Stunned and Falling off a mount

[Tywyll]

If you are on a mount and get Stunned, what happens? Do you fall off? I had that happen to one of my players and he argued that he ought to get a ride roll and my counter arguement was that since he was stunned, he couldn't make a ride roll.

 

Is there a definitive ruling on this or do people have any strongly held opinions?

[Doc Democracy]

Do not think there is definitive on this.  I am very much a heroic action type of GM and so the immediate fall off the horse plays badly in my head.  If the horse changes what it is doing (from still to galloping or vice versa) then probably.  If there is nothing except the usual riding or fighting then probably not.  In neither case, falling off, or not falling off, would I require a ride roll because, as you say, the character is stunned.

 

If this was a dramatic moment in the scenario and the dice would mitigate that the hero falls off the horse, then in that particular circumstance, I might provide a modified ride roll, to facilitate the continuance of heroism rather than because the rules said so...

 

Doc

[Tywyll]

The PCs were ambushed and his character was surprised by an arrow to the chest, if that scenario would make a difference?

[Chris Goodwin]

I'd probably assume the rider stayed on the mount unless the mount chose that time to actively try to remove the rider, or unless the attack that hit the rider did Knockback or was part of an attack specifically to "unhorse" them.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Rules on being stunned:
 

Quote

A Stunned (or Knocked Out) character doesn’t necessarily fall down or collapse. It all depends on the “special effect” of being Stunned or Knocked Out, so to speak. However, the GM may rule that a Stunned character falls down — that’s a common sense (and dramatic sense) interpretation of many situations that Stun a character.

 

So; maybe.  I would rule that its going to be based on circumstances (is the horse rearing?  Running?  Dodging?) and the character's actions when hit.  If you're leaning off the side, you'll fall.  If you're sitting squarely and the mount is not moving or is just trotting, you don't.  If you're riding hard or the horse is turning etc, then maybe -- unluck roll or maybe even the horse's DEX roll depending on how well trained it is

[mallet]

3 hours ago, Tywyll said:

The PCs were ambushed and his character was surprised by an arrow to the chest, if that scenario would make a difference?

 

I agree with all of the above comments, being Stunned doesn't mean falling unconscious and the character wouldn't necessarily fall off the horse. Especially in this case where it is an arrow attack by surprise, as arrows are pretty quiet. 

Now if it was a gunshot by surprise, then I would say that the horse would be startled and rear up, so in the case of a gun shot surprise attack when the target is Stunned, I would have the character fall off the horse (and if the character wasn't stunned, I would make them make a Riding Check to keep the horse under control. A startled Horse can be hard to ride/control)). 

[TranquiloUno]

8 hours ago, Tywyll said:

If you are on a mount and get Stunned, what happens? Do you fall off? I had that happen to one of my players and he argued that he ought to get a ride roll and my counter arguement was that since he was stunned, he couldn't make a ride roll.

 

Is there a definitive ruling on this or do people have any strongly held opinions?

 

Not definitive and not even strongly held but...no, for Stunned, I would not have them fall off the horse. I wouldn't even have them roll Riding or Dex or anything.

 

They're just Stunned and not unconscious and a phase\round\segment is only a couple seconds. You get hit, you hunch over in pain (half DCV), you recover. All in a couple seconds.

 

Stunned (5e) specifies that characters "typically" (why is this only one sentence?! Surely the rules should be MUCH more explicit! ;D) don't drop anything they are holding (eg, reins) and while they are stunned they don't go limp, drop prone, or anything else along those lines. They just (IMO) spend a couple moments in the pain cave thinking about what they've done. Just like if I crack my shin on the coffee table in the dark. Am I at full CV? No! I'm in pain! But did I go limp, fall to the ground, and totally lose awareness of my surroundings? Also no.

 

I think even Knocked Out specifies that at -1 through -10 Stun the character isn't fully unconscious Knocked Out, just...uh...mostly KO'd?

 

In any case, to me, Stunned is (very) momentary pain effecting combat\other performance. Not a total loss of all ability to do anything (still have half DCV suggests to me they are at least a bit capable of duckin' and dodgin').

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hugh Neilson]

"deeply stunned" is the description applied to 0 to -9 STUN (IIRC), and I believe it notes that, even then, the character does not necessarily fall down.  I prefer the interpretation that, absent Knockdown or Knockback, a Stunned character, or KOd to -9 STUN character, does not lose their footing.

[ScottishFox]

10 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

"deeply stunned" is the description applied to 0 to -9 STUN (IIRC), and I believe it notes that, even then, the character does not necessarily fall down.  I prefer the interpretation that, absent Knockdown or Knockback, a Stunned character, or KOd to -9 STUN character, does not lose their footing.

 

In my campaigns we consider a STUN of 0 to -9 to be "out on your feet" like a badly rocked boxer or MMA fighter, but not prone or unconscious.

[Surrealone]

GM's call as to what happens when stunned on a mount, as it's very situational.  In the given situation, I'd expect the rider to remain mounted unless the horse did something that might cause the rider to fall -- in which case, I'd offer no Ride roll or Dex check to preclude a fall if the character was still stunned when the horse did whatever it did.

[dsatow]

Personally, I would

1) Check if there was enough knockdown to unseat the character.  If there is, he's knocked off the horse.

2) Run a presence attack on the horse.  If the horse is surprised enough, it bolts or does something requiring a ride check.  The rider stunned, fails and falls off the horse.  Since this is simply a sniping situation, it's unlikely that the sniper wants to make it big and flashy, so about half his presence would be enough.  A 15 PRE would do 1 1/2d6 presence attack against a simple riding horse (which I think is a 8 PRE).

3) If the rider is in a saddle and stir ups, he should stay on.  Otherwise probably a Con or Riding roll to stay slumped over the horse while it's still moving each phase.  There would probably be a penalty of -1 per 5 stun past stunning and another -2 if they are 0 to -9 stun.  If they are farther unconscious, they fall.

 

Again this is just what I would do.  YMMV.

[sentry0]

21 hours ago, TranquiloUno said:

Just like if I crack my shin on the coffee table in the dark. Am I at full CV? No! I'm in pain! But did I go limp, fall to the ground, and totally lose awareness of my surroundings? Also no.

 

I think you and your Herculean strength need to find a lower PD/BODY coffee table if stubbing your toe is causing you to be stunned.  That, or invest in Nightvision, it's dirt cheap when bought through a focus.  Maybe buy up your CON too while you're at it.

[TranquiloUno]

1 hour ago, sentry0 said:

 

I think you and your Herculean strength need to find a lower PD/BODY coffee table if stubbing your toe is causing you to be stunned.  That, or invest in Nightvision, it's dirt cheap when bought through a focus.  Maybe buy up your CON too while you're at it.

 

Well I had to invest in a Questionite coffee table after my No Conscious Control +30 Str buy with XP and unfortunately somebody built it as a Penetrating Damage Shield so....

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

In my campaigns we consider a STUN of 0 to -9 to be "out on your feet" like a badly rocked boxer or MMA fighter, but not prone or unconscious.

 

This is an old reference, but we used to compare it to when Mike Tyson got knocked down by Buster Douglas.  He was on his hands and knees drunkenly trying to find his mouthpiece and basically out cold but still sort of functioning.