Pondering FIND STEED

[danpit2991]

so it says in the description that you can summon a mastiff which is great for small characters to ride but say you are in a game that is mostly dungeon crawl or urban wouldn't it make sense to be a medium character with a mastiff as your "steed" its like a animal companion/familiar rolled into one


so my question is would a human summoning a mastiff steed (obviously he cant actually ride it) be allowable? from my reading RAW it is ok


apologies if this has been discussed before

[Blood of Gaea]

Yes, but you wouldn't be able to use it as a mount without enlarging it somehow.

[willdaBEAST]

so it says in the description that you can summon a mastiff which is great for small characters to ride but say you are in a game that is mostly dungeon crawl or urban wouldn't it make sense to be a medium character with a mastiff as your "steed" its like a animal companion/familiar rolled into one


so my question is would a human summoning a mastiff steed (obviously he cant actually ride it) be allowable? from my reading RAW it is ok


apologies if this has been discussed before

Reading the spell it specifies:
the steed takes on a form that you choose, such as a Warhorse, a pony, a camel, an elk, or a Mastiff. (Your DM might allow Other Animals to be summoned as steeds.) I see no reason that a human wouldn't be able to summon a mastiff, if anything you're limiting the power of the spell by summoning a mount that you can't ride.

I don't think this is a case of a spell like Conjure Animals or Conjure Woodland Beings where the player specifies the CR and number of creatures, but the DM gets to decide what appears.

[danpit2991]

yea i get that i couldn't ride it i was just thinking in a dungeon or a city a mastiff makes more sense than a horse or camel or elk

and since the steed has its own actions and telepathy a mastiff would be like a familiar/companion hybrid except better


in my head i picture a vengeance pally bounty hunter with a mastiff steed tracking down evildoers

[Toadkiller]

Seems solid. Plus it can be reshaped into a mount (with another casting) when one wants.

[Quoz]

Paladin steeds may actually be better when they aren't attached to the paladin. Depending on how your GM handles initiative and controlled mounts you can easily run into situations where you can't get the most out of your moves and attacks. But acting independently the steed can be a solid high mobility skirmisher. It can take a few hits or disrupt back line archers or casters, and with share spells it doubles the effect of any buffs you cast on yourself.

[willdaBEAST]

with share spells it doubles the effect of any buffs you cast on yourself.
That's true, but only while mounted. I imagine that the mount could keep the buff if you dismount it and maintain concentration. Does anyone know of a specific ruling about that?

[danpit2991]

Paladin steeds may actually be better when they aren't attached to the paladin. Depending on how your GM handles initiative and controlled mounts you can easily run into situations where you can't get the most out of your moves and attacks. But acting independently the steed can be a solid high mobility skirmisher. It can take a few hits or disrupt back line archers or casters, and with share spells it doubles the effect of any buffs you cast on yourself.


That's true, but only while mounted. I imagine that the mount could keep the buff if you dismount it and maintain concentration. Does anyone know of a specific ruling about that?

hmm depends on how you play mounted i have 3 mastiffs and if they stand between my legs im on tiptoes so is that mounted? opens up so much more than i figured lol

[willdaBEAST]

hmm depends on how you play mounted i have 3 mastiffs and if they stand between my legs im on tiptoes so is that mounted? opens up so much more than i figured lol

Hah, that's going to depend on your DM. Personally I'd rule you can only have one creature or whatever designated as your mount at a time (I'd make some exception for a Voltron like mount that is intended to break apart) and to get the Find Steed benefit of buffs applying to both your character and the mount, you'd have to be fully riding it. My guess is that there are probably some unintended abuses that could stem from it otherwise.

[danpit2991]

Hah, that's going to depend on your DM. Personally I'd rule you can only have one creature or whatever designated as your mount at a time (I'd make some exception for a Voltron like mount that is intended to break apart) and to get the Find Steed benefit of buffs applying to both your character and the mount, you'd have to be fully riding it. My guess is that there are probably some unintended abuses that could stem from it otherwise.

my bad i didnt mean 3 at once i was just bragging that i have 3 mastiffs IRL lol and yea standing over one isnt like riding it although my niece can ride them lol (shes 2)