Beast Rider

Some Barbarian tribes have a beastial connection in their soul, manifesting beastial traits in their rage. Others, like the Beast Rider, instead have a connection in their soul to a living animal, their soul bonded mount. These Beast Riders share both an empathic bond and their rage through this connection, empowering their bonded animal to greater strength and fury. While the Beast Rider sacrifices some of their rage, they gain a deadly mount that works in harmony with them for mounted combat. Beast Rider tribes are often bonded to one specific animal native to their region, and everything from the raising of these animals, to their training, and their eventual bonding to a tribe member, is a sacred part of the tribe's life. To steal, or harm, one of the tribe's sacred animals, would be to bring the wrath of the entire tribe down on the offender as these are not pets or livestock, but living breathing pieces of the tribe's souls. But other Beast Riders awaken to this manifestation of their rage outside of such tribes. These Barbarians may have a special bond with an animal for any number of reasons, and a part of their soul has then twinned itself with the animal, bonding them for life.

Soul Bonded Animal

At 3rd level, you soul bond with your beast companion, it accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to carry you into battle. The beast must be at least one size larger than you, able to serve as a valid mount, and must have a base challenge rating of 1 or lower. Add your proficiency bonus to the beast’s AC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, as well as to any saving throws and skills it is proficient in. Its hit point total is based on your game's rules (fixed or rolled) using the Hit Dice from it's stat block. Like any creature, it can spend Hit Dice during a short rest to regain hit points. Additionally, your soul bonded beast gains an ability score increase and extra hit die any time you do from Barbarian levels.

While mounted the beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can empathically command the beast to move, or take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action. If you don't issue a command the beast will attack to the best of it's ability until there is nothing left to fight in it's attack range or until a new command is given. If there is nothing left to attack, and no new command given, your beast will take the Dodge action. Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one weapon attack yourself when you use your action to command the beast.

You share your rage, and all the effects thereof, with your beast, and as such when you enter into rage it costs 1.5 of your available rages.

Your soul bonded mount cannot Multiattack while ridden, and due to the weight of carrying a rider 15 feet is added to the distance needed for Charge abilities, reduced by 5 feet for every size smaller the rider is than the mount beyond the required one size difference.

If you are incapacitated or unmounted, the beast acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself. The beast never requires your command to use its reaction, such as when making an opportunity attack. Additionally, due to the soul bond you cannot get more than a mile from your mount or you both begin to suffer crippling affects from the tearing of your soul and will each gain a level of exhaustion. For every hour you continue to be separated, you both gain another level of exhaustion. Once reunited with your beast, you stop gaining levels of exhaustion, and will need to rest to recover. If you are separated for 5 hours you do not take the final level of exhaustion, instead, the soul bond shatters.

If your beast dies, or the bond is severed, you suffer crippling blowback to your soul, and for two weeks you suffer from a permanent level of Exhaustion while your soul heals. You can only obtain a new soul bonded mount by spending two weeks, after your soul is fully healed, spiritually bonding with a beast that isn’t hostile to you and that meets the requirements. Spiritually bonding with an animal requires that it stays with you, you care for it, protect it from harm, and spend at least four hours a day in spiritual meditation with the animal. The time spent meditating each day need not be consecutive but must be at least one hour at a time, uninterrupted.

Shared Fate

Beginning at 6th level, if any damage taken would result in the rider falling at or below 0 hitpoints, resulting in falling Unconscious, dying, or Instant Death, then half of the damage is instead redirected to the mount, and vice versa. However, the halved damage can still result in falling Unconscious, dying, or Instant Death

Empowered Beast

Starting at 10th level, your beast companion can make two attacks, or it can take the Multiattack action if it has it.

In addition, the beast's attacks count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Body and Soul

Beginning at 14th level, your bond with your beast deepens and becomes physical. You and your beast share effects and statuses while you are mounted. You roll as one for saves but add both of your bonuses to the roll. For both beneficial and negative spells, effects, and statuses you both gain the effects (if not saved against) regardless of which of you is the target, however the effects and duration are halved.