How do you play a mounted character on a square grid?

[Red Bear]

Do you play as somehow in the middle of two (horse) or four (other large animals) squares? if so how do you decide reach, range and similar things, if not wich square does the rider occupy? Whatever I do it doesn't feel right.

I'm playing 5th edition by the way but I've been having this problem since 3.0 and I never asked about it until now, Is there a RAW answer in any of these editions?

[Jormengand]

In 3.5, you are treated as occupying your mount's space and not your own. If your mount is large and therefore has a space of 10 feet by 10 feet, so do you. This means you can attack anything within your reach of your mount's space.

In 5th, they probably didn't bother making a rule for it because god knows half of 5e's rules are missing. Port over the 3.5 one if you can't find how 5e does it.

[KillianHawkeye]

Wait, did 5e really go back to horses that take up only two squares? That just seems so wrong to me....

Also, why did you feel the need to specify a square grid? Would this question have resolved itself more easily on a hex grid or some other kind of formation?

[Red Bear]

In 3.5, you are treated as occupying your mount's space and not your own. If your mount is large and therefore has a space of 10 feet by 10 feet, so do you. This means you can attack anything within your reach of your mount's space.

In 5th, they probably didn't bother making a rule for it because god knows half of 5e's rules are missing. Port over the 3.5 one if you can't find how 5e does it.

really? I never knew that, definitely a better solution than everything I've been doing, thank you.

Wait, did 5e really go back to horses that take up only two squares? That just seems so wrong to me....

Also, why did you feel the need to specify a square grid? Would this question have resolved itself more easily on a hex grid or some other kind of formation?

I'm not 100% sure about 2 squares horses actually. Well I just wanted to be precise, maybe the hex grid had an obvious solution I was missing like having a central hex.

[miinstrel]

Horses are large creatures and thus take up 4 squares. It's not necessarily that they actively occupy a 10x10 foot area but rather the space they command while moving about in combat. Turning a horse around takes some room.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

What the others are saying. Characters on foot also move around a bit in their square. They'll take a few small steps, maybe parry a blow or two or throw out a quick distraction jab and then they strike, which is why, at least in my headcanon, it takes six seconds to get off a single attack. They can make two attacks on different sides, or defend against attacks from two sides, be it with a penalty for only being able to look one way at ones. For a vehicle like a truck this model would be problematic. Front mounted guns cannot shoot the guy behind you, especially if you expect me to believe you turned back around all within the same six seconds. (Well, unless you have the "donut master" feat of course). A horse is somewhere in the middle. Most sensible horserider weapons can attack on three sides of the animal, a short weapon can still at least reach two. And the horse can move around a bit, it's still pretty good at turning. Hence D&D figured it didn't need special rules for combat. If you're using a variant with 2 square horses (or motorcycles, or...) you might need some special rules...