Scarred Lands: Ask the Sage [New and Improved!]

[Fevil]

Anyone have questions about Blood Sea yet?

I have one, and hopefully, since you asked, you are in a position to answer it.
Why, exactly, was the distance between Ghelspad and Termana made to be 10-12,000 miles? Am I one of the only people to think that this distance is a bit....extreme?

 

[Nightfall]

So how would you break up the various options for druids into shaman classes in the SL setting?

I'm thinking that the beast lord cults would be prime druid material while the places and ancestors might be more shaman suited.

Sounds good to me. Certainly would work well in that respect.

Thinking about the witch, but they've always been more the wise woman type deal, not necessarily something for the druid/shaman connection.

Yeah but I don't necessarily see the need for a witch. Adept, sorcerer and/or druid works well in that respect for me. But in any case adding the shaman core class is fine to my mind. Not a core witch however.

Will,

Agreed but doesn't hurt to add something like Shaman in some respects. Especially since we already have one OA class. No questions yet Will. I still need the book.

Fevil,

It was a little much but then again perhaps the people measuring (not the writers themselves) were just a little off because their measurements were innaccurate.

 

[Nightfall]

bumping this along...

 

[Will]

Regarding the distance... I have a strong suspicion the distance was my idea. It may not have been, but let's say it's me...

The thought process, as best as I remember, was the following:

Based on the maps of Ghelspad and Termana, there is a strong sense that Termana is at least a few times the north-south length of Ghelspad away. I think that came out to the neighborhood of 10,000 miles.

In addition, ships speeds, as listed in the PHB, are between 2 and 3 miles per hour when under sail. Assuming they can manage to move 12 hours a day, this comes out to a trip of 11 months. A bit long.

There are numerous stops along the way, though none as valuable as the endpoints. Adding any magic, and the trip might be down to 6-8 months.

There are other issues, but I don't have the book myself yet, and memory is hazy. I vaguely remember a way to use Profession (sailor) to catch tradewinds and improve speed. No idea if it made it in, but if so, it makes a difference.

Some people have varying ideas of how much magic is available in the Scarred Lands, which may impact reaction to the distance.

 

[Nightfall]

Thanks for the insights Will.

Btw there's a certain Blood Sea Pirate I was curious about. Erlick "The Bloody Yardarm" Thesk. Remember him?

 

[Trickstergod]

Based on the maps of Ghelspad and Termana, there is a strong sense that Termana is at least a few times the north-south length of Ghelspad away. I think that came out to the neighborhood of 10,000 miles.

Hmm. You know, I keep looking at the map to Ghelspad and Termana, and while not scaled to one another, based on the shape the Blood Sea takes on each map, it seems that the Calastian archipelago is roughly on the same latitudinal line as the Karisan city of Regama, and from there, there's approximately 3 or so thousand miles between the two.

But, perhaps in muddling over scale, my brain was shot to pieces. I suppose I'll have to peak at the Blood Sea book for its map to see if I can see where you're coming from at all.

In the mean time, I do have a question of my own about the Blood Sea Book. Well, sort of.

What's up with the Base Attack Bonus and Saving Throw Advancement of the Seaborn? In the quarterly, it was all out of whack. Is this the same in the Blood Sea book, and if so, why?

I don't necessarily mind the mold being broken on how the attack bonus and saves advance, but doing it mid-stream or without reason doesn't exactly enthuse me.

Or were the out of whack save and attack bonus progression in the quarterly just a quickly thrown together rough draft of the prestige class that was later cleaned up for the Blood Sea book? Which really isn't too big a deal. But I'm curious if it's been changed, or if not, just why in the world it wasn't.

 

[Will]

I don't have the book yet, and I didn't work on the Seaborn, so I have no idea.

 

[Fevil]

What's up with the Base Attack Bonus and Saving Throw Advancement of the Seaborn? In the quarterly, it was all out of whack. Is this the same in the Blood Sea book, and if so, why?

Trickstergod, AFAICT what you saw in the Quarterly is what is in the Blood Sea. Exactly the same.
Obviously I can't tell you why, but at least you now know.

 

[Nightfall]

I'd say if bothers you that much Trick, just set it at cleric's BAB and save progressions.

 

[uzagi_akimbo]

Regarding the distance... I have a strong suspicion the distance was my idea. It may not have been, but let's say it's me...

The thought process, as best as I remember, was the following:

Based on the maps of Ghelspad and Termana, there is a strong sense that Termana is at least a few times the north-south length of Ghelspad away. I think that came out to the neighborhood of 10,000 miles.

