| J Michael Neal |
What is the effect when a paladin's or a cavalier's bonded mount is charmed by an NPC? Specifically what I'm looking at is the harpy ability Captivating Song. If the mount fails its save, presumably it starts galloping off towards the harpy. If the PC is riding the mount at the time, does she have any way to regain control?
| Nothing |
Yes, the mount will move until it's next to the harpy and then stand there. If the rider wants to regain control the first way would be to kill the harpy (you can make ranged attacks and cast spells while on a running mount, with the appropriate penalties). Because it's a sonic effect, a silence spell should also stop it, and the spell Paladin's Sacrifice could transfer the effect of the failed save to the Paladin (which is probably a bad idea, but it would cure the mount).
More out of the box thinking, the Paladin could dismount (probably taking damage), run outside of the song's effect, and then summon his mount back to him. Or he could deal subdual damage to his mount to knock it unconscious, although the mount may object violently. Or if he felt really lucky he could grapple his mount to stop him.
You get the idea, the options are endless and the best one largely depends on the riding character and his party and what items, spells, and abilities they have.
This probably belongs in the Advice forum since there's not really a specific rules question involved.