Fountain of Youth, equine version?

[Munafiq]

Hey all. Here's an odd one... My barbarian (barb 5/oracle 1, nature mystery) recently rescued an ancient horse that has had a hard and brutal life hauling vats in a factory. This was during the "Trial of the Beast" path in a Carrion Crown campaign, in Vorkstag & Grines' factory - "smash the bad guys, save the horsey"). I know it may sound silly or far-fetched, but as a role-playing endeavor I'd like to restore some youth to him and have him as a faithful mount rather than just put him out to pasture. I'm not fully versed in Pathfinder magic options - is there any way to "de-age" him rather than merely a "Youthful Appearance" or "Age Resistance" spell, neither of which actually extends the lifespan. Potion? Magic item? Place on the Inner Sea to quest to?

(I suppose if there were a fountain of youth, it would be hoarded by wizards rather than doled out to horses via barbarians!) ;-)

Thanks!

[Abandoned Arts]

Well, there is a way, but it sure won't be easy.

Read up on Thuvia and the sun orchard elixir... and, er... good luck!

Daron Woodson
Abandoned Arts

[Darth Grall]

Or much more convinient option: Use the horse till it dies and reincarnate it. It gets a new young adult body.

Talk to your GM to make a custom table for it's reincarnation; since it doesn't make much sense for a Horse to come back as a human or orc. If nothing else, you'll at least give the poor creature another chance at life for it's valued service.

[Amanda Hamon]

Depending on how accommodating your GM is, there's always
wish.

Reincarnate also might be an option, but it requires getting your hands a bit dirty (and probably a huge WTF moment for the horse). It also could severely mess up your plans to make it a mount, and at that point you'd need a wish or maybe even a miracle to return it to its original form, anyway.

Edit: Ninja'd! (somewhat :D)

[Generic Villain]

If you feel like a side-treck to a lost city in the Mwangi Expanse, the people of Osibu use alchemy/herbs to "prolong life and youth without resorting to necromancy or demonic pacts." Problem is, once you get there you can't leave.

In the Golarion campaign setting, anything that restores youth is dangerous, rare, and expensive - if someone were to actually be in the position to "waste" it on an animal, they'd have to be insanely wealthy and powerful.

Maybe you could convince your DM to let you transform the horse into a figurine of wondrous power? If you're familiar with Driz'zt Do'Mary Sue, his pet panther Guenhwyver was once a normal panther long ago and is effectively immortal thanks to being transformed into a magical talisman.

[Yossarin]

The greatest kindness you could show the poor creature is to give it honeyed oats, a nice grooming, and use some of your hard-earned adventuring money to pay a trusted stablemaster (in advance, of course!) to take care of it for the rest of its life.

Without any spoilers, I know a certain point later in the AP where your character might have a return to this subject, and more opportunity to get a mount from it.

[Voomer]

Hah! This is uncanny. I had the EXACT SAME ISSUE with my EXACTLY PARALLEL barbarian 5/oracle 1 with nature mystery. I told him the horse was too far gone to be used as an adventuring mount. He brought the horse to the Crooked Kin and gave one of the Kin (who I had designated as gifted with animals) a lot of money to see that the horse was well taken care of in its final days. But my PC didn't make it clear he was requesting it with reference to his nature mystery mount ability. If he had I might have cut him more slack.

Volans, are you sure you aren't my PC in disguise? If so, get off the messageboards! (Just kidding.)

[Munafiq]

Thanks all for the varied and useful advice!

I suppose I’m not much farther along than when I started, but at least I’ve learned a lot. So far, all I’ve done is exactly what Yoassarin suggested – I gave the horse to some folks that I knew would take really good care of him and left them with a serious amount of gold to ease its last days (basically, a horse hospice).

Thuvia and the sun orchard elixir is really interesting idea. A far reach, I suppose, but cool – I like the history and the potential adventure options are colorful. If I could side-track the group for that long (which I can’t really do), it would sure be a cool quest.

Oh well, as the generic Villain nicely summarized, it sure seems that in a Golarion setting, anything that restores youth is dangerous, rare, and expensive. Coincidentally, we just picked up some figurines of wondrous power – that’s an interesting idea but I wonder if it’s as much of a curse as a blessing for the horse...

I hadn’t even thought about the reincarnate option (especially odd for me because several of my past PCs have focused on necromancy). Sure would be a shock for the horse – yep, a WTF moment for sure! Probably leave the poor beastie with PTSD. I suppose I could ask my DM for a custom table –the “large hauling domesticated animals reincarnation chart.” Or even better, I can kill him (mercifully), and then have him re-animated, only to live forever as my faithful steed. Hmm... (The necromantic streak is coming out…)

Oh sh!t, my DM is here – gotta run! ;-) LOL. Well, I probably won’t use the horse as a mount with “Bonded Mount” from my nature mystery because I’ve only just dipped into Oracle and I’d lose too many barbarian goodies if I wanted to grab another Revelation.

Thanks for the great suggestions!