Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Never any Horses in D&D crpgs

I already know this will go absolutely nowhere, but I still feel compelled to register my dismay that even after two decades D&D still hasn't figured out a way to pull off Mounts or even pack animals in a computer game... Like we can't even get a Lucius-like jackass by now to carry our stuff around? Obviously the mule's name would be "Monty," and he could just tag along behind for the haul and comic relief lol

But honestly, it's such a staple in this genre, that I can't help but feel like they need to be called out once again for providing no stables in the game and for not trying to represent horses in any way. Mounting for faster travel or dismounting after area transition or going underground would be cool, if we actually had those kinds of transitions. Or the whistle gimmick that's been around in films forever and in other fantasy RPGs for a while or like in Zelda since the N64. Mounted jumps or TB Combat would be even more amazing, though again, total pipe dream it seems.

I just think its a missed opportunity. A constantly missed opportunity.

I imagine the immediate response would be that it would never work in a game like this, because of the way everything else has been set up and designed. But its still a bummer.

Not that I need to actually want to fly on a dragon for once or anything, but I wish they'd put some energy into making a game that actually incorporates mounts and riding and the existence of horses. But I guess they're rarer than unicorns and Netherese warp portals apparently.

I mean Warhorses... Can't this be a thing by now? Animal handling and athletics for a reason? I guess our DM just didn't want to bother, but still

Neverwinter online has them. But now that you have raised the point I realized that is true, i don't recall not even carcasses of horses.

I think it's like asking for cars in a game like Deus Ex, yes you are in a city, yes you might see some cars around, but the game direction is incompatible with zooming around in a car.

That said, I think here is the best logical option we could have:

Buy mounts that would stand around in our camp, and if you have mounts your travel time between locations decreases, and there could be little cutscenes of how we get on a mount and start / end travel.

Not sure where, but I'm fairly sure I read that the Paladin class will have a steed mount/companion eventually.

They'd have to make a mounted combat system worth a damn first

Don't believe it allows for mounted combat - just attacks like any other familiar/animal companion.

Horses are illegal in this region of Faerun. All races, even the goblinoids and drow, obey this universal law. Plot Twist: The Absolute is a horse.

You want horses? In a dnd game? Pathfinder wrath of righteous coming this summer. Along with mounted combat

Here is a good example from pathfinder.
In Wrath of the Rightious we will get mounted combat

Hannibal (demon edition)
You can ride an elefant and trample over hordes of demons.

The introduction and implementation of mounts in other MMOs and RPGs have ruined so many things. Now peeps want and expect them. Ugh.

I've always wanted them, in every computer RPG.

In tbt rpgs they've been with us since the start.

I'd love horses, they'd be awesome. I think there's not much chance of them being implemented. It would require a LOT of level redesign, although that redesign would also help with the "everything is too scrunched up" issue that some have raised. From what I've seen so far, I'd stil rather play BG3 than, FI, Wrath of the Righteous.

Like?

Not immersion, all populations that have a chance to domesticate an animal useful for transport did it (horses, camels, dromedaries).

The problem in some MMORPGS is that they started to use as mounts whatever the players asked for, giant insects, big cats, reindeers, big reptiles and so on.. ...

Llama!

I want halflings riding llamas.

I personally don’t like fancy mounts even in a fantasy world. Those should be very exceptional so I can agree with you.

But...in Eberron, halflings ride dinosaurs. It seems the general direction of mounts in games, including tabletop, is to add exotic types. I don’t like the trend but it’s here.

Minsk is getting a Giant Miniature Space Hamster Mount.

Maybe is my education but i can accept elements that are clearly irrational (magic, dragons, pegasus and so on) but have problems with things like these because animals used for transport have due characteristics that made them domesticable, that's why we don't have domesticated zebras or kangaroos.

We do have domesticated cats though

Cats are a complicated stuff, dogs, sheeps, bovines, camels, llamas, those are domesticated animals. Cats are more self domesticated animals, indeed they maintain a lot of their feral traits (the debate on theri "domestication" is still open, hopefully some informations will come from what is happening with urban foxes that are showing signd of self domestication). Big felines a completely different story, they can be subjugated but not domesticated, they are bigger than cats so they lack a trait that could have a role in what cats did, to big felines we are either adversaries, a danger, or preys.

I love where this subject has gone! The domestication of the Aurochs into plough cattle and the Horse as a mount were among the two most significant developments in early civilization. And the domestication of the dog was the most important interspecies alliance of all, right at the root of modern humans. Dogs made us human. They domesticated us, and then set us down the path. Romans raised by wolves hehe. So at least Scratch is up in there.

But horses are really pretty key, and they don't get any love in this game yet. The way things were handled in Skyrim or ESO or SWTOR with mounts wouldn't work here anyway, but it was a cool thing going back to like Ultima Online when you finally get enough money and attained a high enough level to buy your own horses. In D&D its probably better at higher level anyway, like a lvl 5+ accomplishment and we only have 4 so lol... Stealing horses though, and horse raiding, also cool concepts that could be explored more in the subgame. I know they tried in NWN forever to make a mount a working thing for those 3rd edition games, figures it wouldn't happen till they did an MMO out of it alas. But I like a single player type design. I thought Breath of the WIld had probably the coolest concept from an action oriented game where you had to find them and train and could keep a stable. Or even if it ended up something like the Tauntans in SWTOR, I can't really complain there, it's way more therapeutic to ride than to speeder heheh. But trying to design mounted combat would be a massively cool thing if someone actually did it up proper. I'd be curious to see what Pathfinder does with it, mechanically that game feels a bit more like the infinity iso's, but they have some cool mini animations for the paper dolls, and a bit more screen real estate, so I think it could work there. I think for a game like BG3, they could still find a non combat way to include mounts. It'd be clean to see two people ride on a single horse at slower speeds or shorter distances, or to carry the wounded, or drape a corpse on the back. Riding in to initiate a combat would be pretty badass to see though, like lancing a gobbo straight off the bat would be fun to see, or an armored charger just tearing it up. A horse and pack mule are good thing to have around. And a villainous cat familiar, of course, to keep boo in check. They could do a lot with the talk to animals ability on that one haha.

I think the best we could hope for here would maybe be just having a horse at the camp. Perhaps as a plot conceit, a donkey to explain the hauling and sending items to camp type dynamic. In the MMOs that's like a thing that the henchmen can be ordered to do, go sell junk. So if there were mercs I guess we could imagine that too or that one of the party members is dipping back on horseback. I think it'd be a nice touch, but I wouldn't expect much more. Though it would be cool if someone pulled it off in a compelling way