Building the cantrip boat

[Quoz]

An interesting play my sorcerer has been using in our Tomb of Annihilation campaign is to build water vessels using cantrips. The first was simple: make an ice surf board with shape water then continually cast again to keep making a five foot high swell behind to propel myself forward.

Now that we're travelling on rivers in the jungle, I have to make one large enough for our party, which with guides and hirelings totals eight passengers. So far my design is a raft made from shape earth 5 feet wide and 15 feet long, kept above the water by three hollow ice pontoons. Maximum length is corner to corner of a cube, about 8.5 feet. We also have a decanter of endless water to mold into the back for a motor.

There are other pieces that I have available if it becomes important - combining mold earth with create bonfire to bake clay into thick slabs of brick or terra cotta (or, depending on how liberal your GM gets, dry it out using shape water to pull all the liquid from river clay). An adamantium scimitar as a machete to cut down trees and branches and carve them for timber, and our Lizardfolk ranger having the appropriate fast-crafting abilities to make any simple additions like paddles or rudders.

Longer term and more complex, combine mold earth, shape water and create bonfire for a primitive steam boiler and fabricate a wooden raft with a paddle wheel.

So in about a minute I can have a no-frills self propelled river transport. Over a short rest we can get about the equivalent of a modern patrol boat. For a days work we can probably get something truly seaworthy, or at least capable of traveling through calmer coastal waters.

Are there any other spells (no concentration and either long enough duration to be useful for travel or repeatable at will) or simple magic items that could enhance the design? Other good tricks with cantrips to speed travel or get you though adventures with style?

[Umbranar]

I guess it depends on whether or not the Leomund's Tiny Shelter moves with the vessel. If it does, your now protected againt ranged attacks, magic and nasty insects as those can't get in the hut.

[Unoriginal]

Pretty sure the ice would melt too fast for it to be a good idea. It's the hot jungles of Chult we're talking about. And people didn't make boats out of earth or clay for a reason.

You're better off making a big raft with trees cut with the adamantine scimitar, IMO.

[Crgaston]

Pretty sure the ice would melt too fast for it to be a good idea. It's the hot jungles of Chult we're talking about. And people didn't make boats out of earth or clay for a reason.

You're better off making a big raft with trees cut with the adamantine scimitar, IMO.

It’s magic.
The ice stays frozen for an hour.
Re: clay boats... Those people didn’t have magic, either. Clay jugs are plenty watertight, not even considering the ice floats.

Rock on with your cantrip boats, OP.

You might try Gust and a sail for some extra propulsion. Keep Mending handy for cracks in your clay boat, and go fishing with Lightning Lure!
😁

[Quoz]

Yeah, you'll have to cast again before the hour duration is up to keep it from melting or falling apart. Probably not good to rely on this for any length of time when you need a long rest in the middle unless you can take shifts with multiple casters.

Tiny hut on a boat is a fun one, I would bet our GM would allow it. Heck, if you can cast it upside down it can be the boat. Barring that, we do have a portable hole so we could go with something smaller and more stealthy. Stash the whole party in a hollow log or something else low profile.

[Vogie]

Reminds me of THIS (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555137-Pykrete-Armor-as-a-non-metal-Druidic-defense-option)thread about using wood & shape water to make Pykrete Armor, but the initial impetuous for the use of creation & use of pykrete was actually boats.
I think it'd work swimmingly. However, you'd run into the issue that it wouldn't survive a long rest, and you'd have to start over each day.

[Snowbluff]

This is a fascinating idea. I wonder if a druid can do something with wood.

[Corpsecandle717]

My two cents

You're going to need multiple casters of shape water to pull off your current design. Remember you can only have two conditions with a duration at any given time and your plan calls for 3 pontoons, not to mention the casting you'll need to make to shape them then freeze them.

Skip the clay. It's gong to be too rigid for the kind of boat your trying to design. With the pontoons floating independently of each other there's going to be a lot of shifting and flexing even on smooth water which will lead to it cracking. As has been stated before, clay wasn't used as a major part of a boat structure for a reason. Also it's just going to be really heavy.

I'd suggest using the wood from the trees to make a simple platform lashed to to the ice pontoons, and use the fronds to create a surface. Once that's done cast floating disk a couple times on your palm frond surface to handle most of the weight and load.

[Armored Walrus]

The only part I would truly have a problem with as DM is the decanter of endless water as a motor. It fills with water, nothing says it shoots water out of itself at high speed. I'm not sure how a jug that fills itself with water would give you enough propulsion to create "the equivalent of a modern patrol boat." The idea of a boiler of some sort with the decanter keeping the boiler full probably makes more sense.

