Find Steed Spell / Mount + Language + Communicate.

[Tawmis]

So one of the Paladins did a find steed spell; got a Celestial Raptor (think Jurassic Park - ol' Blue).

Now the parts of the spell I am going to ask about -

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Additionally, if your steed has an Intelligence of 5 or less, its Intelligence becomes 6, and it gains the ability to understand one language of your choice that you speak. - He gave it Common

While your steed is within 1 mile of you, you can communicate with each other telepathically.
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The DM put the Intelligence at 6.

The Paladin was not with the party (didn't want to go into the area) - but sent their mount.

The party was having a discussion about a parchment they found with an ancient language.

The party was trying to figure out if any of them recognized it (History Checks).

Now would the Raptor (in your view) be able to convey an Ancient Language (think like some old Myan language) back to the Paladin to see if the Paladin could make a History Check to know if he knows it (since he can't visually see the runes on the parchment) and the Raptor only is able to communicate in Common (even if the Raptor is speaking telepathically - unlike Familiar, the Paladin can not see through the Raptor's eyes to see the parchment).

[Abracadangit]

I would rule no if I was the DM - the clincher for me would be that the steed gains the ability to UNDERSTAND one language, but not speak one language. So you can issue commands and instructions to the steed in that language and the steed will follow along, but the steed gains no special ability to describe things, explain situations, or relay information in that language. The telepathic communication is more for the purposes of sending those instructions to the steed from a distance if necessary. ("Lassie, get help" or "Raptor, come to our aid.")

Like you yourself said, having a familiar (with its sense-sharing ability) would be perfect for this scenario, but alas, I don't think the steed comes with the right mental software to make this work.

[Tawmis]

I would rule no if I was the DM - the clincher for me would be that the steed gains the ability to UNDERSTAND one language, but not speak one language. So you can issue commands and instructions to the steed in that language and the steed will follow along, but the steed gains no special ability to describe things, explain situations, or relay information in that language. The telepathic communication is more for the purposes of sending those instructions to the steed from a distance if necessary. ("Lassie, get help" or "Raptor, come to our aid.")

Like you yourself said, having a familiar (with its sense-sharing ability) would be perfect for this scenario, but alas, I don't think the steed comes with the right mental software to make this work.

OK. I am glad I wasn't out of my mind. :)

[Abracadangit]

OK. I am glad I wasn't out of my mind. :)

Happy to be of service!

Was this paladin maintaining that this was 100% legitimate and should totally work?

[Tawmis]

Happy to be of service!
Was this paladin maintaining that this was 100% legitimate and should totally work?

I'd let it work - that session, because I'd never given it much thought - and didn't want to halt the game.
But before posting this - I'd reached out to him in Discord (he's a former co-worker of mine and good friend) and mentioned, how I re-read the spell and don't think that should have worked that way.

Then I reached out here to make sure I was indeed reading it right. :D

[CozJa]

Well, to be honest, the spell specifies that the paladin and the steed can communicate with each other, therefore it would make sense to have the raptor trying to describe to the paladin what he sees (like: "there are things on the paper that have this shape") but conveying an ancient language it doesn't know? No, definitely not. You could try some form of description from the raptor (remember, the name of the spell is "Find Steed" but the name can be confusing: the creature is not a steed, but an extraplanar spirit who took the form of a steed), and maybe give a History check with disadvantage

[Chronos]

Find some example online of writing in a language that doesn't use the Latin script (and preferably not one related to the Latin script, like Greek or Cyrillic). Try to describe, in words, what the writing looks like. Now imagine that instead of you doing the describing, it's a person with a severe mental handicap (int 6 is really high for a horse, but really low by human standards, somewhere around IQ 66).

You'd be lucky if you got as far as "It's some kind of crazy writing".