Living Coral greatship

[dantiesilva]

So I am helping a friend out in a seafaring campaign and need help making the Villians ship. It is made of coral but besides that is a normal greatship. Does anyone know how to stat this out and actually make it with weapons and all?

[dantiesilva]

No one. No one at all. I'm surprised.

[Ashtagon]

Six hour bump? Give it a few more hours. Some of us haven't even finished our work shift since you started the thread!

[Kerilstrasz]

hmm...
i dont know much but i can brainstorm a bit on this..

coral ship... so..
look up the coral plate armor from arms & equipment guide for the hull hardness
and hp per inch...

since its made of coral...
have it have sharp edges at the front used to ram enemy ships
maybe some smaller edges at the sides as defense against ramming
(that can also be used by a swimmer enemy to climb aboard)
sails made of weeds (moist enough so they cant be burned)

the ship would be made of the material of corals or it is a live coral
somehow shaped and used as a ship?

cause if its a live coral it could have hp regen as long it is in open water
for the parts that actually in contact with the water...

hmm...
thinking of clam shells...
the inside shiny surface...
maybe some panels of that material around the ship that can reflect
evocation magic???? ofc that should be removable plates cause they reflect
sun too... no captain wants his ship shine like a beacon in hostile waters.

there is an armor that grows bone spikes each day.. a player may break
those and use em as half spears...
those sharp edges i mention before?... the ship could grow like 2 or 3 every day...
with the right command (from the captain) they get propelled to
strike enemy ships from distance .. like torpedoes or smthing...

thats all for now... get me some feedback on these and maybe i can think of
smthing more... hope i helped a bit

[Togo]

Pretty sure there are rules in Stormwrack for making ships out of alternative materials...

[dantiesilva]

@Ashtagon Sorry in my time zone I posted that during 3rd shift when I noticed many people active on the site, add in the fact most people are either 6 hours ahead or behind my time it seems I thought it would have been perfect timing so I am sorry about that.

@hxolhpths

Q)."since its made of coral...
have it have sharp edges at the front used to ram enemy ships
maybe some smaller edges at the sides as defense against ramming
(that can also be used by a swimmer enemy to climb aboard)
sails made of weeds (moist enough so they cant be burned)"

A).I like the first idea though saying it is a greatship it will be slower then most ships, but as you made me realize is just because it is slow, does not mean it should not have the precaution. As for the ones on the side of the ship that could also work, just have them high enough and spaced enough that it takes a really high Climb check to actually work.For the sails I was not even thinking about that but now that you say it, it does seem to fit, and I could use the Cord armor as the idea for them.

Q)."the ship would be made of the material of corals or it is a live coral
somehow shaped and used as a ship?"

A).The ship would be live corale because the character in question who pilots the ship has a special ability to special summon a large piece of coral x amount of times a day, not exactly sure how many.

Q)."hmm...
thinking of clam shells...
the inside shiny surface...
maybe some panels of that material around the ship that can reflect
evocation magic???? ofc that should be removable plates cause they reflect
sun too... no captain wants his ship shine like a beacon in hostile waters."

A). The idea of the inside being shiny sounds like a good idea, after all it is made for comfort on the inside and outside for battle. The panels sound like an interesting idea, I would have to run this by the DM, but at level 17 it seems like a reasonable thing for a ship to have SR if its made out of a living material. If so perhaps they are attached to gears inside the ship that can turn them as if they are on hinges instead of removing them every time. After all the captain of this ship fears no one on the sea, she can command sharks within 150ft. Has dinosaurs and krakens at her call along with elementals and whirlpools. Never mind the two other, smaller ships.

Q)."there is an armor that grows bone spikes each day.. a player may break
those and use em as half spears...
those sharp edges i mention before?... the ship could grow like 2 or 3 every day...
with the right command (from the captain) they get propelled to
strike enemy ships from distance .. like torpedoes or something..."

A). That sounds like a really good idea, I was all ready planing on the ship having special abilities under the command of its captain (inspired by the last pirates of the Caribbean movie). But that defiantly takes it to a whole new level, counting the spikes as a baslita being fired of appropriate size. I am hoping to show all the beauty the sea has to offer in the design of this ships, as well as all the terrors it hides. These ideas are great so far I hope they keep coming.

[dantiesilva]

Srormwrack didn't but thank you for giving me an idea, it is basically in the Stronghold builders guide. Go figure. Only difference is its deep coral. This is what it has, does this seem ok.

