Silverblade The Ench
First Post
Forked from: Describing a setting in 12 bullet points
forking to not clutter up a good thread
Hussar,
lol, they were good and bad.
The Helmsman was major part of it, their level of spell casting, and THAC0 (Base attack bonus for younger whipper snappers) affected how fast the ship could move, and how good they were at ramming.
That and damage TO the ships were ok (10hp damage = 1 hull point, fair enough). So movement and ships themselves were ok to work with.
You could criticals on ships, and a tbale for varied effects, including "Jammershock", the helsman is stunned. Basically the Helsman IS the ship whe he's using the helm, the ship becomes an extension of himself.
Problem did come with mass crew fights
2nd ed was easier to deal with multiple combatants than 3rd, OMG, 3.5 would suck for shipboard fights.
Also, if you used the rules from Battlesystem for the 2nd ed rules it was simpler. (basically each hit dice or level became "1 hit point", a precursor to the minion idea, any melee hit removed 1 hp and dice of damage removed 1 hp per die of damage)
I think now with 4th ed it could be a hell of a lot easier!
4th ed rules for minions, and ships as "creatures" vastly simplifies it.
For simplicity sake, what I'd say is that a SPellajmmer ship should be treated like a creature (see the rules for a "Spelljammer" in Manual of the Planes which i what 4th ed ha sdone, vehicles = creatures),
with multiple attacks who's attack/damage is just based off what the weapon/crew are, but ignore the weapon crew per se, because as long as enough crew are alive to fire it, who cares!
Sort of liek this:
SPELLJAMMER
Gargantuan Vehivle
HP 500 Space blah blah
Resists: All 5
AC: low (easy to hit as they are big) Fortiude Reflex (no WIll)
Speed 12, Fly overland flight 15
Helmsnan must be at helm and conscious or ship slows and levitates to the gorund over 4 rounds.
Crew *only* trained crew can affect the ships handling, if they die, nothing happens ot the ship. 10 trained crew can EITHER improve speed by 1, or manouverability (varies on size, dunno what sizes they will have)
Leaders/sargeants etc would be full NPCs, rest as minions, those with a ship weapon skill would grant a +1 attack bonus in 4 square radius as an aura, as simple rule.
There has been official rules for ballistas and damage but I can't recall where, think it was 4d10 damage for a light ballista?
Ballista standard at will; x4 though, 4d10
What I don't agree with form the Manual of the Planes Spelljammer, isthat if the ship lsot crew, it goes out of control. That makes no sense, it's the Helm and Helsman who powers the ship! Crew just help with manouverability (sails etc). Frankly I think crew should be ignored as much as possible for ship handling, Spelljammers are *not* "sailing ships" per se, they are flying ships.
leave the crew for fighting, or improving, when suitable, ship performance, not degrading it by their loss.
Hm, something like:
you could have stock NPCs with proffessions, and feats, for Spelljammer ship improvement....oh the ideas!!
Hussar said:
forking to not clutter up a good thread
Hussar,
lol, they were good and bad.
The Helmsman was major part of it, their level of spell casting, and THAC0 (Base attack bonus for younger whipper snappers
) affected how fast the ship could move, and how good they were at ramming.That and damage TO the ships were ok (10hp damage = 1 hull point, fair enough). So movement and ships themselves were ok to work with.
You could criticals on ships, and a tbale for varied effects, including "Jammershock", the helsman is stunned. Basically the Helsman IS the ship whe he's using the helm, the ship becomes an extension of himself.
Problem did come with mass crew fights
2nd ed was easier to deal with multiple combatants than 3rd, OMG, 3.5 would suck for shipboard fights.
Also, if you used the rules from Battlesystem for the 2nd ed rules it was simpler. (basically each hit dice or level became "1 hit point", a precursor to the minion idea, any melee hit removed 1 hp and dice of damage removed 1 hp per die of damage)
I think now with 4th ed it could be a hell of a lot easier!
4th ed rules for minions, and ships as "creatures" vastly simplifies it.
For simplicity sake, what I'd say is that a SPellajmmer ship should be treated like a creature (see the rules for a "Spelljammer" in Manual of the Planes which i what 4th ed ha sdone, vehicles = creatures),
with multiple attacks who's attack/damage is just based off what the weapon/crew are, but ignore the weapon crew per se, because as long as enough crew are alive to fire it, who cares!
Sort of liek this:
SPELLJAMMER
Gargantuan Vehivle
HP 500 Space blah blah
Resists: All 5
AC: low (easy to hit as they are big) Fortiude Reflex (no WIll)
Speed 12, Fly overland flight 15
Helmsnan must be at helm and conscious or ship slows and levitates to the gorund over 4 rounds.
Crew *only* trained crew can affect the ships handling, if they die, nothing happens ot the ship. 10 trained crew can EITHER improve speed by 1, or manouverability (varies on size, dunno what sizes they will have)
Leaders/sargeants etc would be full NPCs, rest as minions, those with a ship weapon skill would grant a +1 attack bonus in 4 square radius as an aura, as simple rule.
There has been official rules for ballistas and damage but I can't recall where, think it was 4d10 damage for a light ballista?
Ballista standard at will; x4 though, 4d10 What I don't agree with form the Manual of the Planes Spelljammer, isthat if the ship lsot crew, it goes out of control. That makes no sense, it's the Helm and Helsman who powers the ship! Crew just help with manouverability (sails etc). Frankly I think crew should be ignored as much as possible for ship handling, Spelljammers are *not* "sailing ships" per se, they are flying ships.
leave the crew for fighting, or improving, when suitable, ship performance, not degrading it by their loss.
Hm, something like:
you could have stock NPCs with proffessions, and feats, for Spelljammer ship improvement....oh the ideas!!
