D&D 5E So how do you describe an airplane in 5E?

[Gilladian]

If you were a really powerful wizard building a magical flying vessel that could be set up to fly automatically between a set group of locations (i.e. your tower and a fixed set of end destinations), what would said machine look like?

Would you build it like a bird, with passenger space inside? Would it be an airship (too bland for me!)? Would it have wings? Be nothing but a blank cylinder or pod? Would it be aerodynamic? This is a non-tech society. Unlike, say Eberron, there are no bullet trains, etc... so no tradition of mechanical devices. This is a totally magic-powered thing. The same society HAS made airborne ships, and levitating/flying castles but they're quite uncommon. And there are dragons, rocs, and other huge flying creatures to pattern a vessel of this sort after.

What would you as DM choose to describe?

And what would you describe the flying vessel's hanger/lair/landing area as looking like? the only thing I know at this time is that it is the top level of a tall tower.

 

[TarionzCousin]

"A tiny speck, far off in the sky...."

I would describe it in terms of a nautical sailing vessel. If I had the choice, making it look like a bird sounds good. Also, image search for "Da Vinci Flying Machines."

 

[Jester David]

Why move from the tower? Just levitate that bitch and fly from the comfort of home.

 

[was]

You could make it like a large, fancy carriage. Drawing off horse-drawn models. A sleigh would work too. Or a carriage/sleigh composite. I'd store it in a stable-like structure and takeoff/land right in the town square. Make sure it draws a lot of attention and everyone wants to pay to ride it.

 

[Fyrie]

http://youtu.be/PDtVP6R6C0g?t=32s

 

[MarkB]

Hmm, so it docks on top of a tall tower then?

I'd make it a large vessel fashioned of some metallic substance, perhaps mithral, designed to fit flush with the top of the tower - circular and as wide as the tower-top at its base, but tapering inward slightly through its 2-3 decks, giving it a reasonably aerodynamic shape - something like an inverted saucer.

 

[delericho]

It would depend on the specific personality of the wizard in question (and, to a lesser extent, on what he intends to use it for).

For a dwarven wizard, I'd probably describe a great big stone edifice that floats through sheer force of will.

For an elven wizard, I'd go for something much more naturalistic - possibly a bird or possibly one of the lighter, floating pollen.

For a gnomish wizard I'd probably go with cunning artifice.

And so on. Since it's a magical device, it can look like anything with no requirement that it conform to any notion of realism. So, go with whatever is cool. Or, better yet, go with whatever you think that wizard would think is cool.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Although admittedly it doesn't answer your question in the slightest... I would imagine a really powerful wizard who was connecting his tower with several other points would actually use teleportation circles rather than flying machines. The travel is (much) faster, there's much less chance of anti-magic causing calamity, and it's incredibly more difficult for outside forces to take control of it.

So that being said... if a wizard wanted a conveyance to transport large amounts of people and cargo, I'd say he'd build a small room in his tower whose entire floorspace was the teleportation circle (with comfortable seats and many shelving units to put people and gear.) People walk in, drop gear, sit down... and someone on the outside of the room pulls a lever or wiggles his fingers and *poof*... all occupants disappear and reappear at a matching room in some other location.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Pie plates held aloft by weather balloons powered by swamp gas!

 

[Rune]

So, an object that is completely unidentifiable to the populous it flies over?

It should look like a flying saucer, obviously.