Buy me a coffeeChariot of Sustarre
You call down a golden chariot of fire and daylight, drawn across the open sky by two blazing stallions of solar flame.
Overview
Chariot of Sustarre is a 9th-level solar travel spell that calls a blazing chariot of gold, fire, and daylight into the mortal world. Drawn by two flaming stallions and visible for miles beneath the open sky, it carries the caster and chosen companions across kingdoms, mountains, battlefields, and sacred roads until the sun begins to fail.
This is not quiet magic. The spell announces divine favour, solar authority, and mythic urgency wherever it appears. Armies look up. Cities remember it. Enemies prepare darkness, storms, and dispelling rites for the day such a chariot comes over the horizon.
The chariot can cross enormous distances beneath the sun, carrying its passengers through the sky at tremendous speed. Those who ride within it are wreathed in intolerable brightness, difficult to strike and painful to approach, while the chariot itself burns like a second sun against the clouds.
This spell is bound to daylight. It can only be called beneath the open sky while the sun is above the horizon, and it fades as night approaches. If dusk catches the chariot aloft, its speed slowly fails and it descends before the last light leaves the world.
Effect
You create a flying chariot of gold, fire, and sunlight in an unoccupied space within range. The chariot is drawn by two flaming stallions and can carry you plus additional passengers. Mounts and large creatures may be carried, but while aboard they appear wreathed in solar fire, as though they have become part of the chariot’s blazing company.
Only the caster can properly command the chariot. To do so, the caster must wear the golden helm used as the spell’s focus. While the caster directs the chariot, it can fly at extraordinary speed, ascend, descend, hover briefly, and travel across the sky until sunset.
The chariot sheds intense light. Creatures that try to attack those inside it are hindered by the glare, while creatures that come too close are burned by the heat of its passage. The caster and passengers are immune to the chariot’s heat and glare.
The chariot is a magical effect rather than a physical vehicle. It cannot be damaged like a mundane object, but the spell ends if the chariot enters an antimagic field, is successfully ended by dispel magic, or is suppressed by similar magic.
Chariot of Sustarre 5,5e 2024
Chariot of Sustarre, Pathfinder 1e
Chariot of Sustarre 3.5
Chariot of Sustarre
9th-Level Evocation
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M, F
Duration: Until sunset, up to 8 hours
Available To: Druid
Alternative Spell Name: Solar Chariot
Material Component: A burning torch and a tiny golden chariot figurine worth at least 25 gp, which the spell consumes.
Focus: An ornate golden helm worth at least 1,000 gp, which the caster must wear while casting and while controlling the chariot.
You can cast this spell only during the day, beneath the open sky.
A radiant flying chariot appears in an unoccupied space within range. The chariot can carry you and up to eight Medium or smaller passengers. A Large creature counts as two passengers. The DM may allow suitable mounts or pack animals to be carried, with each Large mount counting as two passengers.
The chariot has a flying speed of 240 feet and can hover. It ascends at half speed and descends at double speed. For long-distance travel in clear daylight, it can cover up to 30 miles per hour, subject to weather, visibility, terrain, divine interference, and DM judgment.
Only you can control the chariot. While wearing the golden helm, you can use your action to direct the chariot’s movement. If you do not direct it, the chariot continues moving in the same direction and at the same speed it moved on your previous turn, unless doing so would immediately crash it into a solid obstacle. In that case, it slows and hovers.
The chariot sheds bright light in a 120-foot radius and dim light for an additional 120 feet. It is extremely visible. Creatures relying on sight automatically notice it in clear conditions, unless extraordinary concealment or magic prevents them from doing so.
While you and your passengers are aboard the chariot, attack rolls against creatures inside the chariot have disadvantage if the attacker relies on sight. This benefit does not apply against attackers that do not need sight, such as creatures using blindsight, tremorsense, or similar senses. Creatures inside the chariot also have three-quarters cover against attacks and effects originating from outside the chariot.
A creature that moves within 10 feet of the chariot for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 4d6 fire damage plus 4d6 radiant damage. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage. The caster and passengers are immune to this damage while aboard the chariot.
The chariot lasts until sunset or until you dismiss it as a Magic action. If sunset occurs while the chariot is airborne, it gradually slows and descends, landing safely just before the sun vanishes below the horizon. The spell also ends if the chariot enters an area of magical darkness created by a spell of 8th level or higher, enters an antimagic field, or is successfully ended by dispel magic.
