Oofta
Legend
They were not already in combat when the spell was cast. They were hunting sea creatures, so the rest of the group just waited for the bard to finish his summons before attacking. (I didn't realize it took 10 minutes, though! That's useful to remember for future reference.)
Thanks, that's helpful! It doesn't say anything about what happens if the summoner chooses not to mount the steed, though.
The summoned steed is intelligent with a small "i," in the sense that it is much smarter than other creatures of its kind. A normal gryphon (or griffon, to use the MM spelling) has an intelligence of 2. But it's not clear whether an intelligence score of 6 means it's smart enough to be considered a mount that always acts independently (expressed below as Intelligent with a capital "I").
The example of an Intelligent mount (i.e., one that always acts independently) is a dragon. Even wyrmling dragons have the same intelligence (10) as an average human. Is that, then, the minimum intelligence score needed to be considered an Intelligent mount? If not, what is the minimum--and more importantly, who decides what the minimum is?
Mounts that are not Intelligent can act independently if the rider chooses not to control them. But they can also be controlled; presumably an Intelligent mount cannot, since the PHB specifies that it always acts independently.
An intelligence of 6 is decent in D&D. Not Rhodes scholar bright, but smarter than your average ogre. Add in the fact that it can understand the language of the caster and I don't see why it would not be considered an intelligent mount. It's kind of the point.
At least that's how we've been running it and it has never caused an issue. I'm okay with people having toys that make their PC feel unique, it's part of the fun of the game for me.