Airship Info [Archive] - Wizards Community

Airship Info [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Blades
05-09-05, 09:03 PM Alright, I've been combing the Eberron boards for the past couple hours looking for anything related to airships. I found that really nice floor plan for a ship made with dundjinni, and except for the excessive luxury and lack of scale(I couldn't figure out what each square was exactly) I thought it was freaking awesome. But the problem is, I'm really attempting to find crunchy stuff, not so much fluff.

For example: Size, how freaking big is an airship exactly? Someone, somewhere, wrote ≈300ft.

The airship plans made with dundjinni included catapults and other such weapons. Doesn't this seem a little wrong? First off, the airships are supposed to be cargo, right? Second, when your flying a catapult becomes pretty hard to aim in any manner that's effective right?

Next, I calculated what an airship's speed in ft/rds is(175ft), but I have no idea what maneuverability to rate it. It seems like poor would be a good idea, or possibly worse than that(I don't remember them all off hand), but then, an airship seems like it should be able to hover, which is definately not poor maneuverability.

The reason I'm trying to figure all this out is because after the party finishes their current adventure(Finding that schema from the forgotton forge, it wasn't at the end. :schemes: ) and another one or two(I have ideas galore thanks to school :bored: ) Basically, after I get them up a couple more levels (4/5th seems good, my parties usually gain a level per adventure, but my labeling of an adventure seems to be a bit bigger than most) I'm going to make the real campaign be about thier adventures with an airship house lyrandar is having them test(Extra elementals bound in).

The idea for it came when my brother decided to switch from being a samurai to a swashbuckler at the last minute(he swapped from goblin to half-elf too...) and I realized I had a marked lyrandar scion(in pseudo-disgrace for not really deciding what to do after his formal education ended, this'll be his ultimate test to the family). Ships(and thus, airships) naturally followed in my demented train of thought, so thats's the current idea I'm sitting on before my next session.

Sorry for my mad rambling skills, I realize a few of those sentances aren't gramatically correct(And there is a nasty continuity skip in that second to last paragraph) I'm too eager to post this to bother cleaning it up right now, but it'll probably happen in a few minutes.

Anyway, if you've possibly gleaned an idea of what I'm looking for here, or have random even-madder-than-mine ramblings about airships, lay it on me, I'm all ears.
stembolt
05-10-05, 12:12 AM Airships have been discussed several times.

The Dundjinni examples are simply ludicrous, as you correctly surmised.
Catapults are stupid on airships.

As for specifics, airships appear to vary greatly. So generally they look however you want them to look.

Airships have been for the most part mass transportation available to the PCs to move around the owrld

Getting to the specifics of your campaign, why would an almost outcast with a group of adventurers be tapped to perform a prestigious task like testing a new airship?
Edymnion
05-10-05, 12:31 AM Long story short, the Airships are more of a plot device than anything else.
They are as big as the DM needs them to be, they're as fast as the DM needs them to be, they crash whenever the DM needs them to crash. They don't really have hard stats.

However, if you just want to work on statting one up for fun, there are a few places you can start. The Arms & Equipment Guide has details on sailing vessels, and thats essentially all the airships are. They're boats with additional magical elements (the elemental ring) tacked onto them to make them fly. So, for things like lengths, maneuverability, damage dealing/absorbing power, I'd look into A&EG, and then do a good amount of houseruling :)
MavrickWeirdo
05-10-05, 01:59 AM Alright, I've been combing the Eberron boards for the past couple hours looking for anything related to airships. I found that really nice floor plan for a ship made with dundjinni, and except for the excessive luxury and lack of scale(I couldn't figure out what each square was exactly) I thought it was freaking awesome. But the problem is, I'm really attempting to find crunchy stuff, not so much fluff.

For example: Size, how freaking big is an airship exactly? Someone, somewhere, wrote ≈300ft.

The airship plans made with dundjinni included catapults and other such weapons. Doesn't this seem a little wrong? First off, the airships are supposed to be cargo, right? Second, when your flying a catapult becomes pretty hard to aim in any manner that's effective right?

Next, I calculated what an airship's speed in ft/rds is(175ft), but I have no idea what maneuverability to rate it. It seems like poor would be a good idea, or possibly worse than that(I don't remember them all off hand), but then, an airship seems like it should be able to hover, which is definately not poor maneuverability.

The reason I'm trying to figure all this out is because after the party finishes their current adventure(Finding that schema from the forgotton forge, it wasn't at the end. :schemes: ) and another one or two(I have ideas galore thanks to school :bored: ) Basically, after I get them up a couple more levels (4/5th seems good, my parties usually gain a level per adventure, but my labeling of an adventure seems to be a bit bigger than most) I'm going to make the real campaign be about thier adventures with an airship house lyrandar is having them test(Extra elementals bound in).

The idea for it came when my brother decided to switch from being a samurai to a swashbuckler at the last minute(he swapped from goblin to half-elf too...) and I realized I had a marked lyrandar scion(in pseudo-disgrace for not really deciding what to do after his formal education ended, this'll be his ultimate test to the family). Ships(and thus, airships) naturally followed in my demented train of thought, so thats's the current idea I'm sitting on before my next session.

Sorry for my mad rambling skills, I realize a few of those sentances aren't gramatically correct(And there is a nasty continuity skip in that second to last paragraph) I'm too eager to post this to bother cleaning it up right now, but it'll probably happen in a few minutes.

Anyway, if you've possibly gleaned an idea of what I'm looking for here, or have random even-madder-than-mine ramblings about airships, lay it on me, I'm all ears.

