Of dogs and horses

Just noticed dogs don’t have an equipment entry or stats in the monster section, although there are prices and several references to them (“wolf cubs can be raised in the same manner as dogs”). I’d love to get a quick description in the book somewhere, maybe with full stats (let’s face it, PCs want to buy dogs).
On horses: why would an adventurer buy a warhorse rather than a riding horse? Seems like Riding prof is required to use either in combat. Further, there’s no real rules for mounted combat I can find. Maybe I am misreading the Riding rules, so let me know. I propose a solution, one that still preserves Riding’s proficiency:

  1. Mounted combat: Characters fighting from a trained steed gain +1 AC but otherwise fight as normal. (As I house rule, I also allow lance charges to automatically knockdown the target of the charge from trained mounts, unless the target saves v. paralysis.) Character cannot fight from untrained or regular work animals, as the horse is too skittish and frightened to control.
  2. Riding: Characters with the riding proficiency can fight from untrained animals like riding horses without penalty. Given a certain amount of time, character with Riding can train their mounts to become trained animals usable in combat as the mount becomes more accustomed to the sights and smells of fighting. Additionally, Riding allows a character to both fight mounted and have their mount attack at the same time. [Otherwise proficiency remains the same.]
    This both explains why to pay a bunch more money for the trained horses, and makes Riding a more fun proficiency: rather than be strictly necessary for any sort of effective mounted combat, it makes the character better at it and more of a trainer. Also, it still makes a riding proficiency necessary for animals like griffons or elephants.
    What does everyone think? Am I missing something? Is there a more traditional mounted combat rule I’m missing?

Duskreign’s Minion here.
As I read the rules you need the followng to fight from a mount:

  1. Riding Proficiency
  2. An appropriate/appropriatly trained mount (Warhourse etc.)
  3. Military Saddle & Tack
    Without the riding prof you cannot attack from a mount
    Without a trained mount you cannot control the mount/stay in combat etc.
    Without the proper tack you must make a save vs. paralysis everytime you take damage or you fall off.
    If the goal is to add some realism to the game these requirements seem pretty reasonable to me.

I do agree that an entry for a dog is required. I had a player ask to buy a war dog last session and we could not find any stats.

Duskreign - You are 100% correct on the requirements for fighting from a mount.
Longshanks - An additional benefit of warhorses is they can make hoof attacks and have higher Morale than normal horses.
About Dogs - I will add them in. Any other animals I’m missing? I hate when the rules miss obvious things like this. :-\

Ok, good catch on the saddle and tack. I think that was missing from my thinking. Although its not listed together in like a mounted combat section, it’s pretty clear that’s it as you describe. I still have a question about animal training and riding, but I assume the trainer would just need animal training and riding to turn a regular horse into a warhorse.

‘Any other animals I’m missing?’
Ancient Persia made use of carrier pigeons for messages, but I suppose it gets a bit more iffy with all those monstrous airborne predators about.

I would suggest a quick check between land transport/mounts and verifying if there are monster entries for them. And I also second the carrier pigeon idea. Stats may not be needed but a cost would be good.
My ACKS campaign is set in Venice about 1490. It draws heavily on assassins creed as well as the 2e historical handbooks which includes a war with the Ottoman Empire and I’ve been thinking of carrier pigeons myself so seeing an official cost would be good.

Alex - falcons. A broad price range is probably in order (falcons are a prestige item), even though game stats are probably all equivalent.
EDIT - never mind, found them listed in v23 under “hawk”.

DOG
Hunting Dogs: #Enc 2d6 (3d6), %Lair 10%, AL N, Move 180’ (60’), AC 2, HD1+1, #AT 1, Dmg 1d4, Save F1, ML 0, TT -, XP 15
Hunting dogs are fast, lean hounds trained to track and bring down prey by working in packs. Most hunting dogs can scent prey, giving them the equivalent of Tracking proficiency. Sight hounds are faster (210’) but without tracking proficiency.
War Dogs: #Enc 1d4 (2d4), %Lair 10%, AL N, Move 150’ (50’), AC3, HD2+2, #AT1, Dmg 1d6, Save F1, ML +2, TT -, XP 35
War dogs are heavy, fierce mastiffs trained to kill on command. While dangerous, they are capable of great loyalty to their masters when properly trained. When used in battle, war dogs are usually equipped with leather armor and spiked collars. This reduces their movement to 90’, but increases AC to 5 and damage to 1d6+1.