Warm Toes, Healthy Souls: Boots of Staying, Coming, and Going

Roman razor handle (depicting wool socks worn with sandals), CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Warm Toes, Healthy Souls: Boots of Staying, Coming, and Going

by Anthony Alipio

The life of a soldier is a difficult one. Away from home and hearth, parted from loved ones for months or even years at a time, endless marches across all sorts of terrain and through every manner of weather—and the fighting, of course, the life-or-death struggles on the battlefield fought to claim or defend land, resources, people.

Like a pebble in the bottom of a shoe, sometimes the smallest obstacles can stop progress dead in its tracks. And what is an army with sore feet or cold toes but an ineffective army? For the common foot soldier, having and maintaining footwear in good repair, including thick, dry socks for cold and wet climes, is one of those little things that goes a long way. And while the typical soldier can’t afford enchanted foot coverings, forward thinking commanders sometimes invest in Boots of Staying, Coming, and Going for themselves and a few of their most important warriors.

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Boots of Staying, Coming, and Going

Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement; cost 325 gold)

These enchanted boots are made of soft wool, never become dirty or wet, and are thin enough to be worn inside of other footwear. While attuned to and wearing them, the boots give you enhanced endurance and vigor, granting you an expertise die on saving throws against disease, poison, petrification, and fatigue.

In addition, the boots start with 3 charges. During a long or short rest, you can spend 1 minute massaging your feet (with the boots still on) and expend 1 or more charges. Each expended charge immediately removes 1 level of fatigue or 1 level of strife you are suffering. The boots regain 1d4-1 expended charges at sundown. If the boots drop to 0 charges and regain 0 charges at sundown, they lose their magical properties and become mundane wool socks.

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Author’s note: Whether you’ve conducted research on quartermaster records from Roman legions of ancient times, heard Lieutenant Dan’s inspiring speech in Forrest Gump’s Vietnam, or done any sort of multi-day hike or march (whether in the military or not), you already know the importance of having—and regularly changing into—clean, dry socks. In fact, socks were apparently so important to the Roman army that at least one manufacturer crafted copper razor handles molded in the likeness of a soldier’s foot wearing a sock with their sandal! (Being clean shaven was clearly another important hygienic matter for Roman legionnaires…possibly another wondrous item in the making?)

Similar to last week’s post which is part of a recurring monsters-monthly series, these somewhat silly but still somehow serious enchanted socks are the first entry in the magic-items-monthly series I plan to release on this blog.

Til next time, stay warm and healthy!

-Anthony