Trying to represent a 'living airship' - construct, ship, or...? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Trying to represent a 'living airship' - construct, ship, or...? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
StruckingFuggle
12-09-07, 02:58 PM I guess this is the forum, because I'm interested in the mechanical, cruchy rules aspect of this.

I'm trying to design a kind of ... set-piece / setting detail / potential encounter. The world is basically a collection of massive floating islands with a navy of high-powered Gith trying to contain other races to their islands in the sky. They do this with their "Dragons", which are massive floating ships that blast down anything that rises above a certain 'ceiling'.

I'm just not sure how to represent that. Do I make the 'dragons' (which are the size of an aircraft carrier or bigger) massive intelligent constructs? Do I stat it up as a ship (per the AEG rules or something) that can man itself? Or how would you make a massive boat / airship a 'character' capable of action in a game?
Marcus Majarra
12-10-07, 12:31 AM My recommendation would be to use mindless constructs. The simplest solution would be colossal animated objects with fly speeds, ranged attacks (depending on what you need), and appropriate hardness.
Tiarn
12-10-07, 12:39 AM I'm pretty sure they have rules for vehicles in Arms and Equipment.

In Eberron they have ships that fly because they're made of a lighter-than-air wood; bound elementals provide propulsion (and would be somewhat "living") so that might give you some ideas.
Voran
12-10-07, 04:23 PM Possibly an abberation? Or a space whale with a symbiotic pilot, like Moya.
Mock26
12-10-07, 06:47 PM Spelljammer Helms! I'm serious. Even if you didn't like the Spelljammer expansion, think about the idea of helms. If you're not familiar with it it is basically a seat that is attached to the "ship" and it is piloted by mages or clerics. They use their memorized spell energy to pilot the ship. I don't remember the exact stats on it but I think it was something like 1 hour per level of each spell. So, if you had two first level spells and one second level spell memorized you could fly the ship for 4 hours. I also think that there was a time limit on how long you could pilot a ship before you became fatigued. If you're interested I can look it up for you. I think that this could really work for your game as it gives a vulnerability to the ships that the group could eventually come to use against the Gith. You could have the ships made with magical materials that allow them to float and they could be controlled via sails, but the helm would give faster speeds and would allow the ships to move when there were no winds and would negate the need to tack into the wind. You could have the helms be closely guarded secrets that the group could eventually discover.
mvincent
12-10-07, 07:29 PM how would you make a massive boat / airship a 'character' capable of action in a game?Cast animate object on it, then permanency. Providing it with wings of flying (or similar wondrous item that provides flight) is a relatively cheap way to make it airborne.
Voran
12-10-07, 09:53 PM Man I miss spelljammer. If you look online there are some attempts to update it to 3.0, but I don't think they got much further than that.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
StruckingFuggle 12-09-07, 02:58 PM	I guess this is the forum, because I'm interested in the mechanical, cruchy rules aspect of this. I'm trying to design a kind of ... set-piece / setting detail / potential encounter. The world is basically a collection of massive floating islands with a navy of high-powered Gith trying to contain other races to their islands in the sky. They do this with their "Dragons", which are massive floating ships that blast down anything that rises above a certain 'ceiling'. I'm just not sure how to represent that. Do I make the 'dragons' (which are the size of an aircraft carrier or bigger) massive intelligent constructs? Do I stat it up as a ship (per the AEG rules or something) that can man itself? Or how would you make a massive boat / airship a 'character' capable of action in a game?
Marcus Majarra 12-10-07, 12:31 AM	My recommendation would be to use mindless constructs. The simplest solution would be colossal animated objects with fly speeds, ranged attacks (depending on what you need), and appropriate hardness.
Tiarn 12-10-07, 12:39 AM	I'm pretty sure they have rules for vehicles in Arms and Equipment. In Eberron they have ships that fly because they're made of a lighter-than-air wood; bound elementals provide propulsion (and would be somewhat "living") so that might give you some ideas.
Voran 12-10-07, 04:23 PM	Possibly an abberation? Or a space whale with a symbiotic pilot, like Moya.
Mock26 12-10-07, 06:47 PM	Spelljammer Helms! I'm serious. Even if you didn't like the Spelljammer expansion, think about the idea of helms. If you're not familiar with it it is basically a seat that is attached to the "ship" and it is piloted by mages or clerics. They use their memorized spell energy to pilot the ship. I don't remember the exact stats on it but I think it was something like 1 hour per level of each spell. So, if you had two first level spells and one second level spell memorized you could fly the ship for 4 hours. I also think that there was a time limit on how long you could pilot a ship before you became fatigued. If you're interested I can look it up for you. I think that this could really work for your game as it gives a vulnerability to the ships that the group could eventually come to use against the Gith. You could have the ships made with magical materials that allow them to float and they could be controlled via sails, but the helm would give faster speeds and would allow the ships to move when there were no winds and would negate the need to tack into the wind. You could have the helms be closely guarded secrets that the group could eventually discover.
mvincent 12-10-07, 07:29 PM	how would you make a massive boat / airship a 'character' capable of action in a game?Cast animate object on it, then permanency. Providing it with wings of flying (or similar wondrous item that provides flight) is a relatively cheap way to make it airborne.
Voran 12-10-07, 09:53 PM	Man I miss spelljammer. If you look online there are some attempts to update it to 3.0, but I don't think they got much further than that.