Field-Expedient Airship - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Field-Expedient Airship

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
strange_person
May 07, 2008 12:06:49 I've been thinking about the in-depth binding rules in Magic of Eberron and the whole system from Heroes of Battle, and considering what would happen if I combined them. What would it take to build a workable elemental-bound vessel in a forest clearing in Xen'drik?

Something like, an expedition rides a massive elemental galleon on the way in, but an unexpected stormfall scuttles the ship and collapses a box canyon into the only navigable channel. The Khyber shard is intact, complete with Elder air elemental, and they've got abundant food and tools (Cannith was heavily involved with funding and organizing, nearly half the crash survivors are Warforged) and local lumber, including some soarwood.

Maybe the University of Wynarn binding engineers (brought along to see the new, heavier frame in action) knows how to make an elemental matrix from scratch, or maybe they'll need to consult Drow records. Maybe both, when nationalistic loyalties and paranoia come to the fore.

The Drow have a construction project of their own: an Eldritch Machine that can influence where and when Stormfall hits. Maybe it's already finished, that thing with the canyon was a test shot, and they just need to reload and recalibrate before wiping out the expedition's main camp with an orbital strike of golden crystal.

Strange new Drow sorcery, (relatively) unguarded soarwood groves, new insights into ship design... the expedition will surely be an overwhelming success, assuming anyone makes it out alive.
#2
ChaoticGood
May 08, 2008 2:10:56 I like the idea. I assume it would take at least twice as long, since the crew will be working with improvised and salvaged tools and forges and the like. This would be a good centerpiece for a campaign, as the PCs would have plenty to do: tracking down specific knowledge in the ancient temples, fighting off Drow and dinosaur attacks, dealing with political scheming between various factions of the crew, and so forth. It's very Flight of the Phoenix, which is an awesome idea. I may just yoink this... :D

I don't know if I would go with the whole "Drow are building an eldritch machine" angle, though. I can just hear my skeptical players saying, "Let's get this straight: they can build an eldritch machine that can control deadly magical weather, but they're still living in abandoned ruins and mud huts?!"

It seems more likely that the Drow may have uncovered a lost Giant-built eldritch machine and are re-discovering the methods to use it... and they plan to use the Khorks' camp for target practice. This could add some tension, as you can occasionally throw a near-miss or misfire at the camp to keep the PCs on edge.

Two other possibilities that come to mind are:

"The professors predict the next Stormfall will hit in X weeks and you'd better be out of here by then," or...

"Your incursion into the sacred temple in search of building materials has angered Vulkoor! The local drow chieftain is now gathering an army to send against you, which will arrive in Y weeks."

Any way you go with it, this sounds like fun! Good luck!
#3
strange_person
May 08, 2008 7:13:35 Could be the machine itself is already built; exactly who built it is irrelevant, since the Drow control it (as evidenced by disproportionate number of stormfalls over the past few years hitting things the Drow are known to dislike).

Could be the machine is under construction by some giant or group of giants, or the servants of a Daelkyr, or the Quori, and it has some limited ability to project it's influence into the past. It's been hitting things the Drow don't like either because the machine's true owners want an alliance, or by coincidence (there are so many things the drow don't like that test-firing against all available targets is bound to hit a few of them)

Could be the Drow are a lot more technomagically savvy than their tribal setup suggests. The PCs will likely be finding out, over the course of the adventure, how the gnomes stole the basic technique of elemenal binding; Shadow knows what other secrets that vault might hold.

I'd say the Drow army, such as it is, has already arrived, but has insufficient force to attack the expedition's camp directly without taking heavy losses, so they mostly go for sniping at obvious leaders, ambushing patrols, and indirect attacks like poisoning food stores or setting traps for loggers.

If you want the incoming attack to have nothing to do with stormfall-control, how about a nomadic tribe of Death Giants (MM3)? They've got an innate insta-kill aura that works against anything with 10 hp or less, which includes many of the expedition's low-level crafters and support units even while uninjured. If even one Death Giant simply marched through the middle of the camp, taking no other hostile action, so many people would die, and so many critical skills would die with them, that the construction project would be doomed and the survivor's options reduced to a choice between "stay here and be slaughtered by the Drow" or "march through hundreds of miles of uncharted jungle while being slaughtered by the Drow."
#4
elrodian
May 08, 2008 17:56:12 I like this it is very good.

I do think the Drows could have done element binding. Think about it they are elves are they not. The elves are one of the most magical races in the world. The Drows have been geting magical items and books for years as they move around to different ruins. Just beacues they are nomadic does not mean they are not smart is it means that they find better move for food and they get informations form the ruins they move to.

