By the way, I was wondering, if there are two kinds of silt skimmers, because in CbtSS it appears to me, that no psion is needed to steer them, but I think I remember te have read somewhere, that a psion is needed.
The skimmers in CbtSS originally came out of Dragon Kings. Those being the ones that with gigantic wheels. The wheelless psionic driven skimmers came out of the Prism Pentad, specifically the Obsidian Oracle.
As for mekillots, attraction is the easiest way to get them to go where you want - just pick a point on the horizon as the point of attraction and the thing will do a good job of straight-lining it there. I also think this is an appropriate power as it really saves on navigation difficulties in the desert; as long as the caravan navigator knows where they currently are (more or less), he can give the psion a heading and, once the mekillot is attracted in that direction, the animal itself will keep the caravan on course; if it can't get to that point via a direct route it'll go around whatever obstacles are in its way, since it's not relying on physical guides to direct it.
I'm pretty sure this is already covered in the Athasian Equipment Guide...
...which isn't out yet AFAIK, but it's good to hear that it will be covered in there.
Until there, telekinetic force or psionic telekinetic sphere would solve all your problems...
Unfortunatelly these power's duration are pretty short, that's way I think that they aren't appopriate, although the effect could do the job.
The skimmers in CbtSS originally came out of Dragon Kings. Those being the ones that with gigantic wheels. The wheelless psionic driven skimmers came out of the Prism Pentad, specifically the Obsidian Oracle.
Thanks. I knew I've seen those, but I couldn't remember where.
Silt Skimmers with wheels aren't pulled by creatures - they're either driven by the wind, pushed around by poles, or have slaves (or undead) that walk up "stairs" inside of each wheel, continuously propelling the vehicle forward.
I wasn't trying to say that silt skimmer were pulled by mekillots, but I see that the sentence I wrote could imply that I would. It is actually my bad english. Sorry!
As for mekillots, attraction is the easiest way to get them to go where you want - just pick a point on the horizon as the point of attraction and the thing will do a good job of straight-lining it there. I also think this is an appropriate power as it really saves on navigation difficulties in the desert; as long as the caravan navigator knows where they currently are (more or less), he can give the psion a heading and, once the mekillot is attracted in that direction, the animal itself will keep the caravan on course; if it can't get to that point via a direct route it'll go around whatever obstacles are in its way, since it's not relying on physical guides to direct it.
My first idea was to use suggestion, but attraction would do the job too, and it wouldn't require to be a telepath, which I favor.
...which isn't out yet AFAIK, but it's good to hear that it will be covered in there.
Can't remember who wrote the original, but it's the same shipfloater dome item that appeared in the Shipfloater PrC that you can find a link to in someone's signature. The version included in the AAE will be slightly reworded, and depending on playtesting might be modified somewhat, but odds are that the overall item concept will remain the same. In other words - if you go with athas.org materials as Official-with-a-capital-O, you can go ahead and use the item from that PrC already (...if you can find the link) and it'll probably still work out just fine once the AAE is completed.
I wasn't trying to say that silt skimmer were pulled by mekillots, but I see that the sentence I wrote could imply that I would. It is actually my bad english. Sorry!
Hehe don't worry, I didn't think that...although I did envision a team of aarokocra slaves all tethered to the thing and pulling it along, so maybe I wasn't too far off... ;)
My first idea was to use suggestion, but attraction would do the job too, and it wouldn't require to be a telepath, which I favor.
IIRC suggestion requires you to speak the target's language; maybe not, but in any case attraction is still a lot more efficient and, as you mention, anyone capable of manifesting 1st level psion powers has access to it.
Can't remember who wrote the original, but it's the same shipfloater dome item that appeared in the Shipfloater PrC that you can find a link to in someone's signature.
Hey, that would be me. ;)
Just follow the link for the master shipflaoter PrC in my sig. There you will find the obsidian engine, main motive component of psionically-driven skimmers.
I inspired myself from Denning's writing (the PP) and an article about skimmers by Todd Stigliano in Dragon magazine 237.
I can offer it in three types:
psd = 1 file (38,2 MB / 16,6 MB packed in archive)
jpg = 5 files (1,94 MB / 1,67 MB pia) + 1 overview (1,97 MB) + 4 print cuts (1,37 MB / 1,16 MB pia) [total 5,3 MB / 4,55 MB pia]
png= 5 files (9,37 MB / 9,33 MB pia) + 1 overview (9,12 MB) + 4 print cuts (5,99 MB / 5,98 MB pia) [total 24,4 MB / 24,3 MB pia]
I don't know why the picture doesn't show up (maybe it has something to do with the traffic), but if click on the picture, you can browse the single decks.
There is a you should contact Bruno or Brax and see if you could make or adapt a pic they have for a caravan thing in one of the items coming out - the one in there now is hand drawn, and while okay, would be better with some digital polish. I do not know if they already have a final pic for it, but it would not hurt to ask.
