How to make a Dothraki Screamer in D&D 4th? (Mounted Combat)

Question

Lots of people must be familiar with the Song of Ice and Fire series by now (since the release of the HBO show). As some of you may know, the Dothraki are a nomadic people of barbarians in the model of the Mongols and the Huns. They fight with one-handed weapons called arakh, similar to a short scythe with an Egyptian aspect to them. They also fight with double-bended bows, and of course they tend to fight atop their horses.

I'm still new to the 4th edition rules, and I was thinking what build could I do to make a nomadic horseman. They tend toward the Striker Role and to the martial power source, but we could work with Controller/Defender sub-roles and the primal source, too. Initially, I was thinking on the classic Barbarian, but he's a lot changed from the 3.X form, so i'm not quite sure how I could make him work with the horse. Maybe I could use the new rules for hybrid characters presented in the PHB3 and mix the Barbarian with the Fighter? Well, I'm still kinda lost here and would like some tips for the creation of my character.

Besides that, I have no clue how is Mounted Combat handled in the 4th edition. As I said, I'm kinda new to it. So if people could give me some info about that, it would be great.

Answer 1

The 4ed Barbarian has Primal as his power source, and that gives him some energy attacks when he rages (fire, frost etc.). This can be avoided if it seems out of context with the character, or the energy types could be homebrewed out to give him just more of a martial feel. The weapon you refer to is the khopesh, an egyptian sword/axe that exists in DnD, detailed in the player's handbook.

As for the "screamer" aspect, there is a barbarian build that relies on Charisma as a secondary stat, and uses shouts ans screams to demoralise foes and boost allies. I think that it can also do damage at range, so you should check that out yourself.

Mounted combat gives you access to your mount's special abilities, and provides some sort of synergy on the rider/mount Athletics/Acrobatics/Endurance/Stealth checks.