Spelljammer d20

[ruleslawyer]

Andy:

Thanks for the detailed response. Sorry if it sounded like I thought you wouldn't respond on your own message boards; I really did mean that as a plug, since I am always impressed when a game designer has boards on which people can actually ask questions about his products and get answers from the horse's mouth.

gamecat:

PDF for me too, please! msubbarao@bdlaw.com

 

[jaults]

Thanks!

    Cool, thanks for the answers, Andy!

Jason

 

[Blacksad]

>>>
If one does NOT use the "Psionics Are Different" option from the Psionics Handbook, i.e., psionics are another form of magic, can a psion or psychic warrior count as a "spellcaster" for the purpose of using a spelljammer helm?
>>>

I'd allow that, certainly.

Just to be clear, spelljammer helms do not "suck" spells out of the minds of their drivers. That makes the party spellcaster little more than a tag-along during (and more importantly after) the journey, and we figured that was no fun for anyone. It was certainly one of the largest frustrations I had when running the original Spelljammer material back in the day.

--Erik

Just to be sure, you need a spellcaster to use a helm in spelljammer d20? The only text that refer to this need is in the table of content and is a bit unclear: "Will your wizard give locomotive power to the party's vessel?"

It was probably meant to be used only by spellcaster (the spelljammer ace requires spellcasting), but it isn't clearly said.

Personally, I'll alter this rule and allow anyone if they want (it requires a feat after all), and I'll have a second Spelljammer Ace Prestige class, with BaB as fighter, d8 for Hit Dice, 4 rank of Knowledge (space) instead of concentration and 1st level spell as requirment, Reflex save good instead of Will and finally remove Concentration from the class skills, and add Balance.

The lifejammer helm cost seems a bit high given the restriction, and the size restriction in the helms description p50 are one category under what is used for the ship.

Also value in Gold Piece for the ship is something that would have been nice if it has been included (then I could use the craft rule to estimate time of construction, and use the world building article that updated the Birthright rules for dealing with space wars cost in shadow of the spider moon), and it wouldn't have taken a lot of space (two words in each stat block).

Otherwise, a great game with very good illustrations

 

[Blacksad]

double post sorry

 

[AnthonyRoberson]

Spelljammer d20 Campaign Idea

I just picked up the latest issue of Dungeon/Polyhedron and I am most impressed with the Spelljammer minigame. I was fond of the original, but I could just never get past some of its goofier aspects. This new version is right up my alley.

Anyhow, I have been brainstorming some ideas for a Spelljammer campaign and thought that I would throw them in this thread. Feedback and comments are appreciated!

The elves banished your people ages ago to the desolate and lonely world called Spider Moon. They left them to wither and die, but the drow are strong and they did not wither and did not die. Instead, they waited and dreamed of vengeance. Now, the illithid have come and a deal has been struck. The day of vengeance approaches...

The characters will all start as 1st level drow. I am thinking of having them participate in a few adventures pre-illithid contact or shortly after contact. After that, the stars await.

 

[Randolpho]

Aside from the fact that I don't like evil campaigns, it sounds like a good setup.

Here's an interesting twist if you like, and you don't have to play an evil campaign... the imprisonment on the Spider Moon actually worked a little. The Drow, for the most part, are neutral to good, rather than evil.

But the few in power are still quite evil, and they want revenge. They struck the deal with the Illithids, but nobody else knows about it. They built up the fleet, all the while telling everyone else that it was for exploration, rather than conquest. They secretly arrange an all-out war, and hope that the first few battles will reawaken the cruel nature that has been dormant in the populace for so long.

You start with a group of 1st level good or neutral drow, crewing a small scout ship. And they watch with horror as the plan works, seemingly on everyone but them. They treat the prisoners they take well, rather than torture them. They don't kill needlessly. Yet their captain was one of "them". He prods and tries to force the PCs to commit heinous acts on the prisoners...

they rebel...

And now they're on the run. Unwelcome at home, unwelcome abroad, but with a ship that can take them to new ports and hideaways, trying to find a safe place to rest, trying to find the remnants of the "good" drow (surely not everyone reverted to evil!), but thwarted at every turn...

Damn, that'd make a good TV show!

 

[jaults]

Web Enhancement?

    Any chance we could get, either on the WotC page or on Andy's page, some additional info about the setting? Specifically, I was looking for things like:

• a stat block for Discord
• a stat block for the Mind Flayer "capital" of Moradin's Forge
• a stat block for the sahuagin capital on Quelya
• an idea of the alignment, domains, etc for Merrshaulk
• Do the drow live underground on The Spider Moon, or have they adapted to surface life?

Again, I can certainly make this info up myself, but any light you can shine on these questions would be great!

Thanks,
    Jason

 

[jaults]

Another question about the ships

    I think I'm a bit confused on how people and cargo get on board one of the ships. OK, so the ships can fly in a planetary atmosphere. However most of them cannot hover or even move their minimum foward speed without a VERY good pilot (DC 40! Piloting check for a Clumsy ship).
    So, they fly into the atmosphere of a planet and approach a castle at which they want to pick up a passenger. Then what? Only the Boreworm can make a Land landing. So I assume for a lot of the elven and human ships, they land on water to make passenger/cargo drops and pickups. But what about the drow ships that can't land at all? Perhaps there are lots of little ships, not detailed in the magazine, that ferry people and cargo to the larger ships? Doesn't seem overly efficient...

    Any insight on this?

Thanks,
    Jason

 

[Randolpho]

Re: Another question about the ships

jaults -- Interesting points. I suggest you re-read the magic items section, specifically the Floatanchor for your questions about stopping.

However, I personally had planned to include shuttles and small craft that handle most of the problems you mentioned. The ships listed were "Capital" class ships, so it makes sense that they are unable to land, for the most part. If you look at the history of water-based ships, they mostly anchored in a harbor and shuttled their stuff back and forth using dinghies. Only in rare cases were there docks large enough to handle the capital ships.

This reminds me of a personal plan I had for d20... starfighters. Small, one- or two-man craft with spelljammer helms a single gnomish "auto-reload" ballistae, and perfect maneuverability....

I suppose I'm getting too close to Star Wars?

 

[Andy_Collins]

Re: Web Enhancement?

Jaults kindly asked for:

>a stat block for Discord

Whoops! That was written (it's a metropolis, by the way) but apparently dropped out somewhere along the way. I'll talk to Erik Mona and see if we can't get that published somewhere (or a variety of somewheres, preferably).

>a stat block for the Mind Flayer "capital" of Moradin's Forge
>a stat block for the sahuagin capital on Quelya

Those would both be cool, though a bit terrifying!

>an idea of the alignment, domains, etc for Merrshaulk

Merrshaulk's straight out of the MM description of the yuan-ti. See page 191 in the Monster Manual.

>Do the drow live underground on The Spider Moon, or have they adapted to surface life?

Good question. I'd say that the bulk of drow civilization on the Spider Moon is subterranean, but the light there is certainly dim enough to allow surface settlements as well. My guess is that even though they can handle the surface OK, the drow probably prefer the secrecy of underground cities (that way the elves can't spy on 'em as easily!).