Mounts

A mount is any creature that has been trained to the purpose of "Riding" or that has received "Combat Training". Both of these purposes can be trained into any creature, via the Handle Animal skill. With the proper training, any creature can be made into a mount (with GM approval). Intelligent creatures will likely require some serious negotiations before allowing anyone to ride them (at least a nice dinner first), but with the proper incentives, it may even be possible to ride a dragon. Of course, staying on a dragon will require at least as much skill as convincing one to let you ride it in the first place.

This page details the rules for creating a mount from any creature, as well as a wide variety of example mounts. The prices listed for the example mounts assume the mount is Combat Trained. A mount which is only trained for the Riding purpose costs half the listed amount.

Mounted CR

Mounts have a Challenge Rating (CR) just like monsters in the Bestiary, but the Mounted CR can vary greatly from a creature's normal CR, depending on the movement speeds and combat benefits granted by the mount. For example, Dire Bats are CR 2 in the Bestiary, but have a (minimum) Mounted CR of 13.

To determine a mount's Mounted CR, look up each of its movement types and speeds provided on the table below, and add these numbers together. If the mount also grants bonus damage to its rider's melee attacks (if combat trained), each point of bonus damage is counted as a +1 modifier to its Mounted CR.

For example, Dire Bats grant their riders a Lesser Flight speed of 60 ft. (a +15 CR modifier), and a Walk speed of 10 ft. (a -2 CR modifier, because it's terrible). The sum of these modifiers (15 - 2 = 13), is the Dire Bat's minimum Mounted CR. If the Dire Bat also grants a +2 bonus to its rider's melee attacks, its Mounted CR would increase to 15.

Move Speed	CR Modifier
	Walk	Vaulting	Burrow	Tunnel- ing	Earth Glide	Lesser Climb	Greater Climb	Brachi- ating	Hover	Lesser Flight	Greater Flight	Lesser Swim	Greater Swim	Jet	Lesser Teleport	Greater Teleport
10 ft.	-2	+3	+7	+11	+16	+4	+12	+2	+23	+10	+15	+1	+5	+3	+16	+22
20 ft.	-1	+4	+8	+12	+17	+5	+13	+3	+24	+11	+16	+2	+6	+4	+17	+23
30 ft.	0	+5	+9	+13	+18	+6	+14	+4	+25	+12	+17	+3	+7	+5	+18	+24
40 ft.	+1	+6	+10	+14	+19	+7	+15	+5	+26	+13	+18	+4	+8	+6	+19	+25
50 ft.	+2	+7	+11	+15	+20	+8	+16	+6	+27	+14	+19	+5	+9	+7	+20	+26
60 ft.	+3	+8	+12	+16	+21	+9	+17	+7	+28	+15	+20	+6	+10	+8	+21	+27
75 ft.	+4	+9	+13	+17	+22	+10	+18	+8	+29	+16	+21	+7	+11	+9	+22	+28
90 ft.	+5	+10	+14	+18	+23	+11	+19	+9	+30	+17	+22	+8	+12	+10	+23	+29
120 ft.	+6	+11	+15	+19	+24	+12	+20	+10	+31	+18	+23	+9	+13	+11	+24	+30
150 ft.	+7	+12	+16	+20	+25	+13	+21	+11	+32	+19	+24	+10	+14	+12	+25	+31
180 ft.	+8	+13	+17	+21	+26	+14	+22	+12	+33	+20	+25	+11	+15	+13	+26	+32
210 ft.	+9	+14	+18	+22	+27	+15	+23	+13	+34	+21	+26	+12	+16	+14	+27	+33

Advancing A Mount's Mounted CR

After a mount has been purchased or acquired, a player can choose to advance its CR as high as they wish above its starting CR. The only limit on this is the expenditure of time and money to do so, though players are also cautioned that higher CR mounts are much harder to control in combat (see Mounted Combat for details).

For each additional CR that a mount is advanced, the player must expend the difference in cost on the table below from the current CR to the new CR, as well as spend one full day of working with the mount. Working with a mount uses up a full day each time the CR is advanced by 1. If you spend more than 1 hour doing anything else during a day you are working with the mount (except meals and short rest breaks), that day cannot be counted toward advancing its CR.

