Comet Steed

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In appearance, the comet steed is much like a large, healthy warhorse, always with a pure white coat. The similarity to planet-bound horses stops there, however. Comet steeds are natives of space and can travel freely in wildspace and the phlogiston. They are constantly surrounded by a fine, gleaming mist which is actually a cloud of stardust. When the comet steed flies through space, the dust cloud trails behind it, hence its name.
==Combat==
Comet steeds are not warlike and tend to avoid
combat whenever possible. Considering the great speeds at which they can travel, the beasts can avoid combat as they choose. The steed has the amazing natural ability to travel at spelljamming speeds (in combat, consider the horse to have a SR of 7!), making the rare creatures a highly prized mount.
Comet steeds attack with their front hooves and bite, inflicting 1-6 hit points per successful hit. Attacking in this manner, however, is extremely rare for a comet steed. Like standard equines, they tend to flee at any sign of danger. Only spelljamming ships with SR 7 or higher are able to keep up with these animals.
The stardust that a comet steed emits is functional in combat. Most important, this dust imparts magic resistance upon the animal. As a secondary function, when the steed is in combat, the dust will gather in the area and blind the steed's opponents. Anyone involved in melee with a comet steed suffers -4 to hit because of blindness. A successful saving throw versus breath weapon will allow retention of partial vision and attacks will be made at -2. The blindness will clear 1 turn after exposure to the dust has ceased.
==Habitat/Society==
Comet steeds are very solitary animals. They will never be seen with other creatures or other comet steeds. Their life span is approximately 200 years.
Comet steeds mate once in their lives in a ritual that lasts only a few days. During the mating ritual, a male and female comet steed will breed, with the female bearing only a single foal.
There are only two ways to obtain a comet steed as a mount. One is to capture a young comet steed and raise it as a mount. Since young steeds are without the ability to travel at spelljamming speeds for the first year of their lives, it is relatively easy to capture a young foal. The difficult task is finding a foal, considering the great rarity of comet steeds.
The other way to obtain a comet steed as a mount is to use a ring of the comet. This enchanted ring is used for summoning comet steeds for use as temporary mounts. The description of this magic item appears in the appendix of this adventure (SJA3 Crystal Spheres (9299)).
==Ecology==
Comet steeds are herbivores, so they often will land on planets to graze for periods of time lasting no more than a few days. They will then wander back into space and travel until they encounter another planet. The beasts eat only two or three times per month, so they can travel great distances in space without feeding.
The stardust of a comet steed is of great value to alchemists since it can be used to generate powerful potions of magic resistance. The stardust can be collected after a comet steed has passed through an area. However, the dust scatters and disappears after 1 turn.
Category:Creatures
Category:Crystal Spheres Creatures