Spelljamming in 3.5 - and - Psionics

[thenightgaunt]

To add the the discussion: in the novels and written lore about Waterdeep, aye, there would be no defense against an experienced well armed, well equipped Spelljamming vessel. At this point, many of us are long past relying on this lore. My Waterdeep, while using the available lore, has evolved to become is a much different City of Splendours. In my Waterdeep there is the Hazrid Tower - near the City of the Dead, which with it's 20 elegant piers reaching like a spidery tree into the skies, is actually a series of berths for Spelljamming vessels. A DnD Spaceport! While Spelljamming is not the stuff of the common man, and indeed for many remains the stuff of mystery - virtually all common folk do not realize these vessels are anything more than airships.

Exactly my point. If you're gonna run Spelljammer, you can't run off of the rules as they are in the books. You've got to be the kind of GM who can adapt and change rules and setting info to make it work. You need to be able to smack down any bitching ruleslawyering players and say, "this is how I'm running it".

I like the spaceport idea for waterdeep there. Though I'd be resistant in bringing it in. Spelljammer was one of those settings were magical items were abundant to the point of absurdity. Just look at The Dock on Faerun. A city run by Arcane where any magical item can be bought. Of course, a good GM can fix all that and balance it with the earlier system.
In my old SJ game the players made their fortune selling waterdeep it's first spelljammer helms and giving it the power to defend itself.

 

[prosfilaes]

I don't see it. Conquering a world is not fire-bombing a city; you'll have any number of 30th level mages and great wyrm dragons (CR 25) coming after you. A divination/teleport combo will put any number of combatants right aboard deck. And RAW, Shou Lung had spelljamming vessels; sooner or later you're going to run into trouble on FR.

If they want to play traders, then how does that break anything? It could certainly have subtle long-term effects on the world, but that less then what most high-level adventurers have.

 

[Bleys Icefalcon]

Spelljamming while known of on my version of Faerun, isn't something the common player walks into the corner mage shop and buys himself a helm and slaps it on the first schooner he sees. Not only are said helms expensive, hideously so, they're rare - and the lore for creating them (and the people skilled in said creating) aren't anywhere on Faerun. It's limited to those with the means and the wherewithal to discover and appropriate.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

I don't see it. Conquering a world is not fire-bombing a city; you'll have any number of 30th level mages and great wyrm dragons (CR 25) coming after you. A divination/teleport combo will put any number of combatants right aboard deck. And RAW, Shou Lung had spelljamming vessels; sooner or later you're going to run into trouble on FR.

If they want to play traders, then how does that break anything? It could certainly have subtle long-term effects on the world, but that less then what most high-level adventurers have.

Errrr.... before things get too horribly sidetracked...

What you're talking about is more playstyle/philosophy than anything else.

thenightgaunt and Bleys Icefalcon appear to subscribe to the style of play where magic is more restricted and GMs tend to keep things tightly clamped. You appear to subscribe to a style where that's not the case.

Honestly, this isn't a "But it's only logical that..." sort of argument that you can have. You and them can argue until you're blue in the face and neither of you are going to change the other's opinion. Because at the end of the day, it's strictly about what folks prefer and think.

There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way for this to be run/played... you can run Spelljammer either way and it's going to work just fine. It's just gonna be different.

And don't worry, there's always Dragonstar which I always thought of as Spelljammer revisited and tweaked. Sure, it's more on the sciencey side than magic side but... it's still a pretty acceptable reworking I think.