Once a mount has advanced its Mounted CR, that 'point' of CR can be spent on one of two things:

• increasing one of the mount's movement speeds (refer to the table above) by one step, or
• increasing the mount of bonus melee damage the mount grants to its rider by +1

In most cases, mounts cannot acquire a new movement type than those they already possess. GMs may allow exceptions to this, especially in a case where a beloved mount has served the character faithfully for many levels, and the new movement type is just an improvement over an existing type (for instance, our example Dire Bat might graduate from Lesser Flight to Greater Flight). Such changes ALWAYS require GM approval, and are very rare. It is recommended that players just acquire a new mount with the desired movement type.

Mount Prices By Mounted CR

The prices below reflect the cost of a mount with the listed Mounted CR. All mounts are assumed to be Combat Trained at these prices. Mounts which are merely trained to the purpose of Riding cost half the listed amount. Note that non-combat-trained mounts cannot grant bonuses to a rider's melee attacks while mounted, though they still provide their movement speed to their rider.

Mounted CR	Cost		Mounted CR	Cost		Mounted CR	Cost		Mounted CR	Cost
1	0 gp		11	8,100 gp		21	170,900 gp		31	2,873,300 gp
2	100 gp		12	11,100 gp		22	227,500 gp		32	3,787,100 gp
3	200 gp		13	15,200 gp		23	301,600 gp		33	4,996,400 gp
4	500 gp		14	20,800 gp		24	399,200 gp		34	6,621,200 gp
5	900 gp		15	28,400 gp		25	528,400 gp		35	8,821,600 gp
6	1,400 gp		16	38,700 gp		26	697,100 gp		36	11,597,500 gp
7	2,100 gp		17	52,500 gp		27	925,300 gp		37	14,948,900 gp
8	3,000 gp		18	71,000 gp		28	1,233,000 gp		38	18,875,800 gp
9	4,200 gp		19	95,400 gp		29	1,640,200 gp		39	23,378,200 gp
10	5,900 gp		20	127,800 gp		30	2,175,000 gp		40	28,456,200 gp

Mount Size

There is no cost modifier for a mount's size. While it may seem unrealistic that a sized gargantuan woolly mammoth costs the same as a sized-medium battle puma of the same CR, the advantages of a larger mount (you can carry your whole party and all their gear in style) are balanced by their disadvantages (you need reach weapons to attack while mounted, the mount cannot fit into most places, and it will seriously freak out townsfolk).

Similarly, a sized-medium giant gecko bearing a sized-small player character is very convenient — it can be ridden into most dungeons with only a little extra cajoling. However, that sized-medium mount will probably never grant its rider the +1 to-hit bonus for higher ground, it can't haul as much treasure and equipment around as a larger mount, and it will still seriously freak out townsfolk, despite being smaller. (Townsfolk these days. So skittish.)

However, despite there being no cost differences, a mount's size does dictate how much it can carry. Note that the rider's weight must be included in any load the creature is carrying. If a creature's load exceeds the listed weight, all Handle Animal and Ride checks are made with a +10 penalty to the DC until the load is reduced. This penalty increases by an additional +10 for each multiple of the load (so, a medium creature, with a carrying capacity, loaded up with 620 lbs. of stuff would be at a -20 penalty). If a creature is loaded down with triple its listed carrying capacity, it is pinned under the weight unable to move, and will die within 3 rounds unless the weight is removed.

Size	Carrying Capacity
Fine	2 lbs.
Diminutive	8 lbs.
Tiny	20 lbs.
Small	60 lbs.
Medium	300 lbs.
Large	1,000 lbs.
Huge	3,500 lbs.
Gargantuan	8,000 lbs.
Colossal	20,000 lbs.
Titanic	50,000 lbs.

Example Mounts

The following mounts are listed as examples of creatures which might be available from a vendor specializing in mounts and exotic mounts. With the proper training, any creature can be made into a mount, however. The prices below are for Combat Trained mounts. If you wish to purchase a mount which is only trained to the Riding purpose, they cost only half the listed amount.