Racial Mount?

[TheYoungKing]

Okay, so I've been tinkering with a homebrew system for an old story of mine. And one race (the approximate concept was snake-Mongols) is intensely connected to their horses.

The basic idea I had was to grant them a mount as a racial feature, and allow class features like animal companion or the paladin's mount (possibly even familiars) to advance said mount.

Does this sound workable and balanced to you?

[zagan]

You could grant them the Wild cohort feat as a bonus feat but only for horse and in exchange give them a signifiant drawback when they are separate perhaps ?

[TheYoungKing]

That actually works perfectly. Thanks, I didn't know about that feat.

And I had planned on giving them drawbacks. The snake-Mongols (Khana) are pretty impotent in most situations without their horse. Haven't worked out the precise drawbacks just yet.

[Admiral Squish]

I wouldn't say 'drawbacks'. It's more like taking an ubercharger paladin and taking his mount. He's still COMPETENT, he could just do SO much better if he had his mount.

Perhaps a racial ride and handle animal bonus on top of the cohort thingie. Perhaps you could steal the half-daelkyr's symbiont connection mechanic and apply it to your horsie?

I would personally leave the exact nature of mount open, however, instead of just a horse. Perhaps use the paladin options list?

[zagan]

Glad to be of help, I admit that the concept is interesting.
As for a drawback well a very low speed (like 10ft) might be a good start and justify the use of horse.
A penality to attack roll when not mount perhaps ?