Ok the dwarven paladin mount thread got me thinking about other races and what mount seems to fit them best so IMO:
Human: Horse
Elf: Stag
Dwarf: Dire Boar
Halfling: Riding Dog
Orc: Dire Wolf
Goblin: Wrog
Gnome: Dire Badger
Also I was thinking of odd mounts I've used: I had a Dervish that rode on a Dust Twister (Sandstorm), I was dubbed Pacos by the party. I've also had a Pally/Vassal of Bahamut on a Dragonnel (Draconomicon). Not really a mount, but I hand a very thin Human Monk that would perch on the shoulder of a Half-Orge Barbarian another player was running. The group stated calling us Timon and Pumba
So what race mount combo do you thinks fits best?
What odd mounts have you used?
Fizz
oh please don't compile the anwsers.
I used a lion for an elven Paladin of Iomedae. I'm more of a fan of a paladin's mount matching their deity, rather than their race.
A human would ride a horse (of course, of course).
Elves wouldn't ride mounts as frequently as humans. They live 800 years and as such don't mind taking the time to walk most places. When they do ride, they would either be adopting the local common mount (a practice common to all races, at least when traveling to human lands) or a large hunting cat of some form. Tigers, panthers, etc. As one may suspect, these mounts are best suited for war, and are reserved for such ocassions (and usually known as "war tigers" or "war panthers," etc.). Elves are also fond of giant owls and eagles.
Under the premise that other races use "exotic" mounts, dwarves are usually depicted with dire boars. I find the ram to be more appropriate(as mentioned not only in the Dwarven Paladin Mount thread, but in several other threads, and featured in WoW). It makes more sense for their enviornment. Considering the difficulty in rearing dire rams suitable for riding, these are typically encountered only in times of war (and thus, like the elven mounts, are usually called "war rams"). Otherwise, dwarves don't mind walking (due to longer lifespans, a hardy constitution, and their willingness to do thinks the simple/hard/traditional way).
Halflings are fond of ponies where ponies are plentiful, dogs where they are not. Dogs are also good for hunting and guarding, and thus are somewhat more esteemed than their equine alternatives. Halflings don't practice mounted combat as much as other races, and thus don't have a special designation for war mounts.
Gnomes are not fond of riding. They typically only do so when traveling with humans who are riding, and thus use a pony.
Moving to the "savage" species, goblins favor worgs, as all know. Larger goblinoids have varying habits: hobgoblins dwell in and along the edges of plains and open lands, where they are constantly at war. Like humans, they primarily ride horses. Bugbears do not routinely raise any form of creature large enough to ride, since such an animal would only compete for food and bugbears don't usually travel much.
I also agree with previous posters that orcs prize wolves, specifically dire ones, above all other mounts. Some might feel this links orcs and the worg-riding goblins, at least aesthetically; any who would say this in the company of a member of either race would be risking life and limb.
Elves wouldn't ride mounts as frequently as humans. They live 800 years and as such don't mind taking the time to walk most places. When they do ride, they would either be adopting the local common mount (a practice common to all races, at least when traveling to human lands) or a large hunting cat of some form. Tigers, panthers, etc. As one may suspect, these mounts are best suited for war, and are reserved for such ocassions (and usually known as "war tigers" or "war panthers," etc.). Elves are also fond of giant owls and eagles.Gnomes are not fond of riding. They typically only do so when traveling with humans who are riding, and thus use a pony.
Elves and tigers screamed WoW. I think that game made me hate the idea of tigers as mounts.
I never have thought about gnomes either. I had to go back and add them because I just forgot they were a race. I've never seen a person play a gnome. wow I don't think I've ever used a gnome NPC.
But now that a think about it I'm going to say gnomes should ride foxes. They will all be named Swift, help the gnomes save animal, and help trick troll into getting in the sun light.
Fizz
oh please don't compile the anwsers.
COMPILATION!!!
Kidding. Just kidding. That's a great idea for gnomes (personally, I love gnomes), but ain't foxes too small? Perhaps jackals?
Elves and tigers screamed WoW. I think that game made me hate the idea of tigers as mounts.
I personally like WoW, but even if you hate the time sinks/mechanics/"social" aspects, their treatments of cultures is a far sight better than "standard" D&D's, I think. Much more distinct, consolidated, and sensical (within the contexts of the universe). When you hear a name, you can typically guess which race its owner belongs to. Not this "Whatever combination of random vowels and consonants sounds 'cool'" crap you get in a lot of D&D, with absolutely no regard to appropriateness.
When you see a structure or building, you can be pretty sure of who built it. I know that goes for D&D, too, but in a different sense. All you ever get is a piece of descriptive text along the lines of "You see X, built in the dwarven style." Well, that's just super-de-duper! Uhm, one question though... what the hell is "dwarven style?" I know each DM can make up his own mind on that kind of thing, but that applies to all areas of the game and doesn't stop guidelines from existing there! A starting place would be nice.
