worlds) We got two mules to carry our things. They lived forever, nothing ever killed them. Got a warhorse. Died on our first quest to a nat 20 by the DM and a 2 by the rider. We stuck to our mules after that.
Kobold riding in on a mule for that pack mule tactics bonus
In my first 5e campaign, I realized that I could cast rituals while riding. Several times, this sub-party (it was a large and complex west marches-ish campaign) basically always had phantom steeds, though my character was a little irate because he basically spent 100% of his time while traveling ritual casting the spell to ensure all five or six people had steeds, with people doubling up if possible (the horse can carry up to 240 pounds before being encumbered; hurray for the kenku with a bag of holding). Still, it was effective for fast travel on missions! Alternatively, the phantom steeds could pull a cart.
Something that metal gear solid 5 has taught us is that it's 100% possible to hide while on a horse. You might need to do an athletics or acrobatics check ina addition to stealth but using your own mount to hide yourself is a legit option for rogues.
Or The Odyssey, I guess. Although that was sheep.
Mules are also great for there sure footed ability, there less likely to be pushed and therefore less likely that you fall off them
Finally someone made a video about this! I have been telling my friends and other local players about this for years
Gnome Ranger with a Mastiff Companion starting to look really good combo... I wonder what I could do to milk it more.
I don't know if the rangers companions get decent buffs, but there is an option for having it be your sidekick with tasha's.
Could end up having that dog be a decent fighting companion.
Remember that even though the mount now has the same initiative as you, it still has its own discreet turn, and that makes things a lot harder. You can't have the mount run up to an enemy, unleash your attack routine on it, then have the mount disengage and continue running, because it's not its turn anymore. If you run up to a creature and kill it in one hit, you can't have the mount move to the next creature so you can continue your attack, because it's not its turn anymore. You can't even have it ready an action to dash after you've taken your turn, because "Ready" isn't one of the three actions you're allowed to make it take.
Don't get me wrong, mounts can still be good and very useful in the correct circumstances. Using ranged attacks, like you said, makes dealing with the action economy easier since you don't have to move and attack at the same time. Even riding by with a lance by readying your own action means damage at basically no risk or cost, even if it's only a little. But saying they make you a rogue for 8/75 gold is definitely overselling them.
I think I'd go for a camel as my mount of choice, actually. They're 25 gold cheaper than a riding horse, have more HP, and are only 10 feet slower. Then again, the DM might argue that camels aren't widely available, depending on the setting.
Also, for the squeezing; I'd argue that a horse probably can't squeeze through a gap while you're riding it; at least not one smaller than like 7.5 feet. You don't meld into the horse while you're mounted, you still take up space on top and on either side; so if the horse has to squat and suck in it's sides to get through, you're getting peeled off. Of course, the rules on being mounted and squeezing don't say anything about how they interact, and I don't have an official ruling I can point to for this, so just... make sure you ask your DM how they'll rule that before you count on it.
A cart cost 15 gold, and even if you don't use it for carrying things you can easily use it as a place to sleep, and a means of easier transportation especially in hyper realistic games.
Push the cart and ram your enemies with it. People in D&D combat don't think enough of it as a (small scale) war even though, there's an obvious reason why they should. It's very powerful. Try playing around a bit with military tactics and formations in games like Bannerlord or total war 3 kingdoms and then look at how that could translate into D&D, it's SO MUCH POWER!!!
@@jugglejunk indeed being tactical in combat is very very powerful in general. I even played in a campaign where we were a group of 3 to five players would attempt to hunt down a single other player. It was funny because I was the only person to last more than three sessions because I fought tactically.
@@jugglejunk You could also use the cart as cover, so the ranged fighters are safer.
@@YourBoyNobody530 and if you hae more than one turn it into a choke point, although depending on party composition you could probably even make something akin to this with only one cart. Cart as cover for ranged and spellcasters with a long reach based build with polearm master, sentinel and a way to push them back (battle master? bugbear :)) a bit on each side as the wings. should be a good start.
@@jugglejunk I don’t know if that would work because they could climb over the carts somewhat easily
another funny part i noticed about Phantom Steed is the last two sentences:
When the spell ends, the steed gradually fades, giving the rider 1 minute to dismount. The spell ends if you use an action to dismiss it or if the steed takes any damage.
so unless im mistaken, the steed doesnt even instantly go away when it takes damage. when it takes damage, itll begin the 1 minute fading part, during which it can still move(?). so even if it gets dinked with an arrow at the start of the fight, you still have 10 rounds of 100ft speed left before you need to recast it
I'll be honest I'm surprised you didn't touch on the "spirit of the land" beast master companion or summoned creature. It has one of the best scaling damages of companions and the sheer amount of flair it has is amazing. It is a medium size but if you're a kobold, halfling or goblin it's all gravy.
