This time, they have taken a contract that requires an extended visit to the astral plane.
And so I (actually all of us) had two questions.
1. Is there any way to get a 90x300x110ft ship and all of its passengers onto the astral plane?
2. If we could get the ship there, would the bound elemental be able to propel the ship once there?
But the actual problem is the movement. In the Astral, it requires mere thought to move. But try to explain that concept to the elemental.
That said; It's a great adventuring venue, the party having their own ship and that! DM to DM: Find a way to make it work, even if it means bending a rule or creating some happenstance. Give the players that Gate or wormhole or whatever; Arrange for them to be able to either teach the elemental the nuance of astral movement or some means to temporarily replace the elemental. (I know nothing about your game system, either, whatever that fancy sounding ship is).
Just DO IT. ;)
Neue
It's basically a magic item you buy for the ship, install it, then use as the focus for a ritual that sents the ship and all occupants on it to the Astral Sea.
There is something for this in Adventurer's Vault, I think. It's something like a Planar Keel.
It's basically a magic item you buy for the ship, install it, then use as the focus for a ritual that sents the ship and all occupants on it to the Astral Sea.
I searched for such an item, and the closest to it that I found was the runekeel of the Planar Dromond in Manual of the Planes.
Anyways, congrats on getting an airship, Vaal! I too got an elemental airship this past weekend. When our party stumbled into G'henna of Ravenloft, we found my lost/crashed airship with the bottom strut shattered and the fire elemental housed within stolen by local fanatics of Zakata. Long story short, we ended our heroic tier with an "epic" infiltration/flight-and-fight sequence that felt like it was out of a Star Wars movie. Veil is one useful spell!
My Lyrandar skycaptain managed to bargain with the Vistani hiding in the forests in repairing the ship and reinforcing the binding runes. After we recovered/rescued the elemental, our spelljammer wizard bound the elemental back into the Khyber shard and we flew away into the mist with the enemy chasing us atop monstrous scarabs. :P
Btw, did you or the DM stat out the airship? The Adventurer's Vault has an airship, but it uses a hot air balloon for lift and the speed is horrible. Does anyone here have an elemental airship statted out for use? If not, perhaps we can build one together. My airship is smaller and sleeker than the average airship in Eberron; built for speed.
I see no reason why you could not attach it to an airship.
I believe it was originally intended to be somewhat of a limiting factor, that planar dromonds had to arrive and leave by way of bodies of water, but that assumes a setting that doesn't have easy access to airships like Eberron does.
Yes! The runekeel is what I was thinking of.
I see no reason why you could not attach it to an airship.
I believe it was originally intended to be somewhat of a limiting factor, that planar dromonds had to arrive and leave by way of bodies of water, but that assumes a setting that doesn't have easy access to airships like Eberron does.
The thing about keels are that you can't attach them to a ship. A ship is built around it. The keel acts as the spine, and is the foundation that is laid before building the rest of the ship. I don't think elemental airships have a keel in the traditional sense. They aren't built for the sea, not to mention that the binding struts replaces the keel if not placing it elsewhere.
And to Angelus: That does sound like some epic adventuring! There is an Airship statted out in the Explorer's Handbook, and that is what I used for my party's ship. From what I can tell, they are built very much like water vessels in the Arms and Equipment guide, so you might be able to use the info there for the various types of ships to build stats for a smaller than average airship.
So, my party has just come into legal possession of a House Lyrandar Airship (complete with Dragonmarked pilot). The way that we play is that I write many adventures that are capable of scaling a great many levels, and then a contact gives all of them to the party (like mercenary contracts) and they decide which one to take next.
This time, they have taken a contract that requires an extended visit to the astral plane.
And so I (actually all of us) had two questions.
1. Is there any way to get a 90x300x110ft ship and all of its passengers onto the astral plane?
2. If we could get the ship there, would the bound elemental be able to propel the ship once there?
It should be worth noting that in Eberron, the planes are intrinsically tied to the material plane. It's possible to reach Khyber and the Elemental Chaos if you go deep enough in the right spots. Its possible to gain access to Mabar the plane of darkness by going into certain dark places. Fernia, the plane of fire can be reached via volcanoes, etc. Manifest zones are also points of accessibility between planes, and the Eladrin citadels have been phasing between Eberron and Thelanis of their own accord for countless millennia.
You don't have to have portals or spells or other effects to get there. This was intended to facilitate planar adventures at lower levels and highlight the degree to which magic permeates the setting.
If you really want your players to reach the Dragon Above/Astral Sea without reliance on items, they merely have to direct their airship higher and further than anyone else ever has, and perhaps at a particular moment or point.
You don't have to have portals or spells or other effects to get there. This was intended to facilitate planar adventures at lower levels and highlight the degree to which magic permeates the setting.
I agree with Alex. The proper way to move an airship to another plane is not to pour through several editions-worth of sourcebooks. Find a way to do it that your characters might be able to find, using the context of the campaign setting.
Manifest zones have been known to work without any effort on the part of the traveler. Although I've never seen a manifest zone to the Astral mentioned, that simply puts it into the category of "really rare"...and is therefore something that the PCs should be able to find if they're looking.
As for travelling in the Astral Sea, I'd say it could be possible. There might be some people (Githyanki or other) on Eberron that could share the secret, or give them the means to travel, or go with them. Or you could just decide that an Airship just works like normal on another plane.
Rekko
Anybody know any good 3.5 books dealing with ship tactics?
The book Stormwrack has abstract naval combat rules. They're very simple and won't require to to keep track of hull-section damage or whatever.