5e: 11 Magic Items For Mounts

The following selection of magic items are intended not for your characters, but rather the animals they ride.

Mounts and Attunement

If you plan to introduce these items or otherwise make magic items for steeds more common in your campaign, consider limiting them by attunement. The 5e rules don't really do this by default (note that the horseshoes of speed, horseshoes of a zephyr, and saddle of the cavalier described in the Dungeon Master's Guide aren't attunement items), but if mounts are going to play a big part in the game for one or more characters and there are going to be lots of items available for them, you should implement the attunement rule for those steeds as well as the PCs.

The rules state that "a creature can be attuned to no more than three magic items at a time" and a mount is a creature. However, unless the mount happens to be an intelligent creature it is unlikely to attune a magic item to itself, the choice is instead made by its rider. Any creature a mount trusts implicitly can attune a magic item for them. This requires both creatures to be in contact with the item for the duration of a short rest.

If you implement this houserule, existing magic saddles, horseshoes, barding, and other magic items intended to be worn by mounts should be considered to have the attunement requirement, even when it is absent from their entry.

At the DM's discretion, a magic item can be forcibly attuned to a mount (a prime example of such an item would be the infernal tack described on pg. 167 of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes). Each time the attunement is attempted the mount can choose to accept the attunement or else make a Wisdom saving throw vs a DC determined by the item's rarity (see the Forced Attunement Save DC table, below). On a successful save, the attunement fails and cannot be attempted again until 24 hours have passed.

Forced Attunement Save DC

Rarity	DC
Common	10
Uncommon	13
Rare	16
Very Rare	19
Legendary	22
Artifact	Normally impossible

Caparison of Pageantry

Wondrous item, Common

While your steed is wearing this layer of decorative cloth, you can use a bonus action to changes its appearance, including style, design of patterns or symbols, colour, and its apparent quality.

Fiery Horseshoes

Wondrous item, Rare (requires attunement by a mount)

These iron horseshoes come in a set of four. They are blackened, as though scorched.

When wearing these horseshoes, your horse adds 2d6 fire damage to every attack it makes with its hooves. Furthermore, its hooves attacks are magical.

Foul Barding

Armour (any barding), Rare

This dark, forboding barding bears a strong resemblance to eithere a fiendish creature or something alien from the Far Realms.

The barding has 3 charges. While it is worn and attuned by your steed, you can use an action and expend 1 charge to cause each creature within a 30-foot radius of the mount to make a DC 15 saving throw. On a failed save they become frightened of the mount for 1 minute. While it is frightened in this way, a creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from the mount as it can, and it can't willingly move to a space within 30 feet of the mount. It also can't take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If it has nowhere it can move, the creature can use the Dodge action. At the end of each of its turns, a creature can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success.

The barding regains 1d3 expended charges daily at the stroke of midnight.

Gleaming Barding

Armour (any metal barding), Common

This barding gleams like new, seeming to repel any signs of dirt or tarnish.

Horseshoes of Falsehood

Wondrous item, Common

These iron horseshoes come in a set of four. There is nothing untoward about their appearance.

When you shoe your horse with these items, you choose one four-legged, large-sized creature. While the horse wears the horseshoes you can choose whether it leaves normal tracks or those of the chosen creature.

Horseshoes of Sharpness

Wondrous item, Uncommon (requires attunement by a mount)

These iron horseshoes come in a set of four. They cut deep if touched carelessly.

When wearing these horseshoes, your horse adds 1d6 slashing damage to every attack it makes with its hooves. Furthermore, its hooves attacks are magical.

Horseshoes of Surety

Wondrous item, Uncommon (requires attunement by a mount)

These iron horseshoes come in a set of four, and are grooved on one side.

When wearing these horseshoes, your mount ignores nonmagical difficult terrain, and has advantage on ability checks it makes to keep its balance or grip on a surface.

