Crewing an Airship [Archive] - Wizards Community

Crewing an Airship [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Jancarius
11-25-06, 10:56 PM How many people do you need to crew an airship, what tasks do they need to be able to perform (if the PC's party wants to do it), and what does a crew cost to rent from Lyrander per day?

or, where can I find this information.
ressurrector
11-25-06, 11:41 PM Well, the ECS says the basic Airship is analogous to "forget what type" of boat which required about 15 crew.
Jancarius
11-25-06, 11:43 PM Where can I find the cost of such crew though? And I'm mostly curious what sort of checks the crew would need to make if the PCs are playing the crew (serving as the)
ressurrector
11-26-06, 01:37 AM Goods and services table, treat them as trained hirelings/mercenaries.

I'd imagine the crew would need craft (woodwork/carpentry) checks
Possibly craft (blacksmithing)
Most likely Profession (sailor) to some extent
trevg
11-26-06, 02:25 PM How many people do you need to crew an airship, what tasks do they need to be able to perform (if the PC's party wants to do it), and what does a crew cost to rent from Lyrander per day?

or, where can I find this information.

The Explorers handbook indicates the watch is 20 (which is the number of people required per shift) 20 x 3 shifts per day = 60 crew, with a max capacity of 150 people on the ship. (Seems a little on the high side if you ask me.)
Jancarius
11-26-06, 03:30 PM That does seem a little high. I'm still not really clear why you even need a crew if you've got a powerful enough wizard/artificer/sorcerer Lyrander captain. It seems like other than altering your course and doing preventive maintence on the elemental binding housing, there's not a lot else for the crew to do besides man the ballista and keep an eye on passengers.
Kaizer_Ryu
11-26-06, 04:54 PM Well, since this is a low-level setting, most Lyrandar Captains wouldn't really be able to do everything. Even if you had an Uber Captain (likely a very expensive aquisition), if something happens, even s/he couldn't be everywhere at once. Maintenance of an airship is a round the clock job, and depending on the size of the vessel, it can require quite a few people to tend to the day to day jobs.

Most of it could probably be handled by Experts, Adepts, or even Commoners with ranks in Profession (sailor)/(engineering)/(etc.). However, in emergencies, you want to have people around who have a bit more know-how. There could be a fault in the ship, a saboteur, or just bad sailing conditions. Emerald Claw, agents of the Lords of Dust, etc. can attack, so you'd need people to either stave off an attack or allow the ship to avoid them.

Unless it's the Forgotten Freedom. Then you're just royally screwed. :D
Jancarius
11-26-06, 05:28 PM It's not the Forgotten Freedom, it's the Ultimate Greatness. A ship almost as infamous in it's original incarnation as a crystal spelljammer. For my L20 game, one of my players whose a L20 Wizard/Sorc/Ultimate Magus/Loremaster purchased an airship and we're trying to figure out what kind of crew he needs.
rampant
11-26-06, 06:07 PM At that level have one of your guys take leadership and crew it with the highest Followers with max ranks in any applicable skills
Jancarius
11-26-06, 06:19 PM He doesn't have Leadership.
Bluebrush
11-26-06, 07:25 PM One problem is: How large is your airship?

Airship sizes are rather inconsistant over the published material. (And we only have one price for all of them so far.)
Edymnion
11-26-06, 07:41 PM Airship sizes are rather inconsistant over the published material. (And we only have one price for all of them so far.)Well, thats rather intentional, IMO. Airships in the setting serve the purpose of plot device more than anything else. They go as fast as the DM needs them to go for the story, and not a hair faster or slower. They stand up to just the amount of battering that the DM needs them to before going down.

Airships in Eberron are like starships in Star Trek. The Enterprise can take a horrible beating and keep on fighting in one episode, and in the next episode a single hit threatens to blow the warp core (and of course the warp core ejection system goes offline in the blast).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jancarius 11-25-06, 10:56 PM	How many people do you need to crew an airship, what tasks do they need to be able to perform (if the PC's party wants to do it), and what does a crew cost to rent from Lyrander per day? or, where can I find this information.
ressurrector 11-25-06, 11:41 PM	Well, the ECS says the basic Airship is analogous to "forget what type" of boat which required about 15 crew.
Jancarius 11-25-06, 11:43 PM	Where can I find the cost of such crew though? And I'm mostly curious what sort of checks the crew would need to make if the PCs are playing the crew (serving as the)
ressurrector 11-26-06, 01:37 AM	Goods and services table, treat them as trained hirelings/mercenaries. I'd imagine the crew would need craft (woodwork/carpentry) checks Possibly craft (blacksmithing) Most likely Profession (sailor) to some extent
trevg 11-26-06, 02:25 PM	How many people do you need to crew an airship, what tasks do they need to be able to perform (if the PC's party wants to do it), and what does a crew cost to rent from Lyrander per day? or, where can I find this information. The Explorers handbook indicates the watch is 20 (which is the number of people required per shift) 20 x 3 shifts per day = 60 crew, with a max capacity of 150 people on the ship. (Seems a little on the high side if you ask me.)
Jancarius 11-26-06, 03:30 PM	That does seem a little high. I'm still not really clear why you even need a crew if you've got a powerful enough wizard/artificer/sorcerer Lyrander captain. It seems like other than altering your course and doing preventive maintence on the elemental binding housing, there's not a lot else for the crew to do besides man the ballista and keep an eye on passengers.
Kaizer_Ryu 11-26-06, 04:54 PM	Well, since this is a low-level setting, most Lyrandar Captains wouldn't really be able to do everything. Even if you had an Uber Captain (likely a very expensive aquisition), if something happens, even s/he couldn't be everywhere at once. Maintenance of an airship is a round the clock job, and depending on the size of the vessel, it can require quite a few people to tend to the day to day jobs. Most of it could probably be handled by Experts, Adepts, or even Commoners with ranks in Profession (sailor)/(engineering)/(etc.). However, in emergencies, you want to have people around who have a bit more know-how. There could be a fault in the ship, a saboteur, or just bad sailing conditions. Emerald Claw, agents of the Lords of Dust, etc. can attack, so you'd need people to either stave off an attack or allow the ship to avoid them. Unless it's the Forgotten Freedom. Then you're just royally screwed. :D
Jancarius 11-26-06, 05:28 PM	It's not the Forgotten Freedom, it's the Ultimate Greatness. A ship almost as infamous in it's original incarnation as a crystal spelljammer. For my L20 game, one of my players whose a L20 Wizard/Sorc/Ultimate Magus/Loremaster purchased an airship and we're trying to figure out what kind of crew he needs.
rampant 11-26-06, 06:07 PM	At that level have one of your guys take leadership and crew it with the highest Followers with max ranks in any applicable skills
Jancarius 11-26-06, 06:19 PM	He doesn't have Leadership.
Bluebrush 11-26-06, 07:25 PM	One problem is: How large is your airship? Airship sizes are rather inconsistant over the published material. (And we only have one price for all of them so far.)
Edymnion 11-26-06, 07:41 PM	Airship sizes are rather inconsistant over the published material. (And we only have one price for all of them so far.)Well, thats rather intentional, IMO. Airships in the setting serve the purpose of plot device more than anything else. They go as fast as the DM needs them to go for the story, and not a hair faster or slower. They stand up to just the amount of battering that the DM needs them to before going down. Airships in Eberron are like starships in Star Trek. The Enterprise can take a horrible beating and keep on fighting in one episode, and in the next episode a single hit threatens to blow the warp core (and of course the warp core ejection system goes offline in the blast).