It's interesting, but if you ride your beast it can no longer attack, only disengage, dash ou dodge as an action.
@@lucaslepesteur7846 "You can either control the mount or allow it to act independently. Intelligent creatures, such as dragons, act independently." and "An independent 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."
The Beast of the Land has 8 int. I would say that's intelligent. That's at least as intelligent as the fighter and kenku in my group xD So I think a DM could rule it as being independent.
Luckily, in the rebooted campaign I'm in, we were all given special warhorse steeds with special abilities. I'm sure this ties into the storyline but I'll be making sure to ride the horse while in combat, else I'm in the covered cart writing spell scrolls 😉
Pack animal for a dungeon crawl. The goat.
I always love these videos
I never played with the idea of mounts much, but I kind of figured they would be potent for additional maneuverability. Ritual casting on mounts is new to me, but sounds incredibly useful. Only downfalls I can see is that since the mount is an NPC, the DM does have control over it when you are not riding it (But again, cheap replacement if a mule) and that other NPCs might request you dismount before entering Inns, Taverns, their homes, etc. (But that's not a big deal either, since the extended maneuverability doesn't help too much in those areas).
I used to have a magic initiative Paladin who sits on her warhorse, cast compelled duel, run to the enemy, slash them with booming blade, disengage, run away to a safe distance.
My DM was so so pissed.
One time she bought an extra lance for her friend who is a fighter with dual wielding feat, then let him borrow the horse. Dude was an absolute madlad, riding on a horse with two lance slaying enemies.
Yep!
pros: you have basically the mobility of a rogue, a pseudo bag of holding and a cute mount.
cons: i have to spend 8 gold, i have to be a manlet, and i'll possibly get attached to it.
seems a fair trade.
Another tactic with mounts in combat is the classic "Cavalry charge/raid" Where in you have your Lance and shield, or dual Lances even (Lance Special, can one hand while mounted) with Dual Wield Feat, then you control mount to move about half its speed up to an enemy, use your action to strike it with your lance (add Charger feat for greater effect) then have mount Disengage as it's action and move away from enemy without any AoO. Rinse and repeat on following turns all while staying well out of enemy's movement/melee range.
When I first started playing RPGs. we had a DM that almost made it a habit to have us attacked every night by some random encounter. An you guessed it, the first thing they did was kill our mounts. This eventually kept us from even thinking about buying mounts, they only lasted the first night of the game, then gone.
One thing overlooked is, not every where will have everything. Mules are great farm animals and suck in deserts. They might not be available. Regional options permitting, I always buy a cart and beasts to pull it. And a few goats/sheep. Plus a few dogs to guard everything. I can ride the cart with supplies, if I need to. Will always have a raised bed to sleep on, or my party to sleep on while I watch over them. I also buy as much dried meat, cheese, and hard bread as I can get. Baskets not barrels and rope. Get cheap laborers to help if you can afford it, or get free help by having high charisma, charm spells, or be non-good. Create water is an easy spell to get and purify food and drink is also a must for me. I am one of those players that will harvest every thing the dm will let me from my prey. Like in the real world, if I kill it, nothing goes to waist.....with exceptions of poisonous insects/allergens. I will also burry the enemy never just leaving them in the open. Murder-Hobo's hate playing with me.......I love the survival aspects of rpg's, even when the dm ignored it, I will still be ready. But the dice are not a kind master all the time, lol.
Phantom Steed: The text of the spell says “The creature … has a speed of 100 feet and can travel 10 miles in an hour, or 13 miles at a fast pace.”
Note that it isn’t giving the steed a speed of 13 mph, it’s stating that, at a fast pace, the most it can travel in an hour is 13 miles. This distance can’t be increased by dashing, because that isn’t the horse’s speed.
I play a gnome druid named Teabaggins and he has a wagon pulled by 6 horses. The Wagon is large enough for 4 medium creatures to comfortably ride, However I had it converted into a home for my gnome. Yes, he had a mobile home and on many a quest my party sits out in the cold. Because while I was investing into my comfort and survivability, They spent their gold on a +1 sword. The cart cost me 2000 gold and the horses came from a coat of useful items we picked up as part of a quest. No one wanted it calling it useless. I also have 6 hounds, A pet bear and a Roc I awakened through a clever combination of spells that the DM couldn't say no to.
