ND/Aerial and Mounted Combat

*see also House Rules*

## Mounts

If you're on a mount, it moves on your initiative by taking Move, Move and Attack, or Step and Attack maneuvers. (See high speed movement, below). You can take any maneuver that doesn't involve movement - you're stationary relative to the Mount.

If your mount has to make a DX roll to control itself (makes a tight turn, slows down too rapidly, suffers knockback, etc) then you need to make a Riding roll or fall off. If your mount loses control, you are at -10 on any DX rolls you make while it is out of control.

You can attack and defend normally while mounted, but your effective skill is limited to your Riding skill unless you have the Cavalry training perk. If you are in a saddle, you are treated as standing. You can't benefit from more than 1 Aim maneuver if your mount is moving faster than your Step. If your mount is moving much faster than your target in melee combat, look up your relative speed on the Size and Speed/Range Chart, get the Size value, and subtract two. The result is your penalty to hit and bonus to damage\* (so you're at -1 to hit, +1 to damage at 7 yards/second speed difference, and -6 to hit and +6 to damage at 50 yards/second speed difference).

If you're stunned, you need to make a Riding check at -4 or fall off. If you suffer knockback, you need to roll Riding at -4 per yard of knockback or be forced off your mount. If you stunned and suffer knockback at the same time, make a single Riding check at -4, with an additional -4 per yard of knockback. War saddles give +3 to Riding rolls to avoid being knocked off, and stirrups give another +1. If you strap yourself into your saddle, you cannot be knocked off, but any knockback automatically inflicts 1 point of blunt trauma per yard of knockback if you fail the Riding roll.

Your mount can attack and defend normally, according to its abilities, but most mounts can only Dodge. If you have Shield Wall Training or Sacrificial Parry, you may use those abilities normally to protect your mount. If your mount is injured, you need to roll Riding, penalized by the mount's shock penalty, or lose control. Your next maneuver must be a Ready maneuver to get the mount under control\*. Critical failure means you lose control of your mount and it does some random thing (see Mount Loss of Control table B397).

War saddles give a +3 bonus to Riding to avoid falling off a mount, and most come with stirrups for another +1. If you are strapped to your saddle, you cannot fall off your mount, but a failed Riding check to stay on your mount forces you to take a Ready maneuver on your next turn to reorient yourself\*. If you suffer knockback while strapped to your mount and fail the Riding check, you suffer 1 point of blunt trauma per yard of knockback\*.

## High Speed Movement

You, in this section, may refer to a mount. Encumbered Move is your Basic Move, modified by encumbrance, but not modified by Enhanced Move but including the x2 modifier for Flight. Maximum speed is the better of your Encumbered Move +20% or your maximum Move including Enhanced Move.

High Speed Movement is any movement greater than your Encumbered Move. You start high speed movement by taking a Move or Move and Attack maneuver and moving your full Encumbered Move with no more than a single turn of a single hexside and declaring at the end of the movement that you are in high speed movement. You can return to normal movement at the end of any turn when you moved no more than your Encumbered Move and declare that you're slowing down. While you are in high speed movement, you may only take Move, Move and Attack, or All-Out maneuvers\*, and you can not take an All-Out maneuver (other than All-Out Attack: Slam) if you current speed is more than half your maximum speed. All-Out maneuvers are All-Out Attack, All-Out Defense (Dodge), All-Out Ready, and All-Out Concentrate.

At the end of each turn of high speed movement, record your current speed in yards per second. You must move your current speed while in high speed movement. Before recording your current speed, you may increase it by your Encumbered Move or decrease it by your Basic Move, up to your maximum speed.

You must move at least your turn radius straight ahead between turning a hexside while you are in high speed movement. Your turn radius is your current speed divided by your Encumbered Move, rounded up. If you try to turn sooner than that, you must roll DX+3-your turn radius. On a failure, you change your facing but not your direction of movement and lose control.

If you are stunned, or for any reason take a maneuver that does not allow you to move your current speed (or your maximum speed drops below your current speed), then you lose control.

If you lose control, you continue moving at your current speed in the current direction for the rest of your turn, and at the end of your turn, you reduce your current speed by your Basic Move. You immediately regain control at the end of the turn when your current speed drops below your Encumbered Move; otherwise, you must take Move maneuvers to move in a straight line until you regain control by succeeding a DX check at the end of your movement. If you fail to regain control, you must slow down by your Basic Move but if you regain control you can increase or decrease your speed normally.

