How many characters can ride on a mount? Is the rule just 'one mount, one rider'? Can you mount two men to a horse? Three? Anyone know if there are rules for this? I'm looking for some interpretations on what the RAW says here.
And if there aren't rules or guidelines for this, how do you handle this in your games?
Also, as an aside, can you lay prone on a mount?
How many characters can ride on a mount? Is the rule just 'one mount, one rider'? Can you mount two men to a horse? Three? Anyone know if there are rules for this? I'm looking for some interpretations on what the RAW says here.
And if there aren't rules or guidelines for this, how do you handle this in your games?
Also, as an aside, can you lay prone on a mount?
I dont think raw handles this particulary well.
I use carrying capacity of the mount to sort that out. There is only one 'rider' the second or third passenger essentially just count as weight. I usally limit their actions to a single standard action (not easy to take a full attack from the back of a horse, and work out the mounts encumberance (often 2 fully loaded up warriors will bring a horse over light load).
That sounds pretty good - and obviously you couldn't fit more riders on a mount than the mount has spaces.
That sounds pretty good - and obviously you couldn't fit more riders on a mount than the mount has spaces.
I have no hard and fast rule for 'spaces' on a mount, i rule that as it comes up. Maybe something about the size of the mount vs size of the 'riders'.
Functionally the only limitation is the encumbrance limit of the mount and the number of squares it takes up. The only sensible way to run it would be to have one PC actually using the Ride skill to control the mount. That being said, all the other PCs would still have a full complement of actions each round, instead of having limited actions like kolokotroni indicated. I mean, even the rider of a regular mount gets a full round's worth of actions each round. It would be silly to say that people who are essentially dead weight for the mount don't get to react as fast as they do when they're standing on the ground.
Even if only one character is directing the mount, the others still suffer from the mount's movements. I'd refer to the rules as to how characters riding a mount can act (minus the Ride check to actually direct the mount).
(forking to PRD...)
From what I just read, you'll need a saddle for each character (or a specially-designed saddle) to avoid the -5 on Ride checks. The "Stay in Saddle" check seems unavoidable for each character, and the "Soft Fall" when you are pushed down. See the feat Mounted Archery, too, for the penalties incurred for fighting with ranged weapons.
The mount's rules for encumberance are OK too, to check if the mount can actually carry all that weight.
Did the Arms and Equipment Guide have howdahs? Maybe in the Bestiary under elephant or mammoth; or in the 3.5 Monster Manual.
Hope that helps.
The Arms and Equipment guide has howdahs; each holds 4 medium humanoids. It gives two specific examples, elephants hold one howdah with 4 med humanoids, triceratops hold 1 howdah with 4 med humanoids, plu sone extra behind the bone plate for the driver. Maybe that's a bad example, I wanted to know how many small sized halfling crossbow-archers can fit in a howdah on the back of a war-trained triceratops. I ruled 6 in the howdah, plus a driver getting half-cover behind the bony plate.
I also ruled a DC 10 balance check to attack while moving, a DC 15 balance check to attack while charging, and a DC 20 balance check if the triceratops took damage; also used the penalties for not having the mounted archery feat. I ruled that a military saddle was required for the driver, but ruled the saddle out for archers mounted in the howdah.