Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Zym 01-25-05, 11:42 AM	In the MM its stated that unless the "Type" (or individual entry) is listed as wearing/proficient in X armor then their not, and suffer the appropriate non-proficiency penalities. What about War Horses, war dogs, and any such mount that is generally ment to wear armor into combat? It seems that all armored critters bear the non-proficiency penality. This doesn't seem quite right... Now the 3.0 MMII (which was subjected to the 3.5 Update booklets) didn't change the Warbeast Template. This template turns a critter into a war bonified mount (like a warhorse, wardog, etc). No critter with "War" type training can take this template as its considered to already have a version of it. Now the template states that the critter becomes proficient in light, medium and heavy armors. This infers to me that all "War" critters are proficient in such armors already. Is there any further information regarding mounts and armor that further clarifies this in 3.5? Or is it simply in 3.5 (not considering the 3.0 MMII crevat) all armor wearing critters suffer the non-pro penality (unless stated in their type/critter entry)?
Ogre4Hire 01-25-05, 01:19 PM	Yeah, Warhorses, Riding Dogs, and any other animal you think should be (ie Domesticated Elephants) is considered to be armor proficient.
Kaardomos 01-25-05, 02:52 PM	Is there any further information regarding mounts and armor that further clarifies this in 3.5? Or is it simply in 3.5 (not considering the 3.0 MMII crevat) all armor wearing critters suffer the non-pro penality (unless stated in their type/critter entry)? There's a small section in the the animal trait listing that says: "Proficient with no armor unless trained for war." I'ld assume that anything with war in it's name would automatically qualify.
Zym 01-25-05, 03:09 PM	Right, good that then supports the MMII Warbeast rules. Suprised I overlooked that text. That solves the basic "war" mounts question. What about other non "war" mounts then? What does training for War entail? You could of course apply the Warbeast template to keep it simple. Though that template seems better off than most war critters (it provides a HD, movement bump, bonus to skills (rider and self) and the aforementioned proficiencies). Must they then be reared then to be considered domestic and trained for war? You would either have to raise it or find a people that raised X critter as "war" mounts. Or, would the following Animal Handling rules suffice? Combat Riding (DC 20): An animal trained to bear a rider into combat knows the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel. Training an animal for combat riding takes six weeks. You may also "upgrade" an animal trained for riding to one trained for combat riding by spending three weeks and making a successful DC 20 Handle Animal check. The new general purpose and tricks completely replace the animal's previous purpose and any tricks it once knew. Warhorses and riding dogs are already trained to bear riders into combat, and they don't require any additional training for this purpose.
Zym 01-26-05, 01:22 PM	Followup according to CS: Hello Zym, We know about this error. Any creature trained for war (warhorses and war ponies) is proficient with up to heavy barding. It is an aspect that can be acquired by Training the animal for the purpose of Combat Riding (the riding dog would get it then as well.) That is the rule we use. Good gaming! *Please quote this email in any reply* **************************************** ************************* Sammy Customer Service Department Wizards of the Coast 1-800-324-6496 **************************************** *************************
Zym 02-01-05, 02:28 PM	And so they did: Trained Mounts in a Battle When a mount has an Intelligence score of 2 or less and it has been specially trained for combat riding (see the Handle Animal skill description), you'll find that it is quite an asset in battle. Thanks to the mount's training, you and it function more or less as a single unit in combat, and you gain all the benefits noted in the Basics of Being Mounted section. You must succeed on Ride checks to get the full benefit of your mount, as noted in the Ride skill description and summarized below: