Questions about Mounted Characters

[Ogamra]

Hey everyone, I've got some questions about how mounted characters function under certain circumstances and I'm not too sure where to find the information.

1) Let's say the party is on a boat and it gets destroyed. The mounted character, in this case a Cavalier now has to swim. Can he just ride his horse until it grows too tired to swim anymore? I feel like a horse carrying a guy in full plate can't swim for very long and or keep the rider in it's saddle that well.

2) Let's say I hit the Cavalier with a Ray of Exhaustion and he fails. Thus becoming exhausted. Can he still make charge attacks since he's fatigued even though it's the horse doing the movement?

Other than making him go into battle without his mount, targeting his weak will save and hitting him with magic to damage him since his armor is so high. Could anyone suggest counters for him?

[VRMH]

1. Realistically it would not be a matter of strength, but of buoyancy. And since the game rules do not track that, the whole matter becomes a GM call.
2. The Cavalier can't charge. Their mount can. It may make a difference in whatever either of them does after that charge.

As for "counters" to a Cavalier: caltrops.

[EWHM]

Other counters include bracing with a reach weapon against a charge (readied action, does double damage if the weapon has the brace property). Polearms/long spears are one of the approved methods of dealing with cavalry in general. Any kind of difficult terrain will usually do it too.

[Halfling Barbarian]

You shouldn't be looking to counter the cavalier, you should be looking to challenge him. If you start throwing in difficult terrain he'll get his mount dragon style, if you use flying enemies he'll find a flying mount. Use social situations, traps, and puzzles to challenge him and let him excell at what he excells at.

As for your questions, the horse only suffers a swim check penalty for the rider if the rider and all gear weighs enough. Here's a handy chart to see if there's a -3 penalty with a max dex bonus of +3:

Str 16 - rider and gear over 231 lbs
Str 18 - 303 lbs
Str 20 - 402 lbs

Remember that Full plate weighs 50 lbs.