Celegian Swift Riders

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Celegian Swift Riders

The Empire of Celegia is extremely ancient and has suffered many collapses and dark ages in its long history. The root cause of most of those collapses has been the slow communications with, and more importantly, the slow speed of moving Imperial forces to, the far-flung reaches of the Empire. It is easy to contemplate rebellion when the Peacock Throne is a year’s travel away for the fastest rider in the land.

So, there was a need to have faster riders, to knit together the Empire. Over thousands of years, mounted prowess was revered, honored, and improved. This trend reached its peak in the Age of the Warrior Kings. The Swift Rider prestige class is far older than even that long-ago time, and is considered to be perhaps the oldest prestige class in Celegian culture.

At times in the past, huge guilds of Swift Riders served as mercenary armies, couriers, and were included in both the Imperial and Provincial armies. In the current day, the Legions are dedicated to foot soldiers, so Swift Riders are less high profile than they have been.

The recent advent of the Gates has not diminished the numbers of those called to the Swift Rider credo: Indeed, in many ways, it has created even more demand, as Imperials grow used to far more rapid travel. Many, many rural Celegians are becoming Swift Riders and becoming escorts, couriers, and the like.

Swift Riders also arise from the Imperial Legions and Provincial armies, private citizens with interest in the calling, adventurers, and of course the savage Arrakanza. Anyone who desires mastery of the long, open roads of the Empire feels the calling of the Swift Rider, and they are seen everywhere, racing their mounts at breakneck speeds and consummate skill, still working to hold the vast Empire together.

Becoming a Swift Rider is fairly easy, you need to be a moderately hardy character, you must be an accomplished rider, you must have enough Survival skill to survive long journeys without aid, you must have a certain facility handling and training animals, and you must know a great deal about the Mount species you have chosen. Most Celegian Swift Riders choose the vicious destrier as their mount, although there is a large minority of Swift Riders who choose horses instead. Horses are much slower and less fierce, but also far, far hardier than the fickle destriers. An even smaller fraction of Swift Riders ride more exotic creatures, such as Fane Deer or various suitable monsters. A Swift Rider may take Knowledge: Mount multiple times, and thus be able to ride multiple species.

Swift Rider is most often chosen by Rangers, Druids, Rogues, and Barbarians, but any class or race is eligible if the requirements can be met.

Hit Die: d8

Requirements:

Base Attack Bonus: 4 Skills: Survival 5 ranks; Handle Animal 2 ranks; Knowledge: (Specific Mount) 3 ranks; Ride 4 ranks.

Class Skills:

The Swift Rider’s skills (and key ability for each skill) are: Bluff(Cha), Concentration(Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump(Str), Knowledge(nature, geography, roads), Listen (Wis), Profession(wis), Ride(Dex), Rope Use(Dex), Sense Motive(Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival(Wis).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Advancement Table

Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special 1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Swift Mount, Choose Mount 2 +2 +3 +1 +1 Sure Mount, Traveler 3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Mounted Combat 4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Ride-by Attack 5 +5 +4 +2 +2 Pure Mount 6 +6 +5 +2 +2 Bounding, Riding mastery 7 +7 +5 +2 +2 Mounted Archery 8 +8 +6 +2 +2 Improved Ride-by-Attack 9 +9 +7 +3 +3 Fleet Mount 10 +10 +7 +4 +4 Unflagging Mount, Improved Mounted Archery, Superior Ride-by Attack

Class Features:

All the following are class features of the Swift Rider prestige class:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Swift Riders gain proficiency with martial weapons and light and medium armor.

Choose Mount (Ex): The Swift Rider may search out the very best of the available mounts, and choose the very best one. He must still purchase the mount, care for it, etc, but it will quickly become a truly incredible specimen under the care of the Swift Rider. To choose a mount takes a week of time, adequate facilities (barn, corral, etc) and of course the Swift Rider must obtain the mount through purchase or other means. This tends to be an expensive process, and as a rule of thumb costs 100 gold per day as special foods, herbs, and the like must be used to unlock the Mounts potential. If a Swift Rider is slain but his Mount survives, the Chosen Mount will lurk near the body until it is raised or interred, then either return to service or flee to the wild, never to be seen again. Note that as a Swift Rider advances class levels, his Chosen Mount also improves. It is not necessary to Choose another mount, although it is certainly possible at the Swift Rider's discretion. A Chosen Mount that is dismissed flees to the wild, never to be seen again. A partial list of creatures that Swift Riders may consider as Mounts includes Dire Horses, Giant Lizards, Dire Wolverines, Displacer Beasts, Destriers, Dire Boars, Owl Bears, Monstrous Centipedes, Dire Lions, Blink Dogs, Hippogriffs, Fane Deer, Griffons, Monitor Lizards, and many others besides at the referee's discretion.

