Horse-lords of Rohan discussion

[Otaku-sempai]

The Mearas are supposed to come from Nahar, Oromë's horse, and horses from Middle-earth. On the other hand, the Elven-steeds were brought from Valinor by Feänor (and probably come from Nahar as well). I think they should be considered "blessed" animals, same as the Great Eagles or Huan because their staying in the Undying Lands. Certainly they are not "spirits" (Maiar or otherwise), but the most noble version of an animal.

As a footnote, their (Elven) riders don't use saddle nor briddle (probably such an animal won't accept that), it's the own horse who cares about the rider. Same as Shadowfax, now that I think about it (and Felaróf, if my memory serves me well). Esentially, there should be little difference between a pure-blooded Mearh and an Elven steed.

Thanks for the info! I tend to agree with you that the Elven-steeds should be at or slightly below the level of the Mearas and it might be interesting to interbreed them.

[Arthadan]

Glad to be of assistance!

[aramis]

The Great Eagles are capable of speech and human level thinking; if Elven Horses are similar to Great Eagles, then they are far above even the best destriers... in the same way humans are above monkeys.

Which would imply elf-steeds as near partners to Elves, rather than tamed animals.

[Láthspell]

I had two issues I wanted to discuss.

First: Regarding Mounted Combat and Great weapons.
It seems to me, that such weapons as the Great Bow, Great Axe, Mattock, and the Great Spear (though given the background of the Giant-slaying Spear, it is possible that a jousting lance would qualify as a great spear) would be unwieldy on horseback. What would be people's thoughts on heroes wielding such weapons counting as hindered? With the possible caveat that characters with Horsemanship are considered comfortable enough in the saddle to ignore the penalty.

Second: Fierce Folk
While I like the concept, it seems like this Cultural Blessing could be inordinately powerful. Essentially, as long as a Dunlending is willing to accrue Shadow, they effectively can't be defeated in battle save by suffering two wounds or a bout of madness. That being the case, it seems that the logical move would be always wear a Mail Hauberk, given that weariness would essentially be a non-issue. While practical such armor seems out of character for the frugal Dunlendings.

I would note that when Lake-town came out I had reservations about Tenacious that proved to be rather unfounded, so I will admit I could be missing something here, but what are the thoughts of the free folk on this matter?

[Indur Dawndeath]

Because of the very low maximum hope for the Dunlendings, this will be balanced. I think!
But if the fight is very important, then a Dunlending can take a lot of hits...

Cheers

[Pangea]

Essentially, as long as a Dunlending is willing to accrue Shadow, they effectively can't be defeated in battle save by suffering two wounds or a bout of madness.
My thoughts were exactly as stated above:
Because of the very low maximum hope for the Dunlendings, this will be balanced.
It is quite powerful, but cannot only be used very seldom unless you want to be Miserable all the time...

[Glorelendil]

I'll admit I'm worried about the OP-ness of Dunlendings. Cheap AP, free attribute bonuses on a whole host of skills, and a 2H Axe in one hand...

I really like all of their virtues, though. No duds. Grim of Aspect is the coolest RP virtue in the game, Ill Omen is a fun mechanic and gives the player some good narration oportunities (but see below), and Wild Onset both compensates for low scores and gives a reason to not sit in Defensive Stance at higher skill level.

Ill Omen: how will you handle this on Journeys? Since Journeys are often run in fast-forward ("Ok, you travel for five days...") I wouldn't want to have the player roll every night. And yet if something does happen, like a Hazard, you would want to know if he has a bonus die to spend.

Furthermore, if the player really does roll every night it has implications for both Eye Awareness and Advancement Points. (This was in issue with my Woodman with Natural Awareness, too.)

I suppose my solution would that any time the game enters a day in which character actions are needed, I would let the Dunlending roll for "last night". But it's awkward.

[DavetheLost]

I think Dunlendings may be somewhat tempered by roleplaying factors. They are not a common people outside of the hills, and the Rohirim at least look on them with considerable disfavor.But the farther (into Wilderland) one gets from Rohan the less the Dunlending has to deal with this social prejudice.

As for Ill Omen, I would require the Dunlending player to ask for the roll, rather than having them automatically roll for it every morning. The chance of rolling an Eye and becoming miserable may disuade too frequent rolling, although the bonus dice are very tempting. I do think Ill Omen is a great RP possibility and offers a Tolkien feel to the mechanics.

[Deadmanwalking]

Hey folks! I'm just returning to the Forum since the TOR game I'm playing in returned from hiatus, and I got the Horse-lords of Rohan book. So...that timing worked out nicely.

I'll admit I'm worried about the OP-ness of Dunlendings. Cheap AP, free attribute bonuses on a whole host of skills, and a 2H Axe in one hand...

I really like their Virtues myself, and would love to play a Dunlending sometime...but I'm not worried about them being overpowered. Their low stats (13 points rather than 14), and combination of lowest Hope in the game (tied with Dwarves) and second lowest Endurance (one point above a Hobbit's...for the first time it's possible to play a Hobbit who's tougher than someone else without spending Virtues, as a Heart 7 Hobbit is tougher than a Heart 2 Dunlending) make them pretty balanced all things considered.

Yes, they'll wind up with high Common skills, but they won't be able to spend Hope on them very often, and the savings on Favored Skills are minor, so they'll be jacks of all trades more than better specialists.

As for combat, let's examine the Great Axe of the Woods using Dunlending. Assuming she's maxed Heart, her Endurance is 24. A Great Shield, Great Axe, and Leather Corselet give a full 7 points of margin between full and Weary. That's not unworkable, but it's a close shave and will result in using Fierce Folk decently often...which makes her even less able to spend Hope. You could go with a normal shield...but then your Parry's down to 7, and not even equal to a maxed out Elf of Mirkwood with a Spearman's Shield (who has more Endurance and Hope than you, and debatably a better weapon). If she hasn't maxed Heart, the margin's even worse (though her Parry starts actually exceeding the Elf's). The best version is probably the Forest Dweller, and gets you a total of Parry 10 and a Great Axe on offense...but your margin to Weary is a mere 6 points, and you're still behind the Elf in Hope and Endurance. Cunning Make helps with this problem, but it competes with several other Rewards that you really want (including Spiral Armor).

In theory, a mount actually really helps them out on this issue...but they don't start with one, and have no Cultural stuff that helps with using one. And a mount helps everyone equally (except Rohirrim, who it self-evidently helps more).

[Faeron8]

Greetings,

I don't know if here is the right topic to ask but...
I'm starting the DOM this weekend and one of my players insists to play as a Dunlendings. The problem is that I don't have the Horse-lords of Rohan ($ problems) to back me up and, for what I understood, Saruman is not recruting people from Dunland until ~2960. My question is what believable connection could I make to bring the Southern Man to the Heart of the Wild (I'm actually getting them to start at Dale)?

Really sorry if this is way off-topic, but I'm kind of desperated