Summoning Magic • Legacy Witch Mount
Unholy Steed
Unholy Steed summons a nightmare to serve as the caster’s mount for one night. It is the legacy darker counterpart to Holy Steed.
Unholy 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 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) [Evil] |
|---|---|
| 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 outdoors at night. The spell summons one Nightmare, which serves as the caster’s mount until sunrise and then returns to its home plane.
Material components: a pinch of sulphur and an old horseshoe.
What Changed?
No modern conversion is assumed. The overnight service, outsider statistics and legacy summoning framework stay confined to the older rules.
Using Unholy Steed in Play
Unholy Steed is a travel and escape spell with a dangerous visual signature. A nightmare can cross difficult terrain quickly and immediately tells observers that the rider is dealing with hostile extraplanar powers.
Related Magic
Counterplay and Rulings
- Casting conditions: the caster must summon the mount outdoors at night and complete the ten-minute ritual with the stated components.
- Nightmare statistics: use the chosen legacy edition’s Nightmare, including its own movement, defences and special abilities; do not invent fifth-edition mount powers.
- Sunrise: the creature returns home at sunrise. A rider cannot depend on it for daylight travel.
- Counterspell and Dispel Magic: use the original edition’s summoning and counterspelling rules. Do not assume all extraplanar creatures are automatically controlled by unrelated spells.
Mythical Context
The nightmare mount draws on the fear of horses associated with a dangerous passage between worlds. In Greek myth, the moon and sun cross the heavens with divine chariots; a dark mount summoned only at night reverses that image into something hostile to daylight. See a Roman image of the divine chariots of Selene and Helios.
Historical Context
The same early-third-century Roman sarcophagus preserves the horse-drawn chariots of the sun and moon in stone. It shows the symbolic place of celestial steeds in ancient art, but does not document magical or fiery horses being summoned in rituals. See the Metropolitan Museum’s Selene and Endymion sarcophagus.
Rules Sources and Licensing
Legacy source: Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks. The obsolete advertising script previously embedded in this page has been removed.
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