Swift Mount (Ex): Whenever the Swift Rider rides any mount of any species of riding beast he has a skill Knowledge: Mount for, that mount gains +20 feet of move (or half the mounts normal move, whichever is less) for as long as the Swift Rider is riding that mount. This bonus stacks with the bonus a Chosen Mount receives. If a Mount has more than one type of movement, this bonus applies to all modes.

Sure Mount (Ex): At the urging and direction of the Swift Rider, the mount becomes supernaturally sure of foot: Add the characters Dex modifier, if positive, to any Dex checks or Dex based-skills or feats made or used by the mount.

Traveler (Su): The Swift Rider is able to cross huge distances each day. Calculate the distance a mount would be able to travel overland based upon the standard rules for Overland Travel, including the movement bonuses for Swift Rider Feats and a Chosen Mount, and then double them. Swift Riders also never take any penalties for forced marches.

Mounted Combat: On attaining 3rd level in the Swift Rider prestige class, they gain the Mounted Combat feat.

Ride-by-Attack: On attaining 4th level, the Swift Rider gains the Ride-by-attack feat.

Pure Mount (Su): The mount no longer needs full food, water, or other sustenance. The careful ministrations of the Swift Rider sustain it instead, and half rations can be tolerated for nearly forever. For long trips and some high-upkeep mounts, this can be very important.

Bounding: The Swift Rider may vault into or spring from the saddle of his Chosen Mount as a free action, once per round. This completely negates the use of Riding Checks to perform this action, and does not require a roll, regardless of armor or encumbrance.

Riding Mastery (Ex): The character no longer suffers a -5 to Riding checks when riding creatures “ill-suited” for mounts. The Swift Rider can now Choose a Mount from a huge variety of creatures, including most giant animals, non-intelligent monsters of suitable strength, and much more. In general, only non-intelligent creatures may be chosen as Mounts, but the Swift Rider may now ride on intelligent creatures such as dragons with no penalties. The referee will decide what creatures are eligible to be Chosen by a Swift Rider.

Mounted Archery: At 7th level, the Swift Rider gains the Mounted Archery feat.

Improved Ride-by-Attack: The Swift Rider gains +2 to hit and an additional D6 of damage with all Ride-by attacks.

Fleet Mount (Su): Any Mount ridden has a 30 foot bonus to their base move. A Chosen Mount has a 40 foot bonus, and all Running multipliers are increased by one. Walking and hustling is not affected, but any Run is increased by one category: If Running would give base times 4, the Chosen Mount now moves at base times 5. The bonuses for this feat stack with Chosen mount bonuses, but overwrite the benefits of the Swift Mount feat. The mount becomes one of the fastest of its kind anywhere.

Unflagging Mount (Su): Using supernatural skill, the Swift Rider keeps his mount going in the face of astonishing hardships. For a number of days equal to the Swift Riders Rank in Survival, the mount takes no ill effects from overland travel, forced marches, and requires no food, water, sleep, rest, or other sustenance of any kind. This provides no protection from attacks, accidents, or mishaps.

Improved Mounted Archery: At 10th level, a Swift Rider gains the Improved Mounted Archery feat.

Superior Ride-by-Attack: This feat allows the Swift Rider to ride through the swirl of combat without fear, as the Swift Rider no longer provokes attacks of opportunity while riding his Chosen mount. In addition, the Swift Rider may make multiple ride-by attacks as he goes (with the bonuses for Improved Ride-by-attack) up to his normal allowance in a full attack action, and the movement doesn't have to be in a straight line. A single creature may not be attacked more than once per round using this feat.

Chosen Mount:

Swift Rider level Bonus HD Natural Armor Speed Adjustment 1-3 +2 +4 +10 4-5 +3 +6 +10 6-7 +4 +8 +20 8-9 +5 +10 +20 10 +6 +12 +30

As a note, the speed bonus, HD, and Natural Armor for a Chosen mount persist even if another character rides that mount. Indeed, there is a small but lucrative market for Swift-trained mounts, and a Swift Rider who chooses to do this can often name their own price. Such Swift Riders must bear a considerable stigma from the majority of other Swift Riders, who consider this practice akin to slavery, or at best an abuse of the trust and honor between Rider and Mount. Such mounts have their maintenance costs at least doubled for anyone but a Swift Rider.