Fire Steeds (Palladium Fantasy / Rifts Earth):

Lorgan's Bone Breakers had been watching the lone knight traveling down the trail through the forest for some time. The leader of the Orc bandits had decide that the mount would be worth a lot it they could find someone to buy it. It seemed to glow a bright red and the leader thought that it was quite beautiful in the way that humans and elves judged such things. He figured it was six of them against just one knight and that the forest would restrict the knights movement. He signaled for his bandits to charge and the rider immediately turned his horse in the direction of the bandits. The horse suddenly breathed fire and caught one of the Orcs by surprise. The Orc turned and ran in fear with his cloths burning as he ran away. The Horse breathed towards another Orc but he was able to jump out of the way.

The Steed appeared to be on fire now but the five remaining Orcs still tried to grab the horse to pull the rider off the horse. As they attempted to grab, the horse breathed on another attacking it causing the Orc to catch on fire while kicking a crushing blow with its back feet at another Orc. The rider lopped the head off a third Orc cauterizing the wound at the same time. Two Orcs were dead and one was badly wounded. The two remaining Orcs, one which was the leader, attempted a grab but had their hands badly burned.

The Fire Steed wheeled again and kicked at the remaining member of the Bandit group while the knight swung at the leader of the Orc bandits. The bandit leader was able to parry but his remaining ally was not as lucky. He was virtually kicked in half by the mount. The leader of the bandit tried to retreat but the horse charged him while trampling the badly injured and burning Orc bandit. The Fire Steed kicked with its front hooves while the rider stabbed at the bandit leader. The last Orc collapsed in a smoldering and crushed heap.

The rider carefully patted his Fire Steed and whispered calming words to it.

Like the Thunder Horses. The Fire Steeds are genetically engineered by-products of the magic energies left over from the great wars between the Old Ones and the other races of the Palladium World. Like the Thunder Horses, these creatures are not considered horses by many and are considered supernatural creatures. Also like the Thunder Horses, there are only handful of these creatures known to be alive in the Palladium World. These horses are only located near areas where a large amount of magical energies left over from the great wars took place at and only on the Elven Island or Elven Vale where a handful of these creatures were taken for breeding and training. Both of these locations train these animals for combat and Elven riders of these mounts form an important part of their military forces.

The horses get their name by the fact that they generate a fire aura whenever they feel that they need to protect themselves. For some reason, a rider of the mount and any gear carried on the steed is protected from the flame aura but anyone else who touches the stead will be badly burned. If the mount gets angry or scared, it will be unable to stop the flame aura until it calms down. The fire aura is similar to the Fire Warlock spell of Burst into fire. The creature itself is immune to fire but has a weakness for cold. For that reason, the creatures tend to avoid really cold regions and prefer warm and dry plains. They usually congregate in groups of four to twelve.

In appearance, fire steeds tend to be very attractive. They tend to be from reddish brown to a bright yellow in common coloration. Bright red is the most common color. There are some fire steeds that have white or are pure white but are very rare. In physical form, they are closest to Arabians. The eyes tend to be either green or blue but glow red when their fire abilities are being used, their eyes glow a bright red.

