"Magic-punk" on a ship

[Balor01]

Hey guys,

So I am wondering ... say you have up to lvl 4 spells (3.5) at your disposal. How could that improve ships, used for trade and war? I'd like to include some of that in my campaign.

thanks

[Sian]

I'd start with looking through Stormwrack for ideas

[ktccd]

Dimension door to board enemy ships, possibly carrying explosives.
Control water to turn the ocean against enemy ships.
If the ship itself isn't magical, warlocks could shatter holes in the hull. Heck, there's a lot of damaging spells that simply be used to cause ship damage. The problem with sinking enemy ships is that recovering the loot is very risky and requires additional effort, so boarding might be the best way to take the ship.

Heck, I would consider an enemy ship being the biggest part of the loot. Ships are expensive!

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Make some automatic reset spell traps (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/traps.htm#mechanicalTrapCost) of spells like Create Food and Water, Endure Elements, Mage Armor, Cure Light Wounds, and similar in a room on each ship. Never have to worry about food or water or coats or other basic supplies again (bring some just in case you hit a dead magic zone), everyone gets a decent AC without wearing armor which can be a liability at sea, everyone heals up in no time, etc.

[Balor01]

I guess ensuring the safe voyage would be first ... is there something to calm the seas/make ship real floaty/sturdy, some sort of "we never get lost" spell ... I was thinking of this.

Will check out Stormwrack, definitely.

[Coidzor]

Levitate (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/levitate.htm) is a 2nd level spell. Used to partially mitigate the weight of even part of the ship, it would allow for vessels to be heavier while retaining the same displacement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Displacement_(ship))/buoyancy. So they can be more heavily armored without being really big.

Combined with a complex, mage-punk water-ballast system, it might allow them to also change how deep they float in the water for getting through shallows as well as potentially changing their weight or how heavy they are in the water in order to modulate their speed to some extent.

Gust of Wind (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/gustOfWind.htm), either by custom-items or resetting traps, can be used to provide power, either directly via sails or indirectly by turning a turbine that turns a paddle or the like.

You can even combine the two to make the magical underpinnings of airships, I suppose.

Edit: Heck, come to think of it, could probably do something related to Levitate to make submarines, provided you could get the waterproofing and pressure-resistance down. I imagine Harden and some of the other hardness increasing spells/abilities would probably help with pressure to some extent. I'm sure there's 4th level spell or lower solutions to the air problem, especially with DM allowances.

Edit 2: Wood Shape (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/woodShape.htm)could be of potential use for converting wood into a more compactly storable form as well as rendering it into the basic shape needed for repair work on the ship.

Water Walk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/waterWalk.htm) has obvious applications for repair work and ship-building, though it also could potentially be useful in situations where a ship needed to be pulled by beasts of burden instead of some form of sea monster(ala Final Fantasy 5).

Maybe some form of magical architecture version of Water Breathing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/waterBreathing.htm)for dealing with submarines and their air supply?


I guess ensuring the safe voyage would be first ... is there something to calm the seas/make ship real floaty/sturdy, some sort of "we never get lost" spell ... I was thinking of this.

Will check out Stormwrack, definitely.

Know Direction (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/knowDirection.htm)is a Cantrip/Orison. Having a perfect compass probably helps avoid getting lost. I suppose there's also Locate City, but I can't recall if that works on the water.

[jiriku]

Wind's favor (4th level, MoE 104) provides a long-duration wind strong enough to drive ship sails all day.
Raise from the deep (4th level, SC 165) raises a shipwreck.
Divine insight (2nd level, SC 70) provides an excellent bonus to a skill check, which can be used to ensure accurate navigation or perform an emergency maneuver during combat.
Psychic reformation (4th level, EPH 127) can be used to reallocate skill ranks in non-naval skills like Ride and Survival towards useful naval skills like Profession (sailor) and Swim.
Weather eye (3rd level, SC 238) predicts the weather up to a week in advance, which can be great for determining when the winds will return if you are becalmed.
Warp wood (2nd level, PH 300) is the classic ship-sinking spell.

Any ship-wide enchantment that causes your ship to count as a magic item or attended item is useful, because as mundane objects, ships are hideously vulnerable to destructive magic no matter how well-constructed they are. There are an overwhelming number of spells that can seriously damage a ship or cause it to start sinking with just a single casting, and finding some way for your ship to at least make a saving throw against those spells is a good start towards the task of protecting it from magic.

[Balor01]

You guys are quite awesome, thanks. :)

[lytokk]

probably been thought of before, but resetting traps of create water and heat metal to make a steam engine to move your ship even when there's no wind.

[Red Fel]

First off, consider the Windsinger feat from Stormwrack. Basically, a single use of Bardic Music can propel a sailing ship for quite a ways. And every ship needs a Bard on board, am I right? How else will they perform those snappy Gilbert and Sullivan routines?

Next, take a peek at Eberron. House Lyrandar has airships, it's true, but they also have Wind Galleons. Great ships, those. And if you have the Windright Captain PrC, you get one on indefinite loan. You get 3/5 casting progression, and the ability to telepathically control the vessel. You are the Monarch of the Sea, you are the Ruler of the Queen's Navy!

Spells? Who needs spells? You're a Captain!

