Mount

A mount is a creature that characters can ride. The mount and dismount commands are used to manage this activity. A mount's owner may also lead it without riding it. The riding skill is required to ride a mount.

Traveling through the wilderness on a mount will reduce traveltime by 1 second per movement (barring mounts with a Speed stat of 0), and will cause the rider to suffer far less energy and nutrition loss while doing so. If a mount suffers a mortal wound or other death condition, they will instead flee to the last stables they were left at and will be unavailable until they have had sufficient time to recover.

All the below stats and conditions will be conveyed when a character goes to order a mount from a shop. A mount's purchase price is automatically adjusted based on its stats.

Numerical Stats

All mounts have the following numerical stats ranging from 0 to 7, higher being better:

• Speed (Spd): Chance of reducing traveltime by an additional 1 second when riding through the wilderness, and the ability for the mount to stay away from hostiles. (Mounts with a speed of 0 confer no traveltime reduction at all.)
• Endurance (End): How much energy the mount has.
• Strength (Str): How much weight the mount can haul, how fast, and how energy-efficiently. Also confers a small damage bonus to their applicable attacks (if any).
• Toughness (Tgh): Reduces damage taken by the mount. This is in addition to any natural base resistances the mount might have.
• Grit (Grt): Reduces chances that the mount will get spooked or flee from hostile creatures and other dangerous situations, increases chances that the mount will intervene to protect its owner if it is capable of doing so (typically warmounts).

Non-Numerical Stats

Mounts have the following non-numerical stats:

• Warmount (War): Mounts that are designated a Warmount can be ridden effectively in combat, granting roll bonuses to their rider and occasionally attacking on their own. They will also often defend themselves from attackers rather than fleeing when riderless. They receive a bonus to resist getting spooked by hostile attackers that stacks with Grit. Only characters with the War Riding ability can purchase and properly utilize warmounts.
• Hitchable (Hch): Whether a mount can have carts, wagons, etc. hitched to them for hauling. A plus (+) designation means the mount doesn't mind hauling. A minus (-) designation means that while the mount can haul things hitched to it, its morale will quickly decrease while it does so until the mount outright refuses to continue hauling or carry a rider (it may still be led in this state, if nothing is hitched to it).
• Uncomfortable (Unc): Some mounts are considered uncomfortable to ride, and may cause their rider to suffer morale loss, staggering, bruising, and in some cases chances to fall, when the mount is ridden in the wilderness or through several rooms in quick succession. These types of mounts are typically more suited for hauling or combat rather than long-distance riding.

Environments

Mounts may struggle with certain types of environments or terrain, meaning they will confer no traveltime reduction when ridden in these environments unless they are moving along a road. Some mounts may dislike certain types of environments so much that they outright refuse to enter them.

Care

• A horse brush can be used to brush a mount's coat in order to try and improve the mount's morale a little.