[Quoz]

I think our GM may have given us a decanter from a previous edition then. Ours expressly has a firehose setting that does d4 damage and save or prone.

[Armored Walrus]

Oh. Hehe. Maybe I overlooked that.

[Grear Bylls]

nothing says it shoots water out of itself at high speed.

Except for the fact that EXPLICITLY states that it does. AFB, but it has a jet function capable of knocking people over

[Ventruenox]

I think it'd work swimmingly.
Yay, one of my threads actually got referenced. I see a pun here for when the ice melts.

I worry about the stability of a larger party + equipment & loot being balanced on two 5' long pontoons, but sufficient engineering can accommodate that obstacle. This is an amazing use of cantrips.



Wondrous item, uncommon

This stoppered flask sloshes when shaken, as if it contains water. The decanter weighs 2 pounds.

You can use an action to remove the stopper and speak one of three command words, whereupon an amount of fresh water or salt water (your choice) pours out of the flask. The water stops pouring out at the start of your next turn. Choose from the following options:

“Stream” produces 1 gallon of water.
“Fountain” produces 5 gallons of water.
“Geyser” produces 30 gallons of water that gushes forth in a geyser 30 feet long and 1 foot wide. As a bonus action while holding the decanter, you can aim the geyser at a creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or take 1d4 bludgeoning damage and fall Prone. Instead of a creature, you can target an object that isn’t being worn or carried and that weighs no more than 200 pounds. The object is either knocked over or pushed up to 15 feet away from you.

[Quoz]

Update: hard mode.

So powerboating through rivers is one thing. But when you need to cover about a hundred miles of hostile jungle on a time crunch and can't teleport, powered flight is the next best thing.

Not dropping spoilers, we are at a spot significantly high above the canopy and need to travel a very long distance to our next objective. The challenge is to MacGyver a method to fly over as much of the jungle as we can with our limited resources.

Available tools / resources:
Decanter of Endless Water (basically a rocket engine without the problem of running out of fuel)
Portable hole (can fit the whole party. Makes us weightless, but if we can't have it open it only has a 10 minute air supply. Additional problem: cannot fit whichever member has our handy haversack.)
Sending Stone (linked to ally in the nearest large city. Can likely acquire mundane or minor magical items and call on the service of a patron to teleport them to us. Probably.)

We will be levelling before this point, so can get access to any spell on bard, sorcerer, or druid list of 3rd level or lower. Our Lizardfolk can craft most simple mundane items from what we can find in the jungle.

Approaches I am considering:
1. Powered glider: make a glider from available resources in the jungle. Power with decanter of endless water. Wingspan is big enough for portable hole on top, everyone rides in there except the pilot.

1A. As above, but with the addition of the levitate spell. Make a raft or pallet big enough for the portable hole, cast levitate, and provide thrust/steering with the decanter. With using all slots and flexible casting I can cast 10 times per day, but not much else.

2. Launch the missile: craft a gigantic arrow, again with the decanter on the back for thrust. Whole party minus our druid get in the portable hole, which he collapses and attached to the rocket. Druid then wild shapes into something capable of holding on for the ride, preferably a winged monkey that could have some controll over our flight. Once our 10 minutes of air are up, try to crash land somewhere safe and see how far we've gone. If feasable, climb to the top of a tree and repeat.


All options have serious drawbacks that could be used against us, mostly either being left vulnerable to a random encounter or blowing a skill check to control our path. Falling to our deaths is a very serious probability.

[Throne12]

If you got a portable hole make a little platform for it with a rig so it can be carried but a large bird or something. And the party get in it.

[Petrocorus]

Approaches I am considering:
1. Powered glider: make a glider from available resources in the jungle. Power with decanter of endless water. Wingspan is big enough for portable hole on top, everyone rides in there except the pilot.

This is the most realistic way to do it to my mind. Though you may need two guy outside, the pilot and the guy with the decanter, depending on your glider design. Your DM is probably going to ask you tool checks, a lot.
Do you have a way to get the Portable Hole to stick to the glider?



1A. As above, but with the addition of the levitate spell. Make a raft or pallet big enough for the portable hole, cast levitate, and provide thrust/steering with the decanter. With using all slots and flexible casting I can cast 10 times per day, but not much else.

Levitate is a good thing, but costful. It can help if the glider is going down.



2. Launch the missile:...e how far we've gone. If feasable, climb to the top of a tree and repeat.

Too many levitate spells required, and the crashes are going to be dangerous, even with levitate.



All options have serious drawbacks that could be used against us, mostly either being left vulnerable to a random encounter or blowing a skill check to control our path. Falling to our deaths is a very serious probability.
That's why your design must not rely on casting level 1+ spells (like levitate) or any limited resource.

