If you have an attack trained horse, what would be appropriate for it's attack skill.? One of my PKs has an attack trained Destrier - that actually got to fight last time I played - and come time for him to roll I wasn't sure. In the end I just said 15 skill for quickness. Would Horsemanship be an indicator, or just stick to 15 :)

If you have an attack trained horse, what would be appropriate for it's attack skill.? One of my PKs has an attack trained Destrier - that actually got to fight last time I played - and come time for him to roll I wasn't sure. In the end I just said 15 skill for quickness. Would Horsemanship be an indicator, or just stick to 15 :)


IN KAP 5.1, the rule says that an attack trained horse is +5 to the rider's combat skill, except for lance charge.

I was a bit vague there. I meant a horse trained to attack, not just one trained to deal with the stress of battle. What would I use for its attack skill value? Or actually maybe we are talking about the same thing. Are you saying the +5 abstracts the extra damage the horse would do with its attack?

I let my PKs horse inflict its full normal damage when attacking.

I meant a horse trained to attack, not just one trained to deal with the stress of battle. What would I use for its attack skill value? Or actually maybe we are talking about the same thing. Are you saying the +5 takes abstracts the extra damage the horse would do with it's attack?
I let my PKs horse inflict its full normal damage when attacking.


With bite, back kick, rear and plunge and body slam?
We speak of the same thing.
My reasoning here is based on simplicity.

There's a huge number of ways this can be played.

A bonus the rider's attack.
A separate attack by the horse, which can be used for a bonus instead
How about the horse as a separate character, with its own stats and attack stats, and four types of attack (above)?

For us, it became a book keeping issue--it slowed down what is otherwise a fast combat.
It is very easy to make things that slow down the combat system.
My design goes for speed and simplicity.

I encourage you to explore and expand the simple core rules!
It's actually quite a fascinating subject.

Thanks for the answer. Your solution is certainly streamlined and I like that.

I have kindof let the genie out of the bottle though. One of my PKs got a destrier for his family heirloom and I said it was attack trained and could attack. If I replace that with a +5 he will no doubt complain he has been short changed. Not that the horse attack is without caveats - I assume the horse to rear up and slam its weight down on the opponent (hell for 8d6 damage its got to be something big) and this reduces my PKs attack to whatever his Horsemanship value is (adding another roll is just too slow for me). Also the PK cannot attack the same target.

For reference, the older Knight's Adventurous supplement gave attack trained horses a skill of 1d6+7, and said that skill could not be increased.