Beastrider
A Pilot Specialty whose Bonded Vessel is a living mount, with a mental link, a charging lance attack, shared initiative, a rallying cry and a one-minute awakening of the mount.
Identity
The Beastrider is the Pilot Specialty for worlds where an engine is a liability: dust that eats bearings, atmospheres that corrode a fuel line in a week, terrain no repulsor was built for. What Beastriders ride varies by biome and culture. Zyrrak pack-riders, hunt-cavalry on worlds that never industrialized, and frontier drovers who cross a continent a year all belong to the Specialty. A rider paired with one mount for ten years no longer gives it commands.
Features
- L3 Beast-Bond
Your Bonded Vessel is a riding-mount creature (Large or larger, from a species the GM approves). You and your Beast-Bond share a nonverbal mental link while within 1 mile of each other. You can communicate simple emotional states and short imperative commands (stay, follow, attack, hide) without speech, and you can pinpoint each other's exact location. You gain proficiency in Animal Handling if you do not already have it, and you have advantage on Animal Handling checks made with your Beast-Bond or with creatures of its species. If your Beast-Bond dies, you can replace it after a long rest. A mourning period of one tenday is recommended.
- L7 Charging Lance
When you are mounted on your Beast-Bond and your mount moves at least 20 feet in a straight line toward a target before you attack, your first melee attack against that target on the same turn gains a +2 bonus to the attack roll and deals an additional 2d6 damage on a hit. If the target is Large or smaller, you can also force it to make a Strength saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is higher) or be knocked Prone. The mount can also make a hoof, horn, claw, or tusk attack against the same target as a bonus action, without using your action economy.
- L11 Shared Initiative
While you are mounted, your Beast-Bond shares your initiative count and acts on your turn instead of its own. The mount can take one action and one bonus action per round at your direction, in addition to its movement. Once per turn, you can dismount or remount as part of your movement at no additional movement cost. While you and your Beast-Bond are linked, when either of you succeeds on a saving throw, you can use your reaction to give the other the benefit of that success.
- L15 Rallying Cry
Once per short rest, you can use a bonus action while mounted on your Beast-Bond to sound a rallying cry: a horn, a shout, a war-call, or your mount's keening. All allies within 60 feet of you who can hear or sense the cry gain temporary hit points equal to your Pilot level + your Charisma or Intelligence modifier (whichever is higher). All mounts and allied beasts within 60 feet gain advantage on their next attack roll, saving throw, or check. Hostile beasts and untrained mounts within 60 feet must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma or Intelligence modifier) or be Frightened of you and your Beast-Bond until the end of your next turn.
- L18 Awakened Mount Capstone
Once per long rest, you can use a bonus action to awaken your Beast-Bond's mind for 1 minute. During that time, your mount understands spoken language, can speak in short phrases with whatever vocal apparatus it has, and can take its own actions with tactical judgment, separate from your direction. Its Intelligence score becomes 12 for the duration, and its attacks deal an extra 2d6 damage. When the minute ends, the mount returns to its normal cognition, and you gain a permanent +1 bonus to Animal Handling checks made with that Beast-Bond. The GM decides how much of what it understood the mount remembers.
