Mounted Combat

Ah, the joys of sticking it to your enemy from the safety of a horse, elephant or giant flying pixie. Fighting from a mount gives you many advantages in combat, although it is not a suitable tactic for every fight. You won't be able to get your horse up a winding tower stair-case for example.

Which Mount?

It is up to the GM what sort of mount you can take into combat. Normally only warhorses, warponies or wardogs are trained not to get completely freaked by combat. However, the warbeast template (Monster Manual II p219) can be applied to any creature than could feasibly act as a mount. Please note that the warbeast template cannot be applied to a creature that has already been trained for battle (like a warhorse).

All war mounts have been trained for the general purpose of Combat Riding by someone with the Handle Animal skill (see PHB p75). Such mounts with an Intelligence of 2 or more automatically know the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard and heel. Mounts with an Intelligence of 1 will know three of those tricks. Training a creature takes at least three weeks and requires a successful Handle Animal check at DC 20. Skilled animal handlers can upgrade an animal trained for riding into one trained for combat in three weeks with a successful Handle Animal check (DC 20). Once trained for Combat Riding the animal forgets any other tricks or general purpose it once knew.

It is plain therefore that an exotic mount (such as a rhinoceros) can be trained as a combat mount without needing to apply the warbeast template. The warbeast template exists as an option. Some GMs may think applying it makes the mount too powerful.

Unfamiliar Mounts

You take a penalty on your Ride check if you are forced to ride a mount that is of a type unfamiliar to you. The exact level of the penalty is up to the GM. If the mount is not too dissimilar (e.g. you are trained to ride horses, but are riding a giant lizard) the penalty is -2. If the mount is inherent unsuited to riding (e.g. it is bipedal) then the penalty should be -5.

Mounted Manoeuvres

The following mounted manoeuvres do not necessarily apply to combat, but it is useful to have all the information pertaining to riding in the same place. As a rule you do not have to make a Ride check in order to ride a mount. Only if you attempt to do something ambitious do you need to make a check.

Guide Mount with Knees

By choosing to guide the mount with your knees you free up both hands for combat. This means you could use two weapons, or a sword and shield to full effect. Note that you can only make use of the full-attack action if the mount moves no more than five feet (see below).

Attempting to use your knees in this fashion is a free action. Make a Ride check (DC 5) at the beginning of your turn. If you fail then you must keep one hand on the reins for the rest of the round.

Stay in Saddle

Every time the rider is struck and damaged by a mêlée or ranged attack a Ride check is required to stay in the saddle. Every time the mount is spooked or rears onto its hind legs a Ride check is required to stay in the saddle. This check is a free action; the DC of the check is 5. If the check is failed the rider falls to the ground taking 1d6 damage per ten feet fallen (minimum 1d6). You can make a soft fall check to eliminate this damage. A successful tumble check may be used instead, but may not be as effective if you fall from a huge mount.

If you are knocked unconscious or killed while riding a mount you do not make a ride check to stay in the saddle. There is a flat 50% chance of an unconscious rider falling from his horse each round. The chance of falling is only 25% if your mount is equipped with a military saddle.

If the mount is trying to throw you off it is a different matter entirely. In this case opposed grapple checks are called for (see grappling for details of grapple checks). If desired, the rider can attempt to substitute a roll on their Ride skill for the grapple check. Failure means you fall from the saddle, success means you hang on for another round.

Cover

As a free action you can make a Ride check (DC 15) to drop down and hang alongside your mount, using it as one-half cover. This gives you a +4 bonus to AC and +2 to Reflex saves against area-effect magic. However, attacks aimed at you may hit your mount (see section on Cover and Concealment).

If you choose to use the mount as cover, you remain in that position for the entire round. You cannot attack or cast spells while using your mount as cover, although you may be able to take other move or standard actions (such as drink a potion) at the discretion of the GM. If you fail your Ride check, you don't get the cover benefit, but must still abide by these limitations.

Soft Fall

As a free action you can make a Ride check (DC 15) to take no damage when you fall off a mount. You may fall from a mount for a variety of reasons - for example, if you are wounded in combat or if your mount dies. If you fail the Ride check you take 1d6 points of falling damage. Note than you cannot soft fall from a flying mount.

