D&D: Five Birds You Can Ride On
Horses are cool and all, but fantasy adventures means riding birds. Even in D&D. Especially in D&D. Here are five birds you can ride.
If you want the number one key identifying factor as to whether or not you’re in a fantasy, look at the mounts. If people are riding horses, you could be any genre, from historical fiction to sci-fi. But if they’re riding birds? That’s fantasy, baby. Whether it’s Chocobos or those weird lizard bird things from Golden Axe to other, different Chocobos, fantasy is all about riding birds.
Especially D&D, where there is an absolute plethora of birds for you to ride on. From humble ground birds to majestic sky birds, there is no shortage of birds for you and your companions.
Axe Beak
Starting with the number one riding bird. Why get on a horse, when you can get on an Axe Beak instead? They run almost as fast, but they’re birds, so they only have two legs. They have a pretty good attack as well, hitting about as hard as a longsword.
Of course, this is just your starter riding bird. These beaky little guys are actually Large, so any creature can ride around on one of them.
Giant Eagle
This one’s a fantasy classic. A single ride on one of these over the fires of Mount Doom could have saved everyone a whole nine hours worth of movies. Just zip on over, drop the ring in, and you’re back home in the Shire for dinner. Or supper at the latest.
And in D&D, a giant eagle will carry you even further. They’re super fast, they have a multiattack so they can land and get in there with a beak and a talon attack, hitting just as hard as some of your party members. Best of all, they can understand Common and Auran, so you can tell them where to go and what to do.
Giant Owl
Now we get to the good stuff. Giant owls are a weird bird to picture riding around on. Because owls seem very independent. They’re also more likely to be people. Like it’s much easier to imagine an owl as a person than an eagle as a person.
Perhaps that’s because Owlin are a thing, thanks Strixhaven.
But giant owls, unlike their eagly counterparts, can speak Common, Elvish, and Sylvan. Also they have a flyby attack that allows them to fly in and out of an enemy’s reach, giving you more tactical options in a combat where you might want to fly in, lance an enemy, and then fly away to safety.
Roc
Of course, why ride on a regular giant bird when you could ride on the biggest giant bird in all of fantasy. The Roc is a bird so large they carry away elephants. One of these is gargantuan enough to carry the whole party on its back, if you’re all careful about what you bring with you.
These big birds are also terrors in their own right. A single one makes two powerful attacks for an average of fifty damage if both hit, and can fly at 120 ft. in a single round. Making befriending one of these an amazing feat if you can manage it.
Any Dinosaur
Surprise. Dinosaurs are also birds. Technically. As long as you don’t ask too many follow up questions. So you could ride pretty much any dinosaur you want. But the T. Rex is going to be where it’s at. Or a deinonychus/clawfoot if you’d prefer (and are a small creature).
What birds will you ride into battle?
