
New Magic Item – Horseshoes of the Coming Spring
23 April, 2010Arrive’d in the morn, came the Herald of Spring
Bearing gives of fey flowers and promises to come
His horse is surefooted, but he is all sly
Lock up all your daughters, for he is around
And will leave before dawn, on his merry rounds.
The Herald of Spring, song, (poorly) translated.
Horseshoes of the Coming Spring
These horseshoes are visibly unusual, being carved from the heartwood of a tree, usually an oak. The ‘nails’ to hold them on are made of hardened thorns. The horseshoe are very difficult to damage and even if they are, they slowly regrow back to their original form.
The mount wearing the shoes, and its rider, is not effected by adverse terrain, they do no slip on ice, or sink into mud, vines and brambles do not grab or impede, and so on. While this does not give the mount any special movement abilities, it cannot climb walls nor walk on water of move through a gap too small for it, it can travel through just about any terrain at a swift rate.
During the season of spring, the horseshoes have two additional abilities: First, the mount’s ground movement gains a +10 foot enhancement bonus. Secondly, whenever the horseshoe strike bare earth, plants sprout. These new plants may or may not survive, but they begin to grow. These plants are always of a potentially helpful type, herbs, grains, vines, trees, but the rider has no control over what exact type.
Aura faint transmutation; CL 5th
Slot hooves; Price 4,500; Weight 2 lbs
Construction
Requirements Create Wondrous Items, cat’s grace, longstrider, pass without trace, plant growth; Cost 2,250 (+180 xp for D&D)
I like this one a lot. A really nice intermediate item before horsehoes of the zephyr (and in some instances, preferable to zephyr).