Players vs. Goblin Druid

[RolandOfGilead]

My players fought a goblin druid last night, and found out just how tough one could be. He had a wolf as his animal companion, and his adjusted ride skill was 17! with mounted combat they couldnt touch him. with the wolf's speed of 50, being able to double move every round, and the druid casting from his back, it was quite difficult to just get a bead on him... when they did, they often chose the wolf as the target for the attack, and usually only had 1 such chance a round, meaning the wolf's AC was usually in the high 20's, if not 30's. When they did get 1 swing on the goblin, instead of using riding combat to defend his wolf, he used his wolf as cover (per the ride skill).. they became verrrry frustrated! hehe. the wolf had a jump bonus of +12 (it had the run feat as well as a 50 move)... and the druid had neat spells like longstrider, spider climb, etc. memorized. it was a unique encounter, I think the players learned to fear the low level druid.... hehe.

 

[shilsen]

What level was the druid and the PCs?

 

[Saeviomagy]

My players fought a goblin druid last night, and found out just how tough one could be. He had a wolf as his animal companion, and his adjusted ride skill was 17! with mounted combat they couldnt touch him. with the wolf's speed of 50, being able to double move every round, and the druid casting from his back, it was quite difficult to just get a bead on him... when they did, they often chose the wolf as the target for the attack, and usually only had 1 such chance a round, meaning the wolf's AC was usually in the high 20's, if not 30's. When they did get 1 swing on the goblin, instead of using riding combat to defend his wolf, he used his wolf as cover (per the ride skill).. they became verrrry frustrated! hehe. the wolf had a jump bonus of +12 (it had the run feat as well as a 50 move)... and the druid had neat spells like longstrider, spider climb, etc. memorized. it was a unique encounter, I think the players learned to fear the low level druid.... hehe.

If the goblin used the wolf as cover, then attacks which missed due to the cover hit the wolf. Which tends to end with a very dead wolf in a very short period of time.

 

[RolandOfGilead]

Except its not that simple; You still have to overcome the wolf's Armour class. Unless you can point to a rule that says anything that provides cover is automatically hit and its armor penetrated?

the players may read these boards, so specifics are hard to give, but he's about 2levels above the players.

 

[Anthraxus]

Except its not that simple; You still have to overcome the wolf's Armour class. Unless you can point to a rule that says anything that provides cover is automatically hit and its armor penetrated?

the players may read these boards, so specifics are hard to give, but he's about 2levels above the players.

The Cover thing is something I don't think has been answered "officially". :\

Well, the Party should learn some tactics that work against mounted combat now.

Readying actions to disrupt his spellcasting(he can't use the mount as cover when casting, either) is one way... Also, the druid can only negate attacks on his wolf once per round, so concentrated attacks on the wolf might work.

-A

 

[Saeviomagy]

Except its not that simple; You still have to overcome the wolf's Armour class. Unless you can point to a rule that says anything that provides cover is automatically hit and its armor penetrated?

the players may read these boards, so specifics are hard to give, but he's about 2levels above the players.

Actually, looking through the SRD, I cannot find any mention of hitting cover if you fail to hit your target - I remember in 3rd edition, if you missed a target due to cover, then you hit the cover if your attack roll beat it's AC. However if you missed the cover by it's dex or dodge bonus, you struck the original target - although the cover could elect not to apply it's dex/dodge bonus to the attack.

Looking at 3.5 however, those rules seem to be absent, meaning that there is actually a point to taking cover behind your mount.