I'm on a boat. Its 4 million Gp and I need help building it

[killianh]

As the title says, I need help stating out a Colossal Air ship and buying stuff for it. We have 4 million gp to spend on it and it is required to have the following:

Capable of invisibility
Multiple rooms and capable of army transport (we all have leadership, though we don't abuse it as badly as it could be)
On board weapon and defence systems of comparable power to the party (currently 18th lvl)
Capable of travelling the astral sea
Built in navigation

I'm going to be AFB for a little bit but just about any non-campaign specific (so nothing from eberon, FR, etc.)books are allowed other than dragon mag.

DM is alright with working around the rules to make something cool work, so long as it doesn't excessively breaks the game (he also finds ToB broken, but you win some you lose some)

[BIGMamaSloth]

The only place I know that has rules (and loose ones at that) for airships is ebberon. You might check stronghold builders guide for Ideas on features?

[JeminiZero]

Theres also the Stronghold builders guide. In this case your airship counts as a flying mobile stronghold. Stormwrack also has rules on ship based siege weapons like ballistas and cannons.

Alternatively, try to get an airship creature. Create a custom item of continuous Animate Object (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animateObjects.htm) CL 16 to animate a gargantuan object. Give your object wheels for +40 ft land speed, and massive sheets so that it can fly at half normal speed. This also simplifies maintainence to repeated castings of Repair. And you can make it invisible with just a simple casting on the airship creature (since invisibility has no creature size limit).

[Hirax]

Step 1: Mordenkain's capable caravel, from Stormwrack. Last days per level when extended, and comes with a built in mage's mansion and crew.
Step 2: Cast suspension, from Shining South, at a high CL on several mundane objects. One casting probably isn't enough, but since no one object will be bearing the entire weight, this isn't a problem. This should be more than enough to get your ship off the ground.
Step 3: Planar navigation, from Stormwrack, takes your ship to the ethereal plane (or any other plane you desire, for that matter), making it invisible.

As a bonus, the only cost to this method is the focus required for capable caravel.

[Mithril Leaf]

I always loved the Cloud Ray for this sort of thing. It's flying is explicitly called out as an EX ability. Awaken a skeletal one that you animate and you've got a great colossal airship. As mentioned before, invisibility would make the whole thing invisible, including the gear (compartments) that it is carrying. Takes up 30 HD of your animate dead cap. Not a bad deal, plus it's only 750 GP to animate it.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I always loved the Cloud Ray for this sort of thing. It's flying is explicitly called out as an EX ability. Awaken a skeletal one that you animate and you've got a great colossal airship. As mentioned before, invisibility would make the whole thing invisible, including the gear (compartments) that it is carrying. Takes up 30 HD of your animate dead cap. Not a bad deal, plus it's only 750 GP to animate it.

A Cloud Ray (MM2) is 30 HD, "If the creature has more than 20 Hit Dice, it can’t be made into a skeleton by the animate dead spell. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/skeleton.htm)"

[Mithril Leaf]

A Cloud Ray (MM2) is 30 HD, "If the creature has more than 20 Hit Dice, it can’t be made into a skeleton by the animate dead spell. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/skeleton.htm)"

Damn, I'm used to my psionic animate that doesn't have the stupid HD cap. Ummmm, toss create undead on it to make a mummy which you then command?

[Vizzerdrix]

Couldn't you use hauntshift on a friendly undead to get airborne? :smallconfused:


Damn, I'm used to my psionic animate that doesn't have the stupid HD cap. Ummmm, toss create undead on it to make a mummy which you then command?

Negative levels and command undead? Then Hauntshift it into a ship and name the thing Wight Whale!:smallbiggrin:

[killianh]

I like the thinking with that, except that we already have the ship. We are already on the ship and air sailing. I'm just the guy that got stuck stating it out :smalltongue: I was told it's worth 4 mill and to go nuts with destroying the game (since I've done that a few times now :smallredface:)

The stuff I listed is just my personal wish list for it. In addition is there a way to turn a permanency spell effect on and off? If so how much would it cost?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

1. Build a ship however you want it to look. It can literally look like anything you want: An actual ship, an ivory tower, a flying saucer, the Black Fortress from Krull, Castle Greyskull, whatever. Make sure it's not too big to be outside the 'colossal' size category, and be sure to put at least one wheel on the bottom of it.