Finally someone knows! Who needs a bag of holding!
Phantom Steed is such an underrated spell/ritual. It is better then a regular mount since it gradually fades away so you can basically still use it full combat. It is also easier to get back after the mount dies if you are travelling in the wilderness for example.
Heh! I played in one game where our mounts died so often that my PC invented a spell to try and protect them (Basically a variant on a 3e shelter spell that made a stable with housing above it.) We got an airship not long after that so I never had to deploy it, but a consequence of that experience is that in our next game in that world we have yet to use any mounts at all. There's been no discussion: it simply hasn't happened, which is pretty funny.
The bane of mounts. Ladders
Small race + Beast Master Ranger + Giant Wolf Spider = DM giving up on life
In past editions I've always kept skeleton horses, but dressed them in custom leather barding that consisted of their own cured and stuffed hides.
I miss the necromancer clerics of 3.X
*Laughs in Centaur Monk*
PHB Guild Merchant variant of the Guild Artisan background can start with a mule and cart in place of artisan tools.
this is great, been thinking of a halfling cavalier with a mastiff/mule mount
I love this video XD
I had a Mule in my old campaign and while I hardly used him he was great fun as a discount Bag of Holding! XD
If your playing a warlock you can get the invocation that lets you cast levitate on yourself for free meaning it is casted on your mount as well allowing you, and your mount to easily scale cliffs.
Casting a spell on yourself doesn’t extend the spell to your mount unless you have a specific feature that allows that, such as a Paladin’s Find Steed spell. So using a Warlock invocation to cast Levitate on yourself won’t also levitate your steed.
Mastiffs are good for this. They not only are good mounts, but they also make you hard to sneak up on, with a passive perception of 18.
I do like mounted combat in DnD 5e, it is in fact excellent and you cover the top sellers for getting a mount, but I do think it has a few caveats not covered. One, standard mounts are quite poor at stealth, which can be a negligible issue or not depending on the campaign/group, but is a consideration. Two, remember my friends, mounts are living creatures, a decent intimidate score or very loud noise can inflict the frightened condition or force an animal handling check on a standard (i.e not a war trained mount), provided the GM thinks of it. It also means they are vulnerable to possession, or charm, if you think this is a non-issue, wait until a guy uses animal friendship on your mount carrying your stuff and has it wander off (my GM hates when my group does this to his NPCs). Three, they are very weak to AOE spells, like familiars, they tend to have terrible saves and terrible HP pools. On the flipside, prep and game knowledge will save Eeyore the mule, Inspiring Leader works on creatures, not specifically humanoids, mounts (and familiars) are creatures, give them big pools of HP. Heroism on your mount can not only make it pretty difficult to kill with minor incidental damage (Spell Casting Modifier/rd Temp HP basically gives it crazy regen), but it also makes it immune to the Frightened condition for the duration. I also am a huge proponent of using Aid on mounts, a lvl 2 casting doubles their total HP for 8 hours and you can target three creatures with it, Aid at lvl 2 declines in relative potency as the levels increase, but for Eeyore, its alway huge relative increases. You ask, why not use aid or other buffs on the party instead? If you are using mounts to basically roleplay the mongolians, mounts are the easiest thing to remove from the playing field, either by accident (AOE doesnt discriminate), because their HP pools are not great (lvl 1 magic missle can instantly kill most mounts without a roll and its not an uncommon spell) or because their saves are terrible (STR save of +2 being the highest for our hero mule). However these buffs significantly deter enemies and GMs from just going after your mounts, because a mule with 16 base HP from Aid and 5+ Temp HP from inspiring leader, means our hero now has 21 HP, which even a good deal of direct damage spells/attacks will not kill, buffs like heroism will ensure control spells are less likely to or just wont affect our dear mount, meaning other more potent control options have to be utilized to have a good effect (and usually if it would, it would affect the rider as well anyway). If your playing the mounted combat correctly, you will always stay out of reach of the enemy using your superior mobility and just unloading ranged attacks (honestly I suggest crossbows for anything without Extra Attack). Take care of your mounts and you will have a good time, dont and you find yourself spending more time looking to get replacements than looking for ways to best use them.
Loads of counters to normal mounts that a clever dm could strtigize for if the party becomes mounted archers (bottleneck geography, cowtrips, traps, pikemen, mirror illusion to spoke the mount, not to mention envirmental effects and a sucessfull polymorph to change the a mount into something motionless like a bush or tree (don't forget a lot of spells like entanglement or webs can act to make prone a mount with the rider still on the mount)).