For your skeptical players ChaoticGood

hope it helps and tell me how your two stories go.
#5
strange_person
May 08, 2008 18:03:13 It's not even an issue whether the Drow could do elemental binding or not. It's canon, right there in Magic of Eberron, that gnomes stole the basic technique from dark elves.
#6
ChaoticGood
May 09, 2008 1:32:51
It's not even an issue whether the Drow could do elemental binding or not. It's canon, right there in Magic of Eberron, that gnomes stole the basic technique from dark elves.

Right, I'm not questioning the Drows ability to perform elemental bindings as such. I'm sure they get lots of use in the creation of weapons and armors and the like.

But an eldritch machine of that caliber is the arcane equivalent of, say, the Pyramids of Giza, or the Manhattan Project. It's not something that a loosely-organized, nomadic society living in primitive conditions could hope to achieve in a believable manner. Not to mention the chaos and internal strife that would occur between the factions that built it once it is completed...

Could Xen'drik Drow control such a thing, or even get an ancient one into working order? Absolutely. Could they, as a society, build one from scratch? Perhaps in ancient history, just after they gained their freedom from the Giants, or during a forgotten period of unity and strong central government. But I would find it highly unlikely in the contemporary storyline, wherein Drow are generally portrayed as primitive, hut-dwelling nomads with a taste for cannibalism... It just stretches the suspension of disbelief a bit too far.
#7
strange_person
May 09, 2008 2:42:04 Well, the Shardcaller doesn't actually need to appear "onscreen;" it doesn't need to be under Drow control; it doesn't even need to be real. Maybe the initial "attack" was just a perfectly normal stormfall, unpredictable as ever, and the Drow emissary is lying through her teeth, making up a half-plausible story about ancient powers and a construction of terrible power in a desperate attempt to scare off the Khork invaders without bloodshed.

The main thing is building an airship in the jungle, while the clock is ticking on a very non-negotiable deadline. The exact nature of that deadline is less important.
#8
ChaoticGood
May 13, 2008 0:53:43 I agree. As long as it stays off-stage, I guess it doesn't really matter what it is. However, I immediately had visions of the following conversation playing out:

DM: The Drow emissary warns you, "The stormfall that collapsed that canyon was no accident! We, the glorious Children of Vulkoor, were merely testing our great eldritch machine! Soon, it will be functional enough to target your pitiful ship precisely, and then we will destroy you where you sleep!"

Fighter: OK, so we'll follow this guy back to his camp, crush their eldritch machine, drive them before us, and listen to the lamentations of their women.

Ranger: I'm on it. Got your ring of sound equipped? Follow behind at thirty paces and wait for my signal!

Wizard: It's a good thing that I prepared implode plot device today!
#9
rania
May 17, 2008 3:34:15
Wizard: It's a good thing that I prepared implode plot device today!

LOL. LOL. Epic LOL.
#10
UnderworldLord
May 17, 2008 7:18:05
DM: The Drow emissary warns you, "The stormfall that collapsed that canyon was no accident! We, the glorious Children of Vulkoor, were merely testing our great eldritch machine! Soon, it will be functional enough to target your pitiful ship precisely, and then we will destroy you where you sleep!"

Fighter: OK, so we'll follow this guy back to his camp, crush their eldritch machine, drive them before us, and listen to the lamentations of their women.

Ranger: I'm on it. Got your ring of sound equipped? Follow behind at thirty paces and wait for my signal!

Wizard: It's a good thing that I prepared implode plot device today!

Artificer: Let me go get Mixture of Alchemical Doom Number 3. I'll bomb the place, and pick you up in say, half an hour?
#11
strange_person
May 17, 2008 15:14:13
Artificer: Let me go get Mixture of Alchemical Doom Number 3. I'll bomb the place, and pick you up in say, half an hour?

