[RPG] Can just anyone control a Broom of Flying

dnd-5emagic-items

The Broom of Flying does not require attunement, and can be controlled via command words:

This wooden broom, which weighs 3 pounds, functions like a mundane broom until you stand astride it and speak its command word. It then hovers beneath you and can be ridden in the air. It has a flying speed of 50 feet. It can carry up to 400 pounds, but its flying speed becomes 30 feet while carrying over 200 pounds. The broom stops hovering when you land.

You can send the broom to travel alone to a destination within 1 mile of you if you speak the command word, name the location, and are familiar with that place. The broom comes back to you when you speak another command word, provided that the broom is still within 1 mile of you.

The bolded passage lays out a use case for the broom's command words that do not require attunement nor physical contact with the broom.

So: can anyone (including an enemy) who knows the command words for the broom summon it to them or send it to another location (as long as it's not being ridden)?

Best Answer

The intent is probably that only whoever activated it can use it.

functions like a mundane broom until you stand astride it and speak its command word.

Activation requires physical contact. From my reading, this intent is given by the use of you, in every sentence. Usually it would be unclear who exactly is "you", but the earlier sentence defines it (as the person who stood astride and spoke the command word).

You can send the broom to travel alone to a destination within 1 mile of you if you speak the command word, name the location, and are familiar with that place. The broom comes back to you when you speak another command word, provided that the broom is still within 1 mile of you.

The wording, if it was intended that any creature could use it, would probably be "A creature that says the command word", for example.

As an additional conjecture, it would be silly that anyone hearing the command word could mess up the item easily like that.