4th Edition Mounted Combat ... did I miss anything?

[Carnivorous_Bean]

My games are typically centered around outdoor adventures and the like, and because of that, my PCs usually equip themselves with steeds at the earliest convenience. I say "steeds" because there are no horses in my campaign setting, but that's beside the point.

What I'm wondering is, have I missed anything about mounted combat that might have been previewed or even mentioned? Or is it just assumed that all these maneuvers/powers/etc. apply to any situation, foot, mounted, or a mix of the two? For example, can a rider attempt to trample infantry with his mount , or perform any special maneuvers?

I don't think anything has been said about this at all, but since it's a topic of interest to me, I thought I'd ask in case I missed it.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I haven't seen anything.

I am personally hoping to see some powers being accessed by each mount. So, say you got a horse you can use this trample power, you got a horse and a spear/lance you can use this skewer power, etc.

With some of the other powers being designated to be allowed on horseback, ie: magic and archery (come on mounted archers!)

I too would like to know, since I plan on having various mounted chase sequences, train robberies, combat, etc. on horseback. So it will be important to have good rules for me as well.

 

[AllisterH]

I'm wondering about Mounts myself.

Only thing I've seen was a earlier blurb that Cavalier was a paragon path...

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I think there's a good chance that there won't be much love for mounted combat in the first PHB. Perhaps they'll throw it in the Martial Book? It's certainly something that not every D&D group uses in any meaningful way.

Personally, I agree with you. After over 20 years of running D&D, I've only just started using Dungeons AT ALL recently (just to see if I could do 'em justice - I never understood why anyone would build the things.) So most of my games have been out in the open.

But I think MOST D&D games are run dungeon-to-dungeon (with some above-ground stuff inbetween.)

They are trying to make the first books the most mainstream possible, with more specific stuff to come.

That's my guess, anyway. They'll probably be some overly simplified rules about it, but I doubt many powers in the first PHB.

Fitz

 

[Stalker0]

Nada, zip, zilch. Frankly, one of my biggest worry about the new skill list is that I don't see any mention of a ride skill, or any other skill it could have been folded into.

 

[Voss]

There should be something, at least for general riding rules. I doubt they'll be much in the way of powers. And thinking about it, riding may just end up being really simple and a check of dex + 1/2 level.

If absurd damage multipliers happen to fall out of the game, however, I will not be sad.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Nada, zip, zilch. Frankly, one of my biggest worry about the new skill list is that I don't see any mention of a ride skill, or any other skill it could have been folded into.

I would say it could be folded into Endurance. Riding for a while/maintaining good control over your mount would take a lot out of you.

 

[Kaisoku]

The problem with Mounts is twofold:

1. It follows the same problems as the Summoning/Animal Friend problem. If you have a second creature you control it can take up more time at the table and thus hurt peoples feelings, or something like that..
Something about a menagerie of animals becoming a headache or something like that? I've never personally had the problem they talk about so I'm probably not the best to speak on this particular issue, but it follows that adding a horse could add to the "Economy of Actions".

2. So you spend some cash and now you have a whole slew of bonuses. It's stepping outside the itemization they've built for themselves in 4e. By a mount, and voila! Faster movement, possible extra actions, at the very least extra combat maneuvers (more options, more flexibility).
If you put this in a magic item, it'd be priced very high, and not available at lower levels... except that it's just a horse, so it also makes no sense at all to price them astronomically higher than normal purchases, and to limit the level would make me a sad Panda.


The 4e system has painted itself into a corner of mechanics that makes Horses and Mounted combat a little bit awkward to implement. I'm not surprised at all that it won't be in the first PHB.. but I'm a little surprised that it might have been forgotten when balancing the rest of the mechanics in the game.

 

[mmaranda]

Comments from DDXP

Rob Heinsoo judged my Scale Gloom table and when asked if there will be a way to reproduce the brokeness of the Spirited Chargins/Smiting/2 handed Power Attacking/Deadly Charging Paladin/Chevalier

He answered along the lines of. Not gonna be there from the start. The Core rules for combat deal mostly with dungeon environments and horses don't fit there very well. We'll have knights and riders but we focussed the books on the dungeon delving adventurers.

I took that to mean there will be rules for mounts but they won't be part of class features and they won't be part of combats like they used to be. (Not that I saw them that often but when a knight on a horse or gnome on a badger appeared it could be a 1 hit kill)

 

[Larrin]

mounted combat has never been given much bookspace, accordingly it will probably get zero preview space, but there has been hints of 'flying mounts' as a way of getting around, or some such, so there is at least some reason to get your hopes up a little about 4e mounted support.

And if your hopes get dashed, thats funny too.