Airship to Airship? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Airship to Airship? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Fyrebhaal
02-14-08, 11:09 PM I am just about to start a campaign, and the PC's will have a airship (ala Eberron). The world is relatively high-tech (airships, lightning rail, homonculi radio, etc.), and I was just wondering, whats a good way to handle airship to airship combat? Thanks.
pres_man
02-15-08, 01:10 AM Unless the goal is to destroy the airship, you should probably treat the airships as terrain. Even if you want to destroy it, still do terrain but include hp for the airship.
Entropy_Judge
02-15-08, 01:59 AM Most 'combat' would probably consist of boarding attempts by one or the other of the combatants, much like sea-warfare. The usefulness of ballistae/catapults would depend on the speed of the two ships - the faster they go, the less useful they would be. Ramming and grappling the two ships together would likely be the most common method, as it makes the two craft less likely to become damaged and lessens the likelihood of losses to falling out of the sky (as well as creating good plots - a royal airship crashes itself to avoid letting secret documents fall into the boarding pirates' hands; the crews of both ships are now dead, wreckage is scattered over several miles, and the PCs must find the documents before something else does).
Sinfire Titan
02-15-08, 09:18 AM Buy the Arms and Equipment Guides and Stormwrack. They have all of the rules for Ship-to-Ship combat. I know, because I have an entire campaign set in the sky myself.
Mina88
02-15-08, 09:33 AM I am just about to start a campaign, and the PC's will have a airship (ala Eberron). The world is relatively high-tech (airships, lightning rail, homonculi radio, etc.), and I was just wondering, whats a good way to handle airship to airship combat? Thanks.

one of our DMs is actually working with airships right now as well. What we decided on using for a2a combat is basically just like pirate ship to ship battle. There are bording attempts by the rival ship, ship destruction, prisoner capture, recon and looting are the main goals, though we are in a war, so the recon and prisoner capture are kinda war specific...depends on where you plan on going with the a2a combat...why are they fighting?
Radijs
02-15-08, 11:08 AM I'm using the rules from Stormwrack for my AA combat.

So far it hasn't come up much though since most of the combat has been either boarding actions or part of the narrative.
Fyrebhaal
02-15-08, 11:15 AM one of our DMs is actually working with airships right now as well. What we decided on using for a2a combat is basically just like pirate ship to ship battle. There are bording attempts by the rival ship, ship destruction, prisoner capture, recon and looting are the main goals, though we are in a war, so the recon and prisoner capture are kinda war specific...depends on where you plan on going with the a2a combat...why are they fighting?

They are going the privateer route, and are in the middle of a war. Think War of 1812, except with airships.
lifeblender
02-15-08, 01:12 PM In addition to Stormwrack, you'll want Heroes of Battle for the seige weapon and group warfare guides and the Explorer's Handbook (available in huge quantities in used book stores) for the extra airship details and prestige classes.

Some important points about airship combat.

1. Catapults depend on repeated fire at the same space to achieve overall accuracy. Once aimed correctly, they hit true each time. This makes them less than useful when the platform on which they are mounted is moving. Therefore almost all siege weapons mounted on airships will be direct-fire, i.e. ballistas.

2. Using the Stormwrack rules for narrative ship to ship combat will simplify things greatly. However, a ship in combat needs a captain who takes a standard action each round to command the battle. An airship needs a pilot who takes a standard action each round to steer the ship. This means that the airship pilot and captain can't be the same person in combat. The Windright Captain prestige class in the Explorer's Handbook (apparently built exactly for this purpose) gets around this issue.

3. Read and re-read the rules for directing an airship by controlling the elemental. Be clear about the various options before you start playing. Keep in mind that basically the elemental can't be targeted with control magic except by someone who is touching the hidden and locked away case for the dragonshard. So if your half-elf pilot is knocked from their post... This makes the pilot a big target. It is important to know who actually knows how to find the dragonshard. Most of the crew probably won't.

