Looking for a beast to ride Auroch Vs Bison

[Iamacup]

As the title suggests, I am looking to ride a Bison or Buffalo of some description. Looking into it and it seems there are two options available to me, both herd animals and they are both readily available in the temperate climate.

My main question is
Why is the Auroch so much more expensive when compared to the Bison.
The Bison is significantly cheaper and appears on paper from everything I can see to be significantly better as a mount and a familiar.

Cheers,

Cup

[GilesTheCleric]

I don't see Aurochs in 3.5, though maybe I didn't look hard enough. Is this for PF?

[Fizban]

Aurochs are from Forgotten Realms IIRC. I don't remember either having a listed price though, nor are they eligible as familiars.

[Iamacup]

Hi Folks,

Sorry for not responding sooner.

Yes this is for Pathfinder.
Here is the link for Bison
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/herd-animals/bison?tmpl=%2Fsystem%2Fapp%2Ftemplates%2Fprint%2F

And here is the link to Aurochs
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/herd-animals/aurochs

This is what I am basing my confusion on.

The list that shows they can be ridden is here, I have made it a spoiler as it's pretty big.
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Riding Animals

When reared from birth, the following animals can easily be ridden by Small or Medium humanoids, depending on the riding animal's size. In addition, most of these animals can be purchased already trained for combat. The animals are listed here for convenience when referencing the Ride skill, but are also listed on the Goods & Services Animals and Gear page.



Animal - Price - Price if Combat Trained


Aurochs 300 gp 450 gp
Bison 50 gp 75 gp
Boar 100 gp 150 gp
Elk 100 gp 150 gp
Giant chameleon 225 gp 350 gp
Giant frilled lizard 375 gp 550 gp
Giant gecko 100 gp 150 gp
Giant owl 6,000 gp 9,000 gp
Giant vulture 750 gp 1,125 gp
Goblin dog 35 gp 50 gp
Lion 200 gp 300 gp
Ram 25 gp 50 gp
Rhinoceros 1,000 gp 1,500 gp
Roc 7,200 gp 10,800 gp
Tiger 325 gp 500 gp
Woolly mammoth 3,000 gp 4,500 gp
Woolly rhinoceros 2,000 gp 3,000 gp


They are both here, and they are both easily available to be ridden. Why are people just riding horses everywhere???

Thanks,

Cup

[ExLibrisMortis]

As far as I can see, aurochs are just worse, way worse, if you're plainly buying animals. As animal companions (the class feature), they're equal, so it's a matter of taste, at that point.

As for why that is, I have no idea. Most likely, they're by different authors, or something like that.

[Iamacup]

Yep,

That is what I thought. I am looking to have a riding animal, maybe combat trained with a nice shiny saddle. I will be the guy in a Bison!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ4T9CQA0UM

Regards,

Cup

[Fizban]

People ride horses because they've always ridden horses. They're already domesticated and in widespread use as mounts and beasts of burden, while it is usually assumed that big beefy irritable animals like Bison are not domesticated and thus not easily available-you need to use your own abilities and time to acquire one.

Once someone assigns a price to them that fact goes out the window since being priced means someone is selling them means someone is breeding and training them. The next factor to look at is speed: any large animal can haul far more than a human, but horses are also faster. Even a heavy horse (base speed 50') at a medium load still moves a touch faster than a human walking. A bison or auroch (base speed 40') is providing no speed advantage at a medium load. This is mechanical reason mules are so much cheaper than horses: same size and strength, but no speed boost (also no breeding, so they're not a long-term investment).

Neither of these takes into account combat ability. Mounts are valued as beasts of burden and speed boosts for adventurers, not combatants. You could say this is because the designers don't value the combat of animals that aren't meant for combat (turning a blind eye to the obvious) in order to preserve some "realism" in their pricing, or maybe because they like to think that players won't use mounts in combat unless they're protected class features (ha), or maybe because they figure any time the PCs are using mounts their foes will have mounts of equal or greater strength to match.

As for the pricing, I would imagine whoever priced the auroch was thinking mechanically. They were aware it's much stronger than a horse and gave it a warhorse level price to match its combat ability with a big natural weapon. Meanwhile whoever priced the bison probably had it in their head as a heavy burden non-combat beast, because they're an idiot and didn't actually read the entry. Alternatively some other person could have mixed them up on the pricing table: switched around they're underpriced but make at least a bit more sense. I'd also not be surprised if they're from different books, or someone was thinking about the sidebar on the bison that says bison animal companions are actually aurochs.

[Iamacup]

Speed came up in the discussion with my DM when we were discussing the use of a Bison as a mount, and it was decided that is was not an issue, my Blood Rager has the highest speed at 40ft any way, people need to get mounts to keep up with me walking around. I am not too fussed about moving quicker, I do want something that makes people remember when I go past, I also want to be able to make it into towns, so a 5 ton elephant is a bit out of the question.

In my head I see the entire party moving around on Bison, with a series of pack Bison to haul the loot. I wonder how many failed ride checks in the first random encounter would lead to a stampede and everyone being mauled...

I agree the two do seem to be priced incorrectly, and they certainly are not going to be on offer like horses at every mid sized town. However they will be available at larger towns, and large markets in the right climate zone.

Regards,

Cup