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Imagine a kobold who has the Mounted Combatant (PHB, page 169) feat. For this question, the relevant benefit will be:

You can force an attack targeted at your mount to target you instead.

The kobold rides a centaur who has the Sentinel feat (PHB, page 198). The relevant benefit is:

When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature.

So, if the kobold is been attacked by an enemy, could the centaur attack the enemy being benefited from the sentinel feat? Even more, if the centaur is been attacked could the kobold force the attack to target him instead of the centaur and immediatly the centaur use the sentinel feat to attack the enemy?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Just a comment, the Kobold would have Pack Tactics on every attack. That would be a very powerful combination \$\endgroup\$
    – user70687
    May 6, 2021 at 19:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ I assume the characters' races aren't too important to the actual question here, other than their sizes and the ability of one to use the other as a mount, right? It seems the main thrust of your question is about how the two feats interact when the rider has Mounted Combatant and the character being mounted has Sentinel. You may want to edit the title to reflect that main question. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    May 6, 2021 at 23:01

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Nothing prevents this from working, so it works

The Sentinel feat states:

[...] When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature.

This is not ambiguous, if a creature within 5 feet of you attacks somebody who isn't you (that doesn't have the feat), you can use your reaction to make an attack against that creature. Thus, if a Kobold is riding atop a Sentinel Centaur, and somebody attacks the Kobold from within 5 feet, the Centaur can use their reaction to make an attack.

The Mounted Combatant feat states:

[...] You can force an attack targeted at your mount to target you instead. [...]

Thus, if an attack targets the Centaur, the Kobold can have the attack be redirected into targeting the Kobold. this would then trigger the Sentinel feat because there is now an attack being made against the Kobold.

The actual timing of the Sentinel feat's attack is perhaps unclear

I asked a question related to this:

There isn't exactly a lot of rules-text on when "When a creature makes an attack" actually is. But we do know that most reactions happens after their trigger, which in this case is... also unclear. Whether the reaction, and thus its accompanying attack, occur before or after the triggering attack actually hits, misses, or deals damage is going to left to the GM.

And if you think this phrasing isn't unclear, and that it simply always occurs fully after the triggering attack, then feel free to rule so. I say it's unclear because, to me, it genuinely is.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Re: the timing of Sentinel's reaction attack - The process of making an attack consists of choosing a target, determining modifiers, and resolving the attack (i.e. the attack roll, determining whether it hits, and resolving the effects of the hit itself). A reaction to "When [X] makes an attack" that doesn't modify the attack itself would ostensibly occur after the attack itself is resolved - not interrupt the attack. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    May 6, 2021 at 23:17
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    \$\begingroup\$ (It seems like Mark Wells' answer to the linked question says basically the same thing, so I've left a comment on it suggesting that Mark cite this rule to support his answer.) \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    May 6, 2021 at 23:18
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    \$\begingroup\$ @V2Blast Yeah, but for me that doesn't cut it. The arrow catching shield would thus redirect the attack after damage is dealt, which is, for me, nonsense. But maybe it's just another odd case of a reaction destroying its own trigger like shield and absorb elements can.. At the very least, I definitely think it's a part of the rules that aren't well defined \$\endgroup\$
    – Exempt-Medic
    May 6, 2021 at 23:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ Er... No, I think his answer addresses that, and my comment definitely does: "A reaction to "When [X] makes an attack" that doesn't modify the attack itself would ostensibly occur after the attack itself is resolved - not interrupt the attack." Something that changes the target of the attack does modify the attack - choosing a target is part of the attack - and so the arrow-catching shield does interrupt the process of making an attack. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    May 7, 2021 at 7:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ @V2Blast Yeah, and I am saying there's no rule that leads to the "that doesn't modify the attack itself" part. It's done because we hope it must. I don't think you're going to convince me that it isn't unclear... \$\endgroup\$
    – Exempt-Medic
    May 7, 2021 at 11:59
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Question 1: Since the kobold is within 5 feet of the centaur, the Sentinel feat works as you intend.

Question 2: A little more unclear, but I think it also works. From Mounted Combatant (emphasis mine):

You can force an attack targeted at your mount to target you instead

And from Sentinel(emphasis mine):

When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature.

Since it targets the Kobold, the Centaur is able to use Sentinel to attack.

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