D&D 3E/3.5 Litany of 3.5 rules questions

[Erithtotl]

Here's a list of things that came up in my last session and I'm wondering what the official call is on them:

1) A player gets knocked unconcious while on a horse (that wasn't moving that turn). How do you determine if he falls off? Also, if the horse is an animal companion, would that make a difference?

2) When a player is healed up from unconciousness, where does he go in the intitative order.

3) Can a player 'tumble' when prone? If I've got a monk whose on the ground, it seems like there should be some way they can attempt to 'tumble' out of danger without having to 'get up' and invoke an attack of opportunity.

4) Would a paralyzed or sleeping character take more damage from falling then an alert character?

Sorry if these have all been answered before. Is there a centralized FAQ for rules somewhere that answers questions like these?

Edit: Here are a couple more:

5) If you're fighting from a warhorse, who is attacking, can you fire a bow at the same time? Would this invoke an attack of opportunity on you from the person fighting the horse? Would that attack go against the horse or you?

6) Could a horse fight with more than one rider on its back?

7) If someone is a passenger on a horse, and the horse moves on the rider's initiative, can the passenger the perform his own turn afterwards, or is it somehow 'integrated' with that of the horse/rider?

 

[Ferret]

1) I'm unsure, I know you don't have to do much to stay in the saddle, a la dead body on horse. I don't know if that is from staping in or seting up the saddle.

2) Last? No, maybe after the healer. I'm unsure...

3) Sure why not.

4) No but they couldn't choose to use jump to balance and steady whilst faling.

 

[DanMcS]

1) A player gets knocked unconcious while on a horse (that wasn't moving that turn). How do you determine if he falls off? Also, if the horse is an animal companion, would that make a difference?

Animal companion shouldn't make a difference. I'd use the ride DC to stay mounted (DC 5) and consider an unconscious rider to be taking 0. Someone who was used to riding (ie had a good bonus), or had one of the military saddles that gives a +2 bonus to ride checks, will probably stay mounted. Otherwise, they'll slide off.

2) When a player is healed up from unconciousness, where does he go in the intitative order.

They should keep their initiative score from before they fell unconscious. An unconscious character still has things happen to them every round on their initiative, for instance, that's when they make stabilize checks and lose a hp if they fail.

3) Can a player 'tumble' when prone? If I've got a monk whose on the ground, it seems like there should be some way they can attempt to 'tumble' out of danger without having to 'get up' and invoke an attack of opportunity.

In the Epic Level Handbook, it lists the DC of a tumble check to stand up as a free action as DC 35. This was in 3.0, in which standing didn't provoke an AoO, but I would assume in 3.5 you wouldn't take one.

DC 35 sounds high to me, since quite a few gymnasts and martial arts students can do this, so I'd probably make it DC 25 or so.

4) Would a paralyzed or sleeping character take more damage from falling then an alert character?

No. Being alert doesn't help you when you hit the ground. As a matter of fact, a limp person could take less damage, since their muscles aren't tensed and trying to counteract the impact; in any case, the differences between a conscious person and an unconscious person hitting the ground at 125 mph are not worth calculating; they take the same damage.

 

[DanMcS]

Animal companion shouldn't make a difference.

I'll now proceed to disagree with myself. I'd allow a relatively smart animal (Int 3 or better) to make an aid another check to help the rider stay on.

 

[sledged]

4) Would a paralyzed or sleeping character take more damage from falling then an alert character?

No. Being alert doesn't help you when you hit the ground. As a matter of fact, a limp person could take less damage, since their muscles aren't tensed and trying to counteract the impact; in any case, the differences between a conscious person and an unconscious person hitting the ground at 125 mph are not worth calculating; they take the same damage.

Perhaps there should be a rule stating helpless characters take falling damage as if the fall were 10' less.

 

[Neumannium]

1) A player gets knocked unconcious while on a horse (that wasn't moving that turn). How do you determine if he falls off? Also, if the horse is an animal companion, would that make a difference?

From the SRD: If you are knocked unconscious , you have a 50% chance to stay in the saddle (or 75% if you’re in a military saddle ). Otherwise you fall and take 1d6 points of damage.

2) When a player is healed up from unconciousness, where does he go in the intitative order.

