Stats for horses?

Mi:7 does look a bit low (which is why I suggested Mi:8 for 500 lbs carry).
Based on the Wiki definition of Horsepower (note this is a calculation of energy, not carry capacity), 1 hp = 550 ft/lbs/s. so 500lbs of carry is ‘good enough’. The Master Values Table doesn’t translate well in to real-world physics (like most RPGs).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower

Not covered by Rotted Capes rulebook, is that quadrupeds have special rules in Arcanis:RPG (and most systems including D&Dx as well).
“Beast of Burden” trait (from Arcanis:RPG Bestiary I) adds 5 to Fortitude for carry. For Rotted Capes, applying +5 to Mi for determining carry would work fine as a rule and avoid stat inflation for combat purposes.
Applying that change, a Mi of 6 or even 5 is system viable.

Thanks. I did check horsepower, but since it’s an energy-per-unit-time measure, I ultimately didn’t find it satisfying. I DID however just find this link on pulling contests: https://www.horseclicks.com/horse_advic … carry-/283

According to that, the standard starting drag weight for a 2-horse team is 6,000 pounds, or 3,000 pounds each. That suggests that every competition horse is expected to have a max drag of at least 3,000 pounds, which translates to a Might between 12 and 13. The same article says the winners pulled 6,000 pounds each, suggesting a Might of 14 but not 15 at the high end.

Rotted Capes Max Lift and Max Push/Drag are 1:2 ratio for a medium bipedal creature (same as D&Dx), neither is close to real-world physics. The ratio should be more like 1:4 or 1:5 (more once friction is reduced, such as adding wheels) or some variant of square/cube law applied.

With an average weight around 1000 lbs (1/2 ton), a Mi:13 hero can lift a horse, while a Mi:8 hero can drag a horse.

The article you linked indicates a safe carry of 20% bodyweight for a horse (25% before health problems develop).

Mechanically, I’d still suggest Mi: 5-8 range with an Advantage of “Beast of Burden” covering the difference.

I do like the “Beast of Burden” kind of mechanic. And I honestly don’t know how much a horse should be able to lift. The article does cite the 20% thing for regular carry. Max lift is clearly going to be higher. For cinematic reasons, I’d think one would want horses to be able to carry not only the rider but also the fallen comrade being rescued. A 500 lb carry would seem a little light just on a knight + armor + horse’s armor + fallen knight basis. It might be accurate, but having to feather that line during play would get annoying. And it still leaves the question of how “carry” and “max lift” compare.

There’s also the basic issue of what if the horse falls down. If a heavy horse weighs 2000 lbs, it better not have a 250 lb max lift or it’ll never stand up again from a fall.

I suppose another way to try and gauge it would be to ask how a horse’s kick compares to other kinds of weapons. 2H mace? Mattock? Hand-axe? Maybe we can back into a Might die from the combat side.

From ARG, a heavy warhorse does d6 (d12) and a light does d4 (d10).

Note that in RC, the large size bumps the Mi die, so a Heavy Warhorse would be Mi: 7 and a Light: Mi: 6
Interesting. So, since I built the “horse” character as if the Might bump didn’t apply (i.e. I bought the d12 manually), I was actually right about the target (d12) but may not have had to pay for it that way.

I should review the thread because maybe we went over this before, but one thing I don’t like (or maybe just don’t understand) is that the way the rules read, the die bump only impact rolls but not the underlying parameters. So since Might 7 normally means a 400-pound max lift and a d10 Might die, a “large creature” with Might 7 gets a bump to a d12 Might die, but still has a max lift of 400 pounds.

That’s the other reason I’ve been feeling as though die bumps and die penalties are really meant for changes in size from a base that’s built correctly, rather than as straight-up adjustments as part of the build. The Might 7 elephant that gets a d12d4 Might die but has a max lift of 400lbs and can’t stand up after it sits down just bothers me.