Leap

You can get your mount to leap obstacles as part of its movement. Use your Ride modifier or the mount's Jump modifier, whichever is lower, to see how far the creature can jump. While a mount leaps you must make a Ride check (DC 15) or fall off the mount.

Spur Mount

As a move action you may make a Ride check (DC 15) to spur your mount to greater speed with a move action. A successful Ride check increases the mount's speed by 10 feet for one round but deals 1 point of damage to the creature. You can use this ability every round, but each consecutive round of additional speed deals twice as much damage to the mount as the previous round (2 points, 4 points, 8 points, and so on).

Mount or Dismount

Normally mounting or dismounting a mount is a move action and does not require a Ride check, however skilled riders can attempt to speed up the process. With a successful Ride check at DC 20 (plus any armour check penalty) you can mount or dismount as a free action. If you fail the roll you mount or dismount as a move action instead.

Because failing the Ride check means your attempt to mount or dismount increases from a free action to a move action, you must still have a move action available in the round to use this manoeuvre. If you succeed at the check you can use your move action for something else, but it must initially be availble in case of failure.

You cannot attempt a fast mount or dismount on a mount more than one size category larger than yourself.

The Mount in Combat

• Controlling a war-trained mount (e.g. a warhorse) in combat is a free action and does not require a Ride check.
  
• Controlling a mount that has not been trained for battle in a combat situation is a move action that requires a Ride check (DC 20) at the beginning of your turn each round. If you fail the move action becomes a full-round action and you can do nothing except try to control your mount until next round. Characters with the Legendary Rider epic feat never make a roll to control a mount, and always control a mount as a free action.
  
• When you attack a creature smaller than your mount that is on foot, you get the +1 bonus on mêlée attacks for being on higher ground.
• If you direct your war-trained mount to attack in battle, you can still make your own attack or attacks normally. This usage is a free action.

Over-run

Full information on the over-run combat manoeuvre can be found in the appropriate section. As stated there, you can over-run while mounted. The mount makes the Strength check (using its size modifier). If you have the Trample feat you do not suffer an attack of opportunity and your opponent cannot get out of the way of a mounted over-run. The Trample feat also allows the mount to make one hoof attack against the foe as a free action. If you have the Cavalry Charger feat you can attempt to trample multiple opponents.

Intelligent Mounts

So you are a paladin of the Order of the Shining Fist. You're an expert horseman and good with a sword, but none too bright. In fact your bonded warhorse has more in the smarts department than you have. How is combat effected when your warhorse can make better decisions that you can? This is investigated below:

Initiative

Even intelligent mounts act when their rider does. This just makes things easier to adjudicate in combat. If a rider is incapacitated and the mount is suddenly acting on its own, keep the initiative modifier the same.

Feats

Ah, here is a complication. Your mount is intelligent and has a number of feats. Can it choose feats that aid mounted combat, so the character doesn't have to? For example, could the mount take the Trample feat giving the character the benefit of that feat while he was riding this particular mount? Sadly for the GM, the answer is yes he can, but there are a couple of provisos.

The Mounted Combat feat is a prerequisite for all other feats connented with mounted combat. The rider must have this feat. A mount cannot confer this feat onto a rider. The mount can only know feats that the mount could conceivably use on its own without a rider. So it could know the Trample feat. It could not know the Tremendous Charge feat because that feat requires a lance, which a mount wouldn't have access to if it didn't have a rider.

The player and the GM should take feats on a case-by-case basis. Normally, it is blatantly obvious what feats can be taken by a mount and which need to be taken by a rider. Obviously, a mount does not require the Mounted Combat feat as a prerequisite for any feat it obtains.

A mount with animal intelligence might be trained to use a feat by someone with the Handle Animal skill. The GM has the final say over which feats can be taught to such mounts. The mount must already be trained for the general purpose of Combat Riding (see PHB p75). Teaching the mount a feat uses up one of the slots for feats the mount has available, and counts against one of the tricks it can learn. The DC to teach the mount such a feat is 20. Employing the feat in combat is a free action on the part of the rider, but requires a Ride check at DC 10.