Mounted combat questions

[Lurker]

I just finished cobbling together my ideas for Middle Earth Rohirrim and that has brought mounted combat questions to the front of my mind.

1. Paladins in mounted combat, they dont have the ability but to me it is implied (up to a point) as they receive their mount.

2. Mounted warriors, Im thinking about a NPC class for my home brew (it might eventually be fleshed out enough for a PC class) that is more of a Sergeant in arms with the knights or older experienced squire (i.e. combat knowledge of a knight with out the money or family pull to become a full knight and therefore not the charisma leadership abilities)

3. Cultures that are historically mounted (Rohirrim in ME, Normans, Avars etc Mongols & Turks up to a point, but as they were more mass archers & light medium fighters/skirmishers than European mounted warriors) Everyone in their culture should have access to the ride ability but not as skilled as the knight.

I was thinking along the lines of being able to fight from horse back without the negative modifier (or only at the modifier) with all the skills, but only be able to attack or have the mount attack with hoof & bite not both in 1 round. I'm also iffy on lance (& the x3 damage) usage unless it is the weapon used by all the mounted warriors of the culture Normans used lance & spear so only Norman knights get the lance, Crusaders from the 3rd crusade on all used lance so all mounted warriors get the lance attack.

Also, Im thinking about giving the +1 to the rider (if trained in mounted combat) for being at a higher elevation than the target.

Ive tried to search the other threads for answers but my work computer seams to be possessed & crashes as Im looking
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Forgive all spelling errors.

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[serleran]

Mounted combat, the ability given to Knights (Horsemanship?) costs 500 XP, baseline, increasing by normal progression (ie, doubling per level.) [And no, this is not serleran fiat according to my deconstruction -- it is a direct statement from Davis, he who designed the XP charts in the first place, though my calculations came to the same conclusion.]

Paladins do not get the ability, though they do get a mount -- its just that their mount is more different than the one a knight would use, though the knight knows how to use his better.

If you want to give limited horsemanship, feel free. If its NPCs, you don't have to worry about what it "costs."

+1 bonus for elevation should also work against the mounted character. They should suffer some penalty to Dex-based saves, such as against a lightning bolt.

[Nelzie]

I have been working on further deconstructing the Horsemanship Class ability into separate components as a concept piece for something that I am going to weave into my gameworld.

Right now, I am using 200 XP (doubling per level) for the following:
Limited Hosemanship

Mounted horseback combat penalty is eliminated

Ability to direct the horse with the knees, thus allowing shield use

Ability to direct the horse to make attacks while in combat

Nothing else, no horse tricks, no Triple Damage for Lance use, although standard Charge Damage bonus is still quite possible. It's assumed that basic care for horses is included in the above, but not the ability to pick and choose the best of the best.
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[Lurker]

Serl thanks fo rthe cost of the ability.

Quote:
+1 bonus for elevation should also work against the mounted character. They should suffer some penalty to Dex-based saves, such as against a lightning bolt.

Never thought of that but makes complete sence.

Nelzine thanks too. I'll defiantly give that out as a choice for characters down the road.
_________________
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

Knight Errant & Humble C&C Society Contributor
C&C Society

[Nelzie]

Lurker wrote:
Serl thanks fo rthe cost of the ability.


Never thought of that but makes complete sence.

Nelzine thanks too. I'll defiantly give that out as a choice for characters down the road.

You're welcome.

My goal is to build something to work quite nicely with an element of my campaign world, involving a kind of Dragon that grows not much larger than a Heavy Warhorse. I want to have several different "levels" of Drake Riding skills to fit with the different classes, for example, Wizards and Illusionists would need to learn how to cast from the back of a rapidly moving, zigging and zagging Drake, which is different from learning how to effectively swing a sword, fire a bow or other weapon from the back of one of these.

Eventually, it will lead to the creation of a whole new class, related to the Knight, in terms of Martial Ability.
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[rabindranath72]

You could give the Rohirrim the Horsemanship ability of Knights class as a racial ability, which would allow them to do the things that a Knight does, although without any bonus due to level (other races could not even try doing it); this would work as for the racial abilities of the demihumans in C&C.

A Rohirrim Knight would then get a +2 to Horsemanship as a result.

Cheers,

Antonio