Summoning Magic • Legacy Witch Mount
Holy Steed
Holy Steed summons a winged celestial unicorn to serve as the caster’s mount until sunrise. It is preserved as a legacy d20 Witch spell.
Holy Steed at a Glance
| 5.5e / 2024 | No direct conversion published here |
|---|---|
| 5e / 2014 | No direct conversion published here |
| Pathfinder 1e | Not a default Pathfinder Witch spell |
| D&D 3.x Legacy | Witch 6 |
Spell Rules by Edition
5.5e / 2024
Status: no direct conversion is published here.
5e / 2014
Status: no direct 2014 conversion is presented.
Pathfinder 1e
Status: not a default Pathfinder Witch spell.
D&D 3.x Legacy
| School | Conjuration (Summoning) [Good] |
|---|---|
| Level | Witch 6 |
| Components | V, S, M |
| Casting Time | 10 minutes |
| Range | Special |
| Duration | Until sunrise |
| Saving Throw | None |
| Spell Resistance | Yes |
The caster must begin the summoning outdoors at night. The spell calls a winged celestial unicorn using the legacy half-celestial template. It serves as the caster’s mount until sunrise and has a fly speed of 90 feet with average manoeuvrability under the original rules.
Material components: a pinch of silver dust and an old horseshoe.
What Changed?
No modern conversion is assumed. The celestial template, legacy flight rules and fixed overnight service remain d20-era mechanics.
Using Holy Steed in Play
Holy Steed is travel and rescue magic as much as a combat summon. It can carry the Witch over dangerous terrain, provide an extraordinary night journey, or serve as a visible sign that a protective patron has answered.
Counterplay and Rulings
- Casting conditions: the ritual requires the Witch to be outdoors at night for ten minutes. Interrupted preparation or loss of the required components prevents completion under the legacy casting rules.
- Sunrise limit: the summoned steed’s service ends at sunrise, even if the caster planned a longer journey; travel routes and daylight matter.
- Counterspell and dispelling: use the legacy edition’s rules for stopping the casting or ending an ongoing summoned creature; the spell’s printed saving throw and spell resistance entries are not permission to copy Pathfinder or fifth-edition mechanics.
- Creature statistics: use the winged, half-celestial unicorn of the legacy source. Do not substitute a modern unicorn or a generic flying horse without a separate conversion.
Related Magic and Creatures
Mythical Context
A unicorn is an elusive one-horned creature of medieval lore, often represented as untameable except under extraordinary circumstances. A summoned unicorn steed should consequently feel like an exceptional trust placed in the rider, not an interchangeable horse. See the Metropolitan Museum’s account of unicorn traditions.
Historical Context
The Unicorn Tapestries were woven around 1495–1505 and preserve a late-medieval visual tradition of unicorns as elusive, powerful animals. They postdate a 1454 campaign and cannot serve as direct evidence for a 1454 scene, but earlier bestiaries already circulated unicorn stories. See The Unicorn Rests in a Garden.
Rules Sources and Licensing
Legacy source: Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks.
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