Cowboy (5e Subclass)
Cowboy[edit]
Almost legendary men who pioneered the expansion of civilization into brutal environments.
Cowboys are men and women made hard and strong by life on the frontier. A life which is often short. As a result they work hard and play harder often given to excesses of alcohol and other carnal pleasures. They drive great herds of grazing beasts across the countryside from one grazing site to another fighting daily against weather extremes, bandits, and predators to protect themselves and their herd.
- Gunsmith
When you choose this subclass at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with firearms appropriate to the era (at the discretion of the Dungeon Master). Firearms can be found on pages 267–268 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. You also gain proficiency with gunsmithing artisan's tools, or if you are already proficient with them you gain proficiency with another type of artisan's tools.
Cowboys ignore the reload property on guns.
- Husbandry
At level 7 the Cowboy gains this feature.
For a cowboy their mount is as essential for survival as bullets and food. They take great care of their animals which have bred for generations to be exceptionally hardy and resilient.
Mounts claimed by the cowboy gain the following features.
+2 HP per level in the Cowboy class.
The Cowboy's proficiency is added to the mount's strength and dexterity save scores. The mount has advantage against being frightened and on dexterity saves. Mount gain the proficiencies needed to wear barding.
Mounts are limited to Beasts with a challenge rating of 1/2 or lower though this can be altered at the discretion of the DM.
- Hogtie
At level 10 Cowboys gain this feature
Cowboys spend their lives dealing with animals. They gain proficiency in animal handling. If they already have proficiency they gain double proficiency similar to the Bard's Expertise ability.
Cowboys gain advantage on grappling Beast class enemies and can grapple Beasts two sizes larger than yourself.
Cowboys who have grappled an enemy can use their bonus action to Hogtie that enemy if the cowboy has access to rope or chains. This is done with a grapple check made at disadvantage against anything not a Beast class enemy. For Beasts this is a normal check without advantage or disadvantage. If successful the enemy is hogtied. They cannot make physical attacks or move but can still speak limiting mages to spells without the somatic components. Each round they must roll a strength save against a DC of 15 initially but increases to 16 at level 13, 17 at level 16, and 18 at level 18. If they fail they remain hogtied. Beast class enemies make this roll at disadvantage unless they are size huge or larger. Huge or larger Beasts do not suffer disadvantage.
- Quick Draw
Starting at 15th level, Cowboys have advantage on initiative rolls and deal an extra 1d8 piercing damage for each attack to any enemy whose initiative is lower than their own. This extra damage is only applied the first round of combat.
- Lasso
Cowboys gain this ability at level 18
Cowboys can now use their action to Lasso an enemy within 30 feet if they are size huge or smaller. They make a ranged attack, with proficiency and dexterity added to it, against an enemy. This requires rope or chain to be on hand. If the attack hits the enemy is Lassoed. The cowboy chooses to either Lasso the enemy's arms or their legs. Arms impose disadvantage on attack rolls while Legs reduce movement speed to 5 feet per round and cause disadvantage on dexterity saves. Either way they can still act and move but cannot move away from the Cowboy. The enemy must have either arms or legs for this to work.
The Cowboy's movement speed is reduced to 0 if they are not mounted, halved when they are mounted, again reduced to 0 even if mounted if the target is greater than one size larger than the mount.
For every 10 feet the cowboy moves the enemy is knocked prone and dragged across the ground taking 1d4 bludgeoning damage and incurring attacks of opportunity from the cowboy's allies if they are moved in a way that would normally incur them. The cowboy expends his bonus action to maintain the Lasso each round after the initial Lasso. Should he choose not to expend his bonus action to do this, or if the enemy makes a successful strength save against a DC of 18 at the end of any of their turns, the Lassoing ends.
Only one enemy can be Lassoed at a time.
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