If you are moving on the ground when you lose control, you fall down, move 1/4th your current speed (or the rest of your current speed), and stop. Take damage as though you'd fallen from a height of 1/4th your current speed. If your movement causes you to collide with something, treat it as a collision at half your current speed instead.

If the target of your ranged attack is performing high speed movement, add their speed to the effective range (as per B550) unless you and your target are moving in exactly the same direction or in exact opposite directions, including any altitude changes.

## Flying Movement and Combat

If you can hover, you may use any maneuver while flying. If you take a Step, you may increase or decrease your altitude in addition to moving to a new hex. If you can hover, you may Retreat by changing altitude, with an additional +1 bonus to the Retreat.

If you can fly but you cannot hover, you must use High Speed Movement. You cannot take off unless your movement on the ground is at least 1/4th your maximum air movement.

While you are flying and using High Speed Movement, it takes 1 yard of movement to increase altitude by 1 yard, and that
movement cannot also be used to move horizontally. Each of the first 10 yards of altitude increase per turn also immediately reduce your current speed by 1 yard though the you can accelerate or decelerate normally at the end of the turn. If you have Cannot Hover, every two full yards of altitude increase count as 1 yard of movement for minimum movement requirement.

While you are flying and using High Speed Movement, you increase your current speed when you dive. Each yard of elevation drop, to a maximum of 10, increases your current speed and maximum speed by 1. If you need to dive faster than 10 yards/second, you may spend horizontal movement to do, with each yard of horizontal movement reducing altitude by 1 yard. Again, every two yards of altitude drop count as a yard of the required movement movement for Cannot Hover. The bonus to maximum speed lasts as long as you continue diving, and for one round after that for every round you spent diving. Absolute maximum speed for a dive is your normal maximum speed or 100 yards/sec, whichever is higher. If you are diving and your speed is above your normal maximum speed (without the bonus from diving), you must roll DX+2 at the end of the round or lose control.

Starting a climb or a dive is treated as a turn for turn radius and control rolls. A climb or dive of 1-2 yards is a 0 degree turn. A climb or dive of 3-5 yards is a 60 degree turn. A climb or dive of more than 6 yards is a 120 degree turn. If you climb or dive the same amount on subsequent rounds, the additional rounds of diving are not treated as new turns. You can dive and climb during the same turn, as long as enough horizontal movement separates them or you can make the control rolls.

If you are flying in high speed movement and lose control, you automatically drops 5 yards/round during the involuntary movement until you regain control, with the normal effects to current speed and altitude.

A wipe out is like losing control but worse. If you wipe out while flying, you no longer have any lift. You continue moving at your current speed in uncontrolled movement and drop at a cumulative 10 yards/second until you regain control. DX checks to regain control are at -4. If you regain control after a wipe out, add your current dive speed to your current speed.

If you have Wings, and an obstacle, including another flyer, is in your wingspan during any point of your movement, you must immediately roll DX or lose control. If the obstacle is in your wingspan during the entirety of your movement, you automatically wipe out at the end of your movement and cannot regain control until your wingspan clears the obstacle. You also wipe out if one of your wings is crippled.

If you have at least a yard of height advantage in melee combat, you get +2 to defend against attacks and your opponent is at -2 to defend against your attacks. In ranged combat, reduce effective range by 1 for every 2 yards of height advantage (to a minimum of half the horizontal distance or the vertical distance, whichever is greater) and increase effective range for every yard of height disadvantage. Spells only suffer half penalty for height disadvantage.

### "Dragon" Rule

If you are flying, you do not take a -4 to hit for making a melee attack during a Move and Attack, nor do you have your attack capped at 9. If you move more than 7 yards during a Move and Attack while flying and make a melee attack, look up your relative speed on the Size and Speed/Range Chart, get the Size value, and subtract two. The result is your penalty to hit and bonus to damage\* (so you're at -1 to hit, +1 to damage at 7 yards/second speed difference, and -6 to hit and +6 to damage at 50 yards/second speed difference). If you are flying and make ranged attacks during a Move and Attack, you do not suffer Bulk penalties (or the generic -2 penalty). You still have a -2 on any DX rolls you make during a Move and Attack.

**Note**: This rule just means that dragons, and other flying menaces, are no less effective at fighting than their riders.