Beefing up mounted combat for 5e

[Ibn Khaldun]

Just found this thread. Nice stuff. I wonder if it would be interesting to have two different mounted paths-- one for the knight type and one for the mount archer type.

 

[Gillywonka]

Interesting topic. I was looking for more on this. I'd maybe use the STR bonus of the mount rather than the rider... or take in into account at least. One part that has been bugging me is, when i'm charging someone and moving from my charge, my target during his turn, can probably use his movement to catch up to me and wack me in the back. I need to figure that out. Oh, not to mention when you charge someone, assuming you charge, attack, then keep moving, like a knight on a horse for example, your opponent now gets an opportunity attack when you leave... i can see that part though. Anyway, I'm going to give these a go. Good info, thanks.

 

[Ibn Khaldun]

...when you charge someone, assuming you charge, attack, then keep moving, like a knight on a horse for example, your opponent now gets an opportunity attack when you leave... i can see that part though. Anyway, I'm going to give these a go. Good info, thanks.

Which makes lances very handy as they would give you reach on that attack and maybe put you outside the range of an opportunity attack.

 

[Jamie Van Doren]

I was thinking about the extra damage issue and how to handle that, i.e. whether to give advantage on the damage roll (like some are suggesting) or a flat damage or something else. I was thinking that it might be useful to take the KIND of mount into consideration. I mean for a mounted warrior in melee, why would they want a heavy warhorse and not a light warhorse or even a donkey (besides the obvious hp and ac blah, blah,blah ).

What about if a mounted combatant is able to add their mount's strength bonus to their damage when in a charge? A War Horse has a Strength bonus of +4! Of course a mounted knight would want one and see it as one of his prized possessions!

Anyway - it's a big bonus, but it's only added when charging. It's mechanically simple, and it makes sense.

 

[James Allen]

The rules for mounted combat in 5e are OK, but pretty sparse. It doesn't convey the terror a warrior on foot might have when a mounted foe charges him, or some of the techniques the same warrior on foot might have to deal with such a foe.

I thought I'd take a quick crack at some rules expansions, and get your collective thoughts. All my ideas are untested on the tabletop, and probably wrong.

1) The Mounted Warrior: To better reflect the advantages of being on a mount, I suggest the following rules:

• Advantage on Damage with melee and thrown weapons if the mount moved at least 20' before the attack (changing a foe on horseback gives your attacks more punch) (thanks Redthistle!)

• suffering a critical hit while mounted = DC 10 dex save or fall prone within 5' from the mount (unhorsing your opponent is a popular strategy)
• no 2-handed weapons melee weapons while mounted, 2 handed ranged weapons at disadvantage. One hand needs to be free to guide the horse (although a shield can be used in that hand)
• new Feat: Mounted Archer: Can use 2-handed ranged weapons while mounted with advantage (historically, skilled horse archers were terrifying)
• mounted opponents who fall from a mount suffer +1d4 damage if wearing medium armor, +1d8 in heavy armor (because falling from a horse in plate armor sucks)

2) Facing a mounted foe

• Polearms score a critical hit against a mounted opponent on a 19 or 20 (that's a large part of what polearms were meant for)
• Pikes in particular have advantage on damage rolls against mounted foes (at last, a reason to take a pike!)

Please feel free to modify, criticize, improve or mock this as you see fit.

(apologies if this has been covered in a previous thread- there's a lot to search through!)

Super simple! Perfect for my game. I've seen other variants but none that are as easy to implement. I will be rolling a slight of hand check at a -2 (due to being old and slow) in hopes to steal this for my campaign.

 

[Horwath]

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I feel applying the sidekick system to mounts is a really good way to make playing a mounted warrior actually viable.

Shame sidekicks aren't supported on dnd beyond.

 

[Shardstone]

These are very clever rules, I will be trying them out soon since I have players in a couple of games that have giant lizard mounts. I like that these rules encourage you to use certain strategies against mounted foes; dismounting them becomes a viable strategy!