The party's plans went all to pot, and the druid decided to take off by casting a 3rd-rank summon animal spell to conjure a terror bird underneath him. Thus so mounted, he would command (as part of the casting) the mount to use Sprint to dash away 150 feet from the nasty spot of bother.
I can't for the life of me find any rule saying that you can't summon creatures into the spaces of others.
Should I allow this? Why or why not?
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I'm not sure that I would generally allow casting the spell in a way that the character is already mounted. I would probably require an action to mount the summoned creature.
But then the action economy doesn't work right. Because the Summoned creature has to use its actions immediately after being summoned - which I would interpret to mean 'before the summoning character can use its next action'. And since summon spells generally take three actions to cast, the summoning character wouldn't have any left that round.
So by strict RAW, it probably doesn't work.
That said, I would probably relax strict RAW and allow it.
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IIRC a creature cannot end its turn in another creature's space unless the Size difference is pretty big.
Also mounting a creature requires an action.
So RAW, no.
Rule of cool may allow for it, until the players find a way to game the interpretation into giving them undue mechanical advantages.
I'm not sure that I would generally allow casting the spell in a way that the character is already mounted. I would probably require an action to mount the summoned creature.
But why?
But then the action economy doesn't work right. Because the Summoned creature has to use its actions immediately after being summoned - which I would interpret to mean 'before the summoning character can use its next action'. And since summon spells generally take three actions to cast, the summoning character wouldn't have any left that round.
So by strict RAW, it probably doesn't work.
Perhaps doesn't. Perhaps it does.
That said, I would probably relax strict RAW and allow it.
That would certainly allow everyone to have fun and keep the game moving, at least until the player breaks any unsaid good faith agreements and utilizes a broken combo of some sort.
IIRC a creature cannot end its turn in another creature's space unless the Size difference is pretty big.
Minions don't have turns though.
Also mounting a creature requires an action.
Which is predicated on the assumption that the would be rider is hopping on, rather than having a steed magically appear between their legs.
So RAW, no.
You sure? We should probably make absolutely certain before acting as though our interpretations were indisputable facts.
Rule of cool may allow for it, until the players find a way to game the interpretation into giving them undue mechanical advantages.
Spending three actions to stride three times with a speed boost in return for a third level spell slot doesn't strike me as an undue mechanical advantage. Perhaps someone can come up with one more unbalanced than that?
I'm probably going to continue to allow it until the player tries to do something broken, then I will endeavor to talk to the player about keeping things fun for everyone involved and not just themselves.
I suspect it won't ever come to that though.
Thanks for the advice everyone! Feel free to continue discussing. :)
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I'm not sure that I would generally allow casting the spell in a way that the character is already mounted. I would probably require an action to mount the summoned creature.But why?
Well, first because it is not allowed by RAW.
Narratively it looks strange because either you are summoning something too small to carry you, or you are summoning it in a really flattened and contorted position, or you are summoning it into the physical location that you currently occupy (not just in your space or 'under' you) and somehow displacing yourself to be above them.
For balance, it is supposed to cost an action to Mount. Getting that for free so that you can move around the battlefield while continuing combat feels like cheese.
I would allow it for escaping battle because escaping a combat that is going south is a very difficult thing to do. The players can use all the help that they can get.
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Minions don't have turns though.
Minions share the turn of their controller.
" Minions are creatures that directly serve another creature. A creature with this trait can use only 2 actions per turn, doesn't have reactions, and can't act when it's not your turn. Your minion acts on your turn in combat, once per turn, when you spend an action to issue it commands. "