Saddlebags of Substantiality

Wondrous item, Rare

These resemble a pair of finely made saddlebags. However, each contains an extradimensional space.

Each bag can hold up to 10 cubic feet or 100 pounds of material, not exceeding a volume of 2 cubic feet. The saddlebags always weigh only 8 lbs. no matter what they contain.

Placing an object in a saddlebag follows the normal rules for interacting with objects. Retrieving an item from the saddlebag requires you to use an action. When you reach into a saddlebag for a specific item, the item is always magically on top.

The saddlebags have a few limitations. If one is overloaded, or if a sharp object pierces it or tears it, the saddlebag ruptures and is destroyed. The enchantment on the other saddlebag fails immediately, and if it contains heavier or larger items than a normal saddlebag could contain it is also destroyed. The contents of a destroyed saddlebag are lost forever, although an artifact always turns up again somewhere. If a saddlebag is turned inside out, its contents spill forth, unharmed, and the saddlebag must be put right before it can be used again. If a breathing creature is placed within the saddlebag, the creature can survive for up to 10 minutes, after which time it begins to suffocate.

Placing the saddlebags inside an extradimensional space created by a bag of holding, handy haversack, portable hole, another saddlebag of substantiality, or any similar item instantly destroys both items and opens a gate to the Astral Plane. The gate originates where the one item was placed inside the other. Any creature within 10 feet of the gate is sucked through it and deposited in a random location on the Astral Plane. The gate then closes. The gate is one-way only and can't be reopened.

Summoning Whistle

Wondrous item, varies (requires attunement by a mount or animal companion)

This unassuming whistle holds great magic. When you blow it it is silent, but your loyal steed or animal companion hears and obeys your summons.

Once the whistle is attuned to a creature it can be blown to summon that creature to your current location. The creature is teleported, arriving at the beginning of your next turn to the nearest level ground where they can safely appear.

Three varieties of Summoning Whistle exist:

The Lesser Summoning Whistle is an Uncommon item. It summons the creature from anywhere on the same plane as yourself, but brings them as is. If they aren't prepared and already wearing barding, saddle, and other items when you summon them, they arrive without those items.

The Greater Summoning Whistle is a Very Rare item. It summons the creature from anywhere on the same plane as yourself. When you attune the whistle you can designate four items that appear along with the creature, miraculously equipped: a saddle, a set of barding, a set of horse tack, and a set of saddlebags. You can re-attune the whistle to change the designated items.

The Planar Summoning Whistle is a Legendary item. It summons the creature from anywhere, even if you're on a different plane. It is otherwise identical to the Greater Summoning Whistle.

Unicorn Tack

Wondrous item, Rare

Although called tack, this is actually a delicate silver headpiece worn on the mount's head, with a fine pendant the shape of a straight spiral horn.

Intelligent mounts don't generally consent to traditional tack, and good-aligned characters lack the hard-heartedness to try and force them. Unicorn tack is the solution. While a mount is attuned to the tack, the mount and its rider can establish telepathic contact with each other as a free action. If they wish, they may also share surface thoughts. While sharing surface thoughts the mount and rider effectively share senses, and are thus able to react to things perceived by their partner as though they themselves had noticed.

Winged Saddle

Wondrous item, Very Rare (requires attunement by a mount)

This fine leather saddle has a small, decorative set of wings that emerge from either side of the pommel. They are decorated either to look like the bright feathers of a couatl, or mimic a fiend's bat-like wings.

While your steed is wearing this saddle, you can use an action to speak its command word. Magical wings sprout from the steed's back, and the saddle's magic also soothes the mount, implanting in its mind the knowledge, instinct, and courage to allow it to fly. The mount gains a flying speed of 90 feet for 1 hour or until you repeat the command word as an action. If the effect ends while the mount is still airborne, the wings remain long enough for it to descend to the ground safely. During this period, the mount can't use the wings for any purpose other than to control its descent. The wings disappear when the mount is on the ground, and you can't use them again for 1d12 hours.