
Mulet |
Hey,
In my campaign, the players purchased a battle trained pony, and hitched it up to a cart. The Druid decided to have a conversation with it (to instruct it to go back to town), and I was completely off guard for how to correctly role-play it.
Ideally, I want them to become attached to it, so I initially played it as an aloof creature, gullible and always admiring it's own reflection. But that's dull and sucks.
Wikipedia says they are intelligent, good with kids and friendly but can be stubborn and cunning.
The pony's name is But-Stallion.
Any thoughts?

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The Doctor: Can I borrow your horse please? It's official marshall business.
The Preacher: He's called Joshua. It's from the Bible. It means "the Deliverer."
The Doctor: No he isn't.
The Preacher: What?
The Doctor: I speak horse. He's called Susan, and he wants you to respect his life choices.
"A Town Called Mercy".
Best Horse moment ever.

master_marshmallow |

NAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY
But for real, most of the time when I do animals, I just try and imagine what my dog or cat are thinking about and channel that onto the animal I am playing. Always curious, always wanting attention, and always thinking about food. Don't forget to be easily distracted and hostile towards things you don't understand.

Mulet |
First of all, I strongly approve of that name.
I'll let them know.
Don't forget to be easily distracted and hostile towards things you don't understand.
I did that with the Goblins when they were pressing for information. Nyuk Nyuk kept rabbiting on about the sweets at the Sanpoint festival much to the chagrin of those querying him. I'll make that standard on all low int critters.
I would tend to RP animals as very focused on the task at hand
Nice. Any kind of action could fluster them. Kinda like when my mother starts telling me in detail about her day, when I'm moving a fridge or couch or something.
"Two legs, stop talking for a bit, I'm trying to focus on the road."

Ashtathlon |

I grew up with horses, and plan again on having a few when I move to the lower 48, and can say basically horses have two main things on their mind most the time.
What is around them : since they are prey animals its always in their minds, horses have very active noses, ears and eyes, and even when grazing are always on alert, its why some people perceive horses as flighty or fidgety ( and some are more than others, but it is a defense mechanism)
Who is in charge : horses are herd animals and want a leader, either a rider or just a confident person walking beside them, they hate being alone, and if they do not perceive a "good" leader is present, then they will take charge. (its why when a new or poor rider is on headstrong or spirited horse, it will do its own thing, since the horse really does not respect the rider, or trust their judgment.)
when something occurs, a danger or some other sudden occurrences, they default to the above, what is happening, and what is the leader doing, if they feel that the danger is more than the leaders ability to deal with, then they will do what they need to be safe,usually that means running away, warhorses being stallions usually are more likely to fight.
so if talking to one, they would likely mention things about their surroundings, and such, and depending on the person talking to them i.e. how much of a strong leader they perceive them to be (high handle animal or ride maybe as a indicator) will be how likely they are to take any suggestions or even be reluctant to chat with somebody very weak in their eyes.
food is always popular thing with horses, but not so much as many people would think, I had horses that would not accept a apple, carrot or any food from somebody they did not know, or was not in the company of someone they trusted, but some are very food focused, it just depends on the individual.
I use to have a % chart with a bunch of horse traits to roll on when a player purchased or obtained one, it was a lot of fun to see what its personality consisted of.
Well anyway, that's all my horse silliness. :)

SlimGauge |

I remember playing T&T with a vet student as GameMistress. Her horse behavior house rules where ... extensive. Somehow I ended up with a cross between a Percheron and a Shetland Pony with a personality that was completely unimpressed by anything up to and including small dragons.

Ashtathlon |

I had a Friesian/Morgan gelding when I was in my teens, named Samson, he was about 18 hands high, and the smartest horse I have ever worked with.
He could open the paddocks gate unless we pad locked it,he did this so he could get to some bodock apples that he loved. But when he left the gate open, our cows would wander out as well, and kinda give him away.
so he learned how to shut the gate, I actually watched him do this from my bedroom window one day, damndest thing.
He was a awesome horse, and very courageous, when a neighbors brahma bull got loose and chased my butt into the field, Samson confronted the bull and chased it off , biting it in the flanks and kicking at it, he had a bit of the warhorse in his genes I guess.
but I also saw him bolt from a tiny yappy dog, since he had never seen a little barker like that, it weirded him out at first, horse reactions can be unpredictable sometimes.

Mulet |
I grew up with horses, and plan again on having a few when I move to the lower 48, and can say basically horses have two main things on their mind most the time.
What is around them : since they are prey animals its always in their minds, horses have very active noses, ears and eyes, and even when grazing are always on alert, its why some people perceive horses as flighty or fidgety ( and some are more than others, but it is a defense mechanism)
Who is in charge : horses are herd animals and want a leader, either a rider or just a confident person walking beside them, they hate being alone, and if they do not perceive a "good" leader is present, then they will take charge. (its why when a new or poor rider is on headstrong or spirited horse, it will do its own thing, since the horse really does not respect the rider, or trust their judgment.)
when something occurs, a danger or some other sudden occurrences, they default to the above, what is happening, and what is the leader doing, if they feel that the danger is more than the leaders ability to deal with, then they will do what they need to be safe,usually that means running away, warhorses being stallions usually are more likely to fight.
so if talking to one, they would likely mention things about their surroundings, and such, and depending on the person talking to them i.e. how much of a strong leader they perceive them to be (high handle animal or ride maybe as a indicator) will be how likely they are to take any suggestions or even be reluctant to chat with somebody very weak in their eyes.
food is always popular thing with horses, but not so much as many people would think, I had horses that would not accept a apple, carrot or any food from somebody they did not know, or was not in the company of someone they trusted, but some are very food focused, it just depends on the individual.
I use to have a % chart with a bunch of horse traits to roll on when a player purchased or obtained one, it was a lot of fun to see what its personality consisted of.
Well anyway, that's all my horse silliness. :)
Oh yeah, this some good info. I now know enough to role play but stallion correctly.
Thymus Vulgaris, I had no idea that existed. My life is improved.

GreatEscapist |

It's clearly not the same thing but I read a lot on the "Awaken" spell page when I put a Collar of Awakening on my celestial tiger mount (don't ask, there was some handwavium going on there). Now, it bumped his intelligence up (higher than his rider's in fact) but the outline of their personalities might be helpful.
Mostly the page reitterates what a lot of other posters have said, but you might make the large war stallion a little self centered or a bit of a braggard, unless he's being cowed by the "herd leader". His experience of the world is fairly limited and being battle trained and supposedly pretty badass I bet he's pretty pleased with himself.

blahpers |

master_marshmallow wrote:ObligatoryNaw man, the pony is battle trained. Gotta be metal.

Ciaran Barnes |

Years ago JB ran a game I played in where two party members who were brothers bought a pet monkey. One day the Druid cast Speak With Animals and spoke with it. RPing Bert the monkey was one of his greatest performances. Keep in mind that although horses are considered smart, it still has an intelligence score of two, and what it considers important will not match up with a humans.