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D&D 5E A mounted Ranger can use his natural explorer ability?

maritimo80

First Post
A mounted Ranger can use his natural explorer ability (ignores difficult natural terrain)?

And one mounted rogue can use your cunning action?
 
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Satyrn

First Post
Because I treat the mount mostly as an extension of the rider (unless the mount is a dragon or the like), and so am unlikely to limit a PC's abilities while riding, and i'll try to have every action influenced by the PC.

I mean, jumping a chasm while mounted should obviously use the mount's Strength, but the PC can should be able to contribute in some way - getting Prof bonus from Animal Handling, say.


So if I can find at least some justification for letting an an ability work, I will. The ranger is picking a path for his mount just as he does for himself, and I see no reason at all why a rogue is no less cunning because he's mounted.


But these aren't answers referencing rules. It's how I try to run the game by focusing on the spirit of those rules.
 

Blue

Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal

I think that's the wrong question. You can swing a sword, cast a spell, and use a class feature mounted by default.

So the question has to be why does it differ from default. Or "Why not?"

And there is nothing in the feature that says it can't.

Now, a DM is always free to rule how they like, but at AL or something where they are trying to hew to the rules as written it should be able to be.
 

Ancalagon

Dusty Dragon
It's because a mount isn't a pair of boots. It's a living being with its own intelligence, capacities and limitations.

Just because you can walk through the torn bushes unimpeded doesn't meant it can. Conversely, some kind of nimble footed mount could probably traverse some difficult terrain even though the rider couldn't by him/herself. Imagine a gnome wizard holding on for dear life as her mountain goats climbs a cliff, for example.
 


Colder

Explorer
I don't think any of those work the way I assume some posters expect them to.

You can control a mount only if it has been trained to accept a rider. Domesticated horses, donkeys, and similar creatures are assumed to have such training. The initiative of a controlled mount changes to match yours when you mount it. It moves as you direct it, and it has only three action options: Dash, Disengage, and Dodge. A controlled mount can move and act even on the turn that you mount it.

Those are the rules for controlling a mount. Read them closely: the mount is still an independent creature in every sense except that it acts on your initiative and it does what you want it to. It still has its own statistics, its own movement and its own action economy, and you still have your own statistics, your own movement, and your own action economy.

Sage Advice has confirmed that your mount taking an action is not the same as you taking the same action so it stands to reason that you taking an action is not the same as your mount taking the same action.

So Natural Explorer still allows you to ignore difficult terrain, but the benefit does not extend to other creatures.

Likewise, the Dash action allows you to move up to your speed as an action, but the benefit does not extend to other creatures.

And Feline Agility allows you to double your speed, but that benefit does not extend to other creatures!

If the rules said that mounting a creature caused your speed to change to match the mount's, then all of those things would work, but the mount is clearly a separate creature still, so as it stands, dashing, natural explorer, and feline agility only have an effect when you're actually using your own movement to mount, dismount, or move while dismounted.

So a rogue could use its cunning action to dash while mounted, but it wouldn't increase the mount's speed at all.
 
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Colder

Explorer
The rest of your post seems sensible, but what does this even mean? Maybe my imagination is just lacking...

Well, what if, for example, you were grappled? Your speed is 0, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can't use the Dash action, just that you wouldn't gain any benefit from doing so. It's kind of the same thing as being mounted.
 

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