Are there restrictions for how many items a mount can carry? There is only 1 slot on the character builder for mounts. I don't understand why I can't have an enchanted saddle, and shoes. They're on totally different areas.
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Yes; there is, according to the rules, only one item slot for a mount. This is why the Character Builder only allows you to have only one item on the mount.
I would agree that this is a strange limit, since there are bridle, saddle and horse shoe magic items. Each is a different part of the animal.
There isn't any reason you can't house-rule this and write items down on the character sheet. You will just have to do the math manually for these extra items.
answered Feb 26 '11 at 18:39
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7\$\begingroup\$ ...and deal with any ensuing game-balance breakage that occurs. While I agree that the one item limitation is not an accurate reflection of reality, I also expect that WotC has leaned upon that to some extent to keep mounts from becoming overpowered. \$\endgroup\$ – Iszi Feb 26 '11 at 18:49
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\$\begingroup\$ Yep, that is it in a nut shell. As for over balancing, a mount is not usually used in crawl so having something that is more powerful than usual might not be too much of an issue. \$\endgroup\$ – Acedrummer_CLB Feb 26 '11 at 19:08
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7\$\begingroup\$ @Acedrummer_CLB: DnD - esp. 4e - is much more "game" than "simulation". I think it's the same argument about rings: "Why can I only wear two rings? I have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs!" Sure, you can invoke Rule 0 on it, but that doesn't change the intent of the rules. \$\endgroup\$ – user660 Feb 26 '11 at 23:42
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1\$\begingroup\$ Tend to agree that balance isn't really much of an issue here - when have mounts ever been useful enough that most people use one, let alone overpowered? They always seem to simply be necessities enforced on a party that needs fast/special movement. \$\endgroup\$ – mxyzplk Feb 28 '11 at 3:04
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1\$\begingroup\$ One way to see this limit is that mounts are not PCs. Their souls (if any) can tune and fuel only with a limited amount of magic. Of course you can add more magic items to them, but only one of them would be active. I borrowed this concept from the tier-escalating limit on the usage of items' daily powers. \$\endgroup\$ – Erik Burigo Mar 23 '11 at 16:34
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Mounts have one slot for a usable magic item.
Adventurer's Vault, where mount-slot magical items were first introduced, lays it out pretty clearly:
A creature serving as your companion or mount has a single magic item slot that you can activate using your own actions (and not the creature's).
-- "Companion and Mount Slot Items", p.122, emphasis mine
Emphasis on usable.
The limitations around item slots noted in the Rules Compendium may or may not help you here:
Item slots represent a practical limit to the number of magic items a character can wear and use. [For example, a] character can benefit from only one magic item worn in the arms slot even if the character can physically wear bracers and carry a shield at the same time. [...] The character benefits from the item that was put on first; any other item put in the same item slot doesn't function until the character takes off the first one.
-- "Item Slots", p.276, emphasis mine
This might make it conceptually difficult to swap out a set of, say, skystrider horseshoes if you wanted to use another item your mount was wearing, but keep in mind the form of magic items isn't absolute, especially if you have the Transfer Magic Item ritual, so you can probably work with a version that's less securely attached.
