I have a question in regards to interpreting the rules on the Nightmare and Mounted Combat as my DM is ruling a certain way and it's not making sense to me. Here are my questions to him and his responses.
Me- "Also not to carry on the discussion on the nightmare and commanding it. It looks like in the description of the effect, its "non sentient".
"The creature is friendly to you and your companions. It understands your languages and obeys your spoken commands. If you issue no commands, the creature defends itself but takes no other actions."
Key line in there being that if you issue no commands the creature defends itself but takes no other actions... meaning if I dont tell it to do something it doesnt take any action. If your ruling stands no sweat. Just confused between the descriptions and the ruling."
DM - "I reread mounted combat and the figurine. Because its intelligent, it acts independant from you, but follows your orders. It gets its own initiative as well. If no orders given, it defends itself."
His ruling in game was that if it took sufficient damage it would flee whether I wanted it to or not. He is also ruling that its initiative is different than mine so how would verbal commands work? Any assist on this would be interesting as I'm confused. It's a sentient non sentient creature that has it's own will but follows my command however does what it wants. That's what I gathered.
Ignoring the mount's nature for a moment, let's see the rules on Mounted Combat, and more specifically the paragraph about controlling a mount.
There are two options about this case: Control the mount directly - when you are mounted the mount's initiative shifts to your own, and it practically acts as your movement, but doesn't take any actions other than Dash, Disengage or Dodge. Command an independent mount - you give it orders and it acts them out on its initiative.
According to your DM, the Nightmare is intelligent - at an Int of 10, I tend to agree - which means it can act independently. And if I understand things correctly, your DM judges that this mount isn't exactly trained to accept a rider. As such, you can't control it directly, only command it.
There's not much conflict in the rules here. The creature is sentient, and as such can follow your orders (which you usually give as a verbal statement on your turn that doesn't require an action) on its initiative order. You can still be mounted on it and tell it to attack anyone that comes within range or "move over there" or dodge, but it will do those things on its turn (which may be a little problematic if you want to move to an opponent and attack).
And, being sentient, it fears for its life, so it will run when its life is threatened. This bit is a bit weird - I can see a riding horse running when injured, but a Nightmare (and one created by a Figurine of Wondrous Power at that?) You can probably argue this point with your DM (out of game, of course).
"Obsidian Steed (Very Rare). This polished obsidian horse can become a nightmare for up to 24 hours. The nightmare fights only to defend itself. Once it has been used, it can't be used again until 5 days have passed.
If you have a good alignment, the figurine has a 10 percent chance each time you use it to ignore your orders, including a command to revert to figurine form. If you mount the nightmare while it is ignoring your orders, you and the nightmare are instantly transported to a random location on the plane of Hades, where the nightmare reverts to figurine form."
So each time you summon it you need to check to see if it's in the mood to listen to you before you mount up...
There seems to be two contradictory lines within the description of this magical item. Does this mean you can't order the nightmare to attack until it's forced to defend itself? Does this fall under DM discretion? What is appropriate RAW ruling on this?
The creature is friendly to you and your companions. It understands your languages and obeys your spoken commands. If you issue no commands, the creature defends itself but takes no other actions.
Obsidian Steed. This polished obsidian horse can become a nightmare for up to 24 hours. The nightmare fights only to defend itself. Once it has been used, it can't be used again until 5 days have passed.
A figurine of wondrous power is a statuette of a beast small enough to fit in a pocket. If you use an action to speak the command word and throw the figurine to a point on the ground within 60 feet of you, the figurine becomes a living creature. If the space where the creature would appear is occupied by other creatures or objects, or if there isn't enough space for the creature, the figurine doesn't become a creature.
The creature is friendly to you and your companions. It understands your languages and obeys your spoken commands. If you issue no commands, the creature defends itself but takes no other actions.
The creature exists for a duration specific to each figurine. At the end of the duration, the creature reverts to its figurine form. It reverts to a figurine early if it drops to 0 hit points or if you use an action to speak the command word again while touching it. When the creature becomes a figurine again, its property can't be used again until a certain amount of time has passed, as specified in the figurine's description.
Obsidian Steed. This polished obsidian horse can become a nightmare for up to 24 hours. The nightmare fights only to defend itself. Once it has been used, it can't be used again until 5 days have passed.
