Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 calebcc Aug 18, 2006 8:22:43	I'm relatively new to RPGing (?) [about 2 years{?}]and I was looking through the boards here and I love the idea of spelljammer! I've gotten the 3e ship rules from Shattered Fractine and a few races here and there. I'm gonna get SotSM here sometime soon (i hope). But I had a few questions. 1. Where can I find 3e (or 3.5, i'm not picky) space hamster statistics? I might have just overlooked it at BTM, but i'm not sure. 2. I'm gonna make my campaign *kinda* like George Lucas did with Star Wars, start with a handful of worlds, work out from there. It will still use the SF combat rules, but there's only one crystal sphere. Any thoughts about that? 3. I'm gonna make a world solely where dragons live, and I was wondering if dragons spelljam (?), and if so, do htey polymorph into a bipedal form, or do they have larger, more elegant ships that can comfortably use in their natural forms? I'll post more later. Thanks in advance. EDIT: Found giant space hamsters on SF. Thanks.
#2 jaid Aug 18, 2006 16:09:22	as a general rule, dragons don't spelljam. or at least, not naturally. certainly, dragons can use spelljamming ships and such if they want. to my knowledge, there are no ships built for full size dragons. and some specific species of dragon are in fact capable of spelljamming without any assistance from a helm. as far as making "just a few worlds"... ummm... yeah... about that... IMO, you're much better just mooching premade worlds than trying to build multiple worlds at a time. but that's just me =D
#3 bob_the_efreet Aug 18, 2006 21:54:46	3. I'm gonna make a world solely where dragons live, and I was wondering if dragons spelljam (?), and if so, do htey polymorph into a bipedal form, or do they have larger, more elegant ships that can comfortably use in their natural forms? I think it'd be cool if dragons could just fly through wildspace. Older ones could be found braving the phlogiston.
#4 calebcc Aug 19, 2006 10:41:05	I thought of that, but would it change CRs at all? Well anyway, I'll post the world my charatcters will start on tomorrow, still working out some kinks. If you have any suggestions, please post them, I'd like to see them. Thanks for the help so far.
#5 bob_the_efreet Aug 19, 2006 12:41:30	I thought of that, but would it change CRs at all? Well anyway, I'll post the world my charatcters will start on tomorrow, still working out some kinks. If you have any suggestions, please post them, I'd like to see them. Thanks for the help so far. Not if you don't give it any additional ability to beat the crotch out of PCs. And besides, dragon-vs.-ship battles are awesome.
#6 calebcc Aug 20, 2006 9:03:46	Okay. Well, my "homeworld" is done. I'm calling it Noreshi. Orcs have been mysteriously wiped out. The drow have recently repented their ways in search of something better. Warforged have been around since Noreshi began recording it's history. They were created by firewalkers (a race I made.) to head for the seas and find new land. (Firewalkerws don't like water...kinda cliche-ish, huh?). Firewalkers made the first Noreshi Spelljammuing vessels. (Not sure which ship to use...) The leader of industry, CaleCo (working title), has began mass production of spelljammers (and by mass I mean maybe five a month [is that tto much?]). Much of CaleCo is shrouded in mystery, and many believe they are experimenting with dragons and their anatomy. (DM SPOILER!!! if you plan on using my material DON'T read this unless you're a DM!!!!!!! In actuallity, they are finding ways to give dragons other monster traits, and have succesfully created brainstealer dragons[from a Dragon magazine...the one with the Far Realm.] ok, it's safe to read again. ). Linnorms, almost wiped at their last attempt to take over the CUN (Confederation of United Noreshi[ all of Noreshi is one government.]), and are now regrouping for a second attempt. How do you like so far?
#7 zombiegleemax Aug 21, 2006 7:00:23	If you're going to make up your own worlds I would do it just like Lucas did. By that I mean don't have worlds with varied climates and lots of different cultures. It takes too long and you run the risk of a world becoming so interesting that players just stay there. If you want a swamp, make a swamp planet. A desert? Rip off Tattoine (or alternatively pull out Al Qadim and instead of it being an area of a world make it the whole world.) You want some Orc bad guys? Imagine what the Orc homeworld is like. You could do that for any of your favorite villains. Planets full of undead sound pretty neat too. Kara Tur? What if it was a planet? That's the way I would handle the Spell Jammer setting. Good luck!
#8 calebcc Aug 21, 2006 7:17:06	That's a good idea...(hmmm). I think I'm gonna change gears. I know I'm using Nightdruid's MotM articles (They're awwesome! You should check them out!) and start the players on a planet kinda like Manaan in Knights of the Old Republic. (For those that haven't played it, Manaan is a giant waterworld with a small town built to allow trade between the people of Manaan and ground people.) How's that sound?
