Mounts and Vehicles

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A good mount can help you move more quickly through the wilderness, but its primary purpose is to carry the gear that would otherwise slow you down. The Mounts and Other Animals table shows each animal's speed and base carrying capacity.

An animal pulling a carriage, cart, chariot, sled, or wagon can move weight up to five times its base carrying capacity, including the weight of the vehicle. If multiple animals pull the same vehicle, they can add their carrying capacity together.

Mounts other than those listed here are available in the worlds of D&D, but they are rare and not normally available for purchase. These include flying mounts (pegasi, griffons, hippogriffs, and similar animals) and even aquatic mounts (giant sea horses, for example). Acquiring such a mount often means securing an egg and raising the creature yourself, making a bargain with a powerful entity, or negotiating with the mount itself.

## Options

***Barding.*** Barding is armor designed to protect an animal's head, neck, chest, and body. Any type of armor shown on the Armor table in this chapter can be purchased as barding. The cost is four times the equivalent armor made for humanoids, and it weighs twice as much.

***Saddles.*** A military saddle braces the rider, helping you keep your seat on an active mount in battle. It gives you advantage on any check you make to remain mounted. An exotic saddle is required for riding any aquatic or flying mount.

***Vehicle Proficiency.*** If you have proficiency with a certain kind of vehicle (land or water), you can add your proficiency bonus to any check you make to control that kind of vehicle in difficult circumstances.

***Rowed Vessels.*** Keelboats and rowboats are used on lakes and rivers. If going downstream, add the speed of the current (typically 3 miles per hour) to the speed of the vehicle. These vehicles can't be rowed against any significant current, but they can be pulled upstream by draft animals on the shores. A rowboat weighs 100 pounds, in case adventurers carry it over land.

## Tack, Harness, and Drawn Vehicles

### Chariots

(Mythic Odysseys of Theros, page 196)

Chariots and the creatures pulling them work like controlled mounts, as described in the mounted combat rules, but with the following differences:

* Mounting or dismounting a chariot costs you 5 feet of movement, rather than a number of feet equal to half your speed.
* Being mounted on a chariot grants you half cover.
* A chariot's speed is equal to the speed of the slowest creature pulling it.
* If multiple creatures are pulling the chariot, they all act on the same initiative, and they must take the same action on their turn.

## Waterborne Vehicles

### Owning a Ship

At some point in your campaign, the adventurers might gain custody of a ship. They might purchase or capture one or receive one to carry out a mission. It's up to you whether a ship is available for purchase, and you have the power to deprive the adventurers of a ship at any time should it become a nuisance.

***Crew.*** A ship needs a crew of skilled hirelings to function. As per the Player's Handbook, one skilled hireling costs at least 2 gp per day. The minimum number of skilled hirelings needed to crew a ship depends on the type of vessel, as shown in the Airborne and Waterborne Vehicles tables.

You can track the loyalty of individual crew members or the crew as a whole using the optional loyalty rules. If at least half the crew becomes disloyal during a voyage, the crew turns hostile and stages a mutiny. If the ship is berthed, disloyal crew members leave the ship and never return.

***Passengers.*** The table indicates the number of Small and Medium passengers the ship can accommodate. Accommodations consist of shared hammocks in tight quarters. A ship outfitted with private accommodations can carry one-fifth as many passengers.

A passenger is usually expected to pay 5 sp per day for a hammock, but prices can vary from ship to ship. A small private cabin usually costs 2 gp per day.

***Cargo.*** The table indicates the maximum tonnage each kind of ship can carry.

***Damage Threshold.*** A ship has immunity to all damage unless it takes an amount of damage equal to or greater than its damage threshold, in which case it takes damage as normal. Any damage that fails to meet or exceed the damage threshold is considered superficial and doesn't reduce the ship's hit points.

***Ship Repair.*** Repairs to a damaged ship can be made while the vessel is berthed. Repairing 1 hit point of damage requires 1 day and costs 20 gp for materials and labor.