[Bronk]

There are also magical figureheads from stormwrack and dragon magazine that can give additional movement modes to ships, cloud keels and planar sails from the Arms and Equipment Guide, and you could even go spelljammer if you really wanted to.

[(Un)Inspired]

Cast animate object on every individual part of the ship. Cast animate object on the repair supply you have in the hold. Now if cannons blast holes in your ship you can command the ship to repair itself.

[Red Fel]

Cast animate object on every individual part of the ship. Cast animate object on the repair supply you have in the hold. Now if cannons blast holes in your ship you can command the ship to repair itself.

Build the ship out of Warforged PAO'd into the planks, connected in a psionic metaconcert, each one a Shaper Psion. Your ship is a massive collective consciousness that can psionically repair itself, and any enemy stupid enough to attempt to interfere with it magically (i.e. via Dispel) will get a face full of Warforged.

Sorry. Had to.

[Bronk]

You're the DM right? You can have entire ships be animated objects. In fact, you can have a colossal galleon itself be a pirate, with a giant eye patch across its sails!

Normally ships are treated as giant objects, with each ten foot cube treated as separate, with its own hardness and a smaller amount of hit points. This is why it is so easy to affect put holes in them with damaging spells, let alone disintegrate. However, as one giant creature, it would have one set of hit points, damage to a single spot wouldn't necessarily put a hole in it, and it could take advantage of magic items. It could even have hired a bunch of clerics to hang out in its hull to heal it when necessary.

In fact, it could be the pirate leader...

Of course, it's easier to cast 'animate object' on smaller ships too.

[Ilorin Lorati]

Build the ship out of Warforged PAO'd into the planks, connected in a psionic metaconcert, each one a Shaper Psion. Your ship is a massive collective consciousness that can psionically repair itself, and any enemy stupid enough to attempt to interfere with it magically (i.e. via Dispel) will get a face full of Warforged.

Sorry. Had to.

Judging from your sig, are you sure you didn't mean for that text to be purple?

[Vaz]

Polymorph with Assume Supernatural Ability and Mindsight. Turn into a Spellweaver, gain 1000 mile mindsight.

[Balor01]

Build the ship out of Warforged PAO'd into the planks, connected in a psionic metaconcert, each one a Shaper Psion. Your ship is a massive collective consciousness that can psionically repair itself, and any enemy stupid enough to attempt to interfere with it magically (i.e. via Dispel) will get a face full of Warforged.

Sorry. Had to.

I like this and deem it totally feasible.

[VoxRationis]

Somewhat more mundanely, Create Food and Water will vastly improve the range of the ship.
Also, as much as the Playground despises the classic spells like Fireball, the spell is of particular use in a naval engagement. Its range is phenomenal, its area destroys rigging more or less automatically and sets multiple 10' sections of the enemy ship on fire, and it will slaughter the numerous low-level sailors or rowers most ships need to function.

[Shinken]

Somewhat more mundanely, Create Food and Water will vastly improve the range of the ship.
Also, as much as the Playground despises the classic spells like Fireball, the spell is of particular use in a naval engagement. Its range is phenomenal, its area destroys rigging more or less automatically and sets multiple 10' sections of the enemy ship on fire, and it will slaughter the numerous low-level sailors or rowers most ships need to function.

Stormwrack itself says this.
It's not that fireball is a bad spell per se. If you ever low-level fight mobs (which are a staple of the fantasy genre, I might add), you know how good area spells can be. It's just that there are other spells that do fireball's job better than fireball, such as wings of flurry.

[Gavinfoxx]

Ahem.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aG4P3dU6WP3pq8mW9l1qztFeNfqQHyI22oJe09i8KWw/edit

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

Lots of things in there don't need spells of levels above four...

[Bronk]

Ahem.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aG4P3dU6WP3pq8mW9l1qztFeNfqQHyI22oJe09i8KWw/edit

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

Lots of things in there don't need spells of levels above four...

There are more ships in Polyhedron 92...

[Gavinfoxx]

Is that associated with a particular dungeon magazine?

[morkendi]

Something i have used on enemy ships. Summon undead 4 lets you summon allips wich are incorperal. Send them over under water to rise through the hull, or put them in what ever ammo you fire at the ship. Send multiple allips and force enemy crew to make several will saves just to be in their presence. Each one has a 60 foot radius with a dc 16 will save or be hypnotized for 2d4 rounds. Send them over to make crew do nothing whill you send something to cut all the rigging. Enemy ship is now dead in the water.

We used to call them the boarding party in the game we played. Had wands made so we can summon multiples at once it worked so well.

[Lightlawbliss]

item of waterbreathing on command, crew survival just went way up and salvaging is much easier.

in all seriousness, I ran the numbers for an item of create food and water on command on a ship at one point, and on large ships it litterally pays off the cost (dmg guidelines) in less then one standard 14th century voyage (converted to dnd). running the assumption that space not being filled with food and drink is filled with cargo costing 1gp/ft^3.

a not so kind captain could keep his men working around the clock with an item of lesser restoration on command, not to mention saving you from other headaches. Granted, undead are even cheaper.

[Bronk]

Is that associated with a particular dungeon magazine?

Hmm, looks like it's also dungeon magazine 92... I'm not seeing a separate number.

Update: dungeon 92, polyhedron 151