Will Summoned mounts fight?

[Uncensored]

I'm playing a Sorcerer and using the Mount spell, and I plan to get Phantom Steed later. In the core books, some stats are given for the mounts such as their AC and Speed, but it doesn't say how the mounts will behave, other than "The steed serves willingly and well."

Are my light horse, pony, and phantom steed aggressive, neutral, or skittish?

Will my mount kick and bite if it's in melee combat?

Can I get off and send it to attack another monster?

As usual, any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

I'm not aware of any specific rules about this for Mount. If it came up in my game, I'd probably call for handle animal checks if you wanted to get the mount to do anything more complicated or specific than letting you ride it (making it attack in battle, sending it to attack another monster, etc.) and would probably use the DC for "pushing" an animal (25) for the check as the mount spell doesn't say anything about the animal knowing any specific tricks.

Phantom Steed specifically says "It does not fight, but animals shun it and refuse to attack it" so I would say that it won't attack no matter what you try unless you use Dominate or Charm Monster on it or something like that.

[Uncensored]

Would you say that applied even if a creature was attacking it?

It only says "animals," so I assume that means the subtype; Humanoids would attack it normally.

Do you think that it would refuse to attack even if it was currently being attacked? Does attacking include defending itself?

[jackattack]

"Attacking" means any attempt to hit and do damage.

The Phantom Steed spell specifically states that the summoned creature won't fight. If you want creatures other than the Animal subtype to attack it I don't see a problem, but RAW the Phantom Steed would at best try to dodge and at most run away (unless controlled by its rider).

Mount is a lower level spell than Phantom Steed. I wouldn't expect the summoned creature to be any more predisposed to combat.

Creatures that fight come under Summon Nature's Ally and Summon Monster. A horse probably comes out around 2nd or 3rd level. Creatures summoned under these spells can be directed to perform actions other than fighting, but the caster has to be able to communicate with the creature.

If a DM allows, variant Mount and/or Phantom Steed spells might be researched to summon a fighting mount or even a warhorse, possibly with barding.

[eggs]

"It does not fight" presumably means just that.

[Urpriest]

Mount isn't restricted from combat...but it specifically not a warhorse, so it won't be combat trained.

Phantom Steed doesn't have an Int score, so it shouldn't get scared like a normal horse. As others have said though, it won't every actually fight.

[Kelb_Panthera]

There's nothing in mount's description that says the horse or pony is any different from a typical horse or pony. This presumably means that the summoned creature is the one in the animal section of the MM. Since it's not trained for combat it will only fight to defend itself when cornered, otherwise it'll try to flee, just like any other normal horse or pony. You'd have to succeed on a handle animal check and/or a ride check just for being on one when combat started.

As already mentioned, the apparition created by phantom steed will not fight under any circumstance.