Need some advice on mounted combat and me.

[CrackedChair]

Well, I am almost done making a character, the murderous (But not a murderhobo!), childish Half-Elf Noble Fighter. All that is left is to sort out how I will do mounted combat.

I know reach weapons are usable here, like the lance, but what shall I keep in mind and utilize when it comes to mounted combat? I can't necessarily get a warhorse day 1 of the campaign, due to me starting out with just 25 GP, so this will string me up for a bit until I do get a mount.

[Desteplo]

Donkey 8gp
Run in and attack with lance and back away. You are hit and run with a lance. Otherwise halberd/glaive so on

Mounts will die
Mounted combat feat helps YOU take the damage. They don't scale. Not even the paladin mount gains health as you level
-consider taking the ritual caster feat and getting the phantasmal steed. "Free" 100ft movement mount

[CrackedChair]

I'd look pretty silly piercing goblins on a Mule. But if it's within my budget, it'd do!

So don't you need a free hand to control a mount? I'd imagine it being hard to use a two handed weapon while you are riding.

[MasterMercury]

I'd look pretty silly piercing goblins on a Mule. But if it's within my budget, it'd do!

So don't you need a free hand to control a mount? I'd imagine it being hard to use a two handed weapon while you are riding.

That's why the lance exists, it's made for dealing big damage while riding.

That being said, you can hold your great axe in one hand, guide your mule, then take both hands to swing for a second, then guide your mount away. If you really wanted to use the glaive.

[Potato_Priest]

That's why the lance exists, it's made for dealing big damage while riding.


Does it actually say anywhere that you need a free hand to control the horse?

[Mellack]

I understood that at least for trained battle mounts that most of the driving was done with the knees. That means you do not need a free hand, traditionally it was sword and board, but two-handed would work also.

[CaptainSarathai]

As I read it, you do need a free hand to "control" the mount, letting it move on your initiative rather than it's own, etc.
However, a 2-hand weapon does not remove your free hand. An Eldritch Knight, for example, can world a Greatsword and still take his hand off temporarily to cast spells.

I am DMing an Arthurian campaign, presently, and I have specifically house ruled that you don't get 2-handers from horseback, but you can still go with a weapon in each hand, shield, or bow (not longbows). This is just because something like a glaive or halberd (as described by PHB), or greataxe would be unwieldy from horseback.
This had the (not entirely unforseen) advantage of really giving Versatile weapons their niche, as befitting their use in history. Mounted, my players fight with their longswords and a shield. On foot, they'll often 2-hand their swords for the extra damage.
Lances are still magnificent though, and you should absolutely make use of them.

In any other campaign however, I'd be somewhat hesitant of planning a mounted character. Handle Animal and Martial Weapons isn't really a huge investment, but I would never buy a horse if 90% of my encounters were indoors, or if my DM wasn't exactly building encounters for cavalry. That was something that took me a moment to adjust to, when I started DMing for mounted fighters: the movement is crazy. Weapon ranges really start to matter, and I needed to go out and buy a bigger grid, as well as rethink terrain placement and what enemies I would use. I started my players tilting in lists to get used to the mounted combat rules, before having a massive classical joust (really just a huge cavalry battle practice). The cavalry battle was absurd, with players easily ending up 240' away from one another (48 squares) in a single round.

[Potato_Priest]

As I read it, you do need a free hand to "control" the mount, letting it move on your initiative rather than it's own, etc.
However, a 2-hand weapon does not remove your free hand. An Eldritch Knight, for example, can world a Greatsword and still take his hand off temporarily to cast spells.


Where does it say that you need a hand? As far as I could tell, it's not in the "mounted combat" section of the book or the 'controlling a mount" section.

[Desteplo]

You Do not need a free hand. Duel wield lances if you want!!

[nickl_2000]

You Do not need a free hand. Duel wield lances if you want!!

Can you imagine the odd looks you would get while charging and simultaneously duel wielding lances

[CrackedChair]

Can you imagine the odd looks you would get while charging and simultaneously duel wielding lances

Well, I'd be this guy.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/yugioh/images/7/75/GaiaTheFierceKnight-MIL1-EN-R-1E.png/revision/latest?cb=20160415071255

[Desteplo]

Well, I'd be this guy.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/yugioh/images/7/75/GaiaTheFierceKnight-MIL1-EN-R-1E.png/revision/latest?cb=20160415071255

Except on a donkey

[nickl_2000]

Except on a donkey

Yes, the charging on a Donkey with 2 lances was an important part of the odd looks.

[Maxilian]

Yes, the charging on a Donkey with 2 lances was an important part of the odd looks.

Make it a small race, and do it on a Mastiff (Nowhere will your enemies be safe!)

[Desteplo]

Make it a small race, and do it on a Mastiff (Nowhere will your enemies be safe!)

In that case 3lvls ranger nets you a vulture/pteranodon flying mount

[Kurt Kurageous]

I am DMing an Arthurian campaign, presently, and I have specifically house ruled that...

I'd like to see yer house rules for mounted combat in general.

My opinion is the mounted RAW is pathetic and fails in every single way to convey the speed, shock (knockdown power), and massive advantage a mounted combatant has. The horse's hooves are not really the point of a mount, after all. It would be a start just to add the mounts' STR mod with the mounted combatants melee damage. Then I want a rule to reflect that a trained warhorse on the move can run over and knock aside or knock down a normal humanoid. Not an AoO, it's just an effect of something 10x heavier moving 4x faster through your physical space!

And if someone wants to bring up, "don't use real physics, you're limiting the mundanes again," I'm going to say it now, RAW already does.

[Waterdeep Merch]

I'd like to see yer house rules for mounted combat in general.

My opinion is the mounted RAW is pathetic and fails in every single way to convey the speed, shock (knockdown power), and massive advantage a mounted combatant has. The horse's hooves are not really the point of a mount, after all. It would be a start just to add the mounts' STR mod with the mounted combatants melee damage. Then I want a rule to reflect that a trained warhorse on the move can run over and knock aside or knock down a normal humanoid. Not an AoO, it's just an effect of something 10x heavier moving 4x faster through your physical space!

And if someone wants to bring up, "don't use real physics, you're limiting the mundanes again," I'm going to say it now, RAW already does.

This has inspired me to create some new house rules of my own.

Cavalry charge- On your turn, if you move in a straight line for at least 10 feet on the back of a mount, any melee attack you make while you remain on the mount becomes an automatic critical hit. A creature hit by you during such a charge is denied attacks of opportunity against you for this turn, and you can move through their space so long as the target is smaller than your mount. If you begin making a cavalry charge, whatever movement the mount still had after the charge can only continue forward.

Spear wall- As a reaction, if you are wielding a polearm that deals piercing damage and a mounted combatant enters your reach during a cavalry charge, you may make an attack of opportunity with that polearm. If you hit, that attack becomes an automatic critical hit.

Shield wall- If you are holding a shield and standing next to at least one other ally with a shield, you both gain +1 to AC and your spaces become impassable to any creatures one size category larger than you or smaller, including against cavalry charges. Your space loses this benefit the moment you lose consciousness or drop your shield.