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Siric
2007-07-17, 04:23 PM
Obviously, Owls are not the best of mounts :p

No, what I'm talking about is Horses in combat. The rules state you have to make a Ride Check for horses that aren't Warhorses because they are afraid of Combat. What if said horse is your Animal Companion, are those checks still needed? I Assume you would need to teach him Combat Riding. That doesn't count as a Bonus Trick Does it?

Thanks to anyone willing to answer this question. My Companions are Generally wolves or Owls.

Fixer
2007-07-17, 04:26 PM
An animal companion is simply a wild animal that accompanies you. As such it is limited to the same behavior as a normal wild animal with the exception that it will attempt to perform actions the druid wants to the best of its ability.

Wild horses are not used to being ridden. As such they will react as an untrained mount and a ride check will be necessary. Luckily, for a druid doing this with an animal companion should be a free action.

CrazedGoblin
2007-07-17, 04:34 PM
i beleive teaching your pet to run into combat is a "trick" that can be taught to the companion at certain levels, i beleive its in the players handbook under the druid section, or the DM guide

Siric
2007-07-17, 04:37 PM
Ah, figures as much. Good to know though. Thanks, again

Jack_Simth
2007-07-17, 04:38 PM
Ah, Fixer:

The Animal Companion is quite trainable:


Bonus Tricks: The value given in this column is the total number of “bonus” tricks that the animal knows in addition to any that the druid might choose to teach it (see the Handle Animal skill). These bonus tricks don’t require any training time or Handle Animal checks, and they don’t count against the normal limit of tricks known by the animal. The druid selects these bonus tricks, and once selected, they can’t be changed.(Emphasis added)

Combat riding is a general purpose - one that specifically counts as 6 tricks (and includes 6 very useful tricks). However, once you've trained your mount for combat, you no longer need to make the move-action Ride check to control a mount not trained for Combat.

Basically, though, a Druid-1's Heavy Horse could know as many as 7 tricks - 6 for having an Intelligence score of 2, 1 Druid Bonus trick.