If you have a good alignment, the figurine has a 10 percent chance each time you use it to ignore your orders, including a command to revert to figurine form. If you mount the nightmare while it is ignoring your orders, you and the nightmare are instantly transported to a random location on the plane of Hades, where the nightmare reverts to figurine form.
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I have a question in regards to interpreting the rules on the Nightmare and Mounted Combat as my DM is ruling a certain way and it's not making sense to me. Here are my questions to him and his responses.
Me- "Also not to carry on the discussion on the nightmare and commanding it. It looks like in the description of the effect, its "non sentient".
"The creature is friendly to you and your companions. It understands your languages and obeys your spoken commands. If you issue no commands, the creature defends itself but takes no other actions."
Key line in there being that if you issue no commands the creature defends itself but takes no other actions... meaning if I dont tell it to do something it doesnt take any action.
If your ruling stands no sweat. Just confused between the descriptions and the ruling."
DM - "I reread mounted combat and the figurine. Because its intelligent, it acts independant from you, but follows your orders. It gets its own initiative as well. If no orders given, it defends itself."
His ruling in game was that if it took sufficient damage it would flee whether I wanted it to or not. He is also ruling that its initiative is different than mine so how would verbal commands work? Any assist on this would be interesting as I'm confused. It's a sentient non sentient creature that has it's own will but follows my command however does what it wants. That's what I gathered.
Ignoring the mount's nature for a moment, let's see the rules on Mounted Combat, and more specifically the paragraph about controlling a mount.
There are two options about this case:
Control the mount directly - when you are mounted the mount's initiative shifts to your own, and it practically acts as your movement, but doesn't take any actions other than Dash, Disengage or Dodge.
Command an independent mount - you give it orders and it acts them out on its initiative.
According to your DM, the Nightmare is intelligent - at an Int of 10, I tend to agree - which means it can act independently. And if I understand things correctly, your DM judges that this mount isn't exactly trained to accept a rider. As such, you can't control it directly, only command it.
There's not much conflict in the rules here. The creature is sentient, and as such can follow your orders (which you usually give as a verbal statement on your turn that doesn't require an action) on its initiative order. You can still be mounted on it and tell it to attack anyone that comes within range or "move over there" or dodge, but it will do those things on its turn (which may be a little problematic if you want to move to an opponent and attack).
And, being sentient, it fears for its life, so it will run when its life is threatened. This bit is a bit weird - I can see a riding horse running when injured, but a Nightmare (and one created by a Figurine of Wondrous Power at that?) You can probably argue this point with your DM (out of game, of course).
Also:
"Obsidian Steed (Very Rare). This polished obsidian horse can become a nightmare for up to 24 hours. The nightmare fights only to defend itself. Once it has been used, it can't be used again until 5 days have passed.
If you have a good alignment, the figurine has a 10 percent chance each time you use it to ignore your orders, including a command to revert to figurine form. If you mount the nightmare while it is ignoring your orders, you and the nightmare are instantly transported to a random location on the plane of Hades, where the nightmare reverts to figurine form."
So each time you summon it you need to check to see if it's in the mood to listen to you before you mount up...
There seems to be two contradictory lines within the description of this magical item. Does this mean you can't order the nightmare to attack until it's forced to defend itself? Does this fall under DM discretion? What is appropriate RAW ruling on this?
A figurine of wondrous power is a statuette of a beast small enough to fit in a pocket. If you use an action to speak the command word and throw the figurine to a point on the ground within 60 feet of you, the figurine becomes a living creature. If the space where the creature would appear is occupied by other creatures or objects, or if there isn't enough space for the creature, the figurine doesn't become a creature.
The creature is friendly to you and your companions. It understands your languages and obeys your spoken commands. If you issue no commands, the creature defends itself but takes no other actions.
The creature exists for a duration specific to each figurine. At the end of the duration, the creature reverts to its figurine form. It reverts to a figurine early if it drops to 0 hit points or if you use an action to speak the command word again while touching it. When the creature becomes a figurine again, its property can't be used again until a certain amount of time has passed, as specified in the figurine's description.
Obsidian Steed. This polished obsidian horse can become a nightmare for up to 24 hours. The nightmare fights only to defend itself. Once it has been used, it can't be used again until 5 days have passed.
If you have a good alignment, the figurine has a 10 percent chance each time you use it to ignore your orders, including a command to revert to figurine form. If you mount the nightmare while it is ignoring your orders, you and the nightmare are instantly transported to a random location on the plane of Hades, where the nightmare reverts to figurine form.