Chariot of Sustarre
School: Evocation [Fire, Light]
Level: Druid 9, Sun 9
Casting Time: 1 minute
Components: V, S, M, F/DF
Range: 10 ft.
Effect: One flying chariot of fire and light
Duration: Until sunset; see text
Saving Throw: Reflex half; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell can be cast only during the day and beneath the open sky.
You conjure a magnificent chariot of gold, fire, and light, drawn by two great flaming stallions. The chariot can carry you plus one passenger per two caster levels. Medium or smaller creatures count as one passenger. Large creatures count as two passengers. Mounts may be carried if space permits, though they appear wreathed in flame for the duration of the spell.
Only you can drive the chariot, and you must wear the golden helm used as the spell’s focus while doing so. The chariot flies at a speed of 480 feet with average maneuverability. It ascends at half speed and descends at double speed.
Driving the chariot requires your attention. If you take another standard action, cast a spell, or make an attack, the chariot continues moving in the same direction and at the same speed as on the previous round. If this would cause an immediate collision, the chariot slows and hovers instead.
The chariot blazes with intense light. Creatures relying on sight take a 50% miss chance when attacking you or any passenger inside the chariot. The chariot is extremely visible; creatures relying on sight gain a +20 circumstance bonus on Perception checks to notice it in clear conditions.
Any creature that comes within 10 feet of the chariot takes 2d4 points of fire damage, or half damage with a successful Reflex save. A creature need only save against this effect once per round. You and your passengers are immune to this damage while aboard the chariot. You and your passengers also gain a +4 cover bonus to AC against attacks originating outside the chariot.
The chariot is a magical effect, not a mundane vehicle. It has no hit points or hardness and cannot be damaged by ordinary attacks. The spell can be ended by dispel magic, greater dispel magic, antimagic field, or similar effects.
At sunset, the spell ends. If the chariot is still airborne as night falls, it gradually slows and descends, landing safely just before the sun disappears below the horizon.
Focus: An ornate golden helm worth at least 1,000 gp, which the caster must wear while casting and controlling the chariot.
Material Component: A burning torch and a tiny golden chariot figurine worth 2d4 gp.
Chariot of Sustarre
A favourite of the Sun God’s priests, this spell brings into existence a magnificent chariot of gold, fire, and light, pulled by two great flaming stallions.
Celtic Druids and the Tuatha de Dannan
By Dominique Crouzet
Evocation [Fire]
Level: Druid 9, (Equines 9, Sun 9)
Components: V, S, M, F/DF
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: 10 ft.
Effect: 1 flying chariot of fire and light.
Duration: See text (D)
Saving Throw: See text
Spell Resistance: Yes
This chariot can fly high across the sky at great speeds, transporting the caster plus 1 passenger per two caster levels. (Medium or smaller sized creatures count as 1 passenger, while large sized creatures count as 2 passengers. Mounts can be brought in this chariot, but it will look like they have become another flaming stallions for all spell duration.)
This spell can be cast only during the day under open sky, and it will last until night, at which time it will ends. (If the night begins to fall while the chariot is still high in the sky, it progressively decelerates and goes down, landing just before the sun disappears beyond the horizon.) Every creature looking at the chariot will be hindered by the intense light it casts, thus suffering a 50% Concealment Miss Chance to attack the chariot’s passengers. (Note that all creatures with sight get a +20 circumstance bonus to Spot the chariot, although they cannot see what’s inside.)
Moreover, if coming within 10 feet of the chariot, they suffer 2d4 of fire damage (Reflex saving throw for half). Caster and passengers are immune to these effects however, and furthermore gain a +4 Cover AC Bonus when in the chariot. Only the caster can drive the chariot, and he must have his golden helm to do so. The chariot can only fly, with a maximum speed of 480 (twice the speed of running horses); it can fly up at half speed and descend at double speed.
The chariot’s manoeuvrability rating is average. Driving the chariot requires concentration, so to attack or cast spells, the driver cannot but have the chariot continues its course onward at the same speed. The chariot has no hit-points, Hardness, etc., and can only be destroyed by a successful dispel magic or similar spell.
Focus: a great ornate helm entirely made of gold (costing no less than 1000 gp), that the caster must wear upon casting, and for all spell duration.