In addition, ships speeds, as listed in the PHB, are between 2 and 3 miles per hour when under sail. Assuming they can manage to move 12 hours a day, this comes out to a trip of 11 months. A bit long.

There are numerous stops along the way, though none as valuable as the endpoints. Adding any magic, and the trip might be down to 6-8 months.

There are other issues, but I don't have the book myself yet, and memory is hazy. I vaguely remember a way to use Profession (sailor) to catch tradewinds and improve speed. No idea if it made it in, but if so, it makes a difference.

Some people have varying ideas of how much magic is available in the Scarred Lands, which may impact reaction to the distance.

Hmmm, your calculations do not make much sense

PHB Speed for sailing vessels - hmmm a speed of 2-3 knots (nautical miles per hour ) is pretty low, actual medieval , premedieval and antique sailing vessels were capable of sustained (depending upon wind direction and continuity ) hauls of 4 to 5 knots, with 6 knots (or even 7 ) possible under the most beneficial conditions (like a strong, consistent tailwind ). But 2 to 3 miles an hour may do as an 'average', if one assumes a ship lying about in coves etc waiting for changing winds. Which I cannot really imagine for a long, non-stop trans-oceanic voyage (where would be the harbours/coves ? ). Also, a feasible route with constant or at least reliable winds would be the first thing that trans-oceanic seafarers are going to establish/ascertain. Historically they did. Not taking into account magically aided weather control or at least precise divination of winds and tides.

Second - why would a trans-oceanic ship sail only 12 hours out of a possible 24 a day ? If they simply hove-to and drifted during nightime, it would play merry hell with navigation, drift being far harder to calculate than controlled sailing in a determined direction. If they had superior ( in comparison to real life medieval navigation capabilities ) means, why not sail straight through the night - away from the coast , one does not have to worry about reefs, or shoals too much. And they must have - or I have failed to notice the mentions ofa long chain of island reaching from Teraman to Ghelspad allowing close coastal navigation by landmark.
Although I assume that Gehlspadian navigation (aided by magic ) would be inherently superior to historical one, which was actually loaded down with superstitions, religious dogma and faulty mathmatics until the renaissance age and even into the 18th century. Ffew if any historical sailors would have attempted venturing into the unknown and trackless oceans without such means. I do not consider the mariners of Ghelspad more foolhardy. So no land-dependent navigation, hence no need (and no means on this route) to stay close to land,, and no reason to reduce sail at night to reduce risk of navigational mishaps. So, in conclusion a ship on its way between those continents would sail at it's listed speed the entire day, maybe slightly less (but not really, at the speeds given in the PHB ) at night due to reduced sail (commonly done close to land only, though , as explained above).

Third - Ghelspad and Termana being 10000 miles apart without any major islands in between sounds exxagerated. Earth's entire circumference is 24000 miles (roughly) - so a hemisphere would measure roundabout 12000 miles.. .Which means approximately 6000 miles from a pole to the equator. Assuming an Earth-sized Scarn ( I haven't seen anything claiming it to be bigger, yet), of course. But the problems creeping up with a larger, differently curved planet....... lets not venture there.
With Ghelspad several thousand miles across (and Termana many times that size again ) that would make it very difficult to even keep both of the continents on the same hemisphere , which they seem to be, the climate getting warmer to the south on both, although Termana seems to start out more southernly to begin with. Also Ghelspad is not actually within a presumed polar cap...


Which gives us (IMHO ) three options - Scarred Lands geography is very buggy (big news... ), it cannot actually be 10000 miles or the Calastians have some extraordinary means to provision their colonizing ships (try the math for feeding dozens to hundreds of colonists and livestock for several months on end without being able to make landfall ).


Assuming the 3000 miles theory mentioned in this thread by Trickstergod, the passage from south eastern Ghelspad to North western Termana could be made in in fortytwo days , six weeks, assuming PHB ship speeds (24 hours x 3 m/h = 72 miles/day). That is ,without encountering storms, calms or damges to the ship, navigational errors and the vagaries of fate (like maritime monsters etc ). With a more realistic ship speed probably being compensated/absorbed by a less straight, hence longer , route the six weeks would still seem solid as a rule of thumb. With storms or a wrecking, a ten or even twelve weeks journey may result. Should be brutal enough with medieval shipping , yet even worse things have been done in the age of exploration.
Just for comparison - three thousand miles is roughly the distance from Land's End, Great Britain to Long Island on the eastern US Seaboard on the old trans-atlantic steamer route.

My estimate would be that Ghelspad and Termana are approximately 3000 to 4000 miles apart, with Termana lying East by South-East from Calastia... Now I just need an accurate map of the planet or a high orbit staleite to prove it