Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Revlis 04-30-07, 05:19 PM	I just recently gave my PCs an airship to toy around with. Somewhere in the future of the campaign I plan for them to get caught up in an epic airship battle between nations (all FF XII style) using the Heroes of Battle mindset to keep things a bit more simple. Now the question is, how do I bring the melee fightes into the action while the dexterous chars are keeping the ship in the air and the spellcasters are launching flaming balls of death? I've thought of boarding and repelling boarders, but I was looking for something on a grander scale. One idea I was kind of tinkering with is something like having the barbarian pull a Kratos or some such. Pleas reply with any other ideas y'all might have.
_Jayne_Cobb_ 04-30-07, 05:22 PM	You can never plan for what the PCs will do cos invariably they will do precisely what you did not plan for. All you can do is create opportunities and environments in which events can occur and let the players do with their PCs what they will. If you want them to encourage them to jump from ship to ship then set them an example; have them obserive others doing it without falling to their death and they may be inspired to do likewise.
Radijs 04-30-07, 05:23 PM	The wildest idea that jumped into my head was something like linear accelerators on the side of the ship. Put a metalhead (melee fighter) in one of those and launch him with a ballistic trajectory to a passing ship. I don't know what a Kratos is. Other options could be hangliders. Launched, or dropped from high altitude. They can just glide down onto any ship they pick.
KirkBb 04-30-07, 05:23 PM	Hmmm, I'd say have some special "excape pods" or other small more maneuverable "vehicles" found on the airship. Think flying carpet or other item that would allow your tanks to fly. Let them get all up in the action that way, by taking the fight to the enemy.
bobothechimp 04-30-07, 05:31 PM	Swing across on ropes, jump across, ram the ships into eachother, latch on with grappling hooks, boarding planks, launch them from cannons/catapaults, or whatever else you can think of.
iam_bkee 04-30-07, 06:25 PM	They can use the large weaponry like cannons, catapults, and balistas.
Terraneaux 04-30-07, 07:41 PM	Get them items/potions of flight so that they can board other airships successfully. The fighters could potentially board other ships and take out the animating elemental spirit, thus causing the ship to capsize.
Holy_Beholder 04-30-07, 10:49 PM	Or they could defend their ship against other fighters trying to do the exact same thing.
Thubby 04-30-07, 11:03 PM	telekinesis+glider+tank= very conquered enemy ship. grappling hooks to drag the other ship to them siege weapons mini air ships to shuttle soldiers, in groups obviously.
sabrewolf 05-01-07, 06:51 AM	Some of my :twocents: - Turn the Melees into defenders: Make others board the ship, while making the spellcasters still busy dealing with other airships. - Turn the Melees into "marines": Give them magical wings plus a feather fall iten (just in case) and let them board another ship (with less weaponry, thus less a priority-target for the spellcasters). - Double war: While skyships battle up in the sky, armies batle down the fields. Here melees can have their spotlight. Drop in special units (elefants, rhinos, siege towers (tanks)) and turn some airships into field supporters (performing ground attacks)... - Drop in the Big Fish: Boarding can be a better option if the enemy´s flagship in one massive one - getting inside to battle the enemy general and/or destroy the enemy ship´s power core will demand less time and effort (resources) to down such a large vessel then using normal damage from outside... And in case the whole group decides to jump in (very likely) give them multiple objectives (multiple power cores, great weapons platform that need be destroyed, captured NPCs that need be rescued...)
penchant 05-01-07, 07:28 AM	Ballistas with zip lines.
Dei 05-01-07, 11:18 AM	Have talismens aboard the ships for "ranking officers" that give access to the levitation spell so the melee types don't need to worry about plunging to their dooms then go to town with some of the other ideas on here. I like the bastillas with ziplines option, got a lot of flavour to it. Then, have some friendly crew from their own ship ready to board and take over the ship once the tanks have finished butchering the defenders. Afterall, why blow it out of the sky with arcane fire when you can capture it?
Revlis 05-06-07, 08:06 PM	Wow, I like all the ideas. I'm probably gonna use a few and a few I'd already planned to use. Like the capitol ship is gonna be the climax, boarding and boarders are gonna be minor encounters, and I was gonna have the PCs original goal be as a rescue ship for capsizing allied ships. And they're not 'Marines' they're 'Aerials', marine suggests seaborne :P .
Thubby 05-06-07, 10:44 PM	Wow, I like all the ideas. I'm probably gonna use a few and a few I'd already planned to use. Like the capitol ship is gonna be the climax, boarding and boarders are gonna be minor encounters, and I was gonna have the PCs original goal be as a rescue ship for capsizing allied ships. And they're not 'Marines' they're 'Aerials', marine suggests seaborne :P . true, but in most sci-fi (cant think of a fantasy with airships), naval terms are applied to airships and spacecraft. marines today arent water only anymore iether. their more like shock troops. besides, being a marine gives players something they can relate to, as do naval terms as a whole.
penchant 05-07-07, 03:49 AM	Besides... Airborne Rangers have a totally different meaning in D&D!