WARHORSES!

Greetings!

I have always liked warhorses, and the AD&D rules provide some simple profiles and stats for warhorses, with Light, Medium, and Heavy varieties. History describes several kinds and breeds of horses, and different cultures and regions were famous for raising various kinds of specialized warhorses, as well as riding horses, and so on. Whether it is the Mongolian steppe pony, famed for their endurance and ruggedness, the Andulusians of Spain, or the massive, powerful animals from Germany, France, or Britain, there was a great deal of variety. It is from such inspiration that I created a few new types or qualities of warhorses for my own campaign that I present here.

LIGHT WARHORSE
Statistics Standard Good Superior Excellent
Frequency: Uncommon Uncommon Uncommon Uncommon
No. Appearing: 1 1 1 1
Armor Class: 7 7 7 7
Move: 24" 24" 24" 24"
Hit Dice: 2+2 3+3 4+4 5+5
% In Lair: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Treasure Type: Nil Nil Nil Nil
No. of Attacks: 2 2 2 2
Damage/Attack: 1-4/1-4 1-4/1-4 1-4/1-4 1-4/1-4
Special Attacks: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Special Defenses: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Magic Resistance: Standard Standard Standard Standard
Intelligence: Animal Animal Animal Animal
Alignment: Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral
Size: L L L L
Psionic Ability: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Attack/Defense: Nil Nil Nil Nil

MEDIUM WARHORSE
Statistics Standard Good Superior Excellent
Frequency: Uncommon Uncommon Uncommon Uncommon
No. Appearing: 1 1 1 1
Armor Class: 7 7 7 7
Move: 18" 18" 18" 18"
Hit Dice: 3+3 4+4 5+5 6+6
% In Lair: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Treasure Type: Nil Nil Nil Nil
No. of Attacks: 3 3 3 3
Damage/Attack: 1-6/1-6/1-3 1-6/1-6/1-3 1-6/1-6/1-3 1-6/1-6/1-3
Special Attacks: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Special Defenses: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Magic Resistance: Standard Standard Standard Standard
Intelligence: Animal Animal Animal Animal
Alignment: Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral
Size: L L L L
Psionic Ability: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Attack/Defense: Nil Nil Nil Nil

HEAVY WARHORSE
Statistics Standard Good Superior Excellent
Frequency: Uncommon Uncommon Uncommon Uncommon
No. Appearing: 1 1 1 1
Armor Class: 7 7 7 7
Move: 15" 15" 15" 15"
Hit Dice: 5+5 6+6 7+7 8+8
% In Lair: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Treasure Type: Nil Nil Nil Nil
No. of Attacks: 3 3 3 3
Damage/Attack: 1-8/1-8/1-4 1-8/1-8/1-4 1-8/1-8/1-4 1-8/1-8/1-4
Special Attacks: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Special Defenses: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Magic Resistance: Standard Standard Standard Standard
Intelligence: Animal Animal Animal Animal
Alignment: Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral
Size: L L L L
Psionic Ability: Nil Nil Nil Nil
Attack/Defense: Nil Nil Nil Nil

Each category of warhorse--whether Light, Medium, or Heavy--has different quality ratings, which can be used for various individual horses, or noted for particular breeds from different regions within the campaign world, with their own names and so on for the particular breed. This can also have an influence not only in creating rewards and treasures as such for characters that desire such animals, especially Fighters, Cavaliers and Paladins, no doubt--but also for regional economic trade, and warfare between tribes, kingdoms, as well as individual warriors and knights. Characters seeking to find a particular breed of Superior Quality Medium Warhorse, for example, must travel to the coastal realm of Handar in hopes of finding a famous breeder there that will sell them one of these fine animals, and so on. These also add additional scope for the DM to use them as rewards for example in famous regional tournaments and such. And, of course, besides all of these fun details, favourite warhorses of different characters can be a bit more survivable through the campaign as well, especially as the characters rise in level, and face increasingly more dangerous monsters and opponents in their adventures throughout the lands!

NB: The *standard* quality animals all are merely noted from the appropriate monster book, while the other quality steeds take off from there. I also did not include prices/values for such animals, as each DM may run the campaign with a different economic system. It is a relatively simple matter, however, to assign appropriate values for such animals, scaling up from basic prices for a standard animal.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK