Horse-mounted Combat II (sage ability)
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Horse-mounted Combat II is an authority-status sage ability in the study of Horseback Riding, granting improved proficiency in melee combat from horseback. This ability expands the number of weapons the combatant can effectively wield while mounted and provides additional combat bonuses when engaging opponents on foot.
Mounted Weapons
The mounted combatant may use the following melee weapons while on horseback: club, horseman's mace, pick or flail, lance, scimitar, bow and short sword. A sling may be fired while mounted, provided it is preloaded and the horse moves at a gait no faster than a trot. Both a dagger and a spear may be thrown from horseback, but neither can be used for melee combat while mounted.
Mounted combatants gain a +1 to hit bonus when attacking defenders on foot. A hit with a lance deals twice damage, reinforcing its effectiveness in a mounted charge.
Weapon Restrictions
Certain weapons are unsuitable for melee combat while mounted due to practical limitations. A dagger lacks the necessary reach to defend the rider's legs from attacks, making it ineffective against foot soldiers. A sword such as a longsword or broadsword presents a dangerous risk to the horse, as its straight edge and cutting motion could strike the mount's head or neck during combat; this is why curved weapons like the scimitar are preferred, as their shape allows for effective slashing without endangering the rider's own steed.
Two-handed weapons are utterly impractical, as managing the horse requires one of the rider's hands at all times. A spear could still be thrown from horseback, but as the shaft is much thicker than is normally realised, and the jostling of the horse would wrest it from the player's hand, a spear is only practical if the horse isn't moving. A servant, for example, could hand the rider a spear, who could then throw it from horseback, but this would not reflect the standard image of fighting from horseback that we generally imagine.
Use of a Bow
Unlike two-handed melee weapons, which require continuous grip and control, a bow can be effectively used from horseback because it does not come into physical contact with enemy weapons during combat. This allows the archer to release the reins temporarily to nock, draw and fire an arrow without risk of being disarmed by a strike. The lack of direct impact against an opponent means the bow is not actively wrested from the rider's grip, as would happen with a spear or other two-handed weapon in melee.
However, maintaining accuracy while firing from a moving horse still presents a challenge. The horse's gait affects stability, meaning a rider must either fire at a controlled pace (such as a trot) or develop advanced techniques to compensate for movement. These limitations make horseback archery a specialised skill, covered by this sage ability, distinct from traditional ground-based archery.
