Say I'm fighting hippogriff riders...

[Seharvepernfan]

who are flying, and I kill a rider with my bow. What does the hippogriff do?

Does it continue to attack me? Does it land and wander aimlessly or wait for a rider? Does it fly back to where it came from?

What would a real-life warhorse do if it lost its rider and no other allied warriors were there?

[Gavinfoxx]

It would go get picked up by the Knight's squires, of course.

[Namfuak]

I'd say that it's a fair assumption that if the rider was flying above the battle shooting arrows, the hippogriff would go back to wherever it's home is (presumably the enemy camp). If the rider was doing flyby attacks with the hippogriff attacking the enemy as well, the hippogriff might continue doing that instead. If you made it sufficiently scared, however, it might fly away regardless.

[ericgrau]

A warhorse is trained to respond to commands similar to an attack dog. It would probably go after the guy who slayed the rider or if it can't figure out who that is it's likely to flee to a familiar location (like home or the war camp) since it probably doesn't know nor respond to the rider's allies very well.

A mount not trained for war would just run off, true, but that's rarely the case for a mounted combatant. Such a mount would panic at the first sign of battle and would be hard to control that mount in battle (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/ride.htm).

[gbprime]

In addition, remember that a hippogriff is a large predator that fights in packs (flocks?). If there are other hippogriffs around it will join them, and riderless hippogriffs might continue the battle against you.

I would assume if it's the last one left and you've beaten its rider and friends off with violence, it would go home.

[Seharvepernfan]

And sense was made all'round.

Thank you, playgrounders!

[Gwendol]

Those are all fine opinions, but here is what the rules say:


If You Are Dropped
If you are knocked unconscious, you have a 50% chance to stay in the saddle (or 75% if you’re in a military saddle). Otherwise you fall and take 1d6 points of damage.

Without you to guide it, your mount avoids combat.

The rules thus suggest the mount Withdraws.

[Canarr]

But those rules apply for basic, non-predatory mounts, like horses, whose instincts tell them to avoid combat and run away. Exotic mounts such as hippogriffs, with predatory instincts that might tell them to attack you even without a rider to guide it thusly, might still decide to attack you.

[Gwendol]

It's a GM call, but for non-intelligent mounts, such as the hippogriff, I'd say withdraw is a very likely course of action. There is little motivation for the mount to suddenly start hunting for food or defend its territory(?) moments after someone shot their master down. Unless the mount is intelligent, or that the bond between the rider and mount is particularly strong (by feats such as leadership or wild cohort, or class abilities) I'd say the mount is most likely trying to find a safe haven from which to plan how to live its life in freedom.

[Canarr]

A GM call seems the best solution for me, too. I could imagine several reactions that would make sense to me, depending on the background of the creature - flee, hunt something less well defended, attack its rider's killer in a rage, stay with the flock for protection but do not attack, etc.

[Yuki Akuma]

It really depends on the situation. A lone flying knight gets knocked off his hippogriff? The hippogriff would likely withdraw, unless enraged somehow (and remember, hippogriffs are described as aggressive).

In a group of mounted soldiers on hippogriffs, however - especially hippogriffs who are familiar with each other - the mount might continue to fight even without its rider, due to the fact that hippogriffs often fight in flocks in the wild.

Even better, if the hippogriff is a parent, and their child is in the flock with them... they're also described as being incredibly protective of their young, so they could also be trained with that in mind.