Airhip upgrades & Combat

[ShirAhn]

Hello everyone,

My players using their cunning murder tactics recently acquired a flying airship. The ship functions as a normal sailship on water but is also powered by a special energy crystal that gives the ship the ability to fly (aka Disney's Treasure Planet, if you haven't seen this movie you should).

The players will need to hire a crew to be able to use the ship effectively. They will also need to find specially trained wizards to recharge the crystal (docks in larger cities will provide this service). They might run into enemy ships so I would like to introduce a special fighting system that requires skill checks and or other mechanics to determine the effectiveness of the ship in combat.

I would also like to introduce a money sink for my players. Something they can invest large amounts of gold in. Upgrades for the ship so they can be faster, or maybe tougher. Maybe a special sidequest that gives them the option to do something cool with the ship.

Now I'm having trouble with both these idea's, how would I run ship combat until the ships are close together that the players can board and normal combat takes over. Also, how can I make upgrades interesting for my players, unlike computer games giving out bonuses like faster movement seems arbitrary.

[Vogie]

I'd use the boat mechanics that they released in an UA... with a caveat.

I'd also include Wisdom, Intelligence and Charisma scores, to reflect the skills of the crew of the ship. In addition, the type of crew will impact the stats of the airship itself.

You pick up some real meatheads, and your crew will have high strength (for boarding and cargo), but low everything else. You pick up a couple professional airship sailors (?), and that may increase the ships dexterity (AC and ability to maneuver) and wisdom (increased perception). A Good captain boosts wisdom and charisma (morale) while a bad one may actually decrease it; a good shipwright will keep the constitution (HP of ship & crew, endurance of the ship and ease of repair) and intelligence high, or increase the AC of the ship, et cetera.

Investing XP and gold in your airship also allows your party to shore up their weaknesses - a party with no wisdom casters may dump funds into hiring a medic for the boat, giving bonuses to Medicine checks while onboard, or even providing healing for the party. Rescuing an old wizard and having him "join the crew" may give bonuses to Arcana checks while on the ship and give your "crew" the ability to cast things like Identify for the party, or cast illusions on the ship.

That'll also be a great way to keep all of the communal stuff that is on the ship in one spot rather than split across a myriad of character sheets, and stops the DM from having to keep track of individual crew member NPC's stats. Anybody who normally will be leaving the ship with the PCs, like a bodyguard or landing party, will still need a sheet of stats, obviously, but the "mechanical" type of crew members don't need them.