Further, you don't really have overlapping evil demihumans in WoW. Each of them has a distinct appearance to their habitations, each has its own behavior, goals, etc. They're not all assumed to be near-indistinguishable, cave-dwelling sword bait (don't get me wrong- they're still sword bait in WoW, but not the others).
In short, I am not ashamed to admit that WoW inspired me to give tigers to elves, wolves to orcs, and rams to dwarves. I think the idea's cool, no matter where it came from! :P
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oh please don't compile the anwsers.COMPILATION!!!
Kidding. Just kidding. That's a great idea for gnomes (personally, I love gnomes), but ain't foxes too small? Perhaps jackals?
Yeah, foxes are too small. Seriously, they aren't much bigger than the average house cat. A dire fox, maybe? That would bump it up to size medium.
Since a paladin's mount is summoned from a celestial plane to serve the paladin, different races wouldn't raise "war tigers" or "war rams" for their paladins to ride.
If anything, such companions would be called because they are appropriate to the geographic area. Which means any jungle dwelling people could have paladins on tigers (not just elves).
Oh, and my Orcs ride rhinos, mostly because of This Guy.
Since a paladin's mount is summoned from a celestial plane to serve the paladin, different races wouldn't raise "war tigers" or "war rams" for their paladins to ride.
If anything, such companions would be called because they are appropriate to the geographic area. Which means any jungle dwelling people could have paladins on tigers (not just elves).
Oh, and my Orcs ride rhinos, mostly because of This Guy.
I wasn't talking about paladins. I was talking about races. Elves favor tigers, not elven paladins (something you will never see in my games, by the way). Dwarves favor rams, orcs wolves; not dwarven and orc paladins (the latter being another thing you won't see me using).
Oh, and yes, that is a very cool orc.
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I very much like bears as mounts for dwarves, probably mostly because of the figures available:
Dwarven Bear Cavalry Commander
Thorvald Clawhelm Dwarven Cavalry
The Reaper figs are particularly nice, but the Grenadier figs offer quite a bit more variety.
oh please don't compile the anwsers.COMPILATION!!!
Kidding. Just kidding. That's a great idea for gnomes (personally, I love gnomes), but ain't foxes too small? Perhaps jackals?
lol I was making a joke there is an old Nickelodeon show called The World of David the Gnome. He was about 4in. tall(think garden gnome), and rode on a fox named Swift. All they did was help animals and F around with the Trolls making them turn to stone. In hindsight I feel bad for the Trolls.
For more info on David the Gnome Check
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_of_David_the_Gnome
I personally like WoW, but even if you hate the time sinks/mechanics/"social" aspects, their treatments of cultures is a far sight better than "standard" D&D's, I think. Much more distinct, consolidated, and sensical (within the contexts of the universe). When you hear a name, you can typically guess which race its owner belongs to. Not this "Whatever combination of random vowels and consonants sounds 'cool'" crap you get in a lot of D&D, with absolutely no regard to appropriateness.
To Saern: No I like WoW just not the tigers. I play WoW, but I haven't tried a elf so I guess I just never liked the tigers elf combo. I think my main beef is I never see predator animals as mounts. I do have to agree with you I do like the rams just as much as the boars.
Fizz
I used a lion for an elven Paladin of Iomedae. I'm more of a fan of a paladin's mount matching their deity, rather than their race.
I'd second the lion and saber toothed cats eg smilodon, as they live in groups so there would be a reasonable way to establish the rider as the 'top cat' of a group as it were. One potential problem though-any carnivore big enough to ride is also big enough to eat you for lunch. Some other potentially nifty mounts moose, bison, elk, caribou (aka reindeer-I have actually seen pictures of reindeer herders in Siberia riding em like horses) and actually sufficiently big wolves for any race-whatever works well in a particular area although living in groups in the wild would be a definite plus if you want a massed cavalry type situation.
From beyond the rolling hills you hear a sound like pounding thunder. The dust cloud tells you that whatever approaches is BIG. Cresting the rise comes a sight worthy of the worst sweat soaked nightmare as a bloodcurdling howl cuts the air.
The Ogre digs his spurs into the Tyrannosaurus he rides, driving it to even greater speeds as he bears down on the party....
Disclamer: I didn't think this one up myself, but was stuck by the imagery when I wrapped my brain around the concept of big monsters riding even Bigger things.
At the (unexpected) end of my last campaign (several mistakes led to a TPK), the party was in a swamp and fought lizardfolk mounted on Huge centipeds. I thought it was a nice touch, but it seemed to go unnoticed by the dying characters. Pity....
I had a dwarven paladin who rode a boar named Dingoslag as his spacail mount. they both wore adamentine full plate.
A kobold on a dire weasel.
In our RotRL one of my fellow players is playing a NE gnome druid who rides around on a dire rat.
You realize that you just opened up one of those weird worm holes? Kobolds=hate gnomes. Kobolds hate gnomes+gnomes=battle. Battle+gnomes riding dire rats+kobolds riding weasels=rat vs. weasel