d20 Cognizant Chance On the Hoof.pdf

Table Of Contents

Introduction

Alvacoom

Autumn Mound

Battle Cat

Cavalry Bison

Equinecron

Giant Horseshoe Crab

Giant Riding Wasp

Hellbender

Iron Horse

Ixlapian

Orsh Devil

Trosalitch Cliff-Jumper

War Ostrich

Wizzletop's Demiphant

Introduction

It's always bothered me that unless you're some sort of specialist, fantasy gaming

characters get their most faithful companions off of Equipment Lists. In a well-done

campaign, your mount will take you out of trouble when you're incapacitated, take an

arrow with your name on it, and mow down your enemies with merely a Ride roll. Your

beast of burden allows you to

carry more stuff, faster, farther

and in more adverse conditions

than you could on your own.

All that, with no complaints,

and he's merely a bland entry

on a list appearing somewhere

after “Meat, chunk of.”

This brief collection attempts to

inject some color and verve to

your possibilities for riding

mounts. There's a few steeds in

here that have a little more

verve than “Pony” or “Dog,

riding” for the little folk.

Dwarves are going to ride

ponies? Not by choice.

Dwarves aren't going to settle

for downsized warhorses when

they can choose perfectly

scaled, indigenous and

effective Orsh Devils. What

gnome is going to lay saddle to a riding dog, when he can quest for a Demiphant or a War

Ostrich instead?

But, this book doesn't just contain excellent mounts for PC's. There's two examples of

Construct steeds, that empower and assist high-level opponents, the thoroughly unique

Autumn Mound, a trainable, rideable Ooze, and several other character and monster

appropriate riding beast examples. The goal here is to deliver not just intelligently-built,

fully-conceived writeups for d20 but also to spark some ideas about how important, how

neglected, and how bloody useful, is a trusty riding beast.

This is Cognizant Chance's first publication. Check our website

http://www.cognizantchance.com for information on several upcoming releases. Thanks

for saddling up with us on this one, we're going to do everything we can to make sure you

enjoy the ride.

--Joe Preston

Alvacoom

Gargantuan Magical Beast

Hit Dice: 11d8+60 (110 hp)

Initiative: +2 (dex)

Speed: Swim 40 ft.

Armor Class: 15 (-4 size, +2 dex,

+7 natural)

Attacks: Bite +14 melee, tail slap

+8 melee

Damage: Bite 3d6+10, tail slap

1d8+5

Face/Reach: 20 by 40 ft./10 ft.

Special Attacks: Swallow Whole

Special Qualities: Telepathic link

Saves: F: +14, R: +10, W: +10

Abilities: Str 30, Dex 14, Con 22, Int 3, Wis 14, Cha 6

Skills: Spot +10

Climate/Terrain: Any aquatic

Organization: Solitary or pod (2-9)

Challenge Rating: 5

Treasure: None

Alignment: Neutral

Advancement: 12-18 HD (Gargantuan), 19-25 HD (Colossal)

The Alvacoom is a monstrous fish capable of trapping breathable air in huge sacs

located behind its gill plates. The pair of bright pink fleshy globes is hidden inside the

plates when not inflated but burst forth in an explosion of color when filled with air. The

Alvacoom is an immense creature sometimes measuring fifty feet in length. Its body is

much broader than it is thick and except for it size resembles no earth animal so much as

the monkfish. Its coloration ranges from grey to a muddy brown.

The creature, while often timid, is gentle and curious about man. Alvacoom have very

few natural predators and whalers consider it extremely unlucky to harm the giant

animals. Having never learned to fear man they will not flee when approached carefully.

Once the leviathan has been approached, the creature's unique telepathic powers come

into play. In a random encounter there is fifteen percent chance that the creature will try

to establish contact with an individual person. The target of the telepathy will feel an

alarming sensation of something trying get into their head. They may attempt to resist the

intrusion by making a will saving throw at difficulty of 12. If successful there is no effect

and the creature will regard the resister as unfriendly and disappear beneath the waves. If

the save fails or the target chooses not to resist they will receive mental impressions

encouraging them to enter the creature’s mouth and fish eyed visions of the wonders of

the deep. Those affected by the telepathy are under no compulsion to enter the creature’s

mouth and may simply refuse to do so. If the person elects to cooperate the fish inflates

its air sacs and patiently await the target.

Once inside the monsters air sacs the telepathic link becomes stronger and the creature

becomes aware in a general way the goals of its passenger and will try to transport them

somewhere to fulfill these aims. For example, if the passenger longs for gold and treasure

the Alvacoom could carry the passenger to a sunken treasure ship. It should be noted that

the creature will not concern itself with whether or not the passenger can breathe once

ejected from its mouth. However if the creature observes its passenger drowning there is

a thirty percent chance that it will save the hapless victim by sucking them back into its

air sacs.

The insides of the Alvacoom's air bladders are slimy and are permeated with an

unpleasant odor. Each of the two sacs will hold one medium sized creature or two small

ones. There is enough air in the sacs to allow a person to breathe comfortably for about

two hours. The creature will surface to refill the sacs if necessary.

Autumn Mound

Medium-Size Plant

Hit Die: 2d10+10 (21 hp)

Initiative: -3 (Dex)

Speed: 20 ft., Climb 20 ft.

AC: 10 (-3 Dex, +3 natural)

Attacks: Slam +5 melee

Damage: Slam 1d6 and 2d6 acid

Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./ 5 ft.

Special Attacks: Improved grab, acid

Special Qualities: Blindsight,

camouflage

Saves: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will -3

Abilities: Str 12, Dex 5, Con 11, Int 3,

Wis 4, Cha 2

Climate/Terrain: Any woodland or

marsh

Organization: Solitary

Challenge Rating: 3

Treasure: None

Alignment: Always neutral

Advancement: 3-5 HD (medium-size) 6-

HD (large-size)

An autumn mound is a form of ambulatory fungus. In many ways they are similar to

oozes. They live in damp forests and marshes. When motionless they are

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