D&D General Mounted Archers

[doctorbadwolf]

I left out the part where steeds, being int 6+ and who understand language, can attune magic items. You need an item that can be used by the steed, though. Pegasi and dire wolves/tigers are pretty limited in options. Hats and helms are generally a no. Also things that require command words are out.

Mantles and cloaks can be a saddle blanket and circlets, periapts & necklaces can work. Our DM agreed that griffin forelimbs are sufficiently "fingers" and "arms" they could wear bracers and rings (especially when said items were acquired from Large+ creatures and already fit, so no debate about what Attunement did for resizing). Tbh, bracers could probably work on many steeds as a horse's cannon can easily be more slender than many human forearms.

Those weird items that only get attuned until something better shows up? Yeah, steeds get those. Ring of the ram? Ok. Circlet of blasting? Yeah. Rings of water breathing and swimming on an in-land campaign? Done and done. And then, at some unexpected moment, those items show up and the steed gets a moment. A shadow gets zapped by a circlet. An enemy is punted over a cliff by the ring ram. A sahuagan steals an item and dives into the water, only to be hauled out by a griffin like an eagle catching a salmon. Its a bit of happiness, right there. Nice for the allies to have their own glory.

Lastly, at tier4, true polymorph can turn them into humanoids, which has entertaining RP opportunities. Although the combat value of a pegasus TPd into a different colored pegasus is pretty great. The baddies beat down the paladin's steed who then magically changes color and almost all their injuries are healed. "Oh no, you've awakened its final form!" (Doesn't work as well for most of the other forms as they get turned into beast-intellects)

Oh i like all of that.

Kinda makes me want to redo my high level forest gnome BM ranger (he rode his beast of the land and used a rifle) as an Ancients Paladin with a couple levels of Warlock (my group ignores the melee weapon requirement of the pact of the blade, since it isnt really better than just focusing on eldritch blast anyway) so i can use Cha to shoot and bc Archfey vibes well with Ancients.

But....the new version of find steed doesn't share spells...only healing. (It also has more hp and decent AC, and a magic bonus action that is pretty good, and auto upgrades to greater steed when cast at 4th level)

 

[kigmatzomat]

....The new version of find steed doesn't share spells...only healing. (It also has more hp and decent AC, and a magic bonus action that is pretty good, and auto upgrades to greater steed when cast at 4th level)

As a boosted basic steed for level 5-12, its a solid change. At 9th get a boost to hp & AC with a 3rd level slot.

The plus side of Xanathar's Greater Steed at 4 is they understand language, keep share spells, and can have additional specials like faster speed, darkvision, more hp, languages, flanking/pounce/dive/flyby/trample, etc.

The 2024 Steed upcast with a 5th slot is better AC without gear, similar hp, fewer/weaker attacks but they gain the paladin's spell attack, which is more likely to hit.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

As a boosted basic steed for level 5-12, its a solid change. At 9th get a boost to hp & AC with a 3rd level slot.

The plus side of Xanathar's Greater Steed at 4 is they understand language, keep share spells, and can have additional specials like faster speed, darkvision, more hp, languages, flanking/pounce/dive/flyby/trample, etc.

The 2024 Steed upcast with a 5th slot is better AC without gear, similar hp, fewer/weaker attacks but they gain the paladin's spell attack, which is more likely to hit.

Do they lose gear? Int is still 6 in the new spell, and they are still permanent (instantaneous duration).

But yeah otherwise that seems like a spot on analysis. The tactics vary a bit, and as with a lot of little things, the rules revision made things cleaner (and in some ways stronger) but also less malleable with creative thinking.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Yes, I was always sort of upset that there was never a campaign appropriate in 3E to taking all those mounted combat feats. A knight with a lance always seemed like they'd be a fearsome foe.

My brother ran a mounted combat focused game of PF1e for a few sessions - I went all in with a lance-focused cavalier.

He was amazingly powerful - I managed to one-hit-kill an elephant. I was awesome.

But the scenarios were built around the idea that we'd all be mounted - swampy terrain or steep hills were the walls of the map, and all the enemies we fought were either also mounted or specically built to deal with mounted opponents (to a point - getting crit with a lance in PF1e was devastating no matter who you were)

I'd like to see a campaign or just a large sandbox wilderness adventure that is mostly set in an above ground local. No dungeons or caves to speak of, just a few castles, then buildings and tents dealing with roaming monsters, bandits, evil priests, and territorial and civil disputes between armed neighbors.

It's doable, and doesn't take a lot of work rules-wise. You just need a dm who wants to run it and player buy-in.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

A quick little build i did of a horse archer paladin on my 15 minute break at work. i think it would be fun to play

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The basic strategy would be to have aid and divine favor up, and use ensaring strike to keep enemies away.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You know, i think another good "horse" archer build would probably be a small size BM ranger mc kensei monk with shortbow or longbow. Pick a melee kensei weapon based on getting away from melee range, probably? Something with push?

Ranger gets you fighting style and mastery, a pretty fast mount (could be faster, get it a magic item to boost speed), and hunter's mark, hail or thorns, and ensnaring strike. Kensei gets you agile parry (+2 AC when you kick someone while weilding your bow), and Kensei Shot (BA add 1d4 to ranged attacks for the turn).

Sadly you cannot share your step of the wind speed until monk level 10.

Tbh it would need some magic items or houserules to really work smoothly, but nothing huge. Even RAW i bet it would be fun.

Kinda makes me want to make a monk subclass that lets you share your speed boosts with a mount, and some other horse archer stuff.

- Share speed

- Deflect Attacks with a bow, defending yourself or an ally within 10ft of you

- Some sort of alternate flurry of blows thing that lets you hit and run while mounted

I would try to ensure that most of the features are useful even when not mounted, like "when an ally within 5ft of you hits a creature with a melee attack, you gain a bonus to damage" type stuff

 

[Marandahir]

Ranger in some contenxts means a Mounted Archer.

Given that only Small Sized Beastmaster Rangers (and Ranger 7th-14th level Smalli-sized Drakewardens, and all Drakewardens of at least 15th-level) can ride their Animal Companions as a Mount, I think there's major space for a Bow Knight/Cavalier Ranger subclass.