2. Include a navigation room, which consists of the following: A long chain attached to the ceiling, just hanging down but long enough to be stretched into any part of the room. Automatic-reset magical traps of the following spells in a circle on the floor: Fly, Wings of Air, (Greater/Superior) Invisibility, Plane Shift, Greater Teleport, Repair Critical Damage, Animate Objects, and any other spell effects you would want to affect the ship itself with.

3. Place automatic-reset magical traps of spells beneficial to the crew, like Create Food and Drink, Energy Immunity, Superior Resistance, Greater Mage Armor, Magic Vestment, Barkskin, Cloud Wings, Cure X Wounds, Lesser Restoration, Planar Tolerance, etc. There should be another chain in this room similar to the navigation room. If you can get away with it, include an automatic reset trap that gives anyone who triggers it a Contingency: Wings of Cover that triggers any time they would be affected by a Disjunction.
3a. Blanket it in Permanencied Private Sanctum spells. Use (Un)Hallow and add a spell to either benefit your allies or hinder/reveal any opponents who enter.

4. Cast Animate Objects at the highest caster level you can, enough times so the caster level of each totals at least 32. Twice at caster level 16 is easy enough. "You can change the designated target or targets as a move action, as if directing an active spell." Change the target of each Animate Objects spell to the 'ship' so it's now a Colossal Animated Object. Use Permanency twice to make those permanent, and it's forever a Colossal Animated Object. That chain hanging in the navigation room is now a part of the construct, so it can touch any of those traps to activate its effect. Per delivering touch spells to friendly targets, it should be able to make eight touches per round. It should constantly be touching the Fly, Overland Flight, Repair Critical Damage, and Animate Objects traps so it's always affected by multiples of each of those spells. It can touch the Invisibility trap to make itself and anything it carries invisible (make it Invisibility Sphere if your DM says creatures inside aren't also affected). It can touch the Greater Teleport trap to move everyone on the same plane, or the Plane Shift trap to initiate planar travel. It can use the chain in the trap room from 3. to give itself tons of buffs and keep them constantly refreshed.

5. As a creature, it can be equipped with gear. Give it a +1 Animated Colossal Tower Shield which it can use to gain total cover from one side of its space every round. Give it 'armor spikes' which are +1 with the Spellblade (PGtF) weapon enchant, which grants it immunity to the targeted version of Greater Dispel Magic. I'm sure there's plenty of other stuff you can give it, but I can't think of any at the moment.

6. For offensive capabilities, there's quite a bit you can do. Add in an automatic-reset magical trap of Extended Holy Star that it can touch with a chain. Assuming it touches that trap eight times per round, and each spell lasts six rounds, it could have one star set to Spell Turning mode, one set to Protection, and forty-six set to Fire Bolt mode, for 46 bolts of 10d6 fire damage to up to as many targets within 90 ft. every round as a free action. Keep in mind it's affected by Fly (60 ft. flight), Wings of Air (Perfect maneuverability), and Cloud Wings (+30 ft. fly speed), so it can sneak up invisibly and drive-by Death Star something. If you use Superior Invisibility and include a Nondetection trap, there's little chance that anything will even know what hit it.

[killianh]

Snip

That is absolutely amazing. Thank you very much, but two quick questions. Do you have a ball park on the costs for all of the traps? (Assuming they were bought rather than made) and (since I need to run this awesomeness by the DM) The source for the eight touches a round?

EDIT: I found the second part in the PHB stating you can make up to 6 touches on friendly targets as a full round action, but no rules for 8

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

That is absolutely amazing. Thank you very much, but two quick questions. Do you have a ball park on the costs for all of the traps? (Assuming they were bought rather than made) and (since I need to run this awesomeness by the DM) The source for the eight touches a round?

EDIT: I found the second part in the PHB stating you can make up to 6 touches on friendly targets as a full round action, but no rules for 8

Magic Device Trap Cost (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/traps.htm#magicDeviceTrapCost)

I was going from memory on the 8-touches-per-round. Six is still fine.

[Slipperychicken]

Put traps of Silence, Telepathy, and Magic Aura on it. Now your ship can activate "stealth" mode, in which it is completely silent, no one can detect its auras, and everyone on the ship can communicate without sound. Maybe if Mind Blank can be applied, you'd have an argument for even divinations and True Seeing not working.

Is it possible to get some mileage out of Item Familiar with this? Then the ship can talk to people, and basically be EDI from Mass Effect.