And when it dies, free feast!
Donkey and a cart. Then when the DM says you can't take that grand piano you actually have somewhere to put it. It's faster than you, but not as stealthy. The only characters who shouldn't bother are stealth reliant characters. Cart can also be a tiny home.
For big fellows try oxes! They are affordable and can carry large creatures. Stats in Volo's I believe.
My 8' (9' with horns) tiefling got 2 of these in case the cart the party uses ever breaks. They also pull that cart for now.
I didn’t even realize you could ritual cast while mounted. 🤯
What about food and water? I guess you could feed it Goodberries. Does that also provide water?
Based on the definition of nutrition, they provide water. Acording to Jeremy Crawford, they don't provide water.
@@herrkrabbe148 Mules need a lot of water.
@@alanschaub147 better bring a mule to carry all those water barrels
all i can say is kobold battle smith, use your steel defender as an autonomous mount by compining ready actions with the defender's commands (ready and action to attack a target then use you bonus action to order the defender to attack the target so at the end of your turn it goes runs up to the target triggering you're held action then attacks itself. or order it to dash having it run up to the target, triggering you attack then run away (or have it disengage if you want to avoid aoo)
For years I have been praising mules and how the group with a mule
I am a 350-pound Minotaur fighter with half plate armor. As such I can't ride mounts as I am way to heavy. I have thought of buying a peasant cart for extra gear. As I have a 20 strength, I can pull a cart weighing 1,500 pounds if I have everything in the cart.
There is a really good reason that that (censored) (donkey) horse won't get into that (censored)(censored) horse trailer. All equines are extremely claustrophobic.
Good luck in getting that horse, mule, or donkey to be willing to enter a cave or not bolt out of it at its first opportunity. Equines are from wide open spaces where they can see any predator coming from a long distance and has lots of choices to run away. In a confined space they are extremely stressed that they can't see danger coming and has very few options to run away.
I don't have anything specific to comment, but this is good stuff, so...
Algorithm comment!
Mounts have a tendency to die and our campaigns have a tendency to take place where mounts can't follow.
Another way to get medium mounts and medium characters to buy a wagon.. more precisely a chariot.
"An animal pulling a carriage, cart, chariot, sled, or wagon can move weight up to five times its base carrying capacity, including the weight of the vehicle." or =(14x15)x5= 1050 pounds ( close to a ton). a Chariot is only 100 ibs
I paired this with a battle smith Artificer. The steel defender has the same strength and speed as a mule, is intelligent so it takes its own actions, and is immune to exhaustion.
I got find greater steed with my Paladin and finally started doing Mounted combat and I’m mad I didn’t do it when I had find steed it’s so good for mobility
This was my first video that I saw of yours, and afterwards like, subscribe and click the bell. I love kobolds and they are my favorite race. Now you have me wanting for the next new game I play to have a mount for my kobold. I'll definitely get a mule, but see if I can tame something a giant weasel or some cool mount. Now I'm just curious if a gloom-stalker ranger (kobold of course) is compatible with a ranged Calvary build.
drakewarden seems cool with a kobold tbh
I have a liking for the ox as a pack animal!
You will be hard pressed to not have enough carry weight.
the mounted combat feat is also amazing
One might make the argument that if your mount dies you land prone but no. If your mount is knocked prone (including being knocked unconscious or killed) you can use your reaction to land on your feet! A common rules mistake
Asking the right questions
I think the glue fumes are getting to you. Ritual casting involves circles on the ground, meditation, the placement of crystals or whatever. YOU CAN'T RITUAL CAST ON A HORSE!
Also horses, especially mules, will bolt at the first sign of trouble unless you have solid animal handling. Even just the smell of a larger predator's lair could stop them in their tracks. You don't go pulling them through a tight dungeon all willy-nilly.
Even if you leave that mule outside, you're likely in a dangerous area. What are the chances something comes along and EATS IT?? You better roll for random encounters for that unguarded animal.
And firing from a mount is CERTAINLY something you're going to do with disadvantage unless you are well trained. The Mongolians spent YEARS learning to ride and shoot, and even then it's still MUCH harder to hit a target while riding. When people do it in modern competitions for mounted archery they don't shoot more then 20 feet at speed. Mongolians would fire into entire RANKS of soldiers, hoping somebody would catch an arrow in the face. There wasn't much aiming when you're shooting at a wall of humans.
Any decent DM wouldn't put up with ANY of this nonsense.
I know Tasha's came out after this video but it this applies even more now. A small Battle Smith Artificer can ride their Steel Defender. So you don't even need the 8 gold for a mule.
