A twist on the druids grove...

[Storyteller01]

A third party source has abilities a druid can use by tapping their grove. It requires an expenditure of exp for the day if you plan to use the abilities.

We have a druid who is planning to use this on the party's living ship. So far, the ship has been able to do very little without it's pilot, but this new system might work to my stories advantage (the plan is to have the ship 'evolve' gaining abilities as the campaign progresses).

The plan is to have the ship store the exp spent on grove abilities, then spend it itself to do things it usually can't do without a crew. The thing is, I'm not sure how much to charge for various effects. How much do you charge to allow the ship to take control of itself in combat, for example. For the record the ship is effectively neutral, willing to commit heinous acts if it will keep itself and it crew alive.

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

It strikes me that what you're talking about is levels in 'animated construct'. As XP gets pumped in the ship goes up levels which would give it the ability to take more and more control of itself for longer periods of time. 1st level might be - can control itself for up to 5 consecutive rounds per day. 2nd level it can break up those 5 rounds into non-consecutive sections, 3rd level it can have 10 rounds etc. Obviously those numbers can be modified depending on how capable you want it and how quickly it needs to get there. You could then allow the other characters to help power the druid's ceremony in order to use their own XP to bump up the ship's capabilities. And you wouldn't necessarily need the ship to advance using the PC XP charts - it could be just 200 xp to hit 2nd level if you wanted.

The question then comes - if the ship advances far enough - does it start earning XP of it's own?

 

[frankthedm]

Living ship... difficult to control without the captain... will commit heinous acts... Reminds me of the Lexx

For the record the ship is effectively neutral, willing to commit heinous acts if it will keep itself and it crew alive.

That makes the ship evil not not neutral.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Living ship... difficult to control without the captain... will commit heinous acts... Reminds me of the Lexx

Reminds me of Farscape, but I never watched much Lexx.

 

[Darklone]

Hmm, couldn't he simply take a huge plant, reshape it with some spells and Awaken it?

 

[jefgorbach]

You said the ship is already alive, so why doesnt the druid simply Awaken it?? The result would be an animated ship able to steer, control ropes/sails, doors, etc itself that is friendly to the crew, has a 3d6 intelligence/wisdom, and able to communicate with the party.
see: http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/spellsAtoB.html

You want it to evolve, so let it have whatever class desired and allocate the ship a portion of any experience earned onboard/at sea.

However its class advancement would likely be slow, presuming most action takes place away from the ship, so perhaps the druid (or a mage?) can create a ritual allowing volunteers to donate additional experience points earned elsewhere to speed its evolution. (Presumably such a rite could also be used on animal companions, mage familiars, the PCs, etc. Game balance would be preserved since the total experinece points earned would remain as-is, merely their distribution changed. Likewise, it would become a future plothook as others spot its use and begin seeking the party to learn/steal the new spell)

 

[Kapture]

I would try to value the item as a magic item: command word activated animate object of the appropriate level for a, what gargantuan animated object? If it's only usable for a few rounds a day, you could lower the cost for "# of uses per day". I would count the number of uses per day as the number of encounters it could be used in, with four per day = to no limit.

Revalue it when the item's abilities change.

If it is worth more than the amount of treasure the party should have, raise the Average Party Level when you are considering how to pitch encounters and award XP. +1 would be if the ship helps out sometimes, +2 would be if it significantly changes how easilly the PCs deal with their encounters.

It's a cool idea.

 

[frankthedm]

Reminds me of Farscape, but I never watched much Lexx.

The Lexx ship liked blowing up planets and in general heinous acts were par for the coarse on the Lexx show. Though having a spineless louse of a captain that makes Farscape's Rygel seem like a great hero can do that to a series...

 

[Storyteller01]

I would try to value the item as a magic item: command word activated animate object of the appropriate level for a, what gargantuan animated object? If it's only usable for a few rounds a day, you could lower the cost for "# of uses per day". I would count the number of uses per day as the number of encounters it could be used in, with four per day = to no limit.

Revalue it when the item's abilities change.

If it is worth more than the amount of treasure the party should have, raise the Average Party Level when you are considering how to pitch encounters and award XP. +1 would be if the ship helps out sometimes, +2 would be if it significantly changes how easilly the PCs deal with their encounters.

It's a cool idea.

Answering multiple posts, so please bear with me:


This doesn't really fit. It's something of a symbiotic relationship. The druip spends the exp to enhance the ship temporarily in ways that benefit the druid (wall of force, healing, illusory terrain, summon swarn, etc). The ship then spends the gained exp (I'll keep a running total) to temporarily gain other abilities (control self for limited time, etc).

I'm asking what other abilities would be used (besides the same as the druid) and how much should they cost.

Permanent ability gains will be story based, so no cost will be needed.


Awakening doesn't really fit the story. Awakening the ship throws the players, especially the pilots, out of the loop (why would they be needed).


As for the ship being evil, if a paladin can slit a friends throat to save the group and still be LG, a ship willing to do the same is at the very least still neutral.

 

[Anti-Sean]

This thread title has inspired me to send my PCs on an adventure to assist a druid in rescuing her grove from an as yet undetermined userper(s). I think I'll call it "How Stella got her grove back".