Pathfinder: Ride and Grapple Reference

The rules for grappling and mounted combat in Pathfinder are often less than clear. While an improvement over D&D 3.5, grappling is still presented in a confusing manner which often leads players and GMs to avoid using it entirely. To remedy this, I wrote the following guide for one of my home games several years ago. While it was tempting to streamline the rules further, I stuck with the rules as written here. If formatted in columns, it should fit on a single page for convenient reference.

Grappling

As a standard action, you can make a combat maneuver check to begin a grapple. If you succeed, you and your target gain the grappled condition. So long as you control the grapple, you gain a +5 circumstance bonus on grapple checks and may release the grapple as a free action.

The controller of the grapple must make a combat maneuver check each turn as a standard action to maintain the grapple. In addition, a successful check allows you to perform one of the following actions:

Move: You can move yourself and your target up to half your speed. At the end of this movement, you can place your target in any adjacent square. If this is a hazardous location, the target receives a free attempt to break the grapple with a +4 bonus.

Damage: You can inflict damage with an unarmed strike, natural attack, armor spikes, or a light or one-handed weapon. This damage can be lethal or nonlethal.

Pin: You can give your opponent the pinned condition; while pinning, you retain the grappled condition and additionally lose your Dexterity bonus to AC.

Tie Up: If you have rope available, you can tie up your target. This functions as pinning, but the DC to escape is 20 + your CMB. Unless the target is already pinned or unconscious, this requires an additional combat maneuver check with a -10 penalty.

The target may attempt to break the grapple as a standard action, making a combat maneuver check or Escape Artist check against the controller’s CMD. If successful, you may either break or reverse the grapple.

Grappled: -4 Dexterity, -2 to attack rolls and combat maneuver checks outside the grapple, may not take any actions requiring both hands to perform, may not make attacks of opportunity, must succeed on a concentration check (DC 10 + opponent’s CMB + spell level) to cast a spell.

Pinned: -4 AC, loses Dexterity bonus to AC, may only take verbal and mental actions other than attempting to break the grapple, cannot cast any spells requiring a somatic or material component, must succeed on a concentration check (DC 10 + opponent’s CMB + spell level) to cast a spell. Pinned is a more severe version of grappled and their effects do not stack.

Mounted Combat

Movement: Your mount moves on your initiative count as you direct it. As a free action, you can make a DC 5 Ride check to guide your mount with your knees; otherwise, you must have one hand available to control your mount.

Combat: When you attack a creature smaller than your mount, you gain the +1 bonus to melee attacks for higher ground. If your mount charges, you also gain the attack bonus and AC penalty for charging. You can direct your mount to attack by making a DC 10 Ride check as a free action. Note that your mount must have moved less than its speed in order to attack. If using ranged weapons while mounted, you make your attack roll when your mount has completed half of its movement. If your mount is moving at double speed, you take a -4 penalty to this attack roll; if your mount is running, you take a -8 penalty.

If your mount falls in battle, you must make a DC 15 Ride check. If successful, you make a soft fall and are undamaged; if you fail, you take 1d6 points of damage.

If you are knocked unconscious, you have a 50% chance to stay in the saddle; otherwise, you fall and take 1d6 points of damage. Without you guiding it, your mount avoids combat.

Uses of the Ride skill:

Cover: As an immediate action, you can make a DC 15 Ride check to drop to one side of your mount, using it as cover. Recovering from this position is a move action.

Leap: You can make a DC 15 Ride check to get your mount to jump an obstacle. Use the lower of your Ride modifier and the mount’s Acrobatics modifier when rolling to determine jump length. If you fail your Ride check, you fall off and take falling damage (usually 1d6).

Mount or Dismount: You can mount or dismount as a move action. Alternatively, you can make a DC 20 Ride check to mount or dismount as a free action.

Ride Bareback: If you are riding bareback, you take a -5 penalty on Ride checks.

Spur Mount: As a move action, you can make a DC 15 Ride check. If successful, your mount’s speed increases by 10 feet for 1 round but your mount takes 1d3 points of damage.