Chariot of Sustarre
(Evocation)
Chariot of Sustarre
(Evocation)
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Effect: When this
spell is cast by a druid, it brings forth a
large flaming chariot pulled
by two fiery horses which appear in a clap of
thunder amidst cloud-like
smoke.
This vehicle moves at 24"
on the ground,
48" flying, and it can carry
the druid and up to 8 other man-sized creatures
whom he or she first touches
so as to enable these creatures to be able to
ride aboard this burning
transport. Creatures other than the druid and his
or her designated passengers
will sustoin damage equal to that of a wall
of fire spell if they are
within 5' of the horses or chariot, voluntarily or
involuntarily. The druid
controls the chariot by verbal command, causing
the flaming steeds to stop
or go, walk, trot, run or fly, turning left
or right as
he or she desires. Note
that the Chariot of Sustarre is a physical
manifestation, and can sustain
damage. The vehicle and steeds are struck
only by magical weapons
or by water (one quart of which will cause 1 hit
point of damage), they are
armor class 2, and each requires 30 hit points of
damage to dispel. Naturally,
fire has absolutely no effect upon either the
vehicle or its steeds, but
magical fires will affect the riders if they are
exposed to them (other than
those of the chariot itself).
DMG: This vehicle
and its steeds are from the Elemental Plane
Of Fire;
therefore, they are subject
to forced return to this plane (such as by dispel magic, holy/unholy word,
etc.).
MC: In addition to
mistletoe,
the druid casting this spell
must have a small piece of wood,
2 holly berries,
and a fire source at least
equal to a torch.
- original by Tim Kask
SA:
Chariot of Sustarre — The chariot does not come from the
Elemental
Plane of Fire, and so can appear astrally.
<this
is in error>
Handy Haversack wrote:
Hi Gary,
I was doing a bit of inspirational
reading in the preface to the AD&D PHB last night and noticed that
you thanked one Dennis Sustare.
I was wondering if you
could tell us who this fellow was, in terms of his connection to D&D,
and whether he granted his name to the seventh-level druid spell Chariot
of Sustarre. Thanks.
Michael
Sure:)
Dennis sent in the material
that was used to make the druid a class rather than a sort of evil human
monster as it had been in the OD&D game.
The spell in question
was ondeed named in his honor.
Cheers,
Gary
James M: 2. You're
specifically thanked in the credits of Supplement III to OD&D, where
you're called "the Great Druid."
There's also a druid
spell in AD&D called "Chariot of Sustarre," which was named in your
honor.
What role, if any, did
you have in the creation and/or development of the druid
class?
Dennis Sustare: When the thief class was released in the Greyhawk supplement, as an addition to the original fighter, cleric and magic-user, we became interested in other possible classes beyond these four. I wrote up and mimeographed a set of rules for a new druid class, for our internal play. After some playtesting in our game, I revised it with a new mimeograph rule set, still just for our own use. But when we went to early GenCons, a copy got into Gary's hands, and thanks to some advocacy by Tim Kask, they revised the rules once more and published them in the Eldritch Wizardry supplement. Tim added the Chariot spell at the time (it was not one of my original spells, and the misspelling of my name was deliberate). I consider this my first published game design, although Bunnies & Burrows was released the same year (1976).
<note: the idea of the
chariot might come from Greek myth. see the myth of Phaeton.>