Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kevtar 01-22-08, 11:08 AM	Hi all, This post could fit into a couple of categories, so I thought I'd just post it here in the hopes of finding the best audience. I have a group of players who are steadily making their approach towards the end of our 3.5 campaign. Currently, they are 14th lvl, and I think I want to "pull-out all the stops" for this last group of 3rd edition PCs before Ragnarok [which is just on the horizon in our campaign setting, currently we are in the "winter of winters - 3 years of continual winter. Ragnarok will occur in April sometime when the 3rd edition PCs die and the 4th edition PCs will take over from the new Earth that will rise from the depths of the old]. Anyway, so the PCs are a sea-based group who have been sailing all over the world. They've been talking about enchanting their ship so that it can sail the ocean, the sky, and the land. I've never done anything like this and was wondering if someone could help me out with the following points: At what levels would it be appropriate to give the PCs such a ship? Maybe the ship's properties could be staggered (i.e. sea & air at 15th level; sea, air, and land at 17th level, etc...) What would you recommend in terms of spells, etc. in enhancing their ship? What properties [meaning speed, etc.] should the ship possess in the elements described above [sea, air, and land]? Thanks all for your help. I'm looking forward to reading your responses.
Prator_The_Golden 01-22-08, 11:19 AM	Do you have an Ebberon Campaign setting, or access to one? Check out the Airships described in there. They cost several thousand gold pieces to make, and only a little less to hire. Unfortunately, I can't remember the details... My thoughts on all magic items of any sort (including Modes of Transportation): Your PCs can have them as soon as they have enough money to buy them or make one themselves. Level 15 is actually a little bit late, since by that time your PCs will start learning to teleport to places. What do they mean by a "Land-sailing ship?" Do they mean that it can go overland (in which case, why not just get an airship and be happy?)? Or do they mean that it can go underground?
Andrew 01-22-08, 11:42 AM	The late 3.0 Arms and Equipment Guide had several some magical enhancements, including one called a cloud keel and another called an earth keel. I don't know if they've been updated lately, are possible to combine, or what to do about getting underground movement.
lifeblender 01-22-08, 05:08 PM	If I recall, I worked out that 15th level was the earliest point where a group of 4 PCs in Eberron could pool their money and "legitimately" afford to buy an airship, given the 1/4 of wealth guideline. At that point, there's certainly no harm in them having it, and not much before that. For details on the ship and related abilities, see the Eberron Campaign Setting book and the Explorer's Handbook, and if you really need ship combat rules, see Stormwrack. In the Explorer's Handbook, there is a prestige class called Windright Captain (p. 70) which allows a 9th-level Half-Elf to captain their own airship free of charge as long as they send 1/5 of the character's earnings back home. A crew is included. This seems relevant to the question, "When it is okay to give an airship?" I think that the answer is, "Whenever the plot allows it." An airship can't go in a dungeon, and won't foil most plot points. It's really a way of changing the overall landscape for a plot by allowing the PCs more freedom. It can be used to replace the need for minor strongholds elsewhere to regroup and store things, but once Teleport is available to PCs through their class or by cash, this doesn't matter too much. The big thing that an airship changes is how quickly a party can recover from a dangerous situation. Carrying around nominally safe land and a somewhat defensible fortress can be handy. This can change the nature of a plot, but if your plot handles it, even 10th-level or lower characters can safely be allowed an airship.
Kevtar 01-22-08, 10:43 PM	Awesome, thanks for all the great input. Cheers
Orchomenos 01-23-08, 11:27 AM	Take a look at this thread (http://www.dndarchive.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1114). My own entry (under another name), the Crystal Ship, uses psionic rules to allow the travel on other planes...
wrecan 01-23-08, 12:39 PM	Take a 60' ship (Gargantuan) and have a 16th level caster cast animate objects on it and transfer command to you. Have the animation made permanent. Get a ninth level wizard to enchant the object with an Overland Flight spell usable by command word 3/day. Animate Object scroll: 2400 gp Permanency scroll: 10125 gp Overland flight: 97,200 gp = 9 (CL) x 5 (SL) x .6 (3/day) x 1800 (command) x 2 (no space) TOTAL COST: 109,725 gp.
Mock26 01-23-08, 01:52 PM	Spelljammer helms. I know that a lot of people dislike the Spelljammer system, but the helms could work very well in your campaign, just "modify" the rules regarding helms and disallow them to enter outerspace.
Empirate 01-24-08, 09:41 AM	In Forgotten Realms, there's the Halruaan Skyship, (more or less) detailed in Shining South. It's about half a million bucks, though. I've wanted to give such a thing to my group for a while now - as a pirate vessel!