Thickness 6ft.
Hardness 8
HP 1080
Climb DC15(will have to change)
Automatically regains 1hp every minute
HP15/inch of thickness? I think this contradicts what it says above
Break DC 20+2/inch of thickness
Treat deep coral as stone for the purpose of blocking detection spells and the like( though under stone it says nothing about this).

And this is for the greatship if it helps

Greatship: Colossal vehicle; Seaworthiness +6; Shiphandling
–4; Speed wind × 25 ft. (poor); Overall AC –3;
Hull sections 240 (sink 60 sections); Section hp 80 (hardness
5); Section AC 3; Rigging Sections 4; Rigging hp 80
(hardness 0), AC 1; Ram 6d6; Mounts 12 light and 4
heavy; Space 150 ft. by 40 ft.; Height 20 ft. (draft
20 ft.); Complement 500; Watch 20; Cargo 500
tons (Speed wind × 15 ft. if 250
tons or more); Cost 60,000 gp.

[dantiesilva]

so 240x6=1440 inches
1440x15=21,600hp
1440/2=720+20=Break DC of 740DC

Rigging section
6x4=24 inches
24x15=360hp
24/2=12+20= Break DC of 32

Basic math. To sink it you have to deal
5,400 damage to sink the ship.
360 to make it dead in the water by destroying the masts.

Light spots
1 Large Davit
2 Light bombard
3 Ballista
4Light bombard
5Ballista
6Light bombard
7Ballista
8Light bombard
9Ballista
10Light bombard
11Ballista
12Large Davit

Heavy spots
1Grappling ramp
2Greater bombard
3Catapult
4Catapult

[The Redwolf]

so 240x6=1440 inches
1440x15=21,600hp
1440/2=720+20=Break DC of 740DC

Rigging section
6x4=24 inches
24x15=360hp
24/2=12+20= Break DC of 32

Basic math. To sink it you have to deal
5,400 damage to sink the ship.
360 to make it dead in the water by destroying the masts.

I think you have some messed up math there, you have it being 120 feet thick on a side, which is impossible in ever sense of the word. What you had in the post above with the 6in thick and the hp for it matched up right, you should have it at 72 inches thick.

[dantiesilva]

Ok the Hull is 240 sheets. Each sheet is so thick. I left the thickness at 6. 6x240=1,440 inches total ship. Not just one side, its the whole ship besides rigging.

[The Redwolf]

Ok the Hull is 240 sheets. Each sheet is so thick. I left the thickness at 6. 6x240=1,440 inches total ship. Not just one side, its the whole ship besides rigging.

Oh...alright then, sorry, I was just thrown off by how you wrote it. Although that brings me to another question, wouldn't it have independent DC's for where you hit it, like each side and all that? Because you wouldn't try to break the entire ship, you'd just want to punch a hole in it or something like that, so maybe calculate the break DC's and all that for each side would be a good idea too.

[dantiesilva]

Good point
6x15=90hitpoints per sheet
90/2=45+20=65 Break DC (Still out of range of all but the strongest creatures.)

[Kerilstrasz]

oh oh ...
i just woke up...
damn you.. you made me dream of that ship :PP

and there it is.. the coral ship sit on the water with no air to propel it...
but hey.. it is a LIVING coral...

upon command

it sucks water from the front and propels it from the back...
giving it high ramming speed (the fastest speed a ship of that time can achieve)
for 10 min. or full ahead speed (the fastest speed a sheep can achieve with
ideal winds and all sails up) for 1 hour.
this is an extraordinary ability usable 1/day
(treat ramming speed 150% of max ship speed and full ahead speed as 100%)

lets now thing of nature...

its a live coral... aka the natural habitat of many kinds of fishes.
those fishes live bellow the coral and fulfill 2 needs... keep the hull clean of
sea moss and can be caught by crew for dinner with a +5 on survival(?) when
they fishing.
(example of more uses: piranhas or the like to protect it against enemy divers,
squids or the like to throw ink.. just be creative)

also ...
since it's alive...
captain can talk to it, and IT can talk to captain (maybe tell him where it
hurts -where it sustained moderate or more dmg-) and provide him with info
about the water/sea bottom status...
you may set it to talk a language Captain only knows or with telepathy.

you also have to consider to give it either high will saves or defenses against
mind control, fear and other things like that... cause if the players come to
know its alive they may try to mental attck it...

you could ofc intentionally have it be vulnerable to 1 or 2 types of mental atcks
so players have a chance to win an encounter against it..
also you may have that 1st ability (that sucks water and propel it) to be a
vulnerability too if players decide to insert a funny custom metal thingy there
when the captain use the ability, so they do some internal dmg to the ship.

hmmm... thats all for now...
tell me if that helps and feedback so i can think of smthing more if you need.