DM: You haven't got the ingredients for Number 3. Most of your reagents got spoiled in the crash, remember?
*rolls dice* Fortunately, your knowledge of Dungeoneering, along with the distant reek of sulfur and guano, tells you that it should be possible to dig up the materials for some slightly lower-quality explosives from yonder Ominous Cave.
#12
rania
May 18, 2008 20:53:34
...
Could be the machine is under construction by some giant or group of giants, or the servants of a Daelkyr, or the Quori, and it has some limited ability to project its influence into the past. It's been hitting things the Drow don't like either because the machine's true owners want an alliance, or by coincidence (there are so many things the drow don't like that test-firing against all available targets is bound to hit a few of them)
...
If you want the incoming attack to have nothing to do with stormfall-control, how about a nomadic tribe of Death Giants (MM3)? They've got an innate insta-kill aura that works against anything with 10 hp or less, which includes many of the expedition's low-level crafters and support units even while uninjured. If even one Death Giant simply marched through the middle of the camp, taking no other hostile action, so many people would die, and so many critical skills would die with them, that the construction project would be doomed and the survivor's options reduced to a choice between "stay here and be slaughtered by the Drow" or "march through hundreds of miles of uncharted jungle while being slaughtered by the Drow."

Those phrases amuse me, for some reason.
#13
strange_person
Jul 13, 2008 16:37:34 I was thinking about how to handle the soarwood-harvesting process, and add some variety to the encounters.

Take a dryad, straight from the Monster Manual. Give her another 26 levels of Fey, for a total of 30, and increase size to Large. According to the appendix on advancing monsters, that means the new CR is about 10 or 11, which fits; elemental binding is only available to characters of 9th level and above, so an EL 11 encounter that's relatively easy to retreat from probably won't result in a TPK.

Of course, that size boost increases strength, and if all the every-four-levels ability score increases go into strength as well, you've got a tree nymph who can take on a hill giant in an arm-wrestling contest and win.
#14
shady314
Jul 13, 2008 21:00:58 Reminds me of http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/flightofthephoenix/
#15
strange_person
Jul 21, 2008 19:52:35 Rules for gathering wood:

The forest is AC 10 (size and dex penalties canceled out by natural armor, and cover from all those trees it's hiding behind), has hardness 5, and takes half damage from all damage types except slashing and fire. As an unattended, nonmagical object, it auto-fails most saving throws, but unlike most objects it is subject to critical hits.

Each "round" you spend beating on it (using normal combat rules) represents 6 minutes of hacking and brushgathering; every point of damage dealt represents one pound of firewood (or, if you're using fire attacks, charcoal) gathered. You can take a -4 penalty on attacks to gather only structural-quality timbers; if fire is involved, the penalty is doubled unless you've got some magical means of converting the fire damage to nonlethal or otherwise keeping it under control.

The work is as strenuous as hustling overland, and after it's done you still need to carry everything back to base camp.

