Can a Paladin's mount start a grapple and about trample?

[Stalker0]

1) Can a paladin's mount initiate a grapple?

2) The paladin has trample as a feat. Does he actually have to ride the horse to get it to trample, or can he just tell it to, as it is fairly smart and can follow commands.

 

[Shin Okada]

1. By the rules, nothing prevent a horse from starting grapple. But unless it has improved grapple feat, it provokes AoA.

2. The feat says "When you attempt to overrun an opponent wheile mounted," So the paladin have to ride on a horse (or other mount).

 

[Joker]

2. The feat says "When you attempt to overrun an opponent wheile mounted," So the paladin have to ride on a horse (or other mount).

Which could be another party member, in a pinch.

 

[Steve Jung]

Funny you should ask. Here's Rich Burlew's take on the subject.

 

[domino]

Ooh, nice avatar, Steve.

 

[Hypersmurf]

1) Can a paladin's mount initiate a grapple?

In most cases, when a paladin summons his mount at 5th level, it has a better grapple check than he does

-Hyp.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Yes, the horse can grapple just fine if it is willing to suck up the AoO.

Keep in mind that most similar size and Str creatures have Improved Grab, Rake, Constrict, or Rend, so the horse implicitly has an big grapple penalty: It gets no bonus.

 

[domino]

But the point is to not have the mount grapple equal opponents. Tell it to go after the halfling, or the caster, or someone with abysmal grapple checks.

 

[Shin Okada]

A special mount gets new feats when their HD advances to appropriate number (6,9 ...). So, you can let it take Improved Unarmed Strike and then Improved Grapple.

 

[Stalker0]

This came up when my paladin was dueling a monk....with improved grapple the monk had me cold everytime, so I wanted to see if my horse could come in and even the odds a bit.