D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Warhorses and Barding

[Seule]

Greetings all you rules-knowing people.
I'm wondering if warhorses in 3.5 are trained in wearing armor. I vaguely recall that they were in 3.0 although I'm not sure where it might have stated it, but I can't find it for 3.5. This applies both to standard warhorses and Paladin's mounts. Can anyone point to where it says yea or nay? Thanks.
If not, barding just became obsolete really quickly.

--Seule

 

[Tazawa]

Seule,

Mounts trained for combat are proficient in barding. This question was answered in the 3.0 Main FAQ, which is still valid for 3.5 (unless contradicted in 3.5 somewhere).

When you purchase barding for a mount, is it proficient in the armor, or does the mount take the armor check penalty?

Anyone wearing armor takes the appropriate armor check penalty. Trained war mounts are proficient in light, medium, and heavy armor, while untrained mounts are not proficient in any kind of armor, and they take additional penalties for untrained armor use as noted on page 80 of the Player’s Handbook.

As a GM I would consider an animal that has been trained for the general purpose 'combat riding' (see excerpt of handle animal skill below), to be a trained war mount.

Combat Riding (DC 20): An animal trained to bear a rider into combat knows the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel. Training an animal for combat riding takes six weeks. You may also “upgrade” an animal trained for riding to one trained for combat riding by spending three weeks and making a successful DC 20 Handle Animal check. The new general purpose and tricks completely replace the animal’s previous purpose and any tricks it once knew. Warhorses and riding dogs are already trained to bear riders into combat, and they don’t require any additional training for this purpose.

Hope that helps,

Tazawa

 

[Seule]

The 3.0 FAQ isn't really applicable to 3.5 any more IMO, and if they had intended to keep wartrained mounts proficient in armor, they would have given the warhorses the feats, or specified somewhere. I'm starting to lean towards this being something that needs erratta somewhere. Maybe in the MM erratta when it comes out.
Currently, by a strict reading of the rules, they are not proficient. Using common sense, they almost certainly intended that they would be proficient. I'll just have to point out the rules question each time I sit down with a new DM with my mounted character, and see what they rule.
Note: I'm wondering for Living Greyhawk, where 3.0 is about to go obsolete.

--Seule

 

[Darklone]

By official statements, the 3.0 Errata&FAQ still applies (as mentioned above) if not directly contradicted by the new rules.

No animal has these feats, so you don't need them.

 

[Tazawa]

Seule,

I think that the 3.0 FAQ and the 3.5 SRD should be sufficient at most if not all LG tables.

If you want further clarification, you'll have to take matters into your own hands.

1. Submit the question as errata for warhorses (and riding dogs).

2. Ask the Sage and WoTC customer service.

I doubt the Sage will respond with much beyond a yes or no (he's answered the question before), but customer service should send a reply. You can always take a printout of customer service's response to a LG table. Its not official, but only the most hard-ass GM is going to be a stickler.

Whatever happens, post the results here.

Good Luck,

Tazawa