I've always kept him in the same spot.

3) Can a player 'tumble' when prone? If I've got a monk whose on the ground, it seems like there should be some way they can attempt to 'tumble' out of danger without having to 'get up' and invoke an attack of opportunity.

I would allow this, with a penalty on the DC. Or, the DC of 25 doesn't sound too far off.

4) Would a paralyzed or sleeping character take more damage from falling then an alert character?

No. The mental/physical state of the character doesn't affect falling damage -- and I can't really see any reason it should.

5) If you're fighting from a warhorse, who is attacking, can you fire a bow at the same time? Would this invoke an attack of opportunity on you from the person fighting the horse? Would that attack go against the horse or you?

You can attack, but need to make a Ride check to do so. I usually do not allow an attack of opportunity on a mounted archer, unless the attacker is also mounted.

6) Could a horse fight with more than one rider on its back?

I wouldn't allow this unless the other rider were small and light (halfling, for example). 2 medium creatures on a horse would prevent the horse from being able to raise up and use its hooves in my opinion.

7) If someone is a passenger on a horse, and the horse moves on the rider's initiative, can the passenger the perform his own turn afterwards, or is it somehow 'integrated' with that of the horse/rider?

Every PC/NPC should get their own initiative IMO. A passenger has no control over the horse, so shouldn't get to attack or be aware of exactly what the horse is going to do. Therefore, he/she should have their own initiative roll.

 

[DanMcS]

Perhaps there should be a rule stating helpless characters take falling damage as if the fall were 10' less.

Nope. There are too many variables to start making special case rules for them. People have fallen off ladders, landed on their heads, and died. People have fallen from thousands of feet up, bounced, and walked away. D&D doesn't simulate reality to this degree, and any attempt to make it do so is just going to make you tear your hair out.

 

[smetzger]

Nope. There are too many variables to start making special case rules for them. People have fallen off ladders, landed on their heads, and died. People have fallen from thousands of feet up, bounced, and walked away. D&D doesn't simulate reality to this degree, and any attempt to make it do so is just going to make you tear your hair out.

Warning House Rule...
For falling damage I use d20 for every 10 ft, then I roll 1d6 and divide the sum of the d20s by the d6. The average is about the same as 1d6 per 10ft, but there is a chance of taking no damage and a chance of taking alot of damage.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Edit: Here are a couple more:

5) If you're fighting from a warhorse, who is attacking, can you fire a bow at the same time? Would this invoke an attack of opportunity on you from the person fighting the horse? Would that attack go against the horse or you?

6) Could a horse fight with more than one rider on its back?

7) If someone is a passenger on a horse, and the horse moves on the rider's initiative, can the passenger the perform his own turn afterwards, or is it somehow 'integrated' with that of the horse/rider?

5) No stipulation on which type of attack - fire away, multiple times even. You do take AoO from foes who threaten you and your space is considered to be equal to the mount's. The mount does not take AoO from you using ranged weapons while threatened.

Fight with Warhorse: If you direct your war-trained mount to attack in battle, you can still make your own attack or attacks normally. This usage is a free action.

6) The ride skill determines if the rider can attack when the mount attacks. For a second rider I'd require his own Ride check not including bonuses he doesn't have (both can't be using a military saddle for example). Possibly up the DC with circumstance modifiers for the second or both riders. If the horse is over his weight limits he would have some penalties to attack, but not normally.

7) I'd let him take his turn whenever but subject to whatever movement the mount last did regarding attacks and magic use. It would also require a similar set of Ride checks (Ride DC5 for no hands to stay on with no hands, DC 10 to attack if the mount attacked), etc. He'd be allowed the same set of actions the main rider would have been allowed (subject to his own Ride skill).

 

[Erithtotl]

7) I'd let him take his turn whenever but subject to whatever movement the mount last did regarding attacks and magic use. It would also require a similar set of Ride checks (Ride DC5 for no hands to stay on with no hands, DC 10 to attack if the mount attacked), etc. He'd be allowed the same set of actions the main rider would have been allowed (subject to his own Ride skill).

My main concern here would be (and this is something that happend), is the horse makes a double move, then the passenger, who has a later initiative, gets off the horse and takes another double move, thus essentially being able to make two moves in one round, which is clearly not correct.