so whats the downside of mounted combat?

[puppet74]

seen some streams / vids of mounted combat, it seems so good. There must be some down sides to it right?

[Knight Night]

There are a lot of urban environments that aren’t great for a large animal plus the rest of your party to move around in. I had several battles we evolve around doorways that turned into major choke points. Difficult terrain, rubble and other obstacles will also limit your ability to get off a charge on an enemy.

Mounted combat will still be good, but it’s not going to be the dominant style. It depends on getting a charge for the huge damage and there are a lot of factors that can prevent you from getting a charge off.

[puppet74]

Originally posted by Knight Night:

There are a lot of urban environments that aren’t great for a large animal plus the rest of your party to move around in. I had several battles we evolve around doorways that turned into major choke points. Difficult terrain, rubble and other obstacles will also limit your ability to get off a charge on an enemy.

Mounted combat will still be good, but it’s not going to be the dominant style. It depends on getting a charge for the huge damage and there are a lot of factors that can prevent you from getting a charge off.

i see, so you have to mix it up depending on locations , terrain ext. ok, but when in areas where its good to use , there are no draw backs? its just flat out better than not using it for example.

[Indure]

I don't think there is much of a drawback beyond it restricts you to a handful of classes and if you want to really excel on your mount it needs a little feat investment. I did have a couple of scenarios with Seelah where the mount got CC, which immediately tosses you prone and will most likely get you killed when standing back up. Your mount will probably have better AC than you, but its saves can be very bad.

[Kavonde]

Is the classic "halfling cavalier on a riding dog" build doable in the game? That's always been a decent way to get around the issue of cramped quarters in tabletop play.

[Mr Fred]

Most class/archetype that spec into it are pretty subpar compared to others. Pet start strong end pretty average. Youll likely only do one attack per round with a charge attack instead of full attack round.

[Mork]

Can mount and rider be enlarged with spells? Or can a enlarged human mount a mammoth?

[Indure]

Originally posted by Kavonde:

Is the classic "halfling cavalier on a riding dog" build doable in the game? That's always been a decent way to get around the issue of cramped quarters in tabletop play.

There is a subclass dedicated to it.

[r_collins36]

There is really only two downsides. The first is you have the rider and pet together so they can't spread out to tank separate enemies. Depending on your party makeup this is the big one. The second is that an aoe attack is guaranteed to hit both the pet and rider. That's it.

Edit: Additionally, as a human size (medium) you can't ride most mounts until level 7. The exception is a horse, which you can ride at level 1. See lower post

[r_collins36]

Originally posted by Mork:

Can mount and rider be enlarged with spells? Or can a enlarged human mount a mammoth?

No, an enlarged person cannot ride a mount. Maybe with the exception of a halfling riding a large animal, I'm not sure. To be able to ride a mount, you have to be at least 1 size smaller than the mount.
Halfling/Gnome = small
Human/Dwarf/etc. = medium
Dog/Leopard/Maybe Raptor = small to medium at level 4 (A human can never ride a Dog etc.)
Things like smilodon/mammoth/etc. = medium until level 7 when they grow to large for life. (A halfling can ride a level 1 mammoth but a human has to wait until level 7 to ride.)
Horse is large from level 1 on. (Anything can ride it from 1 on)

[spoonygundam]

Originally posted by r_collins36:

Originally posted by Mork:

Can mount and rider be enlarged with spells? Or can a enlarged human mount a mammoth?

No, an enlarged person cannot ride a mount. Maybe with the exception of a halfling riding a large animal, I'm not sure. To be able to ride a mount, you have to be at least 1 size smaller than the mount.
Halfling/Gnome = small
Human/Dwarf/etc. = medium
Dog/Leopard/Maybe Raptor = small to medium at level 4 (A human can never ride a Dog etc.)
Things like smilodon/mammoth/etc. = medium until level 7 when they grow to large for life. (A halfling can ride a level 1 mammoth but a human has to wait until level 7 to ride.)
Horse is large from level 1 on. (Anything can ride it from 1 on)

Animal Growth should allow an enlarged character to ride an appropriately leveled mount.

[r_collins36]

Originally posted by spoonygundam:

Originally posted by r_collins36:

No, an enlarged person cannot ride a mount. Maybe with the exception of a halfling riding a large animal, I'm not sure. To be able to ride a mount, you have to be at least 1 size smaller than the mount.
Halfling/Gnome = small
Human/Dwarf/etc. = medium
Dog/Leopard/Maybe Raptor = small to medium at level 4 (A human can never ride a Dog etc.)
Things like smilodon/mammoth/etc. = medium until level 7 when they grow to large for life. (A halfling can ride a level 1 mammoth but a human has to wait until level 7 to ride.)
Horse is large from level 1 on. (Anything can ride it from 1 on)

Animal Growth should allow an enlarged character to ride an appropriately leveled mount.

Yes

[Darhaksterion]

Originally posted by puppet74:

seen some streams / vids of mounted combat, it seems so good. There must be some down sides to it right?

Mounted combat can be utterly shut down by several factors: cramped spaces with no place position yourself for a charge, twisting passages, difficult terrain and gods help you should someone cast Grease. Anything that disables the mount shuts down all related feats (dominatiom, fear). You can deal tremendous damage, but you need a backup plan if your main trick gets shut down.