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Noble Equine

Equines are medium to large mammals, with long heads and necks with a mane. Their legs are slender and end in a single, unguligrade toe, protected by a horny hoof. They have long, slender tails, either ending in a tuft, or entirely covered in flowing hair. They are adapted to generally open terrain, from plains and savannas, to mountains or deserts.

The pinnae (outer ears) of equines are mobile, enabling them to easily localise the origin of sounds. They have two-color, or dichromatic vision. Their eyes are set back far on the head, giving them a wide angle of view, without entirely losing binocular vision. Equines also have a vomeronasal organ, that allows males to use the flehmen, or ‘lip-curling’ response to assess the sexual state of potential mates. Equines are one of only two mammals (the other is the human) capable of producing copious sweat perspiration for thermoregulatory cooling, enabling fast running over long distances.

Equines are herbivores, and feed predominantly on tough, fibrous food, such as grasses and sedges. When in need, they will also eat other vegetable matter, such as leaves, fruits, or bark, but are normally grazers, not browsers. Unlike ruminants, with their complex stomachs, equines break down cellulose in the “hindgut” or caecum, a part of the colon. Their dentition is almost complete, with cutting incisors to crop food, and grinding molars set well back behind a diastema.

Species Descriptions

Horses have entwined their destiny with humans (and, to a lesser extent, elves) almost as tightly as dogs have.

And for their part, humans recognize and appreciate this. Horses are regarded with love and honor, and the best tales of human heroes always mention the faithful steed or the mighty charger. But whereas a natural horse will accompany a hero on his quests, sharing many of the same dangers, a noble horse is a full partner; aiding the hero or even fighting by his side. Some heroic steeds’ fame has even outstripped that of their riders.

Noble ponies are a slightly different story. While they certainly do serve humans, dwarves, goblins, and halflings, they seem to only genuinely like halflings and children.

Once a child grows to adolescence (unless the child is a halfling), the noble pony will want very little to do with her.

Noble zebras chose to remain wild, and while they do, for the most part, challenge humanoids, they usually only pay lip service to this role. There are some isolated herds that have elected to serve wild elves.

Noble Equine Species Traits

  • Size: Medium.
  • Size Threshold: 3rd Hit Die.
  • Base Speed: 30 ft.
  • Natural Weapons: 2 hooves (1d4).
  • Senses: Low-light vision (Ex), scent (Ex).
  • Natural Talent Track: Endurance, Run.
  • Family: Mammal.
  • Noble Animal Type: Noble equines have the noble animal type except where superseded by other species traits and features.
  • Social Group: Varies.
  • Automatic Languages: Equine and High Fauna.
  • Bonus Languages: Bat, Camel, Canine, Common, Crocodilian, Elephant, Feline, Herdspeak, Hyena, Lizard, Monitor, Raptor, Rodent, Serpent, Simian, Songbird, Ursine, and Woodland.

Most noble horses are content to end their character development in the noble equine class at 3rd level, while only the largest and most aggressive advance to 4th level and beyond. Noble ponies never advance beyond 2nd level, and noble zebras never advance beyond 3rd.

Noble Equine, Heavy Horse Sub-Species Traits

In all other ways, the noble heavy horse shares the same species traits and level progression as the noble equine.

Noble Equine, Light Horse Sub-Species Traits

In all other ways, the noble light horse shares the same species traits and level progression as the noble equine.

Noble Equine, Pony Sub-Species Traits

In all other ways, the noble pony shares the same species traits and level progression as the noble equine, although a noble pony can never advance beyond 2nd level noble equine.

Noble Equine, Zebra Sub-Species Traits

In all other ways, the noble zebra shares the same species traits and level progression as the noble equine, although a noble zebra can never advance beyond 3rd level noble equine.

Racial Feats

The following feats are available to a noble equine character who meets the prerequisites.

  • Linked Feat

Noble Equine Class

Hit Die: d8

Class Skills

The noble animal’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Diplomacy (Cha), Perception (Wis), Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Table: Noble Equine
Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special
1st +0 +2 +2 +0 Bonus feat
2nd +1 +3 +3 +0 Speed increase +10
3rd +2 +3 +3 +1 Bonus feat, speed increase +10
4th +3 +4 +4 +1 Natural weapon (bite 1d4)

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the noble equine class.

Bonus Feat

At every odd level you gain a bonus feat from the following list: Aggressive Attitude, Call Stampede, Cautious Attitude, Endurance, Improved Overrun, Power Attack, Run, and Trampling Overrun.

Speed Increase

At 2nd level your Base Speed increases by 10 ft., and by another 10 ft. at 3rd level.

Natural Weapon

At 4th level, you gain a bite attack that does 1d4 damage.

Alternative Racial Traits

You can exchange one or several of your character’s normal racial Traits, but of course you cannot exchange the same racial trait more than once.

As with any alternate or optional rule, you must first get the permission of your GM to exchange any of your character’s normal racial Traits for those listed here.

  • Ability: This is placeholder text.
  • Normal Speed: This is placeholder text.

Favored Class Alternatives

Instead of receiving an additional skill rank or hit point whenever they gain a level in a Favored Class, noble equines have the option of choosing from a number of other bonuses, depending upon their Favored Classes. The following options are available to all noble equines who have the listed Favored Class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the listed Favored Class reward.

Linked Class2: This is placeholder text.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

The Noble Wild. Copyright 2009 by Lee Garvin and Skirmisher Publishing LLC.

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