D&D 5E In combat riding and movement

[Giant2005]

I know everything is happening simultaneously, and corrected myself in an edit of that post. The best way to describe it, in the narrative, is "after the PC took a few steps, the Owl took flight". However you read it, the Owl spends a fraction of time on the shoulder, and a fraction in the air,not all 6 seconds in both states.

EDIT: actually, reading it back over, my previous edit did not clear up the issue the way I had it in my head. Consider this post my actual stance, and my previous one was a poor choice of words.

But the owl has a set movement speed - that is how much he can travel in 6 seconds, the player does too. If he is only on the player's shoulder for a fraction of that 6 seconds, then he would only be there for that same fraction of the player's movement. He would also only have enough time to use the remaining fraction of that 6 seconds for his own movement, which would limit his maximum movement speed over 6 seconds by that remaining fraction.
Essentially if he is on the shoulder for 1 of the 6 seconds, then he would travel 1/6th of the character's movement plus 5/6ths of his own movement.

 

[Harzel]

I know everything is happening simultaneously, and corrected myself in an edit of that post. The best way to describe it, in the narrative, is "after the PC took a few steps, the Owl took flight". However you read it, the Owl spends a fraction of time on the shoulder, and a fraction in the air,not all 6 seconds in both states.

EDIT: actually, reading it back over, my previous edit did not clear up the issue the way I had it in my head. Consider this post my actual stance, and my previous one was a poor choice of words.

I would be fine with what (I think) you are saying. Taking the fraction, for simplicity, to be 1/2, the Owl might get to ride 15 ft with the PC (0.5*30) and then fly 30 ft. (0.5*60). However, that is not what my player was asserting (see OP).

EDIT: Sigh. Clearly, I rolled really low on my forum reply initiative.

 

[Giant2005]

Sigh. Clearly, I rolled really low on my forum reply initiative.

I'd like to think that I just rolled really high!

 

[Lanliss]

I would be fine with what (I think) you are saying. Taking the fraction, for simplicity, to be 1/2, the Owl might get to ride 15 ft with the PC (0.5*30) and then fly 30 ft. (0.5*60). However, that is not what my player was asserting (see OP).

EDIT: Sigh. Clearly, I rolled really low on my forum reply initiative.

That seems reasonable enough. I was mostly replying off the cuff to things that seemed off to me, so most of my posts were not my exact line of thinking on this subject, just poorly worded versions of it. What you have here seems close enough to be what I agree with. Basically, the Owl does get some movement, but not all of it due to time constraints. Glad we cleared that up.

 

[Giant2005]

I'd just go with the grappling thing - it isn't a perfect solution but it is the simplest.
I wouldn't get too stuck on the 6 second thing, or it might come back to bite you in other aspects of the game (such as actual grappling).

 

[Harzel]

By the way, I do appreciate all the replies and discussion, even though I seem to have fallen into the trap of asking for advice and then arguing with anyone who doesn't agree with my initial ruling....

 

[Giant2005]

By the way, I do appreciate all the replies and discussion, even though I seem to have fallen into the trap of asking for advice and then arguing with anyone who doesn't agree with my initial ruling....

You are more just clarifying your original position than arguing.

 

[Lanliss]

Ah, found the best rule to apply I think. Different speeds, page 190 of PHB. Count the PC's speed as the Familiars walking speed as long as the familiar rides the PC. The PC cannot move during the familiars turn in combat though.

EDIT: Also, the DMG page 271 has rules for climbing onto a bigger creature, but does not say anything about that creatures movement while you ride it.

 

[Boscogn]

I think everyone is thinking too hard here. The familiar uses the PC's speed while riding the PC. If that was 3 seconds of 6 before it took off in the air then it would get 3 seconds of movement at its speed. I would also rule if the PC ran then the owl just would fly at its own speed.

Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

A real owl can fly a lot further than 40 feet in 6 seconds, so I wouldn't worry too much if this trick lets the wizards familliar occasionally move a bit further in a turn than it otherwise would.