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Post by Kainguru on Oct 16, 2012 2:16:12 GMT -8
So I'm a player in pathfinder campaign and the GM has asked about long term goals. The set up is we are part of a privateer/pirate crew . . . and this goes back to the fact that I'm still new to this group and, as I discovered last night, it has a long history of derailing this GM's campaigns by deciding to go off and be pirates (apparently this has always driven the GM to distraction thus he has started with pirates hoping that the players will be 'reasonable'). Anyway, I digress, GM wants long term goals and we are sitting there post a ship to ship battle with some other pirates . . . There is a hull floating to stern and we are debating what to do with it . . . The captain wants to sell it and reasons 'it's a wreak, not sea worthy we should scrap it for cash'. Then I reply 'can we make it fly? . . . You know, like, become Sky Pirates!!!' . . . Inadvertently I've derailed his campaign by going somewhere unexpected but, god dammit, I want to take to the sky's - that's my campaign goal (yep visions of the Jerle Sharnarra were dancing in my head) The question: how, within the Pathfinder rule set, can we lift off . . . So far we've discussed binding an air elemental, levitate/fly plus permanency spells . . . Other viable suggestions? The cheaper the better because then it can happen quicker. The GM isn't going to bend the rules to let it happen but by the time we had batted several suggestions around the table he was definitely warming to the idea . . . He did note that Dragons rule the sky's and might take exception then one of the other players suggested negotiation and paying them a tithe which gave him pause (and at which point he appeared to be considering the idea)
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Oct 16, 2012 3:50:32 GMT -8
I'd start with the mundane, augmented and powered by magical means. Make the ship into a dirigible construct, powered by a bound air elemental.
(This is what I intend to do in my own campaign world.)
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Post by greatwyrm on Oct 16, 2012 5:27:39 GMT -8
Never let the rules get in the way of something everyone agrees is awesome.
If this was something I was running, I'd probably offer the players a deal where a dragon of mixed virtue offered to repair/craft the ship and grant them letters of marque. In return, they have to take some assigned jobs (they may not always agree with) and offer a share of the loot as tribute.
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Post by Kainguru on Oct 16, 2012 6:00:22 GMT -8
Never let the rules get in the way of something everyone agrees is awesome. If this was something I was running, I'd probably offer the players a deal where a dragon of mixed virtue offered to repair/craft the ship and grant them letters of marque. In return, they have to take some assigned jobs (they may not always agree with) and offer a share of the loot as tribute. Yeah that was our thinking . . . which seemed to pique the GM's interest. I know he'll go for it if I can find some substantive rules . . . I was thinking of the old airships supplement by Bastion press?
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Post by Kainguru on Oct 16, 2012 6:04:11 GMT -8
I'd start with the mundane, augmented and powered by magical means. Make the ship into a dirigible construct, powered by a bound air elemental. (This is what I intend to do in my own campaign world.) Yeah the GM accepted that notion but said that was how the Gnomes have done it and they have only got the one ship to fly successfully. Which is why we're all trying to think of an alternative . . .
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kevinr
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 158
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Post by kevinr on Oct 16, 2012 6:21:14 GMT -8
I am not to familiar with 3.5 but I do know Eberron has a 3.5 set of books how did they do airships?
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Benji
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Preferred Game Systems: Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, V20, D&D 3.5, Castles & Crusades, Monsters & Other Childish Things, Little Fears, TFOS
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Post by Benji on Oct 16, 2012 15:57:08 GMT -8
I'd go with spells such as fly or levitate made permanent. The danger of binding elementals is they can become unbound ... and cranky.
Levitate would be less costly than fly I'm guessing but will require the wind in the sails still to move you. It may not be the best way, but there' s are style point for still using the wind on an airship, imho.
Also, keep in mind how you'll need to retrofit the ship with mundane and magical equipment. Nets, casting lines, parachutes maybe? Man overboard here is going to be something completely different.
If you GM is willing to "yes, and" this idea and make you work for it, the storyline is going to be epic. Let us know how it works out.
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Post by jazzisblues on Oct 17, 2012 6:10:37 GMT -8
I could see lots of ways to "power" flying ships. I would go with a variety based on the culture that created the ship ...
Elves: Magic powered Humans: Magic / Elemental Powered Illithids: Psionic Dwarves: Steam
It doesn't actually have to make any sense in the real world it just really needs flavor and should have some sort of balance such as elven ships powered by magic might be faster and more maneuverable but less heavily armed and armored. You get the idea.
Cheers,
JiB
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Post by The Northman on Oct 17, 2012 7:15:13 GMT -8
You could always combine thus with the Black Company thread and go with flying fungus whales.
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Post by Kainguru on Oct 17, 2012 9:32:43 GMT -8
I'll keep everyone informed . . . Cause yeah I think it's an awesome character goal. Elemental power, I tend to agree, is too risky due to the risk of a very cranky elemental becoming unbound. I did find an actual genuine Pathfinder airship in the ultimate combat guide . . . Details on it a very sparse though: alchemical lift and magic thrust that's basically all it says. . . Makes me think if you can have magic to thrust why not lift as well? PS: poor GM is already shaking his head we describe using rappelling ropes so the crew can descend SAS style onto chosen targets of opportunity
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Post by The Northman on Oct 17, 2012 10:27:25 GMT -8
I think if it's a feature he's going to include in the game, he can just settle on what rules he'd like to use and treat everything else as cosmetic, akin to what JiB offered.
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Post by Kainguru on Oct 17, 2012 10:50:58 GMT -8
Well he wants us to justify it . . . remember he started the group as pirates because they have always derailed to being pirates. Then I join the group, totally unaware of this, and I've just derailed it in an even more insane direction than he planned for. It just happened sort of snowballed as the session went along . . . I think what he really wants is hard and fast rules for handling airships, because when I found a reference to a Pathfinder Supplement called 'Airships of Nova Avalon' he got interested . . . think I might just buy it and see if it's got the goods (I'd just be really annoyed if was all just fluff and no crunch)
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Post by The Northman on Oct 20, 2012 6:31:43 GMT -8
For sure. It's totally a stylistic choice. For me, I'd use the vehicle rules from ultimate combat and come up with bonuses for ships from different cultures - slightly faster, a bonus on skill checks to maneuver, more stoutly defended - and otherwise keep things as similar as possible to avoid the ship part of the game from overwhelming the character-level things. Our group would tend to focus more on boarding actions and hand-to-have combat than the actual ship-to-ship angle, so that works for us.
I don't have it handy at work (reading RPG books on patrol would be a little dangerous) but I think ultimate combat has ship combat rules. I'd hand-wave altitude for simplicity in most cases, but again that's how I tend to roll.
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Post by greatwyrm on Oct 20, 2012 6:59:11 GMT -8
If he's really just hung up on rules, you could also look at the Aerial Adventure Guide by Goodman Games.
But weren't there some basic vehicle rules in the 3e DMG or am I thinking of 4e?
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SirGuido
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Post by SirGuido on Oct 22, 2012 8:31:17 GMT -8
I would do Levitate/Permanency, and then supplement that(driving specifically) with steam jets.
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