You should do one for the House Werrik from the Slave Tribes or Dune Traders - I cannot recall where their convayance is shown or if it is different. Just a thought.
Nice work B-
Thanks, I was planing to make something similar for a silt skimmer, but I have some issues about the size and the form. I noticed that a skimmer is exact twice as long as it wheel diameter, but looking at the art work it appears that they are longer than that, because between the wheels is a gap, and the "deck" usually reaches over both wheeles. I don't know how to solve that one, but as soon as I know, I going to make a plan for a silt skimmer.
There is a you should contact Bruno or Brax and see if you could make or adapt a pic they have for a caravan thing in one of the items coming out - the one in there now is hand drawn, and while okay, would be better with some digital polish. I do not know if they already have a final pic for it, but it would not hurt to ask.
Do you mean? The catapult? Or something else? I have a digital pic of a catapult, but it has wheels, but maybe I work on that....
You should do one for the House Werrik from the Slave Tribes or Dune Traders - I cannot recall where their convayance is shown or if it is different. Just a thought.
IRRC there was another plan in Freedom, but I'm not quite sure. Maybe I'm going to make an open caravan wagon, but I'm not quite sure how it's gonna be look like.
Could you post a link to it rather than try and remote-display it?Here's the argosy map (5'/square) I did recently, based off of the caravan from the Freedom adventure:
caravan argosy
Obviously it's a single-mekillot, single-level dealie-oh. I don't have the map key on there, so here it is (with very basic details as necessary):
A - Psion's Quarters
B - Captain's Quarters
C - Kitchen
D - Barracks
E - Cargo Hold
F - Slave Hold
G - Driving Deck (5' above the level of the main deck, which itself is about 10' above outside-ground level. 2 seats, 1 for the psion and 1 for the captain, and 2 heavy crossbows + extra bolts are here "just in case")
H - Firing Decks (5' above main deck level, as with the driving deck. Each firing deck has 3 external windows, each with a fixed crossbow, and an additional "viewing slit" that looks into the interior of the ship and is just big enough for a crossbow to fit through. The doors into the firing decks are barred from the inside, the hope being that if the argosy is attacked and the enemy makes it inside, those in the firing decks can hole themselves up and fire crossbows into the interior corridors against the attacking forces)
Also, my silt skimmer (floating kind) maps (I sent these to a couple of you before in regards to another thread...finally got around to putting them online). They're based on 2e Spelljammer rules, basically, which I modified for silt skimmer use in my 2e game:
Caravel Skimmer
Balican War Galleon
The Silver Dagger (customized caravel used by some noteworthy NPCs in my campaign)
bengeldorn: The pic doesn't work anymore.
If you click on the image, you will be directed to the page. Using "<<" and ">>" you can see the single pictures. I don't know why they don't show up, but sometimes they do.
Here's the argosy map (5'/square) I did recently, based off of the caravan from the Freedom adventure:
caravan argosy
Obviously it's a single-mekillot, single-level dealie-oh. I don't have the map key on there, so here it is (with very basic details as necessary):
A - Psion's Quarters
B - Captain's Quarters
C - Kitchen
D - Barracks
E - Cargo Hold
F - Slave Hold
G - Driving Deck (5' above the level of the main deck, which itself is about 10' above outside-ground level. 2 seats, 1 for the psion and 1 for the captain, and 2 heavy crossbows + extra bolts are here "just in case")
H - Firing Decks (5' above main deck level, as with the driving deck. Each firing deck has 3 external windows, each with a fixed crossbow, and an additional "viewing slit" that looks into the interior of the ship and is just big enough for a crossbow to fit through. The doors into the firing decks are barred from the inside, the hope being that if the argosy is attacked and the enemy makes it inside, those in the firing decks can hole themselves up and fire crossbows into the interior corridors against the attacking forces)
Also, my silt skimmer (floating kind) maps (I sent these to a couple of you before in regards to another thread...finally got around to putting them online). They're based on 2e Spelljammer rules, basically, which I modified for silt skimmer use in my 2e game:
Caravel Skimmer
Balican War Galleon
The Silver Dagger (customized caravel used by some noteworthy NPCs in my campaign)
These are good ones, but I do have a problem with the proportion of the skimmer, because is always twice as long as it is wide, but yours are more than three times longer than they are wide. But I figured that this doesn't make a lot of sense, because a skimmer can only be as long as two wheels are, but this would mean that the wheels would almoust touch each other. I was thinking about changing the rule to: length = 2,5
If you click on the image, you will be directed to the page. Using "<<" and ">>" you can see the single pictures. I don't know why they don't show up, but sometimes they do.
Ah, got it. Just the "All in 1" that isn't working, apparently.
These are good ones, but I do have a problem with the proportion of the skimmer, because is always twice as long as it is wide, but yours are more than three times longer than they are wide. But I figured that this doesn't make a lot of sense, because a skimmer can only be as long as two wheels are, but this would mean that the wheels would almoust touch each other. I was thinking about changing the rule to: length = 2,5