Does this system sound reasonable, and more importantly, like it would be fun to play?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 strange_person May 07, 2008 12:06:49	I've been thinking about the in-depth binding rules in Magic of Eberron and the whole system from Heroes of Battle, and considering what would happen if I combined them. What would it take to build a workable elemental-bound vessel in a forest clearing in Xen'drik? Something like, an expedition rides a massive elemental galleon on the way in, but an unexpected stormfall scuttles the ship and collapses a box canyon into the only navigable channel. The Khyber shard is intact, complete with Elder air elemental, and they've got abundant food and tools (Cannith was heavily involved with funding and organizing, nearly half the crash survivors are Warforged) and local lumber, including some soarwood. Maybe the University of Wynarn binding engineers (brought along to see the new, heavier frame in action) knows how to make an elemental matrix from scratch, or maybe they'll need to consult Drow records. Maybe both, when nationalistic loyalties and paranoia come to the fore. The Drow have a construction project of their own: an Eldritch Machine that can influence where and when Stormfall hits. Maybe it's already finished, that thing with the canyon was a test shot, and they just need to reload and recalibrate before wiping out the expedition's main camp with an orbital strike of golden crystal. Strange new Drow sorcery, (relatively) unguarded soarwood groves, new insights into ship design... the expedition will surely be an overwhelming success, assuming anyone makes it out alive.
#2 ChaoticGood May 08, 2008 2:10:56	I like the idea. I assume it would take at least twice as long, since the crew will be working with improvised and salvaged tools and forges and the like. This would be a good centerpiece for a campaign, as the PCs would have plenty to do: tracking down specific knowledge in the ancient temples, fighting off Drow and dinosaur attacks, dealing with political scheming between various factions of the crew, and so forth. It's very Flight of the Phoenix, which is an awesome idea. I may just yoink this... :D I don't know if I would go with the whole "Drow are building an eldritch machine" angle, though. I can just hear my skeptical players saying, "Let's get this straight: they can build an eldritch machine that can control deadly magical weather, but they're still living in abandoned ruins and mud huts?!" It seems more likely that the Drow may have uncovered a lost Giant-built eldritch machine and are re-discovering the methods to use it... and they plan to use the Khorks' camp for target practice. This could add some tension, as you can occasionally throw a near-miss or misfire at the camp to keep the PCs on edge. Two other possibilities that come to mind are: "The professors predict the next Stormfall will hit in X weeks and you'd better be out of here by then," or... "Your incursion into the sacred temple in search of building materials has angered Vulkoor! The local drow chieftain is now gathering an army to send against you, which will arrive in Y weeks." Any way you go with it, this sounds like fun! Good luck!
#3 strange_person May 08, 2008 7:13:35	Could be the machine itself is already built; exactly who built it is irrelevant, since the Drow control it (as evidenced by disproportionate number of stormfalls over the past few years hitting things the Drow are known to dislike). Could be the machine is under construction by some giant or group of giants, or the servants of a Daelkyr, or the Quori, and it has some limited ability to project it's influence into the past. It's been hitting things the Drow don't like either because the machine's true owners want an alliance, or by coincidence (there are so many things the drow don't like that test-firing against all available targets is bound to hit a few of them) Could be the Drow are a lot more technomagically savvy than their tribal setup suggests. The PCs will likely be finding out, over the course of the adventure, how the gnomes stole the basic technique of elemenal binding; Shadow knows what other secrets that vault might hold. I'd say the Drow army, such as it is, has already arrived, but has insufficient force to attack the expedition's camp directly without taking heavy losses, so they mostly go for sniping at obvious leaders, ambushing patrols, and indirect attacks like poisoning food stores or setting traps for loggers. If you want the incoming attack to have nothing to do with stormfall-control, how about a nomadic tribe of Death Giants (MM3)? They've got an innate insta-kill aura that works against anything with 10 hp or less, which includes many of the expedition's low-level crafters and support units even while uninjured. If even one Death Giant simply marched through the middle of the camp, taking no other hostile action, so many people would die, and so many critical skills would die with them, that the construction project would be doomed and the survivor's options reduced to a choice between "stay here and be slaughtered by the Drow" or "march through hundreds of miles of uncharted jungle while being slaughtered by the Drow."
#4 elrodian May 08, 2008 17:56:12	I like this it is very good. I do think the Drows could have done element binding. Think about it they are elves are they not. The elves are one of the most magical races in the world. The Drows have been geting magical items and books for years as they move around to different ruins. Just beacues they are nomadic does not mean they are not smart is it means that they find better move for food and they get informations form the ruins they move to. For your skeptical players ChaoticGood hope it helps and tell me how your two stories go.
#5 strange_person May 08, 2008 18:03:13	It's not even an issue whether the Drow could do elemental binding or not. It's canon, right there in Magic of Eberron, that gnomes stole the basic technique from dark elves.
#6 ChaoticGood May 09, 2008 1:32:51	It's not even an issue whether the Drow could do elemental binding or not. It's canon, right there in Magic of Eberron, that gnomes stole the basic technique from dark elves. Right, I'm not questioning the Drows ability to perform elemental bindings as such. I'm sure they get lots of use in the creation of weapons and armors and the like. But an eldritch machine of that caliber is the arcane equivalent of, say, the Pyramids of Giza, or the Manhattan Project. It's not something that a loosely-organized, nomadic society living in primitive conditions could hope to achieve in a believable manner. Not to mention the chaos and internal strife that would occur between the factions that built it once it is completed... Could Xen'drik Drow control such a thing, or even get an ancient one into working order? Absolutely. Could they, as a society, build one from scratch? Perhaps in ancient history, just after they gained their freedom from the Giants, or during a forgotten period of unity and strong central government. But I would find it highly unlikely in the contemporary storyline, wherein Drow are generally portrayed as primitive, hut-dwelling nomads with a taste for cannibalism... It just stretches the suspension of disbelief a bit too far.
