Ride-by-attack and reach

[Stalker0]

Common sense says that neither the mount nor rider provoke an AoO, but the strict langugae does not say that:

From the SRD:

Ride-By Attack [General]

Prerequisites: Ride skill, Mounted Combat.

Benefit: When the character is mounted and uses the charge action, the character may move and attack as with a standard charge and then move again (continuing the straight line of the charge). The character's total movement for the round can’t exceed double the character's mounted speed. The character does not provoke an attack of opportunity from the opponent that the character attacks.

I don't know of anyone who plays that the mount draws an AoO, and playing it that way totally negates the value of taking the feat.

I have to agree, if ride by attack doesn't negate the AOO for both, then its an absolute crap feat imho.

 

[Dakhran the Dark]

Well, now that I'm home and have access to my books, reading the version that says "you" instead of "the character" lends a slightly different feel. It almost seems to use "you" to describe a mounted character as a whole. But it can still go either way, and since I have a slight infestation of rules lawyers in my game, I'd like something a bit more clear...

My reasoning was that, since Ride-By Attack requires the Mounted Combat feat, and since Mounted Combat allows you to make a Ride check and use that as the mount's AC, that this was the accepted mechanic to prevent your mount from being knocked out from under you during the charge. But just to make sure that this'll pass the lawyers' scrutiny, I did more research...

Well, I searched the FAQs, and even checked out Monte Cook's forums and 3rdEdition.org, and still there's no real definitive answer. About the most I got from that is that a mount cannot be used in a Ride-By Attack and use its own attacks, unless the mount possesses Spring Attack. Not exactly helpful there.

However, the Mounted Combat example in S&F, p.66, when Alarion charges past Druga after slaying his mount with a Ride-By Attack, Druga attacks Alarion's mount with an AoO. The phrasing there seems to indicate that Alarion was only immune to AoOs from his target (Druga's mount). Almost seems like Alarion and his mount are considered to be one unit as far as AoOs are concerned, and either can be targeted for an AoO if one of them draws it -- and conversely, both are considered protected by Ride-By Attack. It's still not spelled out in plain English, though.

Hmm. The official D&D website has an example of mounted combat in one of the Gamestoppers articles, and looks to me that Ride-By Attack does in fact protect the mount as well as the rider...

Tell ya the truth, I'm kinda relieved I'm wrong on this one. With my current players, it's more likely that the opposition will be mounted than it is for them to be, and this just makes things more challenging than I thought...time for me to think about using mounted foes...

 

[Ranger REG]

Well, Dakhran the Dark, I did initially argued that Ride-By Attack feat only protect the rider but not the mount and did cite the use of Mounted Combat to protect the mount, but I was counter-argued by many factors that can overwhelm the Mounted Combat's Ride skill check (which replaces the mount's AC), especially if the targeted opponent that is making an AoO on the mount has overwhelming BAB, plus magic items and/or enchantment. With all those offensive advantage, the Ride skill check alone is not going to protect the mount.

It would have been useful if the Mounted Combat's Ride skill check result would add to the mount's current AC rather than replace it.

In the end, I conceded to the argument.

 

[Stalker0]

Based on that mounted combat example in the S&F book, Ride by Attack does NOT protect the mount from AOO.

Also interesting, it says that a rider can attack, and then draw another weapon. I though you only got a partial action on a mount.

 

[Christian]

Based on that mounted combat example in the S&F book, Ride by Attack does NOT protect the mount from AOO.

Not necessarily, Stalker. I'd read that example as illustrating that, like Spring Attack, the feat does not prevent creatures other than the target from taking AoO's based on your movement, and that the rider and the mount are considered separate creatures for that purpose. The target of the attack in that example was the mount, so the mount would get no AoO; but other creatures, including the rider, get AoO's as normal.

Note that it neither establishes the converse; whether the mount (had it survived the attack) would have been able to take an AoO on the charging mount is not specified.