A friend and I are interested in making a pair of characters for a one shot. While discussing ideas for funny and unique character ideas he suggested that we make one of the characters a centaur and have the other ride the centaur into battle. The question then became, can the rider use the Mounted Combatant feat? Specifically, does the centaur count as a mount? We were thinking that it does apply as sentient creature can count as a mount for that feat. Obviously we'll run the idea past our DM before we make the characters but I can't stop laughing at the idea of centaur sprinting battle, hurling fireballs left and right while a goblin fight from his back, blocking every hit that come toward his centaur buddy.
To serve as a mount the creature needs to be willing and at least one size category larger. The creature serving as a mount also needs appropriate anatomy but this isn't defined and left up to DM fiat. A sentient creature can serve as a mount and act as an independent mount when they do so.
So yeah, a player character can totally serve as a mount and the rules for independent mounts are in the Mounted Combat section of Chapter 9 of the Players Handbook.
The catch is going to be initiative order. If the goblin goes first, they’ll have to ready their action and wait for the centaur to get close before they can do anything. And since it’s a readied action, they won’t get to use their extra attack feature if they have it. You might consider making the rider a ranger attacker/caster to help avoid that issue.
The catch is going to be initiative order. If the goblin goes first, they’ll have to ready their action and wait for the centaur to get close before they can do anything. And since it’s a reduced action, they won’t get to use their extra attack feature if they have it. You might consider making the rider a ranger attacker/caster to help avoid that issue.
Definitely worth discussing with the DM, but my groups have run combats where players are allowed to reduce their initiative in the first round (to go after someone else); I feel like this might be an optional or variant rule somewhere but I couldn't find it after quickly skimming the basic rules and DMG.
This helps to avoid situations where a good Initiative roll is actually a bad thing, plus it makes sense that if a character reacted so quickly they can go early, then they can surely just wait a moment or two longer. It's one of those areas in D&D where the default rules create problems that don't need to exist, not helped by the Ready action limiting you to a single attack in Rules As Written (which has always been annoying as it heavily favours some characters over others to use it).
On the other hand, it's not necessarily the end of the world if you go before your "mount", it just requires some communication and strategy for when that happens (i.e- don't build for melee only) as going in this order can be beneficial in other situations, e.g- once you're already engaged it's better for the pair of you to be able to move second as you might be able to avoid counter-attacks.
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I'm DM'ing a game where one character uses his sidekick as a mount. I use the intelligent mount rules from the PH and it works fine. Since its technically one player controlling both creatures they act in tandem a lot, but the player is very good at roleplaying it well and remembering to communicate between them in battle.
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A friend and I are interested in making a pair of characters for a one shot. While discussing ideas for funny and unique character ideas he suggested that we make one of the characters a centaur and have the other ride the centaur into battle. The question then became, can the rider use the Mounted Combatant feat? Specifically, does the centaur count as a mount? We were thinking that it does apply as sentient creature can count as a mount for that feat. Obviously we'll run the idea past our DM before we make the characters but I can't stop laughing at the idea of centaur sprinting battle, hurling fireballs left and right while a goblin fight from his back, blocking every hit that come toward his centaur buddy.
Keep your friends close, and enemies closer.
To serve as a mount the creature needs to be willing and at least one size category larger. The creature serving as a mount also needs appropriate anatomy but this isn't defined and left up to DM fiat. A sentient creature can serve as a mount and act as an independent mount when they do so.
So yeah, a player character can totally serve as a mount and the rules for independent mounts are in the Mounted Combat section of Chapter 9 of the Players Handbook.
The catch is going to be initiative order. If the goblin goes first, they’ll have to ready their action and wait for the centaur to get close before they can do anything. And since it’s a readied action, they won’t get to use their extra attack feature if they have it. You might consider making the rider a ranger attacker/caster to help avoid that issue.
Definitely worth discussing with the DM, but my groups have run combats where players are allowed to reduce their initiative in the first round (to go after someone else); I feel like this might be an optional or variant rule somewhere but I couldn't find it after quickly skimming the basic rules and DMG.
This helps to avoid situations where a good Initiative roll is actually a bad thing, plus it makes sense that if a character reacted so quickly they can go early, then they can surely just wait a moment or two longer. It's one of those areas in D&D where the default rules create problems that don't need to exist, not helped by the Ready action limiting you to a single attack in Rules As Written (which has always been annoying as it heavily favours some characters over others to use it).
On the other hand, it's not necessarily the end of the world if you go before your "mount", it just requires some communication and strategy for when that happens (i.e- don't build for melee only) as going in this order can be beneficial in other situations, e.g- once you're already engaged it's better for the pair of you to be able to move second as you might be able to avoid counter-attacks.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
To be a mount requires being...
Player characters can potentially meet all these requirements.
I'm DM'ing a game where one character uses his sidekick as a mount. I use the intelligent mount rules from the PH and it works fine. Since its technically one player controlling both creatures they act in tandem a lot, but the player is very good at roleplaying it well and remembering to communicate between them in battle.