#7 strange_person May 09, 2008 2:42:04	Well, the Shardcaller doesn't actually need to appear "onscreen;" it doesn't need to be under Drow control; it doesn't even need to be real. Maybe the initial "attack" was just a perfectly normal stormfall, unpredictable as ever, and the Drow emissary is lying through her teeth, making up a half-plausible story about ancient powers and a construction of terrible power in a desperate attempt to scare off the Khork invaders without bloodshed. The main thing is building an airship in the jungle, while the clock is ticking on a very non-negotiable deadline. The exact nature of that deadline is less important.
#8 ChaoticGood May 13, 2008 0:53:43	I agree. As long as it stays off-stage, I guess it doesn't really matter what it is. However, I immediately had visions of the following conversation playing out: DM: The Drow emissary warns you, "The stormfall that collapsed that canyon was no accident! We, the glorious Children of Vulkoor, were merely testing our great eldritch machine! Soon, it will be functional enough to target your pitiful ship precisely, and then we will destroy you where you sleep!" Fighter: OK, so we'll follow this guy back to his camp, crush their eldritch machine, drive them before us, and listen to the lamentations of their women. Ranger: I'm on it. Got your ring of sound equipped? Follow behind at thirty paces and wait for my signal! Wizard: It's a good thing that I prepared implode plot device today!
#9 rania May 17, 2008 3:34:15	Wizard: It's a good thing that I prepared implode plot device today! LOL. LOL. Epic LOL.
#10 UnderworldLord May 17, 2008 7:18:05	DM: The Drow emissary warns you, "The stormfall that collapsed that canyon was no accident! We, the glorious Children of Vulkoor, were merely testing our great eldritch machine! Soon, it will be functional enough to target your pitiful ship precisely, and then we will destroy you where you sleep!" Fighter: OK, so we'll follow this guy back to his camp, crush their eldritch machine, drive them before us, and listen to the lamentations of their women. Ranger: I'm on it. Got your ring of sound equipped? Follow behind at thirty paces and wait for my signal! Wizard: It's a good thing that I prepared implode plot device today! Artificer: Let me go get Mixture of Alchemical Doom Number 3. I'll bomb the place, and pick you up in say, half an hour?
#11 strange_person May 17, 2008 15:14:13	Artificer: Let me go get Mixture of Alchemical Doom Number 3. I'll bomb the place, and pick you up in say, half an hour? DM: You haven't got the ingredients for Number 3. Most of your reagents got spoiled in the crash, remember? rolls dice Fortunately, your knowledge of Dungeoneering, along with the distant reek of sulfur and guano, tells you that it should be possible to dig up the materials for some slightly lower-quality explosives from yonder Ominous Cave.
#12 rania May 18, 2008 20:53:34	... Could be the machine is under construction by some giant or group of giants, or the servants of a Daelkyr, or the Quori, and it has some limited ability to project its influence into the past. It's been hitting things the Drow don't like either because the machine's true owners want an alliance, or by coincidence (there are so many things the drow don't like that test-firing against all available targets is bound to hit a few of them) ... If you want the incoming attack to have nothing to do with stormfall-control, how about a nomadic tribe of Death Giants (MM3)? They've got an innate insta-kill aura that works against anything with 10 hp or less, which includes many of the expedition's low-level crafters and support units even while uninjured. If even one Death Giant simply marched through the middle of the camp, taking no other hostile action, so many people would die, and so many critical skills would die with them, that the construction project would be doomed and the survivor's options reduced to a choice between "stay here and be slaughtered by the Drow" or "march through hundreds of miles of uncharted jungle while being slaughtered by the Drow." Those phrases amuse me, for some reason.
#13 strange_person Jul 13, 2008 16:37:34	I was thinking about how to handle the soarwood-harvesting process, and add some variety to the encounters. Take a dryad, straight from the Monster Manual. Give her another 26 levels of Fey, for a total of 30, and increase size to Large. According to the appendix on advancing monsters, that means the new CR is about 10 or 11, which fits; elemental binding is only available to characters of 9th level and above, so an EL 11 encounter that's relatively easy to retreat from probably won't result in a TPK. Of course, that size boost increases strength, and if all the every-four-levels ability score increases go into strength as well, you've got a tree nymph who can take on a hill giant in an arm-wrestling contest and win.
#14 shady314 Jul 13, 2008 21:00:58	Reminds me of http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/flightofthephoenix/
#15 strange_person Jul 21, 2008 19:52:35	Rules for gathering wood: The forest is AC 10 (size and dex penalties canceled out by natural armor, and cover from all those trees it's hiding behind), has hardness 5, and takes half damage from all damage types except slashing and fire. As an unattended, nonmagical object, it auto-fails most saving throws, but unlike most objects it is subject to critical hits. Each "round" you spend beating on it (using normal combat rules) represents 6 minutes of hacking and brushgathering; every point of damage dealt represents one pound of firewood (or, if you're using fire attacks, charcoal) gathered. You can take a -4 penalty on attacks to gather only structural-quality timbers; if fire is involved, the penalty is doubled unless you've got some magical means of converting the fire damage to nonlethal or otherwise keeping it under control. The work is as strenuous as hustling overland, and after it's done you still need to carry everything back to base camp. Does this system sound reasonable, and more importantly, like it would be fun to play?