Mounted Paladin Combat

[Spankinstein]

I’m currently a level 4 Conquest Paladin soon to be 5th level. I’ve talked with me DM and he’s allowed me to summon a Riding Lizard with Find Steed. Very generous. Although the campaign is Underdark themed and I’m sure there will be places it can’t go.

I’d like to see if I have a good grasp of how combat will work with my mount. Let’s say it’s my turn. My mount is adjacent to me. We both have our own initiatives? He goes first, does nothing because no orders? I go, I mount and take control. His initiative becomes the same as mine? I take the ready action to attack when within range of enemy. Mount under my control moves 20ft to weapon range. I attack with readied action. Mount disengages and moves back 20 ft.

Scenario two. I’m already mounted. Mount moves 20ft to foe. I dismount. Telepathically ask mount to attack foe. I attack. Does mount get its attacks in the same round if it chooses too? Does it get a new initiative now that I’m not mounted and controlling? What about if I’m still mounted and telepathically tell my mount to attack said foe?

I think I could have written this better, but hopefully you get the idea. Thanks in advance.

[TyGuy]

I'm curious to see how people interpret this because when I looked into it for the same reason I didn't find the rules crystal clear.

With a regular mount you have to "take control" or let it do its thing. If it does its own thing the DM controls it on its individual initiative. If you control it, it can only dodge, dash, disengage, dip, and dodge.

But here's the tricky part. You don't have a regular mount. You get an intelligent mount that's telepathically linked. So from my understanding, the mount can move and do the things you want it to do without having to "take control". But I don't know how that screws with initiative.

[DarkKnightJin]

It hasn't come up a lot at the tables I play at, but the DM that had to deal with this has ruled that a mount or other animal companion(like a Familiar) takes their turn either just before or just after the controlling player's turn.
To avoid bogging everything down with random critters in the initiative order, who are bound to get forgotten after a couple turns.

And I kinda like that approach. It allows the PC with a companion to have 'combos' with said companion, without bogging everything down, and they can feel like a single trained unit.

Feel free to see if your DM is open to this approach. I don't think it'll break things too hard, but only playtesting is going to see if it will.

[Spankinstein]

I guess we will just discuss it at the table. I don’t want it to be overpowered and monopolize the game. But I do think it would act somewhat independently, intelligently, and in my best interests in its own initiative.

[NaughtyTiger]

I’m currently a level 4 Conquest Paladin soon to be 5th level. I’ve talked with me DM and he’s allowed me to summon a Riding Lizard with Find Steed. Very generous. Although the campaign is Underdark themed and I’m sure there will be places it can’t go.

I’d like to see if I have a good grasp of how combat will work with my mount. Let’s say it’s my turn. My mount is adjacent to me. We both have our own initiatives? He goes first, does nothing because no orders? I go, I mount and take control. His initiative becomes the same as mine? I take the ready action to attack when within range of enemy. Mount under my control moves 20ft to weapon range. I attack with readied action. Mount disengages and moves back 20 ft.

Scenario two. I’m already mounted. Mount moves 20ft to foe. I dismount. Telepathically ask mount to attack foe. I attack. Does mount get its attacks in the same round if it chooses too? Does it get a new initiative now that I’m not mounted and controlling? What about if I’m still mounted and telepathically tell my mount to attack said foe?

I think I could have written this better, but hopefully you get the idea. Thanks in advance.

Okay, predicting mounted combat is tough. It really depends on how lenient/fun your DM is.

your interpretation seems correct for the "restrictive" version.

mount would revert to it's original initiative when independent, no reroll
ready action only gets you 1 attack

that said, many DMs allow you more freedom while riding:

treat the mount's movement as your own... i.e., no need for readied action, just do your 2 attacks in when you get in range.
let the mount attack once, too

as long as you don't abuse it and take away other people's fun (or complain when elves are riding striders against yall)

[Chronos]

You don't have to directly control your mount, because it's intelligent. It can do whatever it wants. Since you can communicate with it, you can tell it what you want it to do. It has free will and can choose not to do what you tell it, but since it presumably shares your goals, that should probably be fairly rare. Thematically, it's like it's a soldier under your command, except that this particular soldier has four legs and a saddle.

[Guy Lombard-O]

I think the rules are pretty well spelled out, but really confusing and easy to misinterpret and forget without frequent use.

Here's a guide: https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/mounted_combat.html

[Spankinstein]

Thanks for the replies and the link. Now I have to figure out where I’m mounted on the riding lizard.

[NaughtyTiger]

I think the rules are pretty well spelled out, but really confusing and easy to misinterpret and forget without frequent use.

Here's a guide: https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/characters/mounted_combat.html

especially with find steed, i think the rules are woefully lacking (actually, that's a good thing, cuz steeds are fun) and the rules that are there are more complex than needed.

[Guy Lombard-O]

especially with find steed, i think the rules are woefully lacking (actually, that's a good thing, cuz steeds are fun) and the rules that are there are more complex than needed.

Well...maybe I was being a bit too generous....

[Chronos]

Also note that a paladin's mount can act on its own even when you're not sitting on it, which can sometimes be useful, especially since you can communicate with it at a mile range. Though sitting on it helps your mobility, and lets you share spells with it.

[Wildarm]

I’m currently a level 4 Conquest Paladin soon to be 5th level. I’ve talked with me DM and he’s allowed me to summon a Riding Lizard with Find Steed. Very generous. Although the campaign is Underdark themed and I’m sure there will be places it can’t go.

I’d like to see if I have a good grasp of how combat will work with my mount. Let’s say it’s my turn. My mount is adjacent to me. We both have our own initiatives? He goes first, does nothing because no orders? I go, I mount and take control. His initiative becomes the same as mine? I take the ready action to attack when within range of enemy. Mount under my control moves 20ft to weapon range. I attack with readied action. Mount disengages and moves back 20 ft.

Scenario two. I’m already mounted. Mount moves 20ft to foe. I dismount. Telepathically ask mount to attack foe. I attack. Does mount get its attacks in the same round if it chooses too? Does it get a new initiative now that I’m not mounted and controlling? What about if I’m still mounted and telepathically tell my mount to attack said foe?

I think I could have written this better, but hopefully you get the idea. Thanks in advance.

You can likely assume you're allowing the mount to act on his own or controlled at the start of combat. You can telepathically talk to your mount whenever needed to facilitate this. I'd say you can have a "preset" order for the mount and you can switch from controlled to independent at the start of each of your turns. This can cause weird initiative shifting rules so I generally recommend asking the DM to make your mount act on the same initiative count as you controlled or not.

In general, controlling the mount gets you an extra dash or disengage option and you move with the mount. Charging in and slash or hit and run. These are classic cavalry maneuvers.

Independent mounts gain the ability to attack but it comes at a cost to you having to ready an action to attack a foe you are not engaged with or within half movement range at the start of your turn. Essentially, your movement will have a lag associated with it or you lose out on your full turn. This can be a non-issue or terrible depending on what is more important to do when your turn comes up. Battlefields are quite dynamic.

Again, check with your DM and see if you mount can act before you even with independent. It will make all combats much smoother and you'll feel more like a knight charging in on their valiant steed sword and hooves flashing. If not, stick with controlled unless you see a good reason to sick your horse on people.