[3.5] grapple when mounted

[Raezeman]

greetings,

During my player's next session, they will encounter a drow seated upon his cave ankylosaurus mount. Knowing the sorcerer of the group, he will probably go ahead and cast evard's black tentacles on them. So my question is, how does this grappling work on a mounted duo?

Do i only grapple check with the ankylosaurus, or do i check them both and if only the ankylosaurus succeedes he can get out but the drow get's removed from his back and stays in the tentacles?

Thanks for all help!

[Ashtagon]

I'd check both the drow and his mount. Additionally, if either is grappled, I'd make checks to see if the drow is forcibly dismounted.

[Grand Poobah]

Looking through the SRD on Black Tentacles, Ride skill and Mounted Combat I'd say both rider and mount are affected by the spell and both have to make separate grapple checks.

If the drow has mounted combat feat you might be able to justify a grapple as a 'hit' and make a ride check to avoid it. Or, if the drow has a military saddle or similar which keeps them in the saddle and his mount wins its grapple I'd be inclined to give a bonus to the rider's check.

[Necroticplague]

greetings,

During my player's next session, they will encounter a drow seated upon his cave ankylosaurus mount. Knowing the sorcerer of the group, he will probably go ahead and cast evard's black tentacles on them. So my question is, how does this grappling work on a mounted duo?

Do i only grapple check with the ankylosaurus, or do i check them both and if only the ankylosaurus succeedes he can get out but the drow get's removed from his back and stays in the tentacles?

Thanks for all help!

Well, if the mount is in the AoE for the Tentacles, then so is the rider, so they would both be effected. However, they still are seperate creatures, and thus are grappled independently. If the mount is grappled, but the rider isn't, he's going to have to get off the saddle if he wants to move around, though he's still not grappled (so he could fight fine while yelling at his mount to shake it off already). If the drow is grappled and the mount isn't, the mount is free to move while the drow can't, which could effectively dismount him if his mount decides to keep moving.