Eberron Skiffs and Skycoaches

[Galnew Einhaw]

Anyone have any idea how/why these items work/fly?

Skycoaches are mentioned and pictured in Sharn City of Towers, and Wind/Air skiffs are used in the adventure Whisper of the Vampire's Blade and appear to be very similar if not identical.

The characters in my game now have one, and I'm looking to find out if they have stats somewhere.

Google turned up some discussions on the gleemax forums exactly about this, but their is no chached option and the links get redirected to the new wiz site.

Thanks!

 

[Jeff Wilder]

They stay aloft because they're made of soarwood, a lighter-than-air wood, I think (don't quote me!) grown in the Eldeen Reaches.

Propulsion in big vessels is by bound elemental. Propulsion in smaller vessels could be as simple as sails, or perhaps telekinetic magic built into the helm.

Again don't quote me, but I think Explorer's Guide discusses soarwood craft.

 

[galneweinhaw]

They stay aloft because they're made of soarwood, a lighter-than-air wood, I think (don't quote me!) grown in the Eldeen Reaches.

Propulsion in big vessels is by bound elemental. Propulsion in smaller vessels could be as simple as sails, or perhaps telekinetic magic built into the helm.

Again don't quote me, but I think Explorer's Guide discusses soarwood craft.

Thanks.

Soarwood is from Arenel. Explorer's book has lots of soarwood vessels, but they are all the massive air and sea kind. No little guys.

The only little guy in there is the Earthsled thing which is elemental bound, controlled through a dragonshard, adn runs at 15mph.

In the Whisper's of... module, the wind skiff has a speed of 150ft that works out to 15mph, but it also says it's just a short range craft. It can't be elemental bound because the pilots are just sailors

Would it work to make it non-magical? With a magewright (profession airship sailor) pilot using his animate rope and mage hand to control the sails... could he get 15 mph out of it?

I like your idea of telekinetic magic built into the helm too

 

[Corsair]

I was always under the impression that these things only worked because of the manifest zone Sharn was built on. Lemme check my copy of City of Towers and see if it says anything.

 

[galneweinhaw]

I was always under the impression that these things only worked because of the manifest zone Sharn was built on. Lemme check my copy of City of Towers and see if it says anything.

That could be true of the skycoaches in Sharn, but not the wind skiffs used in the adventure, as they are flying over Zilargo

 

[stonegod]

I was always under the impression that these things only worked because of the manifest zone Sharn was built on. Lemme check my copy of City of Towers and see if it says anything.

That could be true of the skycoaches in Sharn, but not the wind skiffs used in the adventure, as they are flying over Zilargo

Both are right: Soarsleds work in Sharn because of the manifest zone; the skiffs are essentially mini-airships using soarwood and a much smaller bound elemental.

 

[galneweinhaw]

Both are right: Soarsleds work in Sharn because of the manifest zone; the skiffs are essentially mini-airships using soarwood and a much smaller bound elemental.

It doesn't make sense that it would have a bound elemental. Otherwise the only reliable pilots would be dragonmarked or those capable of charm monster.

In the adventure they're just lvl 1 magewrights with animate rope, mage hand, and proffesion airship sailor.


There is a similar land based earth elemental bound cart in the Explorers book and in an earlier adventure (which had a dragonmarked pilot). It even has the same speed of 15mph.

 

[~EE~]

Well, I'm also using 4e so it might have changed but, the air ships use soar wood, an elemental, and a blimp like thing. The soarwood allows it to be sturdy with less weight. The elemental allows it to be controlled better and the blimp allows it to keep aloft. I could be wrong though or else thinking of another ship. See, just like the lightning rail, the elemental isn't powerful enough to propel and keep the machine aloft. That's why there's usually some other magic or science helping. You could though say that the elemental will listen to its master. Assign someone in the group a crystal or else do a ritual so that they become said master. Of course you can always take it away if they go rogue stating that it has 'higher' masters. That's just my two cents.