Animal Companion Mounted Combat 101


Rules Questions


Sorry if there's already a thread that covers it, but my search-fu failed.

I'm trying to figure out what rolls I need to make each round to attack from the back of a combat trained horse as a samurai, and what happens if the rolls fail. This is what I have so far.

Let's say you want to charge a humanoid foe.

1) Roll a DC 5 Ride check as free action. Failure = use one hand for rest of round

2) Roll a DC 10 Handle Animal check for the animal to use the Attack trick as a free action, attacking with a charge. Success = charge. Failure = no charge. What are your options after a failure?

3) Assuming you succeeded with the charge, make a DC 10 Ride check so that you can attack with the horse as you reach the target. Failure = no attack for you. Do you get your standard and move actions then anyway?

Now, what happens if you are facing an undead foe, and the horse isn't trained for that. Can you charge? I don't think you can. Charge is an attack option, and you can't charge if your horse doesn't. This is what I think happens.

1) DC 5 Ride check to steer with knees.

2) Horse double moves towards target (no roll needed).

3) Make a single attack w/no charge (no roll needed).

Do I have it correct? Thanks.

Grand Lodge

A1) Almost. This is not an action rather than a free action.
A2) It's not clear to me whether getting the horse to charge, if it's not going to make attacks itself, requires the Attack trick or is simply riding (no check required). If you want it to attack with a hoof, your reading is right. If you fail to get it to attack, you can still ride it for its double move.
A3) RAW doesn't prevent you, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me (and has some odd consequences if you're allowed to dismount). I think this usage should have the same effect on failure as controlling an untrained mount in combat, namely that you can't do anything else for that round. At minimum, you can't make any sort of attack in that round while riding.

B) You can push the horse to attack the undead creature as a move action. If you fail that check, your following steps seem right.


Starglim wrote:

A1) Almost. This is not an action rather than a free action.

A2) It's not clear to me whether getting the horse to charge, if it's not going to make attacks itself, requires the Attack trick or is simply riding (no check required). If you want it to attack with a hoof, your reading is right. If you fail to get it to attack, you can still ride it for its double move.
A3) RAW doesn't prevent you, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me (and has some odd consequences if you're allowed to dismount). I think this usage should have the same effect on failure as controlling an untrained mount in combat, namely that you can't do anything else for that round. At minimum, you can't make any sort of attack in that round while riding.

B) You can push the horse to attack the undead creature as a move action. If you fail that check, your following steps seem right.

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear it isn't straightforward for others either. My master plan at this point is to dump it on the GM's lap and have him tell me what to roll when. Having some net wisdom for guidance is really helpful though.

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