War-horses and full round actions?

[Arravis]

One of my players thinks I might be incorrect on this issue, so I wanted to verify with you guys...
As I understand, a character on a war-horse is able to command his mount to move, double move, or even run, and the character additionally gets all his actions, including full-round actions. I understand that controlling a non-warhorse is Ride check which uses a movement action, but it seems that for a war-horse, it's essentially a non-action. Is this correct? Thanks guys!

 

[RangerWickett]

Essentially, yes.

In a way, this works to make cavalry as useful as it was in real life. Meaning it was massively useful, letting you have a ton of mobility, and a sturdy companion who could get you into and out of danger in a pinch.

However, I'm pretty sure historical war mounts did not have a hoof-hoof-bite routine. That's just silly.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

There's something in the Player's Handbook under Mounted Combat that says a mounted character can only make one attack (or use a standard action?) while his mount is moving.

 

[Arravis]

There's something in the Player's Handbook under Mounted Combat that says a mounted character can only make one attack (or use a standard action?) while his mount is moving.

As I noted in my original post, that's for non-war-trained mounts only.

From the SRD: "Heavy warhorses, light warhorses and warponies can serve readily as combat steeds. Light horses, ponies, and heavy horses, however, are frightened by combat. If you don’t dismount, you must make a DC 20 Ride check each round as a move action to control such a horse. If you succeed, you can perform a standard action after the move action. If you fail, the move action becomes a full round action and you can’t do anything else until your next turn."

 

[ValhallaGH]

However, I'm pretty sure historical war mounts did not have a hoof-hoof-bite routine. That's just silly.

You need more reasearch, my friend. Horse bites are vicious things, and trained war mounts were often instructed to use their teeth to rip open the throats of enemy soldiers and horses. Horses don't normally bite things in fights, not being carnivorous, so it takes a good bit of training to get them to do so, but warhorses are assumed to have such training.

Having a warhorse fight in battle is a free action, allowing both the horse and the rider to get full attacks off.
Having it move in battle is more debatable. This isn't covered in the FAQ (that I could find), so it really comes down to DM interpretation. Me, I find getting a double move and a full melee attack to be overpowering, but I have absolutely no problem with a running horse and a full ranged attack; likely because the ranged attacks can be made while the horse is running while the melee attacks require the character to be next to the target.

So yeah, you should be able to use full-round actions while your war mount gets a full round of movement, but the available full-round actions should be limited.

 

[Vanye]

Here are the relevant rules I found in the Hypertext SRD
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#mountedCombat

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. Even at your mount’s full speed, you don’t take any penalty on melee attacks while mounted.

So only one melee attack if your horse moves more than 5th, because you basically have to time your attacks to when your'e by your opponent.

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. Likewise, you can take move actions normally

However, you can make missile attacks as you approach your opponent, since you can just shorten the range as you approach.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Here are the relevant rules I found in the Hypertext SRD
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#mountedCombat



So only one melee attack if your horse moves more than 5th, because you basically have to time your attacks to when your'e by your opponent.



However, you can make missile attacks as you approach your opponent, since you can just shorten the range as you approach.

*sigh* This is what happens when I only check two places in the rules instead of in the requisite three or more.

 

[Delta]

However, I'm pretty sure historical war mounts did not have a hoof-hoof-bite routine. That's just silly.

I completely agree with that. Stomp on someone? Sure. Bite someone? Sure?

But all at the same time, while the rider is also attacking with a sword, in 6 seconds? Totally impossible.

Even Gygax in his more recent FRPGs allows a horse only one attack per round.

 

[pawned79]

Arravis,

The following three excerpts are from Ride in the Skills chapter...

Fight with warhorse (Ride DC 10)

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.

Control Mount in Battle (Ride DC 20)

As a move action, you can attempt to control a light horse, pony, heavy horse, or other mount not trained for combat riding while in battle. If you fail the Ride check, you can do nothing else in that round. You do not need to roll for warhorses or warponies.

Action

Varies, Mounting or dismounting normally is a move action. Other checks are a move action, a free action, or no action at all, as noted above.

Question: When it says, "You do not need to roll for warhorses or warponies," does it mean that it is a "no action" or it is a "move action" with no roll?

pawned

 

[Sejs]

You need more reasearch, my friend. Horse bites are vicious things...

A møøse warhørse once bit my sister.