Horseracing (sage ability)

Horseracing is an expert-status sage ability that gives the player acumen at urging horses to greater speed in horseracing, while getting the most from a horse's physique. The ability provides recognition of a horse's shape and musculature that suggests it's capable of winning a race.

Winning a race is a combination of a horse's four physical attributes: speed, robustness, courage and health, with their listed importance in that order. Add to this the weight of the rider, the number of knowledge points the rider possesses, the length of and condition of the track being run and the type of race it is. Dice are rolled to determine the winner — but the weight given to these dice are deliberately minimal and in fact will rarely be the deciding factor. For the most part, races are won before they're run, by the statistics of each animal and rider; but as these numbers are not known, except to the DM, it requires an actual race to reveal the winner.

Amateur Jockey

Riders without any horseracing skill must have a minumum of handling I ability, but in the race they are effectively dead weight the horse must carry. It's possible that a horse far-and-away superior from its competition would carry such a rider to victory, but unlikely.

Authority Jockey

Once a character has achieved authority-status in horseback riding, they may reduce their body weight by the number of knowledge points they possess. For example, a character weighing 145 lbs., with a knowledge of 38 in horseback riding, would count as an additional 107 lbs. above the horse's mass. The rider is an afterthought to the weight of a horse, but even a small difference can matter when horses are very close; naturally, the smaller the rider, the better.

Expert Jockey

In addition to the adjustment of mass discussed above, experts are familiar with numerous tricks to get the most from a horse's speed and courage. In the expert rider's hands, the horse's speed and courage are both counted at 1 point higher than the natural number. A horse with a speed of

reduce their body weight by the number of may subtract 5 lbs. from the drag derived from their weight. These riders are not

Provides knowledge surrounding the sport of racing horses, including selection of jockeys, recognition of probable winners, personal ability to ride a horse at a faster pace, skill at flat racing, jump racing, endurance racing and general training of horses to run faster.

See Horseback Riding