PS: i got a crazy idea... roll a 200side every month to have the ship bring a
baby ship to life... i did a fast web search.. they can reproduce asexually
http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/coral/reproduction.htm

[Urpriest]

Thickness 6ft.
Hardness 8
HP 1080
Climb DC15(will have to change)
Automatically regains 1hp every minute
HP15/inch of thickness? I think this contradicts what it says above
Break DC 20+2/inch of thickness
Treat deep coral as stone for the purpose of blocking detection spells and the like( though under stone it says nothing about this).



It's referring to the "cannot see through X feet of stone" rule that crops up in a lot of different divination spells. It's not something special about stone walls.

[Spuddles]

A six foot thick hull seems excessive to me, but I know nothing of maritime anything so....

[umbergod]

A six foot thick hull seems excessive to me, but I know nothing of maritime anything so....

think he readjusted for 6 inch hull, 6 feet thick hulls would make it sink like a rock.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Just three quick things to add;

Villainous sails? How evil is this villain? Are we talking Jack Sparrow (Captain Jack Sparrow, I mean) (more of a CN), Barbossa or completely black hearted? If it's the latter, then why not have the sails made from the flayed skins of captured privateers, or the like? Coral skin looks good, exceot I'd toss on some slashing damage to anyone attempting to climb it, maybe with reduced damage for each 5 points by which you beat the DC? As for your speed problems, check out the Eberron Campaign Setting. Binding a Water Elemental to the hull? Sounds like a plan. If you're planning on making the ship have a pseudo-mind, this works even better.

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! Thank you so much for the responses. Dantiesilva has been kind enough to help me flesh out the campaign I'm currently running. The main theme of the campaign can be found in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245386). However, for simplicity´s sake, I have spoilered the main tale about the coral ship's owner below

Zyanya awoke from a giant conch shell, or so the legends say, in a grim mockery of a long lost myth. Truth is, the embodiment came out of her sleep like most shark do from the womb- killing. She was found amidst a coral reef by a garrison of sea elves. The elves had little chance to react, as the monster awoke and tore through them-be it by claw or spell. Within minutes, the reef ran red. And thus, would begin Zyanya's rule of the oceans. Her ferocity was such, that mighty sahuagin kings would send her presents to appease her and let their kingdoms alone. Ever the expansionist, Zyanya took over a small island ruled by a lonely baron. The poor soul never had a chance as waves ran over the island over and over again, each carrying monsters from the deep to tear the baron's defenses. Today, the island looks like a giant cluster of coral surrounded by a sphere of water. Those few who have found the druid's abode have not lived to tell of its whereabouts. Be it because they suffocated upon entering her domain or because of the many monsters that patrol is perimeter.

Despite that, Zyanya is happier away from her domain. She has taken it to herself to raid as many ships as she can. Whether she can be negotiated with or whether she plans to build resources to launch a massive attack on the mainland is anyone's guess. As of late, Zyanya has a bounty on her head- for those foolish enough to hunt the Devil of the Deeps.


Thank you everyone for the amazing imput!

[dantiesilva]

Sorry everyone I just got out of work and will try to answer all questions. Ready ok.

@hxolhpths

"upon command it sucks water from the front and propels it from the back...
giving it high ramming speed (the fastest speed a ship of that time can achieve)
for 10 min. or full ahead speed (the fastest speed a sheep can achieve with
ideal winds and all sails up) for 1 hour.
this is an extraordinary ability usable 1/day
(treat ramming speed 150% of max ship speed and full ahead speed as 100%)"

Sounds fitting. Like propellers almost.

"its a live coral... aka the natural habitat of many kinds of fishes.
those fishes live bellow the coral and fulfill 2 needs... keep the hull clean of
sea moss and can be caught by crew for dinner with a +5 on survival(?) when
they fishing. (example of more uses: piranhas or the like to protect it against enemy divers, squids or the like to throw ink.. just be creative)"

Interesting did not even think of this because of all the spells per day she has. 8 1st level spells to give a hint, and that was b4 magic items. Great idea again.

"since it's alive... captain can talk to it, and IT can talk to captain (maybe tell him where it hurts -where it sustained moderate or more dmg-) and provide him with info about the water/sea bottom status... you may set it to talk a language Captain only knows or with telepathy."

I will have to leave this one up to my friend alanBruce who has made himself known, interesting idea though, and I personally would defiantly role with it. Telepathic language, and the creaks of the ship being how it talks.