#9 calebcc Aug 21, 2006 7:24:53	Here's the new dragon ability to allow for wyrm dragons. Dragonjamming(Sp) : This ability allows dragons to enter wildspace 'freely' (meaning without a spelljamming ship). All dragins gain this ability when their age reaches wyrm. The dragon's lungs become lined with a special material allowing them to breathe at half the rate they normally would (effectively doubling atmosphere length). A dragon can last about 6 months (?) in wildspace before suffocating. Does that sound good?
#10 calebcc Aug 25, 2006 14:16:26	This is what was posted in this forum before the switch-over that didn't make it. Dragonjamming is revised, so use the one presented here. Thanks! CalebCC said: Here's the new dragon ability to allow for wyrm dragons. Dragonjamming(Sp) : This ability allows dragons to enter wildspace 'freely' (meaning without a spelljamming ship). All dragins gain this ability when their age reaches wyrm. The dragon's lungs become lined with a special material allowing them to breathe at a much reduced rate, allowing a dragon to effectively last 3 months (?) in wildspace before suffocating. Magic items are encourged to be used by dragons, to lengthen the amount the atmosphere lasts. Does that sound good? EDIT: Under Jaid's advice, I have revised the Dragonjamming ability. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. Jaid Said: well, two things: 1) double the amount of time breathing isn't gonna give you 6 months, or anything near it. in fact, i am a bit hazy on the details, but i don't think it even gives you one day. if you are set on 6 months, however, i would suggest you just insert "drastically reducing the amount of air they need" or something like that. 2) you'll be wanting a ship's rating and maneuverability on that ability. perhaps based on age category or something. i would guess probably maneuverability B or C for most dragons (they're pretty small for a spelljamming ship, relatively speaking, and their wings/tail are probably more than standard sail equivalents. you could perhaps have some dragons get more maneuverability based on their wings (some dragons have wings that pretty much extend from their "shoulders" to the end of their tail), but that's up to you. on a side note, by the time a dragon is a wyrm, i consider it quite likely that they will have an item to enable them to ignore such petty things as breathing by that time, so i wouldn't worry too much about the air thing CalebCC posted: Kalasa, the fourth planet from the sun Imea in the crystal sphere Ederspace ________________________________________ The names are just something for them to be labeled by, not sure if they're final or not. Well, here's the PC's home planet, Kalasa. Kalasa Planet Type: spherical water Planet size: E (8000 miles across) Escape time: 4 turns (?) Satellites: 2 Distance from primary: (however far real-world Earth is from real-world sun) Day Length: 32 hours Year Length: 200 days Population Analysis: aquatic races, (whatever races my PC's would choose to play[disallowing my firewalker race{they don't like water, remember?}]) Kalasa is a backwater planet(no pun intended) covered in water. Under the water lay vast aquatic metropilises(?). The sahuagin and kuo toa rule with an iron fist over all that is under the water, and they want more. The one area they don't control is the lone island of Orimi. Orimi is the only dryspot on Kalasa, and the only thing that the covetous sahuagin and kuo toa do not control. This area is very prosperous (for being essentially isolated) and is home to a variety of races and creatures. Spelljamming is viewed as a necessity to continue for survival by the elderly, and a way to find a better life by the young. Despite this need for escape, many people live on the island (which is 200 miles in diamater and shaped similar to Antarctica). Trade is good, for the underearth(?) is rich in precious metals, chiefly mithril. Fighting is a neccisity, especially along the coast. Most of the population lives inland, fearing the sea devils and their allies. Climate and Weather The weather is quite comfortable for all the races. The island of Orimi lies right on the equator, yet it never gets too hot. Storms are not frequent, yet rain is. Underwater is warm like bath water, and gets cooler near the poles. Appearance from Space Kalasa appears as a large blue orb from space when viewing from the direction of Imea(the sun). From behind, it looks similar, only much darker(obviously). The island of Orimi is clearly visible as well. Continents and Landmarks The only continent of Kalasa is Orimi. Landmarks underwater include the DeepTrench, which reaches to the core. The Draco Circle is also very intriguing. It is a circle of *possibly* petrified dragons some 1000 feet below the surface. Many sages think this to be statues built by sahuagin to confuse the Orimians, while others believe Kalasa was once primarily earth-covered, with large polar ice caps. Native Creatures Their are no specific-to-Kalasa creatures. Satellites Kalasa has two satelittes, the clutch of Vanm (see nightdruid's MotM) and a moon called Noom. Noom is very much like are moon, only much larger craters, and is the base of the Kalasa Pirate Guild. Hope you like. Used a format almost completly identical to Nightdruids. Thanks. Tell me what you think. Jaid said: heh... forgot... you're running 3rd ed lol... well, with