So I just found out that I messed up pretty bad on the rules (again). I was looking up a spell and for no reason at all re-read Find Steed . I was expecting the part about "gets its own set of actions" and didn't see it. Then I noticed on the adjacent page that the line I was looking for was under Find Familiar . After re-reading Find Steed about six times it dawned on me that I made another glaring rules error. My weak excuses are that Paladin mounts in 3rd edition got their own set of actions. It's also how we house-ruled it in the last 5e Living Campaign. So somehow it just got stuck in my head that's how Find Steed works. So I went to the internet to see how other people handled it, and sure enough there's little consensus on it. But one thing had stuck in my head (probably the subconscious reason I was reading the spell) was a Sage Advice link someone had posted in the chat log last week. I think that's as close to an official response as we're going to get. At the time I thought (and I think I even commented) that I disagreed with Mr. Mearls on the grounds that the spell specifically says the mount "gets its own set of actions." Which apparently it does not. So long story short; the Paladin mount is a very smart critter that never requires Handle Animal checks from its Paladin. In the section on Mount Rules it refers to intelligent mounts having their own set of actions which is the source of all the confusion. But we're going to say that, while the Paladin Mount is intelligent, it does not operate separately from the Paladin, but with him/her as a seamless unit . Unfortunately the wording in the spell is to the Paladin's detriment. The second part of the nerf is a closing of doors on CR1 beast mounts. I'm still trying to stick as close to RAW as possible because it's so much less work for me as a DM (I have pleny to do already). So only those listed in the spell description are available mechanically (stat block). See the House Rules post I just updated to reflect the rule. I still have no issue with Leo's Justice, Lorelei's Baloo, or Thad's Kitty as the mounts themselves have a personality and appearance that fits with their Paladin. The Find Steed spell is an issue I've been wrestling with since I started with 5e, and from reading forums I'm not alone. All that said, I could see a situation where the Paladin was restrained or held in some way but still able to request help from their mount (telepathy within a mile). In this situation I could see the mount having access to the Attack action (using the Paladin's action). I don't want to make this a house rule, but logically I see no issue with allowing the mount to attack in extraordinary circumstances as long as the Paladin is not also attacking. I'm still open to feedback on this and I'd like to hear what you all think. I apologize if you've tried to point out this rules error in the past and I didn't see it. TL;DR - Find Steed summons a warhorse, a pony, a camel, an elk, or a mastiff. You choose what it looks like. The mount does not get its own set of actions but follows the rules for a controlled mount .
