Paladin's mount can't wear armor? What am I missing?

[porthos]

I have a PC in my game who just hit 5th level Paladin. She is looking forward (greatly) to her mount. So I'm re-reading all the Paladin mount stuff and from what I've read, it looks like a mount is NOT proficient in armor. I must be missing something, right?

From the Paladin's mount description:
"The standard mount for a Medium paladin is a heavy warhorse... A paladin’s mount is treated as a magical beast, not an animal, for the purpose of all effects that depend on its type (though it retains an animal’s HD, base attack bonus, saves, skill points, and feats)."

Okay, so we look at Magical Beast, which specifically says:
"Proficient with no armor."

But since it "retains an animal's... feats", perhaps the Warhorse, Heavy is proficient. Nope. It's only got Endurance and Run.

So, from what I can see, a Paladin's mount can't wear armor proficiently. Which just seems... odd. Assuming you follow the normal feat acquisition rules given to monsters, the mount wouldn't get a feat with which to take an Armor Proficiency until the Paladin hit 8th level.

I must be missing something, right?

 

[Bagpuss]

But since it "retains an animal's... feats", perhaps the Warhorse, Heavy is proficient. Nope. It's only got Endurance and Run.

Interestingly under Animal type it says,

"Proficient with no armor unless trained for war."

But never says what they get if they are trained for war.

So I checked Handle Animal skill in case it was mentioned there, nope. So I checked the FAQ and nothing useful there.

I vaguely recall that combat training gives them the armor prof feats, but I must have been dreaming. Which is odd when you consider the wording of the Animal type description.

Looks like they take the armour check penalty to attack rolls. I can see mithral barding being popular.

 

[frankthedm]

This was one of those things the designers glossed over.

If the DM is inclined to be generous, including it in "Training for combat riding" should be fine for animal intelligence mounts.

The MM2's Warbeast template does grant armor proficiencies. But it cannot be added to War-equines or riding dogs IIRC.

 

[James McMurray]

I'd read ""Proficient with no armor unless trained for war" as synonymous with "gains the appropriate armor feats if trained for war."

 

[Pyrex]

Not to mention that when the paladin mount gains extra HD it gains feats to go along with them. There's no reason those feats can be Armor Proficiency.

 

[Diomeneus]

The only place I have ever explicitly read that an animal is proficient with armor OR has a special quality that means its "trained for war" was with the Valenar Warhorse, but that has nothing to do with PHB. It even says right in the Handle Animal sectiont that a warhorse can fight alongside its rider with teh DC of 10. There are no other animals that have the desciptions your looking for... warhorses are proficient with armor. There are no other animals in the book that could be.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

The only place I have ever explicitly read that an animal is proficient with armor OR has a special quality that means its "trained for war" was with the Valenar Warhorse, but that has nothing to do with PHB. It even says right in the Handle Animal sectiont that a warhorse can fight alongside its rider with teh DC of 10. There are no other animals that have the desciptions your looking for... warhorses are proficient with armor. There are no other animals in the book that could be.

Actually, both the war pony and the riding dog have nearly identical language to warhorse in regards to being trained for war and fighting at the same time as the rider. I would say that any animal in the book that can be trained to carry a rider can be trained for war (for simplicity increasing its cost by the difference between a heavy horse and heavy warhorse) and then follow that same boilerplate text (and wear barding.)

 

[GAAAHHH]

Barding rules are on page 131 of the player's handbook. It doesn't say anywhere that animals need a feat to use barding, however it does say that barding slows the mount wearing it, and that the animal requires special attention to prevent chafing and sores.

 

[DungeonMaester]

This was one of those things the designers glossed over.

If the DM is inclined to be generous, including it in "Training for combat riding" should be fine for animal intelligence mounts.

The MM2's Warbeast template does grant armor proficiencies. But it cannot be added to War-equines or riding dogs IIRC.

Agreed.

Say Frank, is that avatar your current picture? Don't age any more.

---Rusty

 

[robberbaron]

Don't see why horses should need to be proficient in armour to wear it. It's not like they are expected to wave a shield around, just carry a more extensive, somewhat harder saddle blanket.

Granted, they would need to trained, using up a trick, to move normally while barded, but that should be assumed for a warhorse (or pony/dog).