Horse Clan Warchief

“The thunder of hooves shall be the last thing you ever hear.”

The horse clan warchief is a barbarian who venerates horses. He is in tune with the great horse spirit, and seeks to emulate the speed, power, and agility of a horse. His spiritual attunement creates a close bond with horses and lends him extraordinary abilities, while his arduous training makes him a master of mounted combat. Horse clan warchiefs often lead troops of mounted barbarians on long-range hunts and raids. Horse clan warchiefs who strike out on their own make excellent fast cavalrymen, mounted archers, scouts, and messengers.

Hit Die: d12

Requirements

To qualify to become a horse clan warchief, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria:

Class Skills

The class skills for this class (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (nature [Int]), Perception (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Horse Clan Warchief
Class Level BAB Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special
1st +1 +1 +1 +1 Wild Empathy (Horses), Excellent Horsemanship
2nd +2 +1 +1 +1 Ride-By-Attack or Mounted Archery, Mounted Spearman
3rd +3 +2 +1 +1 Equine Speed, Great Jump
4th +4 +2 +2 +2 Rage improvement
5th +5 +3 +2 +2 Damage Reduction 1/-
6th +6 +3 +2 +2 Equine Senses, Raging Mount
7th +7 +4 +3 +3 Spirited Charge or Trample
8th +8 +4 +3 +3 Rage Improvement, Indomitable Will
9th +9 +5 +3 +3 Damage Reduction 2/-
10th +10 +5 +4 +4 Greater Endurance

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the horse clan warchief prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

Horse clan warchiefs are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields.

Wild Empathy (Horses) (Ex)

At 1st level, the horse clan warchief can improve the attitude of any horse. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The horse clan warchief rolls 1d20 and adds his horse clan warchief level and his Charisma bonus to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domesticated horse has a starting attitude of indifferent, while a wild horse has a starting attitude of unfriendly.

To use wild empathy, the horse clan warchief and the animal must be able to study each other, which means they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

The horse clan warchief can also use this ability to influence a magical horse-like beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but he takes a –2 penalty on the check.

Excellent Horsemanship

At 1st level, the horse clan warchief gains a +2 bonus on all his Ride checks when mounted on a horse, and he may use the Mounted Combat feat to let his horse mount re-roll a failed Reflex saving throw instead of negating a hit. However, he must accept the results of the second roll, even if it is worse than the original. The horse clan warchief’s riding skill is so great that he may use the Ride skill even while raging. Last, the horse clan warchief can teach tricks to horses in three days instead of a week.

Ride-By Attack or Mounted Archery

At 2nd level, the horse clan warchief gains either Ride-By Attack or Mounted Archery as a bonus feat.

Mounted Spearman

At 2nd level, the horse clan warchief deals double damage with spears and longspears while on a charging mount. While mounted, he can wield a spear or longspear with one hand.

Equine Speed (Ex)

At 3rd level, the horse clan warchief‘s running speed rivals that of a horse. His base land speed increases by 5 ft. and he gains the Run feat for free. This benefit applies only when he is wearing no armor or light armor and is not carrying a heavy load. Apply this bonus before modifying the horse clan warchief’s speed because of any load carried or armor worn.

Great Jump (Ex)

At 3rd level, the horse clan warchief gains the ability to make astounding jumps and to encourage his mount to make greater jumps, as well.

From now on, the horse clan warchief is always considered to have at least one rank in the Acrobatics skill, even if he put no points into it, and he gains a +4 bonus on Acrobatics checks. The horse clan warchief is always considered to have a running start when jumping. This benefit applies only when he is wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor and is not carrying a heavy load.

When encouraging his horse mount to make a leap as described in the Ride skill, the mount also receives a +4 enhancement bonus to its Acrobatics check, provided it is not wearing heavy barding and is not carrying a heavy load.

Rage Improvement

At 4th and 8th level, the horse clan warchief warchief can either choose a new barbarian rage power, or he can use his barbarian rage four additional rounds per day. Once the choice is made, it cannot be changed.

Damage Reduction

At levels 5 and 9, the horse clan warchief gains the extraordinary ability to shrug off some amount of injury from each blow or attack. This ability is identical to and stacks with a barbarian’s damage reduction.

Equine Senses (Ex)

At 6th level, once per day the horse clan warchief can call upon the spirits of horses to lend him their natural scent ability. This ability lasts for 1d4 hours.

The horse clan warchief also develops an innate ability to sense danger. Once per day, whenever he would normally be surprised or caught flat-footed, his danger sense is triggered and he is not considered surprised or flat-footed.

Raging Mount (Ex)

At 6th level, when the horse clan warchief is raging while mounted, he can incite his mount into a rage, as well. During this time, his mount shares all the benefits and penalties from the barbarian’s rage or rage power being used. The mount’s rage ends when the horse clan warchief’s rage ends, and the mount suffers the same fatigue effects. This ability is usable once per day as a free action.

Spirited Charge or Trample (Ex)

At 7th level, the horse clan warchief’s skill at mounted combat and bond with his horse becomes even greater. The horse clan warchief gains either Spirited Charge or Trample as a bonus feat, provided he meets the prerequisites. If the horse clan warchief chooses Spirited Charge, he inflicts triple damage when charging while mounted and attacking with spears, in addition to lances.

Indomitable Will (Ex)

At 8th level, the horse clan warchief gains the barbarian’s Indomitable Will ability.

Greater Endurance

At 10th level, the horse clan warchief’s endurance becomes so great that his endurance feat bonus increases to +6 and he becomes immune to any effect that causes Constitution damage or drain. In addition, if he ever suffers from fatigue or exhaustion, he needs only one-fourth the normal amount of rest to recover (15 minutes for exhaustion and 2 hours for fatigue). He can also sleep while wearing medium armor and suffers no penalty.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Grimoire Viperian: A Tome of Exotic Lore Copyright 2021 Magic Skull Games Author: Steven F. Johnson

scroll to top