Mounted Combat plus White Raven charging maneuvers

[Hachristo]

So I'm playing a mounted combat build, currently Paladin 8/Cavalier 5. Everyone in the party was granted divine powers after we rescued a demigod from a dragon, and in my case I was allowed to take maneuvers and stances from tome of battle, specifically from devoted spirit, stone dragon, and white raven. I've been using the Battle Leader's Charge maneuver in combination with lance + spirited charge, which multiplies charge damage by 3 effectively giving me +30 damage since BLC grants a flat +10 bonus to damage. I just got access to level 6 maneuvers, one of which is War Leader's Charge, which grants a +35 to damage instead of +10 on charges. So that's +105 damage on a charge, not including the deadly charge cavalier ability which multiples damage by 4 instead of 3.

Am I missing something here? Is it the case that these maneuvers cannot be used on mounted charges? Because this seems ridiculously unbalanced in combination with everything else I have to increase damage, ie power attack, smite evil, 1.5 STR bonus, all multiplied by 3. I've messaged my DM about this and he's yet to get back to me, so I thought I'd ask here as well. What is the RAW on this?

[Gruftzwerg]

Ubercharger builds can get insanely high damage numbers, yeah. You can combine the maneuver with a mounted charge attack(s) for a total multiplier of x4 in your chase.

Have a look at my Papa Smurf build as example. It is a lance focused ubercharger build which stacks up to a x6 charge multiplier.

A well build build ubercharger will annihilate anything it hits with a single attack (of his full attack pounce..). While "damage" is the worst optimization in terms of overall game power (since it is easy to counter), there are still DMs/tables who have hard time countering this (or dislike optimization overall). So beware what you are doing (at your table) ;)

[Darg]

How are you getting access to 6th level maneuvers? Your initiator level should be 6. Meaning access to 3rd level maneuvers. Unless you have access to a crown of white ravens or similar item that is. Martial adept classes are the only ones that get initiator levels at a 1:1 ratio. All other classes progress at 1 per 2 class levels rounded down.

RAW, if you have access to a maneuver and do not possess martial adept levels then it is a once per encounter ability with no recovery mechanic. So even if you stacked all the bonuses in the world, it's only going to work once per encounter.

There is nothing RAW preventing the use of a maneuver on horseback. That said, there is nothing allowing it either. The mounted combat rules are fairly restrictive when reading them as permissive rules. If you want to expand them apply the ranged combat penalties as necessary, obey the no melee full attack if the mount moves rule, and remember that you and your mount share movement. If you have your mount double move, you can't then charge for example as you have already spent your movement. You could still use a move equivalent action and a standard or a full-round action as you and your mount's actions are separate.

[Gruftzwerg]

How are you getting access to 6th level maneuvers? Your initiator level should be 6. Meaning access to 3rd level maneuvers. Unless you have access to a crown of white ravens or similar item that is. Martial adept classes are the only ones that get initiator levels at a 1:1 ratio. All other classes progress at 1 per 2 class levels rounded down.



OP has said:

Everyone in the party was granted divine powers after we rescued a demigod from a dragon, and in my case I was allowed to take maneuvers and stances from tome of battle, specifically from devoted spirit, stone dragon, and white raven.