Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Mounted Archery Balanced?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Clint" data-source="post: 25374" data-attributes="member: 2283"><p>Hi.</p><p></p><p>I run a game, and one of my players is using a tactic that's perfectly legal, yet I'm finding it to be unbalancing.</p><p></p><p>"Rider" is a bow-specializing fighter (a Monte Cook ranger, actually), and he likes to fight from the back of his Heavy Warhorse. When an enemy approaches to melee him, his most common combat tactic is to fire from the back of his mount, while having the mount fight the foe in melee.</p><p></p><p>Let me run through a typical round:</p><p></p><p>1) Rider makes a Ride check for guiding Warhorse with his knees (two hands required for bow), at DC 5.</p><p>2) Rider makes a Ride check for fighting with mount, at DC 10.</p><p>3) Warhorse executes Full Attack action, getting "2 hooves +6" (1d6+4 dam each) and +1 bite (1d4+2 dam).</p><p>4) Rider executes Full Attack action with composite longbow, firing multiple shots, frequently at the one the horse is fighting. (This character has Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot as well)</p><p></p><p>At 6th level, his Ride is at high enough (+10: 4 ranks, +4 Dex, +2 synergy from Handle Animal) where he isn't going to fail frequently.</p><p></p><p>This is an incredible tactical advantage. If the enemy attempts to circle the horse to get at him, the horse gets an AoO, and his primary attack is "2 hooves +6", therefore you use them both (always the primary attack). Plus, Rider can just change his facing next round, putting the horse between him and the enemy again as a 5' step, right?</p><p></p><p>For a mid/low level campaign, this is unbalancing. Unless he gets swarmed, he's a tank.</p><p></p><p>This works just about as well <em>for characters less than 6th level, too.</em> </p><p></p><p>Best part: Rider doesn't even need the Mounted Archery feat, which is only for firing on the move.</p><p></p><p>Am I getting any part of this wrong? Any ideas on how to balance, if not?</p><p></p><p>Thanks.</p><p></p><p>[edit: added italic text above because I forgot to <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Clint, post: 25374, member: 2283"] Hi. I run a game, and one of my players is using a tactic that's perfectly legal, yet I'm finding it to be unbalancing. "Rider" is a bow-specializing fighter (a Monte Cook ranger, actually), and he likes to fight from the back of his Heavy Warhorse. When an enemy approaches to melee him, his most common combat tactic is to fire from the back of his mount, while having the mount fight the foe in melee. Let me run through a typical round: 1) Rider makes a Ride check for guiding Warhorse with his knees (two hands required for bow), at DC 5. 2) Rider makes a Ride check for fighting with mount, at DC 10. 3) Warhorse executes Full Attack action, getting "2 hooves +6" (1d6+4 dam each) and +1 bite (1d4+2 dam). 4) Rider executes Full Attack action with composite longbow, firing multiple shots, frequently at the one the horse is fighting. (This character has Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot as well) At 6th level, his Ride is at high enough (+10: 4 ranks, +4 Dex, +2 synergy from Handle Animal) where he isn't going to fail frequently. This is an incredible tactical advantage. If the enemy attempts to circle the horse to get at him, the horse gets an AoO, and his primary attack is "2 hooves +6", therefore you use them both (always the primary attack). Plus, Rider can just change his facing next round, putting the horse between him and the enemy again as a 5' step, right? For a mid/low level campaign, this is unbalancing. Unless he gets swarmed, he's a tank. This works just about as well [I]for characters less than 6th level, too.[/I] Best part: Rider doesn't even need the Mounted Archery feat, which is only for firing on the move. Am I getting any part of this wrong? Any ideas on how to balance, if not? Thanks. [edit: added italic text above because I forgot to :) ] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Mounted Archery Balanced?
Top