4. Airships basically don't crash unless they've lost a sizable chunk of their structure. Also their hull sections are resistant to fire. For that reason, airship fights usually have to be waged against the crews rather than the ship.

5. Make sure it's fun for the players. This kind of play requires a lot of setup and coordination. Involve the players as much as possible, which can also take a lot of work off of you.
Fyrebhaal
02-15-08, 02:45 PM In addition to Stormwrack, you'll want Heroes of Battle for the seige weapon and group warfare guides and the Explorer's Handbook (available in huge quantities in used book stores) for the extra airship details and prestige classes.

Some important points about airship combat.

1. Catapults depend on repeated fire at the same space to achieve overall accuracy. Once aimed correctly, they hit true each time. This makes them less than useful when the platform on which they are mounted is moving. Therefore almost all siege weapons mounted on airships will be direct-fire, i.e. ballistas.

2. Using the Stormwrack rules for narrative ship to ship combat will simplify things greatly. However, a ship in combat needs a captain who takes a standard action each round to command the battle. An airship needs a pilot who takes a standard action each round to steer the ship. This means that the airship pilot and captain can't be the same person in combat. The Windright Captain prestige class in the Explorer's Handbook (apparently built exactly for this purpose) gets around this issue.

3. Read and re-read the rules for directing an airship by controlling the elemental. Be clear about the various options before you start playing. Keep in mind that basically the elemental can't be targeted with control magic except by someone who is touching the hidden and locked away case for the dragonshard. So if your half-elf pilot is knocked from their post... This makes the pilot a big target. It is important to know who actually knows how to find the dragonshard. Most of the crew probably won't.

4. Airships basically don't crash unless they've lost a sizable chunk of their structure. Also their hull sections are resistant to fire. For that reason, airship fights usually have to be waged against the crews rather than the ship.

5. Make sure it's fun for the players. This kind of play requires a lot of setup and coordination. Involve the players as much as possible, which can also take a lot of work off of you.