Species: Fire Steed
Alignment: Wild Fire Steeds are usually consider anarchist and are a bit more wild than Thunder Horses, tame animals are trained to be loyal to their rider and tend to get a bond with their empathy and get a strong feeling for who their rider is suppose to be.
Attributes: I.Q.: 1D4+2 (High Animal Intelligence), M.E.: 3D6+6, M.A.: 2D6+6, P.S.: 17 + 3D6 for males / 15 + 2D6 for females, P.P.: 18 + 1D6 for males / 20 + 2D4 for females, P.E.: 4D6+2 for males / 3D6+2 for females, P.B.: 4D6+2, Spd.: 5D6 + 30 for males / 6D6 + 30 for females
[P.S. and P.E. is considered Supernatural]
Natural Armor Rating (S.D.C. Worlds): 14
Hit Points: P.E. attribute x 2 (+20 for males/ +10 for females) S.D.C. (S.D.C. Worlds): 2D6 x 10
M.D.C. (Rifts): 2D6x10+10
Horror Factor: 8 (16 when Fire Aura is active) P.P.E.: 4D6
Natural Abilities: Swim 40% (Do not like the swim and cannot use their fire aura in water), Prowl 65% (When they are not producing a fire aura), Keen color vision, Night-Vision 90 feet (27.4 m) - Can see in total darkness, Good Sense of Smell, Impervious to fire (Including normal, magical, and Psychic fire) but takes double damage from cold based attacks, Exceptional running speed, incredible leaping distance (40 feet [12.2 meters] high and 60 feet [18.2 meters]), Very Strong (Supernatural Physical Strength), and Incredible Stamina (Supernatural Physical Endurance).
Breath Fire: The Fire stead can breath fire from its mouth. Fire breath has a range of 300 feet (91 meters) and inflicts 4D6+12 S.D.C. (4D6+12 M.D.C. in Rifts.)
Fire Aura: When the steads have a flame aura, they have 100 S.D.C. (70 M.D.C. in Rifts) of additional protection and anyone who attempts to touch the steed with take 3D6 S.D.C. (3D6 M.D.C. in Rifts.) All melee attacks by the steed and the rider have this damage added to their damages. While flame aura is active, the rider and any gear on the mount is immune to fire attacks and is protected by the additional S.D.C. / M/D.C. Flammable have a 50% chance of catching fire and the flaming horse will light up an area about 300 feet (91 meters) in diameter. If fire stead is angry or scared, it will be unable to drop the fire aura until it calms down.
Combat: Four attacks per melee.
Bonuses: +4 to strike, +6 to dodge, +5 to pull kick, +5 to roll with punch, fall, or impact, +2 to save on all saving throws, in addition to attribute bonuses. Also has +2 to strike with fireball
Damage: Bite 2D4 S.D.C./ M.D.C., Restrained kick or head butt 2D6 S.D.C./ M.D.C., Full Strength Head butt or kick with front legs does 4D6 S.D.C./ M.D.C., Kick with rear legs does 6D6 S.D.C./ M.D.C. Can also breath fireballs (4D6+12 S.D.C./ M.D.C. with a 300 foot [91 meter] range and can generate a fire aura (3D6 S.D.C./ M.D.C. to all who attempt touch horse and adds 3D6 S.D.C./ M.D.C. to all physical attacks by horse or its rider. Also has a 50% chance of igniting flammable materials on fire)
[All Attacks are S.D.C. in S.D.C. setting and M.D.C. in M.D.C. settings and all hand to hand attacks except bite also get supernatural strength attribute]
Magic: None
Psionic: Includes the automatic abilities of Empathy, Sense Evil, Sense Magic and Sixth Sense (Burns up no I.S.P.) Empathy.
Average Life Span: 200 yrs.
Value: Alive and Untrained 35,000 to 55,000 Gold, Trained as a riding animal 130,000 to 280,000 Gold
Habitat: Plains, mostly on the Eleven Island in Palladium Fantasy
Size: 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 meters) tall for males, 5.5 to 6.5 feet (1.7 to 2.0 meters)
Weight: 1500 to 2500 lbs (640 to 1130 kg) for males, 1000 to 1800 lbs (450 to 820 kg) for females
Special note: Like the Thunder horses these mounts can only reproduce with it's own kind. Cross breeding with other type of creatures or horses are not possible. Any attempt to use magic to help these animals to cross breed with other creatures result in the offspring killing the mother and it being a wild mutant monster. Also there are only a small number of these mounts in existence. Only a few of these mounts can be found roaming the plains. The largest number of these mounts are only found on the Eleven Island in Palladium and in Rifts only the Eleven Vale are the only ones who have these mounts.

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Writeup by Lady Lynx (ladylynx@hotmail.com). and by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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