Riding Horse Specialization
Characters with this proficiency can ride and perform stunts on horseback even better than characters with the Land-Based Riding proficiency described in the Player’s Handbook. Horse specialization enables a rider to do everything that land-based riding involves, plus the following:
- The rider suffers no damage from falling from a horse, provided that a proficiency check is made.
- The character can leap or vault onto a moving horse upon making a successful proficiency check. Failure indicates that the rider lies sprawled in the dust, suffering no damage other than battered pride.
- While seated, the rider can Grab Attack an item from the ground even if the horse is at a full gallop, upon making a successful proficiency check. A handkerchief is easy to snare. A living target, however, has the opportunity to fight back. Should, for example, a damsel happen to punch her would-be rescuer, the horseman’s attempt would fail.
- The character automatically can ride bareback with no discomfort or loss in ability. The character can even use spears or lances without need of a saddle.
In addition to combat benefits, characters with this proficiency are masters at caring for horses, able to identify horse afflictions and tell immediately the quality of a horse (as noted in Chapter 6 of the Dungeon Muster’s Guide). Characters who combine this proficiency with animal training can break a horse of unpleasant traits in one to four (d4) weeks, provided both proficiency checks are made. Similarly, they can use both proficiencies to train a horse to perform a trick in just 1d4 weeks (instead of the usual 2d6 weeks required with animal training alone). A horse can learn only d4 tricks in this speedy fashion. The tricks are not bonuses; they count toward the total number of feats (2d4) that any horse can learn. This proficiency applies only to horsemanship. If any other mount is used - including related creatures such as zebras or unicorns - the benefits do not apply.
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