# Mounted combat: movement > free actions > dismounting, then free attack. Am I doing it right?

I have a lvl 6 Half Orc Paladin with the Shield Master feat riding a worg. The paladin has a speed of 30, the worg has 50. I move forward speed $$\x\$$ and spear a human with the lance 1d12+str+smite. I move forward 5 feet(reach), then as a bonus action I use Shield Master to knock the human prone. After that I dismount, and use my extra attack to stab my long sword 1d8+str+smite into the prone human. Can I do this?

If so how far away from the human can I start and complete the action?

$$2\text{(dash)}\times30\text{(orc speed)}=x+5\text{(closing 5 feet)}+ \frac{1}{2}\times30\text{(orc speed used for dismount)}$$ $$60=x+5+\frac{1}{2}\times30$$ $$60=x+20$$ $$x=40 \text{ feet?}$$ Or am I doing it all wrong?

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## Technically, this doesn't work

See the answer by Rubiksmoose on this relevant question; by a strict RAW reading, you can't move the mount between attacks. Even controlled mounts act on their own turn, and your attacks happen only on your turns- therefore, your process breaks down after your first Lance attack, because the mount cannot move the next 5 feet.

Additionally, you can't use a bonus action that triggers when you take the Attack action until your entire Attack action resolves, so you can't use the Shield Master shove attack before your second attack.

Furthermore, you may not be able to drop the Lance and draw your Longsword on the same turn, because dropping a weapon may consume your Free Object Interaction, though that issue doesn't have a definite resolution.

## But if you rule otherwise, 110 feet

In the interests of giving an answer that might be more practically useful for your game: If we just ignore the above Shield Master ruling and possibly the Dropping a Weapon ruling, but run Mounted Combat by the rules, you can do the following.

1. The Worg takes its turn, during which it uses Dash and moves up to 100 feet toward the Human, remaining at Lance distance (10 feet)

2. The Orc makes a Lance attack.

3. The Orc drops its Lance and uses its Free Object Interaction to draw a Longsword.

4. The Orc dismounts (-15 feet movement).

5. The Orc moves 5 feet closer to the Human, so that it is now within 5 feet.

6. The Orc uses its Shield Master maneuver to shove prone.

7. The Orc uses its second attack from Extra Attack to strike the prone Human with the Longsword.

8. The Orc has 10 feet of movement remaining.

This is possible because the Worg's movement is entirely separate from the Orc's.

If you rule otherwise for Mounted Combat as well, you can start 105 feet away, use the Worg to move 95 feet, attack with Lance, and then move another 5 feet on the mount before completing the rest of the process. The difference in this case is pretty small.

• So by the rules, the Orc could attack the Human after dismounting and would have to do so before the shove and with and empty hand? What is the best resource for amendments and clarifications to the PHB? – Leslie Ball Apr 21 at 4:35
• @Les The "empty hand" thing is still ambiguous, but the rest should be accurate. Generally WoTC publishes errata to the PHB/other books periodically (can find them at dnd.wizards.com ); additionally, Jeremy Crawford (game designer) tweets out rule clarifications, though these are no longer truly RAW, just designer intention. But the real answer is for the DM to use these rules as guidance and to make rulings that facilitate play at the table. (I personally ignore the Shield Master and dropping weapon rulings, because neither makes intuitive sense nor do they affect balance much.) – Carcosa Apr 21 at 4:49