I mean you can bring a mount into a dungeoncrawl but I'd be making handle animal checks to make sure it stays calm the entire times it's with you.
Vex'ahlia's necklace Raven's Slumber, from the first Critical Role campaign would be perfect for a mount.
Pop it in or out when it's more practical.
I wish to add that any martial class kobold mounted will always have advantage if there mounted via pack tactics because the mount is an ally even if the party is all back line pack tactics will always be active
The 5e mounted rules are SO much easier to work with than the 3.5 rules, so definitely take advantage of those cheap mounts! :D
I got a mountain one of my games that I'm playing currently which is a curse wolf called The Hound of Eternal loyalty I don't know if it's a Homebrew item or not but it's now a fully armored winter wolf
I have a direwolf that I use as a Mount and, I gotta say, it’s pretty handy. Especially because I mostly do ranged fighting. Plus, when I don’t need to use him as a Mount, I can just have him attack
I had an idea for a wolf totem barbarian centaur. He would be the best mount. Get a martial character with mounted combatant to ride you into battle. You give him advantage on all his melee attacks, you get advantage by reckless attacking. You negate the advantage enemies get against you as they can't actually target you with your rider letting them. You also get free evasion. Finally at lvl 14 you go bear totem and now enemies have disadvantage to attack your rider and still can't target you.
Here I am researching mounts to add in a game where my entire party can fly, teleport, and increase their run speed to 80Ft.
But just in case one of them decide they want a mount, I must prepare for that possibility. What if they want it to have armor? They need options. I should add multiple tiers of horse armor.
These are the downsides to mounted combat.
"If an effect moves your mount against it's will while you're on it, you must succeed on a dc10 dexterity saving throw or fall of 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 of it"
This isn't as serious as I thought it would be, your mount is knocked prone if knocked unconscious or killed but you don't even need land prone it just cost your reaction!
The low health of a mount does mean that if, say, both you and your mount are caught in a fireball, your mount will die and it won't even cost the enemy any action economy because you and all your allies are also caught in that fireball, but it's not even a very significant downside, it's not as if an encounter with one caster and one martial who they might have summoned (a favorite of mine to run personally) is going to result in fireball and the mounted suckers then a martial running in and laying havok on the prone targets. It merely takes your reaction!
If you are knocked prone or the mount forcably moved, by say something grappling your horse and swinging it around to get you off or to stop you from being so fast and annoying, the DC check to stay on is incredibly low. If you're proficient in dex saves or a paladin with a charisma-based boost to them you need not really worry about some dc 10 saving throw. It does not however say what happens when the rider is forcibly moved. But I'm assuming you just fall off without some super expensive saddle that prevents people from just picking you up off your horse.
What kind of weaknesses can a DM even throw at a rider?
The fear spell, "While frightened by this spell, a creature must take the Dash action and move away from you by the safest available route on each of its turns, unless there is nowhere to move" It's unclear what a rider that is feared would do, but I would assume, they will either take the dash action and dismount to run away, or command their mount to dash head the distance then take the dash action and dismonut and run away. But since you can dismount there definitely isn't "nowhere to move" And if the mount is afraid, well you'll be one pissed off rider taken basically out of the fight, having to walk back that 80 foot distance. Spells with saves that affect your movement in general might force you to dismount of have a second chance to affect your movement. Then you have to dismount by spending 15 feet of movement and are suddenly slower than your enemies. But up until that point the mobility that you gain still wins.
Truely the main weakness of mounts is just that it's hard to bring them places.
You could also buy a cart for the mount. Only 15 gold. I couldn't find a source for how much a cart can carry in D&D but real world a two wheeled cart with a "light horse" (ie not a thoroughbred or draft horse like a Clydesdale) could carry around 900 pounds and cover 20 miles a day depending on the roads or lack thereof.
I'd also say that the pack load capacity listed for the mounts ( 3:33 ) is pretty ambitious compared to the real world. 420 pounds is as much as some small donkeys weigh let alone can carry;).
Question: would it be a good idea for a mount to be independent if it obeys your command? Like battle Smith and having the mount also attack. I understand it's better to run, but there's times where you have to approach.
With their high beefiness in comparison to the others, would it be worth it to get an elephant if you can? Basically can't use it in dungeons but it makes carry capacity not a problem anymore, can hold multiple party members, and has enough HP to last
I love having mounts. I always have a way to have one. Yet to have an Axe Beak though.
I enjoy playing changeling because I can be medium AND small, when I want to be. I enjoy ritual casting Phantom Steed for the party.