You summon a spirit that assumes the form of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed, creating a long-lasting bond with it. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the steed takes on a form that you choose: a warhorse, a pony, a camel, an elk, or a mastiff. (Your GM might allow other animals to be summoned as steeds.) The steed has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of its normal type. 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.
Your steed serves you as a mount, both in combat and out, and you have an instinctive bond with it that allows you to fight as a seamless unit. While mounted on your steed, you can make any spell you cast that targets only you also target your steed.
When the steed drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. You can also dismiss your steed at any time as an action, causing it to disappear. In either case, casting this spell again summons the same steed, restored to its hit point maximum.
While your steed is within 1 mile of you, you can communicate with each other telepathically.
You can't have more than one steed bonded by this spell at a time. As an action, you can release the steed from its bond at any time, causing it to disappear.
Been looking for a suitable mount for a Dragonborn Paladin, figured a Giant Riding Lizard that looks like a "Thorny Devil" would be the appropriate choice!
https://animals.net/moloch/
I gave the dragonborn paladin in my game a celestial drake. Re-skinned the warhorse stat block (slashing claws instead of bashing hooves) but otherwise the same. I also modeled its personality after Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove: enthusiastic, supportive, earnest, and dumb as a box of rocks. So much fun!
Once summoned, do I have to keep the spell prepared to maintain the mount?
No, you're good to go until the steed dies or is dismissed. Feel free to cast it and trade the spell out next long rest.
Good to know! Thank you.
Must the steed be mounted independently due to being intelligent? Or can it be controled so as to act on the same turn as the rider?
What happens if I cast magic jar while while mounted on my steed do both of our souls inhabit the crystal and once in the crystal can we inhabit 2 sperate bodies and if one of us decides to go back to our original body does the spell break for both of us?
I'm a DM with a player running a Paladin who just reached 5th level. He was thrilled with the prospect of having multiple types of steeds any time he wanted using Find Steed. So, I did a very careful read-through of the spell description, looked at mounted combat, did a bit of digging around online and came up with the following response to his enthusiasm – hopefully without squashing it too much. Figured I’d share the results here, in case any other DMs have paladin players with similar aspirations. Also, I'd be pleased to read the reactions and responses of other DMs and Players alike. (As an aside, I mention FGU in one of the points below -- this refers to Fantasy Grounds Unity, which is the VTT we're currently playing on.)
So what is the ruling here if it's the Paladin that dies? Given there is no concentration component to the spell would the steed continue to exist? Wpuld it disapear when its summoner dies? A player in my grouo may very been having his steed carry someone important to safety while they went to a certain Vampire's castle...
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edit: honse
Personally, I would say that as long as the party is actively trying to revive the Paladin or finish a mission central to the Paladin's Oath, the spirit might linger long enough to aid the party in it's master's name, though in a non-combat capacity like carrying the body/gear of it's master... and nagging the party to get on with things. But it won't last forever, and if the party gets distracted/sidetracked it would probably vanish in disgust, joining it's master on the Other Side. It's an intelligent creature and can understand spoken language, so it's fully capable of making that determination of party intent. It's devoted to it's master, not the party.
(Mostly I would let it be a party convenience thing so they wouldn't have to literally drag the Paladin's corpse around, and then only until they get to a convenient location. If they have other means of carrying/storing the corpse, or the Pally player is satisfied and states a DNR, or the party starts taking advantage/taking it for granted, then *poof* off it trots)
In your particular case, I would say it would fulfill it's final duty to it's master, then vanish.
I was curious what spells from the Paladin list qualify for this?
Heroism and shield of faith both seem to be really good options for in combat, and cure wounds can also be cool for some healing.
Cant seem to find the spell on my paladin. Is there a particular oath that gets this spell? Oath of Vengence and Oath of Crown dont seem to bring it up for me. Even when bringing a character to level 20
Dropping this here for my own future reference (:D) : https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/rules-game-mechanics/23153-find-steed-searing-smite-combo
sans
If I'm a half elf paladin, am I able to summon a mastiff and ride it or am I too big for that?
You're too big. Your steed needs to be a size class larger than you to be ridden... and you cannot intentionally summon a smaller animal as a clever pet as the spell is specifically "Find Steed", meaning your pally needs to be capable of riding it as a mount
I'm actually disappointed that "wolf" isn't in the default summons list: they meet all the criteria. Ah, well, it's an easy ask from a good DM
I really liked the first part of your post: one of the major, MAJOR issues I have with this spell is that it doesn't scale with level, so the Warhorse that was so useful at Level 5 is getting immediately flattened at Level 8, with three levels to go for an upgrade (Find Greater Steed). It's no fun having a mount with such wonderful combat utility, specifically stated to be used to aid the Paladin in combat, and only being able to use it as a cheap riding horse. Well done! And my DM agrees and has incorporated it into our own games (about time, too, after spending my Pally's VERY precious spell slots resummoning after almost every Long Rest... even with a Ring of Spell Storing)
It's this quoted part that I disagree with. While I agree that there should be some continuity of form (like fur/skin colour, same shape/breed per Steed form), there are situations where the best animal for the job isn't the one you first summoned X levels ago. For example, there's the Camel in the base list... clearly a Steed with specific advantages in a specific terrain type where other Steeds would be disadvantaged. Or if you're using an expanded list, a Giant Seahorse for waterborne adventures (our DM made swimming steeds a 3rd level upcast option, flying mounts reserved for Greater Steed) where other Steeds would be impossible. I would say that since the Steed's default INT of 6 makes it a sapient being, it's allowed to have a form preference and be able to let the Pally know when it's uncomfortable wearing another skin. It's not as draconic as kicking your old Steed to the curb if your needs change, and allows for RP opportunities where the PC can negotiate/persuade/convince the Steed to take another form without completely alienating a dear friend just because you're spending a few weeks helping your Triton companion with his side quest (Giant Seahorse wasn't exactly the option that appealed to me, but I had to consider that my Steed preferred his horse-shape... then Aquaman came out and he got beautiful, flowy dragon-horse fins and we were both happy :) )
On a related note, we agreed to Steed continuity even using Find Greater Steed: even though it's technically a different spell, the DM allowed that the same spirit answered the call, and I chose Pegasus for him... which completely "Flowers-For-Algernon"ed his old Warhorse form, as a Pegasus has an INT of 10 rather than the much dumber 6