Does anyone have a suggestion for how to stat up a living mount? Im considering taking upon myself the project of statting up all the creatures tame and common enough to be located as mounts. So far I have about 8 that would be awesome and Im only through the Ks on Wookiepedia (my big-game hunter is going to have a Kybuck instead of a personal vehicle).

Obviously a mount is more of a companion than a vehicle. So what effect would it have as far as speed? Again, certain mounts are going to have different stats. Some may be faster, some may be more temperamental... Im almost tempted to just hybridize them as vehicle companions. Give them a Sil. stat (1-3 unless you somehow tame and are able to ride something ENORMUS), a speed stat (1-3 probably) and a handling stat (reflecting temperament and bulk of the beast and reliant upon the Survival skill.)

my other thought is to not base it off planetary scale speed at all and instead do it as extra free movement maneuvers. I have yet to see a conclusive post (if it exists somewhere, please tell me and I will delete this thread), but this is something I'd really like to iron out. Speeders and bikes are great and all, but sometimes I just want something a little more personal and down-to-earth. If we as a community can figure out a baseline for statting up animal mounts and using them functionally, I will be happy to do so. Please share your suggestions for creatures you'd like to see made accessible.

For Sil I would compare the mount's depicted size to the size of vehicles, but the mount would not have the default protection of Armor, just Soak and probably higher WT (a bantha is sturdier than a person but still gonna get messed up by a missile). The only real issue here is how broad Silhouette categories are. Like, a swoop is Silhouette 2 and a bantha is quite a bit bigger. But TIEs are Silhouette 3 and banthas also seem a bit bigger than them overall...though I'd put banthas at Sil 3 regardless.

my other thought is to not base it off planetary scale speed at all and instead do it as extra free movement maneuvers.

Not a bad idea. I was mulling over suggesting that myself before I got to this part of your post.

Like, the varactyl (from RotS) is going to move comparable to some speeder vehicles (or at least was depicted in that way) but I don't think banthas and dewbacks are near as fast.

There's actually a handful of examples for animal silhouettes on page 212. Says most typical animals for riding is Silhouette 2; and it looks like in general, the silhouettes match that of vehicles.

Obviously a mount is more of a companion than a vehicle. So what effect would it have as far as speed? Again, certain mounts are going to have different stats. Some may be faster, some may be more temperamental... Im almost tempted to just hybridize them as vehicle companions. Give them a Sil. stat (1-3 unless you somehow tame and are able to ride something ENORMUS), a speed stat (1-3 probably) and a handling stat (reflecting temperament and bulk of the beast and reliant upon the Survival skill.)

Well so far animals use character-style stat blocks, but you bring up a good question....

When conducting actions that require a... ummm.... "moving" check for lack of a better word, do you use your Survival skill.. or the animals Athletics skill?

I mean I get that Survival is the "Piloting" roll for "operating" a mounted animal (wow... that's a messed up sentence) but what about something like a Chase? Is the chase roll you Survivaling the Tauntaun to show you are great at riding it? Or is it the Tauntaun's natural athletics to show it's an agile beast? Or should it be a fear-discipline/cool thing where the players get to choose?

If you download OperatIon: Shadowpoint (downloadable adventure for AoR's Beginner Game), it has a good deal about a group that rides on flying beasts. Page 19 specifically has stat blocks for the riders and the creatures, as well as a big section dedicated towards how to use them in a variety of ways.

Nothing specific on speeds. Main rider/"pilot" uses their Survival as a basis for movement that requires checks.

I vaguely recall there being another FFG adventure out there that deals with ground-based riding animals, which may have had a more concrete speed attached to it. But I'm away from my books at the moment to try and find specific information.

I'd make the animals have the same basic movement characteristics as characters. The main advantage to riding a mount is that the mount uses its own manoeuvres for movement, leaving the rider free to use his manoeuvres for other things. I would not allow players to use talents like Side Step and Defensive Stance when mounted, but other than that it's mostly the same as when on foot. Maybe add a setback die to ranged attacks for having the mount jostling the rider. If you have a particularly fast mount I'd use the same movement rules as for vehicles with speed 5 or higher.

If you download OperatIon: Shadowpoint (downloadable adventure for AoR's Beginner Game), it has a good deal about a group that rides on flying beasts. Page 19 specifically has stat blocks for the riders and the creatures, as well as a big section dedicated towards how to use them in a variety of ways.

Nothing specific on speeds. Main rider/"pilot" uses their Survival as a basis for movement that requires checks.

I vaguely recall there being another FFG adventure out there that deals with ground-based riding animals, which may have had a more concrete speed attached to it. But I'm away from my books at the moment to try and find specific information.

That section of Operation: Shadowpoint is very interesting, though I don't know if it satisfies me. It seems kind of useless to even ride creatures except that you have an extra weapon option, a little defense, and something that can potentially get shot out from under you. The fact that they move in the same way as regular old characters is what irks me most as most mount-capable creatures are going to be at least twice as fast as a human. Even if they're too big to do so (lookin' at you, bantha-face) you at least have the benefit of being atop a big, cheap tank that has a mouth full of chompy teeth (or horns, hooves, tails, whatever). It makes sense to put the "driver" and the animal in the same initiative slot, but I think adding the benefit of one extra movement maneuver is still something that needs to be play tested.

I also agree with talent restriction, Dodge/Sidestep wouldn't make sense. I'd also treat the Vibrospear from EtU as having the same added pierce quality for being mounted. That at least would be a step in the direction of making it actually useful when compared to other melee weapons.

For chases, I'd probably use the animal's Brawn coupled with your Survival skill to form the dice pool.

I don't know if it's called out anywhere, but the phrase "incredible speeds" in the ruping's description (Operation Shadowpoint) and other things we know about mounts in Star Wars, like the aforementioned varactyl, makes me think that some should use speed ratings at planetary scale.

Found what I was thinking of, and I was mistaken - no extra information regarding using beasts as mounts; was the Enraged Ronto from an adventure in Suns of Fortune.

For chases, I'd probably use the animal's Brawn coupled with your Survival skill to form the dice pool.

I don't know if it's called out anywhere, but the phrase "incredible speeds" in the ruping's description (Operation Shadowpoint) and other things we know about mounts in Star Wars, like the aforementioned varactyl, makes me think that some should use speed ratings at planetary scale.

I dunno about the brawn. Maybe agility. After all, there are brawn 6 critters that are quite slow indeed. I like the core concept, but I see that being problematic.

Yeah but if you figure planetary-scale speed into the mix...those plodding beasts could be Speed 1, and everything else speed 2 or perhaps 3.

If anyone is still interested in this question, I run a bastardized, fantasy conversion of Edge of the Empire for a custom RPG I've put together. This is how I implemented mounts:

Mounting and Dismounting

It takes a maneuver to mount and one to dismount. When mounted, the rider and mount act in the same initiative slot. The movement comes from the mount only, unless the rider chooses to dismount this turn. He can chose to dismount as his maneuver and still take an action, or, if the mount has already moved he may dismount as his action.

Strain

Any strain taken due to moving while mounted affects the mount, not the rider. Note that most faster mounts have the Mobility talent; allowing them to take an extra maneuver without receiving strain.

Actions

The action the unit takes can be from either the mount or the rider, but not both. For example, the rider may chose to attack as the action or he may choose to have the mount perform an attack (if it has one).

Attacking Mounted Targets

When attacking a mounted unit, should the attacker want to target the rider, they must add a setback die to their attack. This represents the mount being in the way, and the more erratic movement.