A Tank in High Fantasy!

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I think it would be totally sweet if there were a tank or two in the high fantasy world I play in (we need a super weapon if we're going to win this damned war).

Technoligically, the world has gun powder (which could be used somehow to fuel a tank, I'd think).

There's also the possibility of a tick-tock tank/clockwork tank...

Is there a book/Dragon Mag. with rules for something along these lines in the d20 system?

 

[Shallown]

I had a tank once in my last campaign.

The party was visiting the dwarven main city, this being their second visit. We had two dwarf characters from different clans one an armor/weapon clan the other the only mage/wizard clan in the city. While all the characters were visiting the wizard clan (the party had split up enjoying hospitality at one of the two clans) an alarm sounded in the city with the ringing of a bell. I described the city jumping into action and such and as the characters were deciding what to do I had the inspiration of one of the character's mothers arrivingin a tank, not sure why but it seemed to fit. The mother belonged to the weapons/armor clan BTW.

So up rolled the steam powered tank and the hatch opens with mom poking her head out and asking who wanted a ride. As the characters stood in shock they she shouted out to the wizard clanmembers where the alarm was triggered and she was on her way there. She did this in a way that let the players know what was happening since they were not all dwarves normally t hey would have been sealed in a clan house for their own protection but she was opening it up for them to go along. The side door of the tank opened and they saw it was more of a troop carrier with an animated balista on top in a turrent. The characters of course jumped in.

Now that inspiration had struck I realized I didn't want anything as powerful as that available in the campaign seeing the problems it could cause. so as they road toward the tunnel that had been breached I started to describe the Dwarves almost frantic actions working on the steam engine and the insides of the tank getting very hot very quick. As the tank rolled up to the tunnel mouth it pulled into formation with another tank. I described as the characters got out the fact the rear of the tank starting to glow cherry red and teams fo dwarves starting to use water hoses and buckets to cool the tank sending up clouds of steam. It allowed me to say the tanks were not quite perfected and only good for short range work. Balanced them out and made them more realsitic within the game without taking away that initial reaction of how cool it was that Mom had a tank.

Later

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

There's a tank in Monte Cook's free technology .pdf.

 

[Felix]

That tank would soon be the target of many, many Heat Metals.

Or Transmute Metal to Wood.

 

[Ghostmoon]

There is a construct in the Monster Manual II called the Juggernaut that fits much the same purpose. It is rather slow, but it has a wide range of spell like abilities that allow it capture foes and crush them. Also, it has an area inside that people can ride in. Here is a picture of one:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mm2_gallery/88268_620_75.jpg

 

[The_Universe]

Technoligically, the world has gun powder (which could be used somehow to fuel a tank, I'd think).

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but gunpowder (and its derivatives) don't make particularly good fuel, save perhaps as propellent for projectiles. It's explosive nature can't drive a mechanism in the same way that coal can drive a steam engine: You might be able to blast something out the back of a tank for a quick boost, but as a normal fuel, it's just too dangerous (and not reliable enough) to work.

There's also the possibility of a tick-tock tank/clockwork tank...

Like a wind up? It will suffer in speed and (probably) a naturally overcomplicated mechanism. The more moving parts you have, the more moving parts you have to break. Further, someone has to wind it, which means when the "charge" runs out, your tank is essentially useless on the field.

I think your best option is to have someone discover the steam engine (which would be quite a leap) or have something that works more like a golem - something that doesn't need any actual fuel or mechanism to "go." I'd imagine something like this might look more like a walker from Star Wars than it would a tank as we see them, today.

Lastly, there comes the question of why would you develop a tank in particular? We recognize them as warmachines because of their commonality on modern battlefields, but they were initially used as a counter to trench warfare - and developed as such. rather than sending a bunch of unarmored boys across no man's land to take the enemy trench, a tank could rumble across without having to worry as much about small arms fire: the technology first saw real use in the real world in the First World War.

Now, there's no reason you need to use the same logic in justifying their development - but why tanks?

Interesting question!

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

High fantasy, huh?

Have you thought about binding elementals to power and / or protect your tank?

The treads are powered by two bound earth elementals, perhaps a fire elemental is bound into whatever you're going to use for a cannon, etc.

 

[Voadam]

apparatus of kwalish?

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I think your best option is to have someone discover the steam engine (which would be quite a leap) or have something that works more like a golem - something that doesn't need any actual fuel or mechanism to "go." I'd imagine something like this might look more like a walker from Star Wars than it would a tank as we see them, today.

I realize the drawbacks of my initial proposals - which is why I asked the great ENWorld community for their support!

However, the golem idea is a really, really cool one... (sort of makes me think Battlestar Galactica, now...) Almost more of a living vehicle powered by magic...

Anyone know of anything like this?

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

There was a Dungeon adventure that had a mechanical beholder, with a gnome-sized pilots chair and the eye powers being replicated by wands controlled by the pilot. The central eye was the viewport. I don't know if any rules were included or not - I jsut played in the adventure. There was also an Umber Hulk digging machine in that same module, IIRC. They were pretty cool.

I would go with a construct and make it controllable either by command or by a pilot inside (if its large enough).

Another concept to keep in mind are the Warjacks from Iron Kingdoms. They're steam-powered mechs with magical cortexes.