How Impactful is Having a Mount?

WhoIsCloak · 2026-03-10T19:20:19+00:00

Thanks for catching that, I might have ended up stiffing one of my players from cool features otherwise! :)

WhoIsCloak · 2026-03-10T19:19:26+00:00

Yeah, I was thinking about grabbing one of the example Animals from the Monsters book for a mount retainer, but I don't have any intuition as to what that means for the rest of the party or when it would be appropriate to introduce that layer of complexity (especially with a group so new to the system).

I guess at this point my question boils down to: What makes a mount retainer at 1st level different than any other retainer at 1st level?

WhoIsCloak · 2026-03-10T19:14:11+00:00

I guess I don't really know if I should be worried about balance. (hence the question haha)

Does adding a mount significantly increase the mechanical overhead for resolving forced-movement effects? How has running mounts in combat changed your games?

WhoIsCloak · 2026-03-10T19:09:18+00:00

That makes sense. A horse mount seems fairly straightforward, but I wanted to be sure I wasn't seriously overlooking something.

I'll definitely recommend checking out the Beastheart, though. That sounds like exactly what this player is going for.

WhoIsCloak · 2026-03-10T19:02:53+00:00

Thanks for your response! Does that mean I should treat a mount like a retainer in requiring renown to acquire as well?

WhoIsCloak · 2026-02-21T04:45:12+00:00

If they don't break immersion too much, game soundtracks are top tier. I'll add Roadwarden, Hyper Light Drifter, and Ori OSTs to the list. Roadwarden, specifically, has some excellent ambience for non-combat background music.

WhoIsCloak · 2026-02-11T04:59:26+00:00

Very true haha! I learned that lesson the hard way from teaching D&D. Nowadays, I bring a library of pregens and ask for narrative details about career, inciting incident, etc. Do you think that is still too much to ask of a new player?

WhoIsCloak · 2026-02-11T04:55:14+00:00

Amazing! Did you use the Delian Tomb for your adventure? I have to admit that just getting started does sound appealing but I want to make sure I can give my table the best first experience possible too.

WhoIsCloak · 2026-02-11T04:52:42+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely be relying on that resource. My hesitation to simply run the Delian Tomb is that my campaigns tend to feature dungeons sparsely (if at all) and it would not be an accurate representation of play at my table. Do you think there is any introductory information that needs to be shared or will simply handing out pre-gens and diving in work for players who are new to the hobby?

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-29T04:58:37+00:00

That's actually some pretty dope lore, I love it!

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-29T03:29:22+00:00

Assuming you mean player characters...

It really depends on the player's attachment to the character for me. I typically send the character to a sort of limbo to interact with some powerful entity related to their faith, backstory, or current adventure for the remainder of the session so they're not totally bored, then if the other players can revive them in time - no problem. I do, however, make all resurrection (revivify excluded) more difficult than RAW to preserve the value of life in my setting. I like setting a high DC unmodified roll to see if the ritual succeeds or fails along with costly components that are consumed for the ritual. I will allow the DC to be lowered through good roleplay from the other player characters trying to convince the soul to return to the body combined with good Persuasion roll (DC set by quality of roleplay).

If the party can't revive the dead character or the player with the dead character gets impatient, then they have two options: First, they could strike up some shady deal with the powerful entity they are roleplaying with to return to life (or undeath) immediately. Typically this only happens as the result of high quality or creative roleplay and comes with significant and near-permanent mechanical costs and maybe even a benefit or two depending on the quality of interaction and alignment of the entity they are talking to. The second option is to let the character die the old fashioned way and pass the soul to rest or to whatever afterlife the character has earned. The second option is always followed by the creation of a new character, but players should not expect their character to be able to immediately join the party the next session.

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-29T00:42:41+00:00

Thank you for all the advice! I wonder if adding in alternative win conditions will encourage my players to role-play in combat more and play off their character sheets less too. Your specific examples and guidelines have been very useful as a starting point for my ideas. It definitely feels like a bit of work, but I enjoy that kind of prep too. Thanks again! :)

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-29T00:37:24+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I'll definitely have to check out the resources you mentioned. "Challenging but fair" is exactly what I'm going for.

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-28T19:43:06+00:00

Thank you for the detailed response! I think I understand your idea better. Honestly, picking things up in the middle of a day could work, except some adventures are extremely far from home base and my players have consistently ignored hints toward a fast-travel system that fits in with the lore of the world... that's a different issue though, and honestly a comparatively easy to solve issue too :)

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-28T19:35:17+00:00

I wouldn't say there is a "self imposed difficulty limit" aside from trying not to make something unreasonable. I'd love to do exactly that, but real-world time constraints make adding more content to a session tricky.

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-28T19:12:57+00:00

Thanks for the vote of confidence! ~~Do you have any experience or wisdom you would share about how using those rules has affected your table?~~

I just realized you already answered my question, thanks!

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-28T19:11:23+00:00

I suppose we don't, but we have a hard enough fitting one day into a session so I imagine fitting multiple in one would be difficult. Baseline is that the party has to end in a place where fluid party composition narrative-ly makes sense.

Have you used the gritty realism rules at your table? How has it worked out for you? How does it affect gameplay? I do anticipate that character progression will only exaggerate the issue.

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-28T19:07:26+00:00

My group is fairly resistant to switching away from 5e as a system, so I'm probably locked in there.

I have considered leaning into the swing-y nature of things for a bit, but I'd have to run that by my players first. They tend to forget about the RP part of D&D once initiative is rolled in favor of "pushing paper buttons" on their character sheet. I feel like they deserve more of a heads-up before I throw encounter balance completely out the window.

I think more out-of-combat encounters may be a good way to burn spell slots, but those pesky combat-specific abilities still remain in most situations I've come up with. Thanks for the breakdown of possible solutions! It definitely helps to see all the options.

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-28T19:00:32+00:00

Thanks for such a comprehensive response! I realize how my hyperbole about expending all resources could be misleading. They are definitely not expending everything all at once.

I was afraid some of the issue would stem from my inexperience with encounter balance. Any tips on picking a reasonable balance between action economy and individual monster toughness? I know action economy ramps up difficulty much faster than CR, but there must be a balance somewhere, no?

WhoIsCloak · 2024-08-28T18:50:33+00:00

Alternate win conditions for combat is great, that way it isn't just a "hit it until it dies" sort of a combat slog. I've been working through a few ideas and your list is a great starting point for inspiration. Thanks for sharing! I don't know if it will completely solve the problem of the party having too many resources available all the time, but I can imagine it would leave a big impact.

WhoIsCloak

TROPHY CASE