the substantially shorter regular rounds and thus most likely substantially shorter distances travelled per turn, i would say just give dragons their regular speed and maneuverability in tactical speed. i was thinking of 2nd edition, where you used hexes that were 500 feet in size, and you moved a certain number of hexes per round (1 minute), which changes things a lot (when you're discussing how much turning something can do per 500 feet, things start looking pretty maneuverable lol). oh, and i would probably just keep them at their regular speed even, personally. most dragons are going 200 in flight by that time, iirc. anyways, that's just my thoughts on the matter... Mr. Tanooki said: Kalasa sounds cool. I think you're on the right track. I've been temporarily out of the RPG scene for a while, but I was gaming when Spelljammer first came out. One of the things that always kind of bothered me is it seemed like a large part of it was just a way to link all the different campaign worlds together. Just a way for your barbarian from the Forgotten Realms to go wreak havoc on Krynn and maybe get to stop at a space station in the process. I also got the feeling that some of the problems with interplanetary trade (you knew that was going to start happening) weren't initially thought out so well. I always thought Spelljammer should be something that stands by itself. I've been thinking about trying to rework Spelljammer for use as a future campaign setting (thinking about it enough to repurchase some of the books at least). Do you have access to a complete 2nd edition Monster Manual? That thing was humongous. I'm not too familiar with 3.0 or 3.5 yet (I'm working on it) but I've heard that a lot of monsters didn't get brought over to 3rd edition. Some of them were pretty out there, but might be cool in a SpellJammer campaign. From what I've heard of the warforged they would work really well in SpellJammer. Also I seem to remember clockwork automatons being in the old Monster Manual but I could be mistaken. Something like that could be fun too. I'm starting to have these visions of asteroids with shady ports full of humanoid dinosaurs, warforged, orcs, maybe draconians (without the Krynn background), etc. Anyway, if you're interested in a little inspirational material outside of Star Wars and the o.g. SpellJammer supplements, here's some humble suggestions: Wing Commander, Space 1889, Warhammer 40k, E.R. Burroughs' John Carter books, and maybe some Flash Gordon. Now I wouldn't recommend going out and buying all of that stuff, but if you do some web searches on any of those, I'm sure you'll be able to come up with some pretty cool stuff. Anyway, the stuff you're coming up with sounds really good and it's starting to get me thinking about some of the possibilities too. Thanks! CalebCC said: Thank you Mr. Tanooki. I decided to use warforged, just not sure if any players would want to play it (don't know why they wouldn't). No, I don't have the 2nd edition MM, in fact, the only older edition book I have is Dragonlance Adventures. I was about four when the last Spelljammer accesory came out. So, I'm just kinda working with waht I get off the internet. Glad you like Kalasa, I wasn't really sure what people would think about it. I think I should add mermaids to Kalasa, they slipped my mind when I sat down and wrote it. Clockwork automatons...are those like the clockwork horrors from MMII? There's also automatons in it too. I'll check those out. I think my next planet will be the third from the sun. I'm thinking maybe a planet with sentient constructs? I know there's a spell to do that in Savage Species, but I don't have it. Is the OGC? If not, I'll just make my own spell for that purpose (new players moght wanna be from that planet). Tell me what you think. I might post my firewalker race later. Well, here, as promised, is my Firewalker race. I will be cross-posting this on the Races boards at the D&D forum, so sorry if you read this before. Firewalker Personality Firewalkers are brash and chaotic. Despite this, they have a strong sense of *racial equivalent of nationalism[deep pride in one's country]*. They hate abberations deeper then anyone thought possible. They constantly are at war with them; especially illithids. They tend to get along with other races well. Firewalkers can't stand water or cold temperatures, but respect those who put up with it. They have a very militaristic (for being chaotic) lifestyle. Physical Description Firewalkers are about six feet tall, and average weight is one hundred forty-five pounds. Their skin is a dark red, as is their hair. Eyes range from a light yellow to a blood red. Their ears are small and pointed. Relations Other then illithids and other abberations, firewalkers tend to get along well with other races. They especially favor bards around, for their is always room for song and story. Firealker racial abilities * Fire walkers are humanoids with the firewalker subtype. * +2 Strength, -2 Dexterity: Firewalkers are strong, but not very nimble. * Medium-sized. * Base speed is 30 feet. * Low-light vision: Firewalkers can see twice as far as humans in moonlight or similar poor lighting. * Fire Touch (Sp): A firewalker can create an instentaneous surge of fire, causing harm to foes. This takes a standard action, and does not provoke an attack of oppurtunity. The firewalker sticks his off-hand out towards his opponent, makes a touch melee attack, and, if succesful, deals 1d8 fire damage to the foe. The foe can attempt a Reflex saving throw (DC 15) to avoid the damage. * Half damage from fire attacks. * +1 on all attacks and damage against abberations: Firewalkers have an extreme hatred for abberations, but have taken the time to learn about them well. * +2 racial bonus to Search and Spot checks. Firewalkers, although no more mentally better then any other race, have a knack for finding things. * Automatic Languages: Firewalker and Common. