D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 - Attacking mounted NPCs

[plunoir101]

So I have a session coming up and my players will be fighting against some Lizard-Riding Drow. As this is my first "Mounted Combat" encounter, I have a couple questions.
Do the PC's suffer consequences for attacking a mounted character?
Do the PC's have to target the mount before attacking the drow?
And besides the +1 bonus the drow get on melee, is there any other modifiers or rules I should be aware of for this encounter.

Thanx in advance!
Oh, and in case its relevent, its Expedition to the Demonweb Pits.

 

[Empirate]

To answer your questions in order:
No.
No.
Yes: mounted warriors may use the mount's speed instead of their own, and may make ranged attacks even when the mount is taking a double move (albeit at a penalty). Mount and rider can attack in melee at the same time, although it does take a DC 20 Ride check for the rider to make any attacks if his mount already does so (unless the mount is war-trained). Furthermore, it wouldn't really be that useful to fight mounted if the Drow didn't have some mounted combat feats. The Mounted Combat feat itself isn't much use except to keep the mount alive, but Spirited Charge and Ride-By Attack are very good if you get to use them. Spirited Charge with a lance spells trouble for the target.

 

[Greenfield]

The biggest advantage of the mounted archers is that they control the battlefield. They decide if they're going to let you close for melee, they decide when the battle ends, and how.

We used this in our own game last weekend. In the desert, attacked by nomadic monsters. We were mounted.

They charged, we withdrew, then cut them to pieces. The horse's base move is so much more than the foot speed of most opponents it actually seems unfair. We pulled back 100 feet on a double move from the horses. That was more than a double move of theirs could close, yet still within the first range increment on our composite bows.

1) We shoot them.
2) They double move 60 or 80 feet to set up a charge.
3) We pull back 50 or 60 feet (single move for the horse) to be outside of charge range, then go back to step 1.

Rinse/repeat as needed.

The uglier tactic, in a world where people know about magic, is to single move your horse in close, fire at the enemy, then single move your horse back out again. Ideally, the "out" in that sentence is "out of sight".

Mount an attack, with troops staging for a major combat, and watch while the enemy casters throw up their battle-magic protections. Once they're ready, you withdraw and wait 10 minutes, then do it again. Rinse/repeat until the enemy has no more battle magic preps to cast, then follow through with that attack. (I did say that it was an uglier tactic, didn't I?)

Both of these approaches play out far poorer in an underground setting, as there may not be a way to be beyond charge range and still have a shot, nor is it so easy to withdraw beyond hope of pursuit.

Bringing in thoughts from the archery thread, it makes me harken back to older editions, where ranges indoor and underground were cut in thirds. Arrows, to travel the longer distances, need a certain amount of ceiling clearance. The "arch" in "archery" comes into play.

Not a consideration in 3.* though, but line of sight still is.

 

[plunoir101]

Thanks you guys.

 

[Dross]

Something else to consider is that except at low level (<=5 maybe before that), the mounts themselves are the weak link. You have to use a fair amount of resources to make it hard to kill or they need to be special.

Also, if the lizards can climb walls and the drow are appropriately strapped in, drow with reach weapons attacking from the roof can be fun.