[ThiagoMartell]

I'm on a boat and
It's going fast and
I got a nautical themed
Pashmina afghan
I'm the king of the world
On a boat like Leo
If you're on the shore,
Then you're sure not me-oh

[Roguenewb]

Any time someone starts a plan with "get an automatic reset spell trap" you know you've gone full-hog into TO territory. For the resulting insanity, look up the Tippyverse. Unless you want to play in the Tippyverse, which is a legit alternative, then no DM should allow custom spell traps.

[Gavinfoxx]

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19857754/Living_in_a_Flying_Box...

Have you read that?

[only1doug]

This may be useful, i hope it is.

3 page thread on airships (http://tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=52741&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=25&sid=f72c579ea8a9b07a187818de2069cf7e)

Cloud keel (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030302a) 200k

Or, as has been suggested, use stronghold builders guide to create a flying stronghold

[deuxhero]

PF has rules for building Animated Objects as constructs and even gives ships as an example of gargantuan animate objects, plus it has some construct mods that can be applied (The rune of shielding is very nice for the cost, and you can use more than one).

If you are the creator (you should be), you can command it to move, and the "free" CP it gets can be used to make it go 10 feet faster. Annoyingly it is not one of the abilities that can stack, so you need to use the other 5 somehow, likely on defensive abilities.

As a single construct, giving it invisibility is dirt cheep (have a party member cast invisibility with and extend rod in the morning), but invisibility that effects the stuff on/in it is harder.

[Draken]

What you want is most likely an airship from the Eberron book Explorer's Handbook. It has a capacity for 150 people and costs 92,000 gp. Follows all the rules for vessels found in Stormwrack (and other books), just, you know, flying instead of sailing.

If you need space for more than 150 soldiers... Well, at that point you don't want an airship, you want an aircity, and should probably use the rules for building a flying fortress on the Stronghold Builders Handbook. But odds are that just buying more airships is more efficient, goldwise. Unless you do some funny things, such as a fortress that is basically stationary but has a fully mobile entrance connected to the rest of it by portal.

[Gavinfoxx]

I made an airship creation guide, for a shoestring budget, you can read my guide:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14zilT4WGOyHM0AfpG4-GmD2FkgDg1HZ9HC1cTleQHds/edit

You, however, have way more than a shoestring budget...

[The-Mage-King]

You are all... Doing it wrong.


Here's what you need:


Start off with whatever boat you want, be it from Stormwrack or elsewhere. I'd start with a Greatship (60k gp, able to carry 500 small/medium creatures) (Stormwrack, p 100).


Now, that's a good base, isn't it?



Now, slap on some stuff, like weapons.


Add a half dozen or so +1 Ballistas (2800 gp each) will give you a reasonable defense for the mooks. Add some +1 Bombards (Light 4300 gp, Heavy 10,300 gp), and you have more damage in a different type. I'd say 6 Light, 2 heavy.

So you have a ship with magic stuff. Fairly good, so far. Sitting at 123,200 gp, ammo excluded.


Now pull out our greatest friend....
The Arms and Equipment Guide.


Get a rotating platform (A&EG 49) for each of the weapons. That's another 7000 gp.

Now you want it to: fly, go between planes, and navigate easily?


Cloud Keel (200k gp, A&EG 49), Fharlanghn’s Lines (A&EG 50), and Planar Sails (A&EG 50) are what you want. The first gives flight, the second reduces the crew needed by 5 for each set, and the third allows you to pass between planes with a Know (The Planes) check.

200k, 8100 each, and 72k, respectively.

(Current price: 427,600 gp. Meets basic requirements.)


On to the next part!

Armor.


A Greatship is... Well, not exactly the most durable.

80 hp for each section, with a hardness of 5. Not the best, since if you lose enough, it sinks.


Let's slap adamantine onto it! Using the A&EG (48) rules for it, it costs 5000 gp a section, it provides durability that's needed. 120 sections on the ship, so... 600,000 gp to give it an inch of adamantine armor. Fun thing is that you can layer it with, say, iron.


So a layer of adamantine, a layer of iron, and a layer of adamantine. Costs you 1,320,000 gp, but... The fact that it takes a huge amount of damage.



Current cost is 1,747,600 gp. Meets requirements, and is considerably tougher.


Well, you have 4 million to spend, and only touched about half of it! Go nuts!


From there, add what you want from the A&EG. Charts of Certainity might be good, as might a Captain's Table or Eldritch Exaust (Cloudkill).


A Lightning Turbine, with a Control Weather Trap might be good too.


...And I forgot the invisibility. Slap on a Veil of Obscurity, and it should work.


Phew, that took a while to type.

[Mad Wizard]

Spell turrets from the DMG II can make powerful point-defense weapons.