Material Components: A burning torch and a tiny golden figurine of a chariot (costing 2d4 gp).
Why This Spell Is Dangerous in the World
Chariot of Sustarre is dangerous because it makes power visible. A ruler, hierophant, or war-priest who arrives in a chariot of solar fire does not simply travel; they announce divine sanction before an entire valley, army, or city. Its speed can move elite allies across impossible distances in a single day, bypassing roads, borders, rivers, fortifications, and most ordinary pursuit.
The spell is not subtle. It cannot be used for secret travel unless the world is already too frightened to look upward. But as a sign of authority, rescue, punishment, pilgrimage, or divine war, it is almost unmatched.
Best Uses
- Divine travel: Carry the caster and chosen companions across kingdoms, mountain chains, deserts, or hostile territory under the protection of the sun.
- Battlefield arrival: Enter a war zone from above, protected by glare, heat, and divine spectacle.
- Royal or sacred procession: Make a ruler, saint, high druid, or chosen champion visibly favoured by a solar power.
- Emergency rescue: Extract important allies from a siege, flood, battlefield, plague city, or collapsing sacred site before nightfall.
- Mythic pursuit: Chase flying enemies, fleeing fiends, airborne monsters, or skyborne relics that ordinary mounts could never reach.
Tactics
The chariot is strongest when used for strategic movement, not as a hovering artillery platform. Its passengers are protected, but the caster must direct it carefully, and its brilliance makes stealth impossible.
Use the chariot to cross the battlefield, break through enemy lines from above, or deliver companions to a decisive location. Enemies without strong ranged attacks, flight, antimagic, or darkness will struggle to stop it. Enemies with dispel magic, counterspell, magical darkness, flying monsters, or prepared sky-defences become serious threats.
The spell should feel spectacular but not effortless. Weather, dusk, sacred taboos, hostile omens, and enemy magic can all complicate its use without making it unreliable.
DM Notes
This spell works best as a mythic travel spell with battlefield presence, not as a simple replacement for teleportation. It is slower than instant planar or long-range teleportation magic, but far more visible, ceremonial, and tactically dramatic.
The main balance points are visibility, daylight, dispel vulnerability, driver limitation, and passenger protection. Everyone can see the chariot. It solves distance, not secrecy. It is powerful while the sun lasts, but it cannot be used underground, at night, indoors, or beneath a covered sky. It cannot be shot apart, but enemy magic can end it. The caster can act or drive with full precision, but not both at once.
Good Combinations
- Control Weather: Clears the sky, creates favourable travel conditions, and reinforces the sense that the caster commands the heavens.
- Daylight: Strengthens the spell’s visual and thematic identity, especially when used near shadowed ruins, cursed lands, or undead armies.
- Freedom of Movement: Protects key passengers from restraints, grapples, or magical hindrances if enemies manage to board or intercept the chariot.
- Heroes’ Feast: Turns the journey into a sacred war-procession, preparing passengers for a major battle or divine mission.
- Sunbeam: Pairs naturally with the chariot’s solar imagery, allowing a passenger or caster to become a devastating radiant presence from the sky.
Using This Spell in Your Game
Use Chariot of Sustarre when travel itself should become a scene. It is perfect for divine rescues, solar omens, mythic processions, desperate flights before sunset, sky-battles, and moments when the party must cross an impossible distance without making the journey feel ordinary.
A king might demand that the spell be cast before battle to prove divine favour. A solar priest might use it only on the holiest days. A druidic order might forbid its use in winter, during eclipses, or when the sun is veiled by ill omen. Enemies may prepare watchers, storm-callers, or dispelling rites specifically to bring the chariot down.
Spellcasting Culture and Worldbuilding Hooks
In solar temples, the golden helm is not merely a focus but a sacred office. Only those judged worthy may wear it, and some helms are older than the kingdoms that guard them.
Among druidic circles, the spell may belong to mysteries of the high summer sun, the sacred horse, and the sky-road. Its flaming stallions may be understood not as conjured animals but as servants of the solar order, appearing only when the caster’s purpose is worthy.
In courts and armies, the appearance of the chariot can change history. A prince rescued from a siege by fire and daylight becomes a living legend. A tyrant arriving in such splendour may terrify enemies and subjects alike. A failed casting, a chariot brought down by darkness, or a sunset descent into hostile territory can become the beginning of an entire adventure.