Thanks much for these pointers.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fyrebhaal 02-14-08, 11:09 PM	I am just about to start a campaign, and the PC's will have a airship (ala Eberron). The world is relatively high-tech (airships, lightning rail, homonculi radio, etc.), and I was just wondering, whats a good way to handle airship to airship combat? Thanks.
pres_man 02-15-08, 01:10 AM	Unless the goal is to destroy the airship, you should probably treat the airships as terrain. Even if you want to destroy it, still do terrain but include hp for the airship.
Entropy_Judge 02-15-08, 01:59 AM	Most 'combat' would probably consist of boarding attempts by one or the other of the combatants, much like sea-warfare. The usefulness of ballistae/catapults would depend on the speed of the two ships - the faster they go, the less useful they would be. Ramming and grappling the two ships together would likely be the most common method, as it makes the two craft less likely to become damaged and lessens the likelihood of losses to falling out of the sky (as well as creating good plots - a royal airship crashes itself to avoid letting secret documents fall into the boarding pirates' hands; the crews of both ships are now dead, wreckage is scattered over several miles, and the PCs must find the documents before something else does).
Sinfire Titan 02-15-08, 09:18 AM	Buy the Arms and Equipment Guides and Stormwrack. They have all of the rules for Ship-to-Ship combat. I know, because I have an entire campaign set in the sky myself.
Mina88 02-15-08, 09:33 AM	I am just about to start a campaign, and the PC's will have a airship (ala Eberron). The world is relatively high-tech (airships, lightning rail, homonculi radio, etc.), and I was just wondering, whats a good way to handle airship to airship combat? Thanks. one of our DMs is actually working with airships right now as well. What we decided on using for a2a combat is basically just like pirate ship to ship battle. There are bording attempts by the rival ship, ship destruction, prisoner capture, recon and looting are the main goals, though we are in a war, so the recon and prisoner capture are kinda war specific...depends on where you plan on going with the a2a combat...why are they fighting?
Radijs 02-15-08, 11:08 AM	I'm using the rules from Stormwrack for my AA combat. So far it hasn't come up much though since most of the combat has been either boarding actions or part of the narrative.
Fyrebhaal 02-15-08, 11:15 AM	one of our DMs is actually working with airships right now as well. What we decided on using for a2a combat is basically just like pirate ship to ship battle. There are bording attempts by the rival ship, ship destruction, prisoner capture, recon and looting are the main goals, though we are in a war, so the recon and prisoner capture are kinda war specific...depends on where you plan on going with the a2a combat...why are they fighting? They are going the privateer route, and are in the middle of a war. Think War of 1812, except with airships.
lifeblender 02-15-08, 01:12 PM	In addition to Stormwrack, you'll want Heroes of Battle for the seige weapon and group warfare guides and the Explorer's Handbook (available in huge quantities in used book stores) for the extra airship details and prestige classes. Some important points about airship combat. 1. Catapults depend on repeated fire at the same space to achieve overall accuracy. Once aimed correctly, they hit true each time. This makes them less than useful when the platform on which they are mounted is moving. Therefore almost all siege weapons mounted on airships will be direct-fire, i.e. ballistas. 2. Using the Stormwrack rules for narrative ship to ship combat will simplify things greatly. However, a ship in combat needs a captain who takes a standard action each round to command the battle. An airship needs a pilot who takes a standard action each round to steer the ship. This means that the airship pilot and captain can't be the same person in combat. The Windright Captain prestige class in the Explorer's Handbook (apparently built exactly for this purpose) gets around this issue. 3. Read and re-read the rules for directing an airship by controlling the elemental. Be clear about the various options before you start playing. Keep in mind that basically the elemental can't be targeted with control magic except by someone who is touching the hidden and locked away case for the dragonshard. So if your half-elf pilot is knocked from their post... This makes the pilot a big target. It is important to know who actually knows how to find the dragonshard. Most of the crew probably won't. 4. Airships basically don't crash unless they've lost a sizable chunk of their structure. Also their hull sections are resistant to fire. For that reason, airship fights usually have to be waged against the crews rather than the ship. 5. Make sure it's fun for the players. This kind of play requires a lot of setup and coordination. Involve the players as much as possible, which can also take a lot of work off of you.
Fyrebhaal 02-15-08, 02:45 PM	In addition to Stormwrack, you'll want Heroes of Battle for the seige weapon and group warfare guides and the Explorer's Handbook (available in huge quantities in used book stores) for the extra airship details and prestige classes. Some important points about airship combat. 1. Catapults depend on repeated fire at the same space to achieve overall accuracy. Once aimed correctly, they hit true each time. This makes them less than useful when the platform on which they are mounted is moving. Therefore almost all siege weapons mounted on airships will be direct-fire, i.e. ballistas. 2. Using the Stormwrack rules for narrative ship to ship combat will simplify things greatly. However, a ship in combat needs a captain who takes a standard action each round to command the battle. An airship needs a pilot who takes a standard action each round to steer the ship. This means that the airship pilot and captain can't be the same person in combat. The Windright Captain prestige class in the Explorer's Handbook (apparently built exactly for this purpose) gets around this issue. 3. Read and re-read the rules for directing an airship by controlling the elemental. Be clear about the various options before you start playing. Keep in mind that basically the elemental can't be targeted with control magic except by someone who is touching the hidden and locked away case for the dragonshard. So if your half-elf pilot is knocked from their post... This makes the pilot a big target. It is important to know who actually knows how to find the dragonshard. Most of the crew probably won't. 4. Airships basically don't crash unless they've lost a sizable chunk of their structure. Also their hull sections are resistant to fire. For that reason, airship fights usually have to be waged against the crews rather than the ship. 5. Make sure it's fun for the players. This kind of play requires a lot of setup and coordination. Involve the players as much as possible, which can also take a lot of work off of you. Thanks much for these pointers.