Cavalry

Skills
This module contains four new skills covering the use of animals in the game:

Ride (Athletics)
A character who knows how to Ride can control a horse (or other mount) and give it some basic commands. A Skill Check is only required in exceptional situations, e.g. when the horse balks, or to show tricks. It is also possible to use a Ride Check instead of a Jump or Sprint Check for the horse.

Chariot (Driving)
Chariot is used to drive carts and chariots pulled by animals and replaces Ride for these applications. Otherwise, it uses the same rules as Ride.

Animal Husbandry (Technics)

Animal Husbandry covers the selective breeding of animals to obtain specific characteristics in their offspring. Each Success allows to increase Endurance, Strength or Dexterity of the animal by one over the species' average, but not by more than 50% (rounded up). Each attribute point exceeding both parents requires two Successes. The Skill may also be used to estimate the Attributes (and hence the value) of a specific animal.

Animal Training (Diplomacy)

Animal Training is used to tame an animal or train it for specific tasks. Taming a wild animal requires a Contest against the animal's Instinct. This Contest must be repeated whenever the handler did not interact with the animal for more than a day. Only animals that were raised in contact with humans may be trained further. This allows the trainer to roll a single Check; the number of Successes describe the animal's Training Level which provides free Successes for all Checks made by the trainer to control it. It does not change any more for adult animals. An animal changing its owner needs some time to get used to him. This requires an Extended Check with a base time of one month. Each Success allows the new owner to use one point of the Training Level. Animal Trainer may also be used to command animals that are not currently ridden (in that case, use Ride instead).

Mounts
The most typical mounts in our world are horses and camels. Their Attributes are: E: 3 S: 7 D: 4 I: 3 Attack: 2/7 Stun,1m They are considered fast, i.e. their Running Speed equals four times their Dexterity. An untrained horse with these stats costs about 50$ in a medieval setting (way more in a modern setting), and may be used as a pack or draft horse (or, in a pinch, ridden by an experienced rider). Each additional Attribute point and each point of Training Level doubles the price. The GM may also allow other animals from the Monsters module as mounts (like elephants or some mythical beasts). The Skills listed here may not be used to ride or train sapient creatures these make their own decisions. They may allow a character to ride on them, but in that case he would use Leadership instead to coordinate actions and replace Ride where necessary.

Races and Chases

A Race is resolved as an Extended Check, with a fixed amount of Successes assigned to the track (or each lap). The GM may distribute these Successes along landmarks on the track. A Chase is basically a Race without track or finish line. It is resolved as Extended Contest. Every two points of Running Speed above ten provide an additional die to the rider.

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CC BY-NC-SA, Adrien Pfeuffer, 2013

Mounted Combat
Mounted combat is in some aspects fundamentally different from foot combat, and the following rules try to address this issue. Most importantly it is necessary to be a good rider to do well in mounted combat; all effective combat Skills are limited to the sum of Ride and the mount's Training Level.

Blind Spots
A rider's position and his mount's body make it highly impractical for him to engage targets in some positions. First, he can't attack enemies directly in front or behind his mount; a welltrained mount can be made to attack them instead. To do this, roll a Ride Check instead of attacking. The number of Successes is limited to the mount's Training Level. It is also practically impossible to attack targets to the rider's right with two-handed ranged weapons (like bows, crossbows or rifles) left-handed riders can't shoot to their left instead.

Combat Maneuvers

Since it is next to impossible to keep track of all blind spots in combat between multiple riders, a more abstract method can be used instead: Each rider may roll a Ride Check to place himself in an advantageous position or become harder to hit. Attacks between riders are modified by the difference in Successes. In a Chase, the rider must split his Successes between combat maneuvers and changing the distance.

Balking

A mount that takes damage or is brought into a dangerous situation may panic. To determine the effects, roll a Ride Check and subtract the Successes (plus the animal's Training Level) from the suffered (or expected) damage. The mount balks if there are points left. The rider may then roll an Extended Ride Check with a Base Time of one Round to calm the mount down and collect the missing Successes. He may not take any other actions during that time and will be thrown off if he doesn't score any Successes during one of the rolls.

Melee with Footmen

A combat in which only one fighter is mounted is treated as a regular melee, with one exception: The distance between the fighters may not be shorter than two meters (one meter for Called Shots on the horseman's legs or feet and the footman's head). The minimum distance may be even greater for larger mounts.

Charge

A rider may use his mount's speed to close the distance and deal damage at the same time. If he manages to close to his desired distance (as per regular melee rules), his attack deals full damage, modified by all his Successes (not just Net Successes). If he fails, he is stopped at his opponent's optimal Range and he may use all of his Successes to increase his damage. A Charge must begin outside of the opponent's Range, and the rider may leave the Range again in the same Round after a successful Charge (if his mount is fast enough).

Armor for Animals

Animals used in warfare are sometimes equipped with additional armor. This uses the same rules as armor for humans, but cost and weight are multiplied with Strength/10, using the base attributes for this type of animal. Horse armor, for example, costs and weighs about five times as much as armor for humans. The GM decides how much armor an animal can wear.

Version 1.01 DE

CC BY-NC-SA, Adrien Pfeuffer, 2013