[tieren]

For the flight I think you would want some sort of hot air balloon.

Make a platform to hold the portable hole, then connect it to a balloon made from a sail or something you can easily transport around inside the hole. Inflate with Gust, create bonfiire/control flames, etc...

Use decanter for lateral thrust

[Corpsecandle717]

If you got a portable hole make a little platform for it with a rig so it can be carried but a large bird or something. And the party get in it.

I think this is pretty good bet. Druid with speak with animals, animal friendship, work up a deal with giant eagle or something and have it carry the portable hole. Only thing I worry about is the way portable hole reads, it could be interpreted that it has to be fully extended before it can be activated so the suffocation thing might be an issue.

[Ventruenox]

If you got a portable hole make a little platform for it with a rig so it can be carried but a large bird or something. And the party get in it.

I will also agree with this approach. If you rig an apparatus so that a Giant Eagle can easily fold and unfold the portable hole, you should be able to cover that distance with 2 wildshapes and landing every ten minutes to replace oxygen; assuming no more than a minute each time. I believe I math'ed it out to be just shy of two hours with an 80' flight speed. I'm tired this morning, so I may have assumed forced march into my calculations and risked a level or two of exhaustion on your Druid with the Haversack.

[NRSASD]

If your DM lets you, have your druid summon a quetzalcoatlus. As a massive flying creature with a CR of 2, it should be more than sufficient for your needs if you use the portable hole.

[Corpsecandle717]

If the druid can't cast higher than 3rd level spells he/she can't wild-shape into flying critters yet. Not sure how the druid was planning to shift info a flying monkey.

[Ventruenox]

If the druid can't cast higher than 3rd level spells he/she can't wild-shape into flying critters yet. Not sure how the druid was planning to shift info a flying monkey.

Nice catch, I overlooked that. Conjuring two Giant Eagles or a Quetzalcoatlus with a third level spell would be possible. Forced march to double the distance traveled within that hour, stopping every 10 minutes to replenish oxygen. A Decanter powered transport would not provide enough thrust to be as effective means given the time crunch.

[Petrocorus]

Alternatively, you could fill the Portable Hole with water and have the Druid cast Water Breathing on the party. This would solve the oxygen issue.

Of course, it depends on what else are to be carried in the Hole.

Put everybody in the Hole, except for the Druid. The Druid take the Haversack on his back and the Hole in his pocket. He makes a deal with some kind of smart bird, turns into a spider and rides the bird.
You make a stop every 4 hours or so to refresh water, and for the Druid to recover Wildshape and the bird to rest, and you can travel like this for dozen of miles.

[nickl_2000]

Alternatively, you could fill the Portable Hole with water and have the Druid cast Water Breathing on the party. This would solve the oxygen issue.

Not sure if real world physics would apply here, but if there are to many oxygen breathing creature in water they can consume all the oxygen in the water making it a dead zone. Water breathing simply would like to breath as it would be if you have gills, you would still use up all the oxygen in the water.

[Quoz]

Not sure if real world physics would apply here, but if there are to many oxygen breathing creature in water they can consume all the oxygen in the water making it a dead zone. Water breathing simply would like to breath as it would be if you have gills, you would still use up all the oxygen in the water.

Ah, but we have endless fresh water from the decanter!

[nickl_2000]

Ah, but we have endless fresh water from the decanter!

That would do it, as long as you have a way to remove the water. What happens when a portable hole has more stuff in it than it can hold?

[Petrocorus]

Not sure if real world physics would apply here, but if there are to many oxygen breathing creature in water they can consume all the oxygen in the water making it a dead zone. Water breathing simply would like to breath as it would be if you have gills, you would still use up all the oxygen in the water.

I was thinking about this, but i still think i would make much more than 10 minutes to consume all the oxygen in water. And they have a Decanter that can refresh water to some degree (until the DM decide it's overloading the Hole).

If we apply real worlds physics, at standard temperature and pressure, there is much more oxygen in 1 litre of water than in 1 litre of air.

They need to make a stop every few hours if the design involves the Druid wildshaping, and the water cantrip can help to empty the Hole.

[Blood of Gaea]

Each player purchases a horse, and the group purchases a wagon as a whole.
Make a verticle wall on the Wagon six feet square.
Get a ramp sturdy enough for a horse to walk up and down from the Wagon.
Hang the Portable Hole securely from that board.
Pick someone to travel and wear the haversack.
Everyone else, along with their horse goes in the portable hole.
The horse is driven at a fast past for 8 hours or so.
Another player and horse swap positions for another 8 hours.


You now travel 96 miles in a 24-hour block.

The players could probably stay in the back of the Wagon if they wanted.