|
Am I right in saying that if my mount only takes a single move, then:
a) I can make a full round of ranged attacks without penalty
b) I can choose at what point in my mount's move each of my ranged attacks takes place (i.e. fire one arrow after 10', the second one after another 10', and so on).
Is this also true if my mount also uses a standard action as well as its single move?
Cheers
Richard
|
There is mounted combat section in PRD or on SRD.
You can make full round ranged attacks without penalty until your mount moves more then his normal move action. If he does double move, you get some penalty's:
-4 if mount moves more then his move speed.
-8 if mount is running.
Horses typically have 40-50 move speed ( I think ) so you have plenty of movement without going into penalty range.
|
Yes you can fire an arrow and your mount can continue to move before you fire the next. Your limit on your actions is that they all take place in the same round. Since your mount shares your initiative it also moves during your round. just like a 5 foot shift is allowed during a full attack (because that is all the movement allowed for you) then if another effect is moving you during your turn you can take the attacks during your round wherever you may be so long as you don’t exceed your actions for the round. Being as your mount is using his actions and you are using yours I see no problem and have never heard a single rule limiting your firing during riding (save the -4,-8 penalties for excessive movement)
|
|
Yes you can fire an arrow and your mount can continue to move before you fire the next. Your limit on your actions is that they all take place in the same round. Since your mount shares your initiative it also moves during your round. just like a 5 foot shift is allowed during a full attack (because that is all the movement allowed for you) then if another effect is moving you during your turn you can take the attacks during your round wherever you may be so long as you don’t exceed your actions for the round. Being as your mount is using his actions and you are using yours I see no problem and have never heard a single rule limiting your firing during riding (save the -4,-8 penalties for excessive movement)
I don't think that is exactly right. It's clear in the CRB that if your mount is making a double move or more your attack takes place mid way through the movement (so after a single move if mount is making a double move and you are attacking at -4 penalty).
You can use ranged weapons while your mount is taking a double move, but at a –4 penalty on the attack roll. You can use ranged weapons while your mount is running (quadruple speed) at a –8 penalty. In either case, you make the attack roll when your mount has completed half its movement. You can make a full attack with a ranged weapon while your mount is moving. Likewise, you can take move actions normally.
How & precisely where you take your shots as part of a single move is not specified (as far as I can tell). If it was my game I would limit the shots to the midway point of the move action as well. If a character had more then 1 attack as part of a full-attack action either via feats (Rapid Shot) or high BAB I would permit the second attack to be taken at any point during the remaining portion of the move.
This is not RAW though... And if my charcaters complained that this was too limiting they would find themselves facing a throng of mounted Archers welcoming them to Pound Town*.
If someone can show me where it says you can make your attacks at any point during your mounts single move I will be stoked and grateful!
*Credit must go to Lastoth for coining the term Pound Town in his excellent guide to Archery Rangers.
|
|
There absolutely is a difference if you don't have the feats necessary for reducing the penalties provided by cover and firing into melee. (Precise Shot & Improved Precise Shot).
In some situations it's a s much as a taking -8 to an attack roll or not. Being that Archery is regarded as one of the best forms of combat in Pathfinder (if not the best), I don't think it's too onerous to place a limit on when you can make the attacks rolls. A clever player will time and use his movement accordingly.
|
|
There absolutely is a difference if you don't have the feats necessary for reducing the penalties provided by cover and firing into melee. (Precise Shot & Improved Precise Shot).
That's the whole point, really. You're using your mount to maneuver yourself around the melee so that you can get clear shots.
AFAICS, as long as it's a single move, it's entirely legal.
Richard
|
|
There absolutely is a difference if you don't have the feats necessary for reducing the penalties provided by cover and firing into melee. (Precise Shot & Improved Precise Shot).That's the whole point, really. You're using your mount to maneuver yourself around the melee so that you can get clear shots.
AFAICS, as long as it's a single move, it's entirely legal.
Richard
Of course it's legal. Which it's why it's mechanically so important to know where the shots are fired from during the move. Eliminating cover is incredibly important (+4 to hit) prior to getting Improved Precise Shot (which is level 6 for a Ranger or level 11 for everyone else).
It's not so much the distance (aside from the 30' threshold for PBS or the end of the 1st range increment for the weapon used) as the angle that is so important.
|
Not sure if this has any bearing but from the PRD:
"Mounted Skirmisher (Combat)
You are adept at attacking from upon a swift moving steed.
Prerequisites: Ride rank 14, Mounted Combat, Trick Riding.
Benefit: If your mount moves its speed or less, you can still take a full-attack action.
Normal: If your mount moves more than 5 feet, you can only take an attack action"
So, you would need to have this feat or something similar to be taking a full attack action while riding anyways, right? Considering the feat and skill expenditure to get to this point, I would probably allow them to take their full attack action while moving as long as the squares the attacks were originating from were consecutive but the consecutive requirement is not something spelled out in the rules, just how I would adjudicate it.
Why would anyone take that feat when you can already do that without it. The quote I pasted above is also from the PRD and that's what it says in my CRB as well - so unless they errata's that (which they may have) I don't see why Mounted Skirmisher is necessary.
Yeah, there does seem to be a conflict there.
|
Not sure if this has any bearing but from the PRD:
"Mounted Skirmisher (Combat)
You are adept at attacking from upon a swift moving steed.Prerequisites: Ride rank 14, Mounted Combat, Trick Riding.
Benefit: If your mount moves its speed or less, you can still take a full-attack action.
Normal: If your mount moves more than 5 feet, you can only take an attack action"
So, you would need to have this feat or something similar to be taking a full attack action while riding anyways, right? Considering the feat and skill expenditure to get to this point, I would probably allow them to take their full attack action while moving as long as the squares the attacks were originating from were consecutive but the consecutive requirement is not something spelled out in the rules, just how I would adjudicate it.
Mounted Skirmisher may not spell this out very well, but it benefits melee. Full attacking with ranged attack from a moving mount is available to anyone. If the language for Mounted Skirmisher looks screwy, don't let it poison the rest of the mounted combat section.
The language for mounted combat hasn't changed substantially, if at all, between 3.5 and PF. There is a link in my profile to the Rules of the Games articles on the subject of mounted combat.
My understanding on the location of where to fire the shots from a full attack action from a moving mount is to take all attacks from the midpoint of the move. I don't think it's a particularly realistic approach, but it is simple. Midpoint is clearly the spot to take a single shot from a mount that is double moving or running.
|
|
The most realistic answer would be to say you have to spread your attacks evenly across the mounts movement.
The least realistic answer is to say all the attacks happen at a given moment.
I'm a player in this case, so I want to argue for letting me take bowshots whenever, particularly combining this with "escape route" between me and my mount (at 4th level, animal companion) and then at 6th level have point blank master, so that I can weave around opponents to shoot them and then get out the way without invoking AoOs for either movement or shots.
I would allow this as GM but then, of course, I'm not GM on this occasion :-)
Richard