I searched the forums for a ruling about this but wasn't clear on the answer. Anyway, here it goes. It came up during our latest session: we had a character charging on his horse and he wanted to draw a weapon and then attack at the end of the charge. By the rules, charging is a full-round action.
The question is, does a mounted charge require that both mount and rider spend their full-round actions to charge? Or only the mount needs to spend his full-round action to charge, while the rider still has a move action and a standard action to use (gaining the benefits and penalties from the mount's charge)?
At the time we ruled that the character could draw the weapon using his move action and attack at the end of the charge using his standard action, but I wanted to confirm if that is right.
Thanks for the help!
P.S.- By the way, said character didn't have the Quick Draw feat.
Never mind, I found this:
If you move a distance equal to your speed or less, you can also draw a weapon during a charge attack if your base attack bonus is at least +1.
So regardless of who is charging, he could still draw the weapon. Still, now I'm curious about other situations (say, spur a mount as a move action and attack as a standard action during a mounted charge).
From what I understand, charging while mounted means the rider takes the charge action and uses the mount's speed. It's as much a *time* thing as anything else - when you're moving 100 feet, you don't have the time in your round to execute a full attack action afterwards (plus that would be stupid overpowered, and no one would EVER be not mounted).
However, Charge does let you draw a weapon as part of the action.
Movement During a Charge: You must move before your attack, not after. You must move at least 10 feet (2 squares) and may move up to double your speed directly toward the designated opponent. If you move a distance equal to your speed or less, you can also draw a weapon during a charge attack if your base attack bonus is at least +1.