Shadow Steed

Shadow steeds are stallions made of shadowstuff—the shadows, twilight, and mists that permeate the Shadow World and help create its sinister atmosphere.

The color of shadow steeds varies from light gray to black. The mounts are incorporeal but opaque, like a heavy fog. Due to the eternal twilight that enshrouds the Shadow World, these stallions often blend right into the landscape.

From a distance, their riders frequently look as if they're floating through the air. But up close, observers can see the glow of their pupilless eyes, the thick tendrils that form their manes, their whip-like tails, and the sharp, semi-corporeal hooves that hammer on the ground. And anyone unfortunate enough to receive a kick from one of those hooves feels force equal to that of a flesh-and-blood stallion behind it.

Shadow steeds serve as mounts for many denizens of the Shadow World, including riders of the Wild Hunt, the queens of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, and the Cold Rider himself.

Combat: As shadow steeds are essentially war horses, characters are far more likely to encounter them in combat than in other situations.

Shadow steeds are mounts worthy of the powerful riders they bear. In battle, they can fight better than the best-trained Cerilian war horses.

A shadow steed fights by kicking with its front or rear hooves, for 1d10 points of damage per hoof. It also uses one additional form of attack. If the stallion's opponent is behind it, it uses its whiplike tail to strike for 1d4 points of damage; if the foe is in front of it, the destrier bites for 1d8 points of damage.

If given an opportunity to charge, a shadow steed can attempt to trample an opponent for 2d6 points of damage.

Magical and silver weapons inflict full damage on shadow steeds. All other weapons inflict half damage.

As creatures of shadow and twilight, shadow steeds are vulnerable to bright light. Light and continual light inflict 1d8 points of damage and blind the mount. Sunray injures the stallion as if it were undead.

Shadow steeds are never encountered without their masters. If a rider is engaged in a peaceful encounter with characters, his or her mount waits patiently, snorting or nickering if it senses the presence of someone (or something) its master would consider a foe.

The ability to see through the Seeming enables a shadow steed to aid its rider. Riders with lower perception scores than their horses have been known to charge headlong into apparent danger, placing their trust entirely in their mounts.

Habitat/Society: Each shadow steed is individually coalesced and shaped from shadowstuff by its master, a process which allows the rider to tailor the horse to his or her specific needs and preferences. As mount and rider become more used to each other, the stallion learns to make adjustments of its own. Their relationship becomes symbiotic, with the two seeming to function as a single entity

Ecology: When not in use, the steed diffuses back into the twilight until called again by its master. The stallion need not reappear where its rider last “left” it: a shadow steed can rematerialize in any shadowy or twilight area of the Shadow World (which means nearly anywhere, except a region artificially illuminated by light or some other means).

While repeated interaction with its master makes each shadow steed unique, it is said that the Cold Rider's mount makes all others look like trick ponies. Popular belief credits his stallion with abilities far surpassing those of ordinary shadow steeds. In fact, some hypothesize that the Cold Rider and his mount don't merely work as one: They are one.