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Elven, Dwarven, Ignan, and Goblin. * Favored class: Fighter. What do you think? Jaid said: a spell to awaken constructs is easy. you take the awaken spell from the druid spell list, which is in the SRD. everywhere it says plant/animal, you replace it with construct. where it says animals become magical beasts, delete that. and where it says it's a level 5 druid spell, you make it a level 5 X spell (i would propose that wizard/sorceror would be most logical, but if you like you could always make it cleric also, and any other class you use a lot). CalebCC said: Here's the enlighten spell, which is an altered awaken spell. I used the SRD to make this spell. Enlighten Transmutation Level: Artificer 5, Sorcerer/Wizard 5 Components: V, S, M, XP Casting Time: 24 hours Range: Touch Target: Touched construct Duration: Instantaneous Saving Throw: Will negates Spell Resistance: Yes You enlighten a construct to humanlike sentience. To succeed, you must make a Will save (DC 10 + the construct’s HD). The enlightened construct is friendly toward you. You have no special empathy or connection with a creature you awaken, although it serves you in specific tasks or endeavors if you communicate your desires to it. An enlightened construct gets 3d6 Intelligence, +1d3 Charisma, and +2 HD. Its type does not change. An enlightened construck can speak one language that you know, plus one additional language that you know per point of Intelligence bonus (if any). XP Cost: 250 XP.
#11 jaid Aug 25, 2006 21:03:11	looks about right on that spell. on another note: Kalasa Planet Type: spherical water Planet size: E (8000 miles across) Escape time: 4 turns (?) Satellites: 2 Distance from primary: (however far real-world Earth is from real-world sun) Earth is about 93 million miles away from the Sun, on average. if i'm not mistaken, that's something like, what, 15 minutes at spelljamming speed (give or take). if you pulled the amount of time to leave atmosphere in turns from 2nd edition, i feel i should tell you that in 2nd edition, one turn was 10 minutes (10 rounds). which may change your opinion (of course, that doesn't keep the books from saying turns when they mean rounds sometimes, so you never know... still, 24 seconds to escape the atmosphere seems just a little small, don't you think? 40 minutes seems much, much more reasonable.)
#12 xver Sep 01, 2006 3:10:05	In regards to Spelljamming dragons, the Beyond the Moons official fansite has a link to a variant called Truly Fantastic Space Travel for Fantasy Gaming that allows beings that enter wildspace under thier own power to bring a much large air envolope with them than normal, which allows for flying into wildspace. Or you can just have them bring a Bottle of Air.
#13 wyvern76 Sep 01, 2006 15:46:39	Earth is about 93 million miles away from the Sun, on average. if i'm not mistaken, that's something like, what, 15 minutes at spelljamming speed (give or take). if you pulled the amount of time to leave atmosphere in turns from 2nd edition, i feel i should tell you that in 2nd edition, one turn was 10 minutes (10 rounds). which may change your opinion (of course, that doesn't keep the books from saying turns when they mean rounds sometimes, so you never know... still, 24 seconds to escape the atmosphere seems just a little small, don't you think? 40 minutes seems much, much more reasonable.) I don't see what the problem is. He listed escape time as 4 turns, not 4 rounds. And what does the distance between the Earth and the Sun have to do with it? Wyvern
#14 jaid Sep 01, 2006 18:09:50	I don't see what the problem is. He listed escape time as 4 turns, not 4 rounds. And what does the distance between the Earth and the Sun have to do with it? Wyvern the earth-sun thing is just because the description indicated he didn't know, but that was how far the planet was from the primary. as far as the turns/rounds thing, take a good look at his earlier posts. he is playing 3rd edition. there are no turns in 3rd edition. 10 rounds is called a minute. and he seemed to be indicating some confusion over the "4 turns" figure (or so i assume that's what the ? was supposed to mean). i was merely clarifying for him the fact that, in 2nd edition, 4 turns means something completely different from in 3rd. [edit] on a side note, i must have been thinking of something completely different when i commented on 93 million miles away being 15 minutes travel... not sure what i was thinking, but that's waaaaayy off... it's much closer to 1 day ;) [/edit]
#15 calebcc Sep 02, 2006 10:19:41	Yeah, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage without any 2e books (or is it a strange blessing in disguise?). Kinda stopped working on it after school started. Hopefully have another planet up tomorrow. Thanks for the support.