Fighting from Horseback

[Lobo316]

Does anyone have an interesting and functional/simple rules for mounted combat they can share?

In the PHB, p. 131 (4th printing, green cover, displacer beast fighting adventurer's) the rules indicate that melee attacks "from" a mount are at a -2. I thought being mounted would give you an edge in melee? Or is that assuming you've had no mounted combat training/experience (knight for example should ignore this).

That same page also penalizes ranged attackers with a -4 penalty. Again, I'm assuming this is in reference to no mounted combat training?

The same chart also indicate defenders at lower evelvation grant the attacker a +1 to hit. I'm assuming this is melee combat, correct? Does being mounted count as higher elevation? I would this it would.

I wish there were more clear rules to over mounted combat. Like, how to you make your mount attack? Things like that.

Thanks for any feedback.

[kreider204]

Unfortunately, the PHB is light on such rules. You pretty much get those combat modifiers you mention, and the info under the Knight class.

The CKG and Crusader's Companion also seem to lack any such info.

There's a tad of info in M&T under the horse entry.

The C&C Conan conversion has a few notes under the Nomad entry.

I pretty much wing it myself ...

I'll poke around and see what else I can find. In the meantime, there's a houserules thread around here somewhere - I bet someone has something more detailed worked up posted there.

[Treebore]

Knights are not subject to any of the penalties. In my house games Paladins have Horsemanship as well. Mounted Knights and Paladins do get a +1 for being on higher ground, and so does everyone else, but it only offsets the -2 penalty, reducing it to -1. I've been playing with the idea of giving it to Fighters as well, or just allowing it to be learned in game by an character that wants to become nearly as good on Horseback as Knights are. Oh, and to be clear, I only allow the Knight to be so devastating with the lance. I don't even give that to Paladins.

I think there is actually a Crusader article about mounted combat in C&C. I have the two volumes of the collected issues, so I'll try and look through them tomorrow.

[Lobo316]

Cool Guys, thanks for the replies. Happy to know I'm not just blind on the matter. I'm using secondary skills, so I thought about adding an equestrian skill that will allow a PC to fight from horseback, simliar to a knight, but not quiet as good as the knight (so basically, they could fight from horseback without penalty, direct the mount to attack with a successful siege check, do all the other things a knight can do, except charge). Something like that.

Actually, the knight description does say they fight from combat without any penalty, so maybe they'd actually be at a +1 to attack (from elevation). All other classes would get the standard -1 (as treebore posted, -2 unstable ground, +1 elevation). Other than that, just winging it and perhaps use the Siege engine where needed.

[Sir Ironside]

Yeah Knight seems to have it covered. I'd assume (Like everyone else) that those negatives are for the untrained.

One of the Paladins abilities are that call horse thing. I don't know how to resolve the Knight = Paladin for mounted combat. The Paladin has so many abilities that just straight giving the Paladin the horsemanship abilities makes the knight less special.

The other issue is all the historical battles involving mounted combat was devastating for ground troops. So, I don't get the zero sum for horsemanship.

The plus for lower ground seems to be the exact opposite as what it should be. Every source that I know of, the higher ground is always better.

[kreider204]

I think there is actually a Crusader article about mounted combat in C&C. I have the two volumes of the collected issues, so I'll try and look through them tomorrow.

Thanks, I'd love to know which issue that is so I can buy it.

I was also looking at the 1st ed. AD&D PHB & DMG, didn't see anything there either.

EDIT: Ah, there's a tad in the 1st ed. Wilderness Survival Guide. It gives the mounted attacker a +1 melee bonus against the character on the ground, unless the ground character is significantly large (then no bonus) or significantly small (then a -1 penalty). The characte ron the ground gets a -1 penalty regardless. There's also a bit about missile fire from mounts and forcing a mounted character to dismount, but I don't feel like typing it all up. The PDF is for sale at drivethrurpg, and it has lots of other fun stuff in it as well, so it might be worth grabbing if you don't have the physical book.

[jdizzy001]

I haven't run any c&c mounted combats, yet, but I have played many games with mounts and I have never seen a player get a penalty for riding a horse into combat (with exception to characters that are specifically designed to be animal-phobic. I'm looking at you dwarves!).

Personally, I would give the knight a +2 (+1 for elevation and +1 for being a knight) and let everyone else fight with a +1 (elevation). The cool thing about mounts is the height advantage and the extra movement (maybe a free move action?). Actually that is exactly what I would do. PC's can move their horse's move value and still use their regular action for the round.

[kreider204]

I usually require some kind of SIEGE check from non-Knights to maneuver their mounts in combat as well.