"PS: i got a crazy idea... roll a 200side every month to have the ship bring a
baby ship to life... i did a fast web search.. they can reproduce asexually "

Well that would be interesting, but what would you do with all the ships XD. Again I must defer to the DM.

@Urpriest

Thank you very much, I wasn't sure if that was what it meant.

@Kuulvheysoon

A1).Well you got the idea. Blackbeard. Its basically his ship I'm surprised you didn't see it.
A2).That would definitely make sense, after all the ship herself does not want those climbing it to be there. Maybe have all attempts to put a plank across to tie a ship onto her make a check or have the end touching her destroyed.
A3). Up to DM I have no ruling there.

@DM

Happy you could join us, and you are to kind.

[Kerilstrasz]

"PS: i got a crazy idea... roll a 200side every month to have the ship bring a
baby ship to life... i did a fast web search.. they can reproduce asexually "

Well that would be interesting, but what would you do with all the ships XD. Again I must defer to the DM.


well.. it gives birth to small boats.. that will eventually 1 day grow up to be as
big as the original... you could have that 1000side roll / month...
maybe give a boat to his offspring? or maybe sell the others for redicusly high
amounts of wealth...

on successful "birth roll" a small 8 man row boat will emerge next to ship..
the boat will gain 1 size category up every 5 years until reaches the size of a
frigate... then 10 years for each extra size until greatship.

think about it :)

PS: oh pretty plz.. when the ship;s schematics, stats and everything you come
by for it (even photos) are ready plz send em to me via pm or mail :)

[dantiesilva]

I am thinking about it, and im afraid. XD think about it 1 boat make a boat then both of them boats make two boats then those 4 boats all make a boat.

1
2
4
8
16
32
64
128

Thats what I am scared of. And I wish I was good at art because I would happily oblige, but sadly I am not. Maybe DM may be able to come up with something though. Stats I should be able to get for you, as well as anyone else that would like them when finished.

[dantiesilva]

Ok so rough draft. Very rough

http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?data={%22VisualFx%22%3A[]%2C%22CharProto%22%3A[]%2C%22Char%22%3A[]%2C%22Scena%22%3A[{%22id%22%3A1%2C%22active%22%3A0%2C%22map%22%3A%22 http://rpgamer.ru/media/map/2561/img.png%22}]}&dpi=32&grid=0

Brown is mast
The big things are to lift ships up.
Wierd gold things stiking off of ship are the guns.
Silver rim is the steering wheel
The two stair looking things are catapults.
The one in the center of the front with red is the greater bombarder.
In the center is the stairs to go into the ship.

[Kerilstrasz]

I am thinking about it, and im afraid. XD think about it 1 boat make a boat then both of them boats make two boats then those 4 boats all make a boat.

1
2
4
8
16
32
64
128

Thats what I am scared of. And I wish I was good at art because I would happily oblige, but sadly I am not. Maybe DM may be able to come up with something though. Stats I should be able to get for you, as well as anyone else that would like them when finished.

well... let that ability to be active only on greatship sized boats... so little boats cant give birth to more... and get get a limit to 2-3 births per boat...
its a 1/1000 per month :P i dont see you get any overpopulation problem like this :)

[AlanBruce]

Thank you all for the amazing responses! Dantiesilva, that is an amazing drawing for the ship, my friend! Thank you so much!

Indeed, the intro story for one of the PCs has dealt with the dissappearance of ships in the Sea of Storms. The rumors abound of a Sea Devil that is the cause of all the killings. The lone survivor (the PC´s hireling) was allowed to return, transformed into a cursed water creature to warn the landfolk against venturing into the sea. Later on, when the PC are high enough level, they have planned to launch an assault on the Sea Devil (they don't know who the sea devil is, just by name from the survivor and local rumors- plus a 10,000 platinum bounty placed o the monster). I can't wait for their surprise when they see these giant coral fortress, sailing across the ocean firing at their fleet (I'm hoping the PCs will hire a fleet to aid them), and Zyanya at the helm, laughing and casting at her heart's content.

Thank you again for the awesome ideas!

[hiryuu]

http://piratesofdarkwater.net/bythefans/fanart/victor-maelstrom2.jpg

Don't forget that it needs to be able to open the front like a mouth and be infested with giant magical bristleworms.

[dantiesilva]

And breath fire out the front. XDgreat pic.

So alan what do u say on the ship making ships rule?

[AlanBruce]

That is an amazing image, sir. if you drew it, you are certainly most talented.

@dantiesilva: By all means! It would make a great plot hook to discover how she is managing to create these coral ships. The very big one in the first place!

