player characters as mounts

[kingcheesepants]

Is there any reason why a player can't serve as a mount for another player? Assume that the mount is a centaur (to avoid the appropriate anatomy problem) and the rider is a small race (for the size).

Would mounted combatant work on the player being mounted? If so would it be worth taking?

If the rider was a kobold he'd always have pack tactics up, how valuable would that be?

Are there any other particularly effective combos that can be activated with a PC mount and rider?

Would doing something like a centaur ancestral guardians barbarian and a rider with the mounted combatant feat work? The barbarian makes all attacks not against him have disadvantage and then the rider uses the feat to make the attacks aim at him instead, thus forcing the enemy to always attack at disadvantage. It's like the protection fighting style but doesn't use one's reaction and thus can be used as often as one likes.

[Amnestic]

Is there any reason why a player can't serve as a mount for another player? Assume that the mount is a centaur (to avoid the appropriate anatomy problem) and the rider is a small race (for the size).

Not really. Just make sure you use the independent mount stuff instead of controlled.



Would mounted combatant work on the player being mounted?

If so would it be worth taking?

If the rider was a kobold he'd always have pack tactics up, how valuable would that be?


Yes, potentially and "somewhat but not groundbreaking".

[Ashe]

It has the same problems as all independent mounts, i.e. movement is clunky and potentially unhelpful. Not so bad if your rider is ranged and your mount isn't diving into melee, of course.

[ScoutTrooper]

A similar situation arose at a table: my 3 ft Goblin Artificer, jumps up on our 6 ft Warforged cleric. The DM let us act on our own initiatives, and my range attacks didn't have disadvantage.

The feat would not have worked.

The Warforged Cleric easily applied his shield master up to my Goblin Artificer. I could easy cast Jump or Longstrider to the Warforged Cleric. Its some synergy, but nothing the DM deemed game breaking.

Another player argued I could cast mending and technically apply direct heals to the Warforged in flavor of repairing while hanging on. Which that feels wrong.

[Naanomi]

My moon cleric bought a (dire-wolf shaped) saddle for himself for just such an occasion

[Burley]

And, my druid is also routinely ridden into fights by our monk. (Giant Elk wild shape's Hooves attack after the monk's Open Hand Dex-vs.-Prone)

[greenstone]

Is there any reason why a player can't serve as a mount for another player?
Carrying capacity is the thing that usually limits this tactic.

Even if the first PC has the capacity to carry the second, riding PCs has little use in combat. A character rides a horse because the horse has twice their speed. What's the point in riding another PC if they have the same 30ft speed you do?

[kingcheesepants]

Carrying capacity is the thing that usually limits this tactic.

Even if the first PC has the capacity to carry the second, riding PCs has little use in combat. A character rides a horse because the horse has twice their speed. What's the point in riding another PC if they have the same 30ft speed you do?

A centaur has 40 ft of movement (potentially more if they're a barbarian or monk) while gnomes and halflings (also dwarves but they're medium so they can't mount a PC anyway) have 25 ft of movement. That's 15 ft of movement difference. If the rider is wearing heavy armor and doesn't have the strength for it the difference becomes even greater. Certainly enough to justify riding a mount. Additionally if the mount is wizard/sorcerer/other squishy type and can't afford to get hit, the rider can use the mounted combatant feat to redirect all attacks to himself rather than the squishy and give said squishy evasion. A pretty good use of a feat if the rider wants to tank and protect the caster, especially if he's a fighter and has the feats for it.