Using Lances with mounts that can attack

[sfedi]

If i'm correct, you can't charge with a Lance and make your mount attack in the same round.

Refresher:

Ride DC 10
Fight with Warhorse: If you direct your war-trained mount to attack in battle, you can still make your own attack or attacks normally. This usage is a free action.

Since the Lance has reach, and your mount not, and in a charge you MUST stop once you threaten the target...

Even when you're not charging, you can't attack with your mount, back 5-feet and attack with your Lance.

So it's much better to use a non-reach weapon while mounted!

Of course, this is worth only if your mount has a decent attack.

I'm thinking in particular of Goblins mounting Worgs.

Am I missing something here?
Any other ideas for Goblins on Worgs?

BTW: a 1st Level Goblin can have a +9 in Ride (automatically succedeing the "Attacking with Warhorse" check)

 

[Greylock]

Think about what a real Charge is. It's rearing up, and going full throttle. Over a stretch of ground, a long ways, not five feet.

The DnD charge is pretty effective as is. Why does it need more power, ie: attacks to boost it?

 

[sfedi]

Think about what a real Charge is. It's rearing up, and going full throttle. Over a stretch of ground, a long ways, not five feet.

The DnD charge is pretty effective as is. Why does it need more power, ie: attacks to boost it?

Sorry, I wasn't clear.
I'm not complaining about the power of the mounted charge in DnD.
I'm trying to determine the best Goblin/Worg attack pattern, while pointing something that seems odd.

It's natural to picture someone mounted with a reach weapon.
Yet, the rules don't make that a very good setup, at least for a Goblin on a Worg.

Maybe it's not something a Goblin should do, or I'm misreading the rules.

 

[Shin Okada]

From SRD,

If your mount charges, you also take the AC penalty associated with a charge. If you make an attack at the end of the charge, you receive the bonus gained from the charge. When charging on horseback, you deal double damage with a lance (see Charge).


Well, if we strictry play as written, a man with a heavy lance on usual warhorse cannot make a lance charge. Why? Because,

Step 1) That is the warhorse (mount), not the rider, who commits the charge.
Step 2) The mount must end the movement at the space from where it can attack the enemy.
Step 3) To take the benefit of the charge, the rider must attack "at the end of the charge".
Step 4) But "at the end of the charge", the warhorse (and the rider) is already adjucent to the enemy. So the rider cannot use the heavy lance.

Yes silly. But this is the current rule. So actually, using reach weapon is really a bad idea unless the mount also has reach.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I would allow the mount to make a single attack. If the mount is making a Charge it is really required to make an attack by the spirit of the rules IMO.

I would be wary about Lancing + Pounce though, if you have an exotic mount.

 

[Philip]

Well, if it is the mount that commits and executes the charge, just ready to attack with your lance as soon as the enemy comes within reach. Then you can do it by the book, and get both your lance and your mount's attacks.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Generally if you want both to attack on a charge both should have the same reach. Otherwise pick one attack for the charge and that's all you get.

SRD Mounted Combat:

. If your mount moves more than 5 feet, you can only make a single melee attack. Essentially, you have to wait until the mount gets to your enemy before attacking, so you can’t make a full attack. Even at your mount’s full speed, you don’t take any penalty on melee attacks while mounted.
If your mount charges, you also take the AC penalty associated with a charge. If you make an attack at the end of the charge, you receive the bonus gained from the charge. When charging on horseback, you deal double damage with a lance (see Charge).
You can use ranged weapons while your mount is taking a double move, but at a –4 penalty on the attack roll. You can use ranged weapons while your mount is running (quadruple speed), at a –8 penalty. In either case, you make the attack roll when your mount has completed half its movement. You can make a full attack with a ranged weapon while your mount is moving. Likewise, you can take move actions normally
Casting Spells while Mounted: You can cast a spell normally if your mount moves up to a normal move (its speed) either before or after you cast. If you have your mount move both before and after you cast a spell, then you’re casting the spell while the mount is moving, and you have to make a Concentration check due to the vigorous motion (DC 10 + spell level) or lose the spell. If the mount is running (quadruple speed), you can cast a spell when your mount has moved up to twice its speed, but your Concentration check is more difficult due to the violent motion (DC 15 + spell level).

Note that this doesn't preclude the mount attacking on a charge if it ends in a position to do so. (The Ride check for the riding to attack if the mount attacks covers that.) The only stipulation for getting an attack benefit on a charge is that the attack occurs at the end of the charge (movement). The rider and mount get the defensive penalty either way.

It also allows the rider to take a single normal attack at any point in the move while the mount must make it's attack before or after its move action or at the end of a charge.

Alternately you might stretch the interpretation slightly (house rule) and consider the mount as the primary attacker (charge and attack) and then allow the rider his normal one attack during a mount move >5' and grant that normal attack the benefits of charging.

Regarding mount and rider attacking it is legitimate for the mount to make a 5' step before or after the rider's full attack and get its full attack if it has not otherwise moved. If the mount has moved more than 5' than the rider only gets one melee attack at any point in the move.