Who charges? A cavalier or his horse?


Rules Questions

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Scarab Sages

David Bowles wrote:
Does this mean that PCs who can control their mounts with free actions can take a full attack from the back of the mount after it moves?

"When you attack a creature smaller than your mount that is on foot, you get the +1 bonus on melee attacks for being on higher ground. If your mount moves more than 5 feet, you can only make a single melee attack. Essentially, you have to wait until the mount gets to your enemy before attacking, so you can't make a full attack. "

However:
"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."

and:
"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."

Scarab Sages

Charge (from CRB):
Charging is a special full-round action that allows you to move up to twice your speed and attack during the action. Charging, however, carries tight restrictions on how you can move.

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.

You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement such as difficult terrain or obstacles). You must move to the closest space from which you can attack the opponent. If this space is occupied or otherwise blocked, you can’t charge. If any line from your starting space to the ending space passes through a square that blocks movement, slows movement, or contains a creature (even an ally), you can’t charge. Helpless creatures don’t stop a charge.

If you don’t have line of sight to the opponent at the start of your turn, you can’t charge that opponent.

You can’t take a 5-foot step in the same round as a charge.

If you are able to take only a standard action on your turn, you can still charge, but you are only allowed to move up to your speed (instead of up to double your speed) and you cannot draw a weapon unless you possess the Quick Draw feat. You can’t use this option unless you are restricted to taking only a standard action on your turn.

Attacking on a Charge: After moving, you may make a single melee attack. You get a +2 bonus on the attack roll and take a –2 penalty to your AC until the start of your next turn. A charging character gets a +2 bonus on combat maneuver attack rolls made to bull rush an opponent (see Bull Rush on page 199). Even if you have extra attacks, such as from having a high enough base attack bonus or from using multiple weapons, you only get to make one attack during a charge.

Lances and Charge Attacks: A lance deals double damage if employed by a mounted character in a charge.

Weapons Readied against a Charge: Spears, tridents, and other weapons with the brace feature deal double damage when readied (set) and used against a charging character.

The text I bolded would indicate if the mount is incapable of attacking the creature at the end of its charge, it invalidates the charge. Note the mount can choose not to attack, it just needs the ability to. This means a mount must end a charge with the enemy within its threat range.


SlimGauge wrote:

What has Pathfinder changed about the mounted rules that would invalidate these ?

All About Mounts
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The above sources are the most comprehensive discussion of mounted combat that we as yet have. I'm waiting for a similar version from PF, though I'm a little worried for it going off a rules deep-end...PF almost seems to have gone into the: you and your mount must replicate any feat...effectively turning a majority of feats into teamwork feats.

Also, whether you can charge/pounce with a lance may be somewhat moot (though not completely), because this combo is actually addressed somewhat separately in the FAQ:

Two, even if you have an unusual combination of rules that allows you to ignore the above limitation, it doesn’t makes sense that those iterative attacks gain the damage bonus. To make that second attack, you have to pull the lance back and stab forward again, and that stab doesn’t have the benefit of the charge’s momentum. (The Core Rulebook doesn’t state that you only get the damage multiplier on the first attack with a lance because there is no rule in the Core Rulebook that allows a PC to charge and take multiple attacks with a weapon, so that combination didn’t need to be addressed.)


Edit: Post removed. I'm making this its own thread!


Seems ruling is both provoke!

"When you and our mount move, you both are subject to attacks of opportunity from your foes (your mount might be the one actually doing the moving, but you're moving as well). For example, when you and your mount leave a threatened space, you both provoke attacks of opportunity from foes that threaten that space. A foe who can make multiple attacks of opportunity in a round (for example, a foe with a high Dexterity score and the Combat Reflexes feat) can make an attack of opportunity against you and one against your mount.

As an optional rule, you might want to treat a rider and a trained war mount (or a special mount, such as a paladin's warhorse) as a single creature in battle. When the pair moves, they provoke one attack of opportunity for each foe that threatens them, not one each."

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20050201a

Scarab Sages

We need to be careful referencing 3.5 D&D as it is not Pathfinder official. I've been shot down before in threads quoting 3.5 material, even though Pathfinder had no equivalent.

For reference, think about Sean K. Reynolds' ruling that medium creatures with reach weapons didn't threaten the diagonal squares. This wasn't a rules change, it was a 3.5 assumption that the reach weapon did threaten on the diagonals (as a specific exception) in Pathfinder. SKR just highlighted that the exception didn’t exist in Pathfinder.


Why does't Paizo simplify the mounted combat rules? Instead of each creature having its own action economy, let mount get the move action, and the rider the standard action (and make mounted charge a standard action, but requires the mount to meet the movement prereqs of the charge). I would RARELY ever want my mount to charge/attack, but I would love to have the rider be able to charge while mounted. I 100% disagree with SKR's ruling, and can only hope Paizo eventually cleans up the rules for mounted combat and associated feats and class abilities.


Invalidating a whole combat style because mounted Barbarian are beter than average.

It's disappointing to see Paizo make such a terrible rulings out of fear of a single coner case. Almost as disappointing as it is too see them nerf/remove balanced options because they deviate from the standard or are slightly better than mediocre...

Meanwhile, we haven't seen a single spell-balance errata so far. Not even for the most broken spells in the game.

Sczarni

insaneogeddon wrote:

Seems ruling is both provoke!

"When you and our mount move, you both are subject to attacks of opportunity from your foes (your mount might be the one actually doing the moving, but you're moving as well). For example, when you and your mount leave a threatened space, you both provoke attacks of opportunity from foes that threaten that space. A foe who can make multiple attacks of opportunity in a round (for example, a foe with a high Dexterity score and the Combat Reflexes feat) can make an attack of opportunity against you and one against your mount.

As an optional rule, you might want to treat a rider and a trained war mount (or a special mount, such as a paladin's warhorse) as a single creature in battle. When the pair moves, they provoke one attack of opportunity for each foe that threatens them, not one each."

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20050201a

The way around this is the Horsemaster's Saddle + Escape Route feat. Since you are always in your mount's square, you never get an AoO while mounted.

Lantern Lodge

I personally like what was said about mounted charges. For me, it didn't make sense that if my mount charges someone, I was completely devoted to the charge as well. I like having the freedom of casting a spell, or shooting someone's face with arrows while my mount charges.

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