D&D 5E How Do You Handle Mounted Combat in Tight Spaces?

[TiQuinn]

If a player picks a character option that’s not suitable for all adventures or adventure sites, I make sure to let them know when they take that option. They should know that their choices may not be optimal in all possible adventuring sites.
Then, I make sure there are opportunities to involve their choices in other situations. For example, I ran a classic modules campaign in 3e. We were playing through the Scourge of the Slavelords adventures where there isn’t a lot of room for mounted combat in the various slaver fortresses. One player, who loves riding, made a fighter with mounted combat feats. So, I found ways to incorporate her preferences by holding a tournament in Ulek, a place the PCs managed to lead a bunch of slave refugees they had rescued. I also gave her a stone horse to use for some of the later Against the Giant modules where there was room to ride. She couldn’t use her mounted specialty everywhere without contriving some really silly stuff, but we made sure the option was open where it made sense.

One notable way of handling these things, if you want to make mounted combat more dungeon-friendly, is to encourage them to pick appropriate characters and mounts - small riders, medium mounts like halflings on dogs, goblins on wolves. Or for a lot of underdark campaigns, Drow or deep gnomes on lizards.

Yep, I tend to discourage players from this option as I find the majority of adventures tend to be dungeon or urban for us. I’ve never found it to be a particularly strong part of any D&D edition.

 

[Kobold Stew]

If I make a character that rides horses, then I fully understand that I may not be able to do so when in a basement somewhere. Players can make choices to mitigate that (be small and ride a Mastiff) but in my view it's unreasonable to expect that a build deliberately designed around a large creature will always be able to be used.

In the same way, if I make a character that dumps Charisma, I understand that I shouldn't be the one negotiating with a local monarch.

 

[MarkB]

You need to consider corridor height as well as width. Even if a horse can squeeze through the corridor, can the rider do so without having to flatten himself down on its back? If not, he's squeezing as well.

 

[GMMichael]

Orcs medium size horse is large.

Truth, but I was playing devil's advocate. I don't think the OP was looking for "what do the rules say?"

 

[Zardnaar]

Yep, I tend to discourage players from this option as I find the majority of adventures tend to be dungeon or urban for us. I’ve never found it to be a particularly strong part of any D&D edition.

It's effective when that situation comes up or cheesed.

Eg open field, charge on a frozen over ice lake etc. Very poor in underdark unless you have a lizard or whatever.

2E you could theoretically backstab while charging. X2 charging X5 backstab at higher levels.

 

[ECMO3]

If a player picks a character option that’s not suitable for all adventures or adventure sites, I make sure to let them know when they take that option. They should know that their choices may not be optimal in all possible adventuring sites.
Then, I make sure there are opportunities to involve their choices in other situations. For example, I ran a classic modules campaign in 3e. We were playing through the Scourge of the Slavelords adventures where there isn’t a lot of room for mounted combat in the various slaver fortresses. One player, who loves riding, made a fighter with mounted combat feats. So, I found ways to incorporate her preferences by holding a tournament in Ulek, a place the PCs managed to lead a bunch of slave refugees they had rescued. I also gave her a stone horse to use for some of the later Against the Giant modules where there was room to ride. She couldn’t use her mounted specialty everywhere without contriving some really silly stuff, but we made sure the option was open where it made sense.

One notable way of handling these things, if you want to make mounted combat more dungeon-friendly, is to encourage them to pick appropriate characters and mounts - small riders, medium mounts like halflings on dogs, goblins on wolves. Or for a lot of underdark campaigns, Drow or deep gnomes on lizards.

When I DM, if I see a player who is medium size building this kind of character I try to let her know the limits, the best solution is to encourage small PCs and medium mounts as you note.

 

[Zardnaar]

When I DM, if I see a player who is medium size building this kind of character I try to let her know the limits, the best solution is to encourage small PCs and medium mounts as you note.

2024 has codified it. Large creature medium space is difficult terrain.

2014 not sure off the top of my head but I think it was the same iirc.

 

[the Jester]

Not everyone always gets to shine, and sometimes, there is something that makes someone's best toys not so great at the moment. This happens to everyone and it's okay.

If the party wants to make sure that the guy on a mount can usually use his mount, they should try to select their adventures judiciously.

 

[AnimeSniper]

I always try to remember as a DM or a Player that Campaign Environment Location Terrain will always be dominate during session. For example, your dungeon crawl you could have had some section of the dungeon be large enough to allow for limited mounted combat! One session years ago one player had wyvern or dragon mount so definitely would not fit within a 5ft corridor with say 8ft high ceilings.