[The Redwolf]

I know I've seen that ship before...it isn't the one from Pirates of Dark Water, is it?

[dantiesilva]

Well your special ability of course for the big one. In the embodiment powers it can summon an extremely large coral ( the ship) Which she then decided to give sentience (awaken) and it began to grow and everything else over time maybe. And having fish and all that living inside the ship, at least the lower parts would be interesting. Alan what do you think? Are most the people on the ship able to breath in water? After all it does dive underwater like a sub and all so unless it has a bubble of air around it, it would only seem natural that it had sea critters living in it.

And anyone got ideas for crew of this ship? Keep in mind each of the guns takes four people to use. So...

Light weapons
4x12=48

Heavy weapons
4x4=16

Total 48+16=64 people just for weapons alone.

Now you have say two men for the crow's nest per shift. So +6.

So 70 people for basic functions, saying that the ship basically drives itself. All it needs is the captain, which it has. So need 70 characters made, Cookie cuts for those who are using the same machines besides the expert of each one. Same for those in the crows nest.

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! The embodiment drags along with her a bubble containing a trait from the Elemental plane of Water, meaning the entire area inside the ship is covered in it. I had thought some water elementals and sea breathing creatures running the ship, plus some mercenaries who may have allied with her and she bestowed water breathing upon them to keep them safe inside.

As for the make-up of the crew, I had thought of a mix between sahuagin, humanoids, and maybe a few chuuls with class levels as muscle in case people managed to get on board.

[hiryuu]

I know I've seen that ship before...it isn't the one from Pirates of Dark Water, is it?

It is indeed the Maelstrom, Captain Bloth's ship.

[dantiesilva]

? Sure....So confused. Anyways so anyone got any ideas for the builds?

I was thinking Something like this for melee

Swashbuckler5/ Scarlet Corsair10
Swashbuckler 5/Duelist 10
Rouge 15

After all they are sailors, they should be fast on their feat and able to dodge many blows with little to no armor.

Maybe ranger 15

[Kuulvheysoon]

I'd suggest a CN Incarnate 15 as the ship's bosun.

Master of skills and ranged weapons (with the Sailor's Bracers and Sighting Gloves soulmelds).

And, of course, the fact that Incarnum is beyond awesome.

[dantiesilva]

Ok making a list of Aquatic creatures

Aboleth CR7-17
Chuul CR7
Elasmosaurus CR7
Dire shark CR9
Dragon turtle CR9
Water elemental CR1-11
Sea hag CR4
Harpy (because DM wants them) CR4
Kraken CR12
Kuo-Toa CR2
Locathah CR1/2
Lycanthrope Wereshark
Ice Mephit CR3
OOze Mephit CR3
Water Mephit CR3
Merfolk CR1/2
Water naga CR7
Nymph CR7
Sahuagin CR2
Sea cat CR4
Skum CR2
Nixie CR1
Tojanida CR3-9
Triton CR2
And that is it for MM1 for everything but animals

Stormerack
ANGUILLIAN CR2
AVENTI CR 1/2
BLACKSKATE CR4
CALLER FROM THE DEEPS CR9
CRAB, MONSTROUS CR 1/2-13
DARFELLAN CR 1/2
ARCHELON CR8
ICHTHYOSAUR CR6
MOSASAUR CR10
PLESIOSAUR CR10
DIRE BARRACUDA CR4
DIRE EEL CR3
ELF, AQUATIC Cr1
GOLEM, CORAL CR9
HAMMERCLAW CR4
HIPPOCAMPUS CR2
LEECH, GIANT CR1/3
NEREID CR4
RAMFISH CR7
SCYLLAN CR13
SEAWOLF CR3
SISIUTL CR8
JELLYFISH SWARM CR5
PIRANHA SWARM CR4
UCHUULON (SLIME CHUUL)CR6
YUGOLOTH, ECHINOLOTH CR8

[AlanBruce]

Thank you everyone for designing the sea encounters for my campaign! I will try and get as many of these creatures either onboard the coral vessel or, if the PCs manage to damage the main viillain enough, she may always Word of Recall back to home base- her giant coral island, which will be teeming with more of these sea monsters.

[dantiesilva]

MM2

Cryptoclidus CR3
Water Wierd CR12
Immoth CR9
Ixitxachitl CR1-3
Kopru CR6
Legendary shark CR10
Megalodon CR11
Morkoth CR5
Siren CR5

[The Redwolf]

It is indeed the Maelstrom, Captain Bloth's ship.

Sweet! It's been forever since I've seen that show, honestly not sure how I remembered that.:smallsmile: