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The issue with controlled vs uncontrolled mounts in the dnd mounted combat rules
Oct 2, 2025
Find Steed changed a lot between dnd 5e and 2024 dnd, and it really highlights the issue with controlled vs uncontrolled mounts in the dnd mounted combat rules.
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0:00
These rules drive me insane. D and D
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players, let's talk about controlled
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mounts versus uncontrolled mounts. I'm
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going to very politely ask you to stick
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around because the more I talk about
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this, the more insane you're going to
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think I am, and I promise you, I am. But
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also, this is how the rules work. The
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mounted combat rules are exactly seven
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paragraphs. It is one column on one page
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in the player's handbook, and three of
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those paragraphs are dedicated to the
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differences between controlled mounts
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and uncontrolled mounts. Controlled
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mounts are very very simple. You mount
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the creature, it becomes a controlled
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mount. This is typically how like horses
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and other low intelligence creatures
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work. They can take three actions on
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their turn. Dash, disengage, dodge. That
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is all that those are the only things
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they can do. They can move and they can
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take those three actions. They move
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their initiative to your initiative
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score and act during your turns. So, you
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can use actions interchangeably with
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your mount. This makes them very
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convenient. They're effectively an
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extension of your character. Notably,
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find steed in the 2024 rules works this
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way. When you are mounted on your steed,
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they're a controlled mount, so they can
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only take those three actions. Now, 5e
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does an awful job distinguishing between
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actions as a whole, which is actions,
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bonus actions, reactions, and big
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actions, which is the action on your
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turn. I Yeah, rambling like an idiot. I
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know. It's entirely possible they
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intended fine steed to be able to use
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their bonus action during your turn. But
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again, because they don't verbally
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distinguish between actions, the type of
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action, and actions, the category, we
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don't know. Rules as written, your fine
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seed cannot use the bonus actions in its
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stat block while you are riding it. Yes,
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you should be starting to feel insane.
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That is the correct response. The third
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paragraph details independent mounts.
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Independent mounts are more intelligent
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creatures. So this would be like if you
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climbed on an allies back or rode on a
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dragon or something like that. They
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continue to act on their own turn. If
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they move, you are carried along
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helplessly. I guess technically by
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choice. I don't know. Effectively,
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you're just a another creature taped to
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their back until you decide not to be.
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And there's really no other rules
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interaction there. So, in the 2014
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rules, find seed gives you a creature
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that is intelligent enough to be an
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uncontrolled mount. Which means that
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rules as written, if you use find steed
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in the 2014 rules, your horse acts on
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its own turn independent of you, which
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kind of defeats the entire point of
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casting find steed. So 2024 rules did
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make that better by making it a
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controlled mount, but they also gave
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find seed actions that rules as written
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it can't use while you're writing it.
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100% it cannot use its attacks while you
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are writing it because those are like a
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capital A action action. It might be
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able to use its bonus action rules as
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intended, but rules as written, it
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