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Can I cast find greater steed (XGtE, p. 156) to summon a creature, hop on it, and use its movement, action, or both - all in the same turn?

V2Blast
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1 Answers1

4

It takes 10 minutes to cast

Find greater steed (Xanathars, 156) has a casting time of 10 minutes.

Because of that, you won't be able cast and use the steed in a single turn.

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NotArch
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  • This is oversimplifying a little. When you finish casting the spell, the steed appears, with its own initiative. Then, when you mount it, and choose to treat it as a controlled mount (assuming your DM doesn't consider it intelligent), its initiative changes to match yours. Then you can end your turn, and use its movement on its turn. – Miniman Oct 11 '18 at 00:11
  • @Miniman: Crawford's most recent ruling on steeds being independent vs. controlled while mounted: "Find steed / find greater steed—when you ride the mount in combat, you decide whether it follows the rules for a controlled or an independent mount." – V2Blast Oct 11 '18 at 03:21
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    @V2Blast Interesting, I guess that's official confirmation that Int 6 is not enough to be considered "an intelligent creature". Or it would be, if Crawford wasn't a master of vague inconsistency. – Miniman Oct 11 '18 at 03:38
  • @Miniman: That's not really confirmation of that. It can act independently, because it's reasonably intelligent. It can act under your control - because the spell says "You control the mount in combat." (And both steed spells describe the steed as loyal and obeying you to the best of its ability, generally speaking.) – V2Blast Oct 11 '18 at 03:41
  • @V2Blast Any mount can act independently, intelligence just means that it always acts independently. And if you're taking "you control the mount in combat" to mean "the mount follows the rules for a controlled mount", then it can't act independently. – Miniman Oct 11 '18 at 03:45
  • @Miniman Right, but the spell doesn't constitute evidence that 6 INT isn't enough to be an 'intelligent creature'. The spell has a specific exception that states you control the mount, so the intelligence question is left aside entirely. The mount could have an intelligence score of 27 and it still wouldn't change anything because the spell just outright says how the mount acts. – Darth Pseudonym Oct 11 '18 at 05:42
  • @DarthPseudonym And if that was the ruling, "the spell says controlled so the mount is controlled" I'd be fine with it. I'd change it in my own games, of course, but I'd accept it as a valid interpretation of the rules. But "it can act independently or be controlled" means it's not intelligent. – Miniman Oct 11 '18 at 06:06
  • His ruling isn't saying that the steed is unintelligent, therefore it has both options. Normally any mount can act independently; and the Find Greater Steed spell's specific exception provides that this particular steed will follow orders (despite being intelligent). His ruling is merely to state that the spell's exception is explicitly allowing controlled-mode, not removing free-mode. Which is an option normally available to even a regular horse but which the Steed appears to not have, on a first reading. – Darth Pseudonym Oct 11 '18 at 12:26
  • I have removed this section of my answer mainly because it's not directly related to the question. It is still very much relevant, but likely deserves it's own question. For now, I just focused on the fact that they can't do it in one turn because of the casting time. – NotArch Oct 11 '18 at 13:21