Untill The Explorer's Handbook comes out (possibly in August)
There is Dragon 331 which should have "small' airship stats

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Blades 05-09-05, 09:03 PM	Alright, I've been combing the Eberron boards for the past couple hours looking for anything related to airships. I found that really nice floor plan for a ship made with dundjinni, and except for the excessive luxury and lack of scale(I couldn't figure out what each square was exactly) I thought it was freaking awesome. But the problem is, I'm really attempting to find crunchy stuff, not so much fluff. For example: Size, how freaking big is an airship exactly? Someone, somewhere, wrote ≈300ft. The airship plans made with dundjinni included catapults and other such weapons. Doesn't this seem a little wrong? First off, the airships are supposed to be cargo, right? Second, when your flying a catapult becomes pretty hard to aim in any manner that's effective right? Next, I calculated what an airship's speed in ft/rds is(175ft), but I have no idea what maneuverability to rate it. It seems like poor would be a good idea, or possibly worse than that(I don't remember them all off hand), but then, an airship seems like it should be able to hover, which is definately not poor maneuverability. The reason I'm trying to figure all this out is because after the party finishes their current adventure(Finding that schema from the forgotton forge, it wasn't at the end. :schemes: ) and another one or two(I have ideas galore thanks to school :bored: ) Basically, after I get them up a couple more levels (4/5th seems good, my parties usually gain a level per adventure, but my labeling of an adventure seems to be a bit bigger than most) I'm going to make the real campaign be about thier adventures with an airship house lyrandar is having them test(Extra elementals bound in). The idea for it came when my brother decided to switch from being a samurai to a swashbuckler at the last minute(he swapped from goblin to half-elf too...) and I realized I had a marked lyrandar scion(in pseudo-disgrace for not really deciding what to do after his formal education ended, this'll be his ultimate test to the family). Ships(and thus, airships) naturally followed in my demented train of thought, so thats's the current idea I'm sitting on before my next session. Sorry for my mad rambling skills, I realize a few of those sentances aren't gramatically correct(And there is a nasty continuity skip in that second to last paragraph) I'm too eager to post this to bother cleaning it up right now, but it'll probably happen in a few minutes. Anyway, if you've possibly gleaned an idea of what I'm looking for here, or have random even-madder-than-mine ramblings about airships, lay it on me, I'm all ears.
stembolt 05-10-05, 12:12 AM	Airships have been discussed several times. The Dundjinni examples are simply ludicrous, as you correctly surmised. Catapults are stupid on airships. As for specifics, airships appear to vary greatly. So generally they look however you want them to look. Airships have been for the most part mass transportation available to the PCs to move around the owrld Getting to the specifics of your campaign, why would an almost outcast with a group of adventurers be tapped to perform a prestigious task like testing a new airship?
Edymnion 05-10-05, 12:31 AM	Long story short, the Airships are more of a plot device than anything else. They are as big as the DM needs them to be, they're as fast as the DM needs them to be, they crash whenever the DM needs them to crash. They don't really have hard stats. However, if you just want to work on statting one up for fun, there are a few places you can start. The Arms & Equipment Guide has details on sailing vessels, and thats essentially all the airships are. They're boats with additional magical elements (the elemental ring) tacked onto them to make them fly. So, for things like lengths, maneuverability, damage dealing/absorbing power, I'd look into A&EG, and then do a good amount of houseruling :)
MavrickWeirdo 05-10-05, 01:59 AM	Alright, I've been combing the Eberron boards for the past couple hours looking for anything related to airships. I found that really nice floor plan for a ship made with dundjinni, and except for the excessive luxury and lack of scale(I couldn't figure out what each square was exactly) I thought it was freaking awesome. But the problem is, I'm really attempting to find crunchy stuff, not so much fluff. For example: Size, how freaking big is an airship exactly? Someone, somewhere, wrote ≈300ft. The airship plans made with dundjinni included catapults and other such weapons. Doesn't this seem a little wrong? First off, the airships are supposed to be cargo, right? Second, when your flying a catapult becomes pretty hard to aim in any manner that's effective right? Next, I calculated what an airship's speed in ft/rds is(175ft), but I have no idea what maneuverability to rate it. It seems like poor would be a good idea, or possibly worse than that(I don't remember them all off hand), but then, an airship seems like it should be able to hover, which is definately not poor maneuverability. The reason I'm trying to figure all this out is because after the party finishes their current adventure(Finding that schema from the forgotton forge, it wasn't at the end. :schemes: ) and another one or two(I have ideas galore thanks to school :bored: ) Basically, after I get them up a couple more levels (4/5th seems good, my parties usually gain a level per adventure, but my labeling of an adventure seems to be a bit bigger than most) I'm going to make the real campaign be about thier adventures with an airship house lyrandar is having them test(Extra elementals bound in). The idea for it came when my brother decided to switch from being a samurai to a swashbuckler at the last minute(he swapped from goblin to half-elf too...) and I realized I had a marked lyrandar scion(in pseudo-disgrace for not really deciding what to do after his formal education ended, this'll be his ultimate test to the family). Ships(and thus, airships) naturally followed in my demented train of thought, so thats's the current idea I'm sitting on before my next session. Sorry for my mad rambling skills, I realize a few of those sentances aren't gramatically correct(And there is a nasty continuity skip in that second to last paragraph) I'm too eager to post this to bother cleaning it up right now, but it'll probably happen in a few minutes. Anyway, if you've possibly gleaned an idea of what I'm looking for here, or have random even-madder-than-mine ramblings about airships, lay it on me, I'm all ears. Untill The Explorer's Handbook comes out (possibly in August) There is Dragon 331 which should have "small' airship stats