Post/Author/DateTime	Post
danzibr 06-07-07, 01:38 PM	One of my players loves horses and just so happens to be a druid with a horse companion. Now, I don't know if this person plans to ride their horse (in combat) or not, but why ride? I checked SRD, and I'm not getting much. So... can you and your mount both attack? Or can you make a full attack when your mount moves? I mean, if neither of these applies, it seems like riding your horse mount isn't that great. Thanks in advance for the help! Dan
Bionecrosis 06-07-07, 01:57 PM	If memory serves, both you and your mount can attack if you succede on a DC15 ride check, and your mount only moves its normal speed. But riding your animal companion into battle sounds a recipe for a dead animal companion. /shrug
tarkin 06-07-07, 02:09 PM	Animal companions are not like familiars. Having one die is not as big a deal, you can get another one. Also, they are a lot tougher than normal mounts, if not as tough as a Paladin mount. Typcially you do send animal companions into battle. ------- The best ride builds tend to focus on someone taking feat. Specifically Spirited Charge is a nice one, particularly if you also have a lance... For Druids, sometimes people do this build: they themselves shapechange into a horse, while they take the leadership feat and have a COHORT that is a fighter concentrating on Lance/Spirited Charge type feats.
lint trap 06-07-07, 02:11 PM	You get a +1 attack bonus for attacking from higher ground. You get a much higher movement rate. You can use the Ride skill to negate attacks against your mount, keeping both your hp totals higher. Throw in a lance, and you get *2 damage on a charge. There are some excellent mounted combat feats in the PHB and Complete Warrior. The list goes on...
Kouk 06-07-07, 02:12 PM	http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#mountedCombat http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#mountedCombat http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#mountedArchery http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#spiritedCharge http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#trample And for Mounted Overrun: Mounted Overrun (Trample) If you attempt an overrun while mounted, your mount makes the Strength check to determine the success or failure of the overrun attack (and applies its size modifier, rather than yours). If you have the Trample feat and attempt an overrun while mounted, your target may not choose to avoid you, and if you knock your opponent prone with the overrun, your mount may make one hoof attack against your opponent. I think this is about all there is about Mounted Combat in the PHB. Using a lance in a charge gives extra damage too, but Druids don't normally have that proficiency.
AAB 06-07-07, 02:43 PM	plus you can make a ride check to take cover behind your mount to avoid attacks (or make a hide check ;) ).
kjenks 06-07-07, 02:52 PM	Your druid buddy should investigate sharing a Beast Claws spell (Spell Compendium) with her horse buddy. A horse normally has only secondary natural weapons (two hoof attacks). The Beast Claws spell gives the horse two primary natural weapons so it effectively gets +5 on its attack rolls. (BTW, a warhorse is not listed as an animal companion in the PH.)
tarkin 06-07-07, 03:22 PM	Your druid buddy should investigate sharing a Beast Claws spell (Spell Compendium) with her horse buddy. A horse normally has only secondary natural weapons (two hoof attacks). The Beast Claws spell gives the horse two primary natural weapons so it effectively gets +5 on its attack rolls. (BTW, a warhorse is not listed as an animal companion in the PH.) Not according to the SRD Monster manual. All horses get two hoofs as primary natural weapons. War horses also get a secondary bite natural weapon. Heavy war horse is 1d6 + strength for hoof, same as the spell BeastClaws.
Kursk 06-07-07, 04:30 PM	You ride to get places faster carrying more stuff. Can be good for open ground combat. They suck when taken underground or "inside".
kjenks 06-07-07, 04:45 PM	Not according to the SRD Monster manual. All horses get two hoofs as primary natural weapons. War horses also get a secondary bite natural weapon. Heavy war horse is 1d6 + strength for hoof, same as the spell BeastClaws. Huh? My copy of the SRD says... SRD === Combat A horse not trained for war does not normally use its hooves to attack. Its hoof attack is treated as a secondary attack and adds only half the horse’s Strength bonus to damage. (These secondary attacks are noted with an asterisk in the Attack and Full Attack entries for the heavy horse and the light horse.) === And the heavy horse's attacks add up that way.
utilitarian 06-07-07, 04:54 PM	Search the CO boards for any mounted charger build. You can do some ridiculous things. Lance: x2 damage on charge Spirited Charge: x2 damage on mounted charge Valorious Enchant: x2 damage on mounted charge Rhino Rush: x2 damage on a charge So you do x5 damage every time you charge. Now throw in, say, Cavalier or any number of other mounted PrCs for a whole wackload of nifty abilities while charging and you've got some pretty serious business. And if you want to get really crazy, TWF, Oversized Two Weapon Fighting, and any ability that will let you make a full (or two weapon) attack at the end of a charge and you can do all of that (minus the Rhino Rush) on a second, or possibly third and FOURTH attack eevery time you charge So yes, mounted combat builds are DEFINATELY useful.
InkBlot 06-07-07, 04:55 PM	They suck when taken underground or "inside". Gnome + Riding Dog = Win It's the Bonapart Ozaki principle.
Kursk 06-07-07, 05:12 PM	Gnome + Riding Dog = Win It's the Bonapart Ozaki principle. OP was talking about a horse.
danzibr 06-07-07, 05:19 PM	OP was talking about a horse. Yes. Specifically, a heavy riding horse. Not a warhorse. This is a first level animal companion we're talking about here. And thanks everyone for your valuable insight. I feel enlightened and this information will certainly help out my player. Dan
Kouk 06-08-07, 01:25 AM	If the normal horse is not trained for combat, then train it. I would assume you can have your animal companion do whatever you want it to do, just to make it simple - but you have a bunch of extra trick slots available as a druid so it shouldn't be hard to just train it for war, getting him to attack like a warhorse.
Perun 06-08-07, 02:01 AM	If the normal horse is not trained for combat, then train it. Yes. That's one of the simplest ways to boost your animal companion. In the worst case, simply train your companion using the rules in the PH or SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm) (see Handle Animal), Combat Riding purpose training). In the best case, the DM will let you apply the Warbeast template from MM2. You can't apply it to a warhorse (since it's already trained for war), but there's nothing (well, except possibly your DM) stopping you from applying it to a plain old heavy horse. Here's what a warbeast heavy horse would look like: Warbeast Heavy Horse [CR3] Always N Large Animal Init +1, Senses Listen +7, Spot +6, low-light vision, scent AC 13 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 natural), flat-footed 13, touch 10 hp 34 (4d8+16) Saves Fort +8, Refl +5, Will +3 Speed 50 ft. Face/Reach 10 ft./5 ft. Melee hoof +6 (1d6+4) Melee 2 hooves +6 (1d6+4) Base Atk +3, Grp +11 Abilities Str 19, Dex 13, Con 18, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 6 SQ Animal traits, combative mount Skills Listen +7, Spot +6 Feats Endurance, Run This beast would cost 400 gp on the market. This might be a bit over-the-top, considering that warbeast heavy horse has better ability scores, saves, and skills compared to the regular warhorse (which is, in essence, a heavy horse trained for war), and has the combative mount SQ. OTOH, warbeast heavy horse has lower AC and slightly worse full-attack routine. Regards.
AAB 06-08-07, 02:03 AM	yeah, but you generally don't worry about your mount's AC, since once a round you can make a ride check for it.