Spelljammer size 2.0 v 3.0

[schreier]

Obviously, Spelljammer got minimal support in 3.0, basically mention on the web, a little in Dragon and the "official conversion" in Polyhedron.

The official 3.0 dramatically changed how helms worked, with no mention of effectively removing spellcasting ability for a day and having a fixed speed.

Those changes are dramatic, but I can understand them and just let the DM make the call. If you go with the conversion speed, it is based on size and helm. The part that threw me was the HUGE change in size.

On the WOTC site, they posted an astral encounter with spacejammer vehicles:
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ae/20030821a

You can see the tradesman there. It is listed with a face of 60 x 20. In the 2.0 ruleset, it had a keel of 120' and a beam of 30'. At first I thought face might be a calculation, but if you look at the floorplan, it appears to be the actual size. This results in a captains cabin approximately 5' x 5' ... Hard to sleep in.

Seems like the old size is more logical, but then that destroys the speed and ac calculations.

How do people handle this?

[lightningcat]

The official sizes and floorplans of all of the spelljammer ships are wonky. My personal favorite ship, the Battle Dolphin (http://lost.spelljammer.org/ShatteredFractine/shipyard/docks/shipyd30/ships/bdolphin.html) is completely borked when looking at the deckplans, especially the sideview (http://lost.spelljammer.org/ShatteredFractine/shipyard/docks/shipyd30/ships/cargo/deckplan/bdolphindeck.gif). The original sizes are usually logically better, but not always. When I was dealing with it, I was very narrative and went on a case by case basis.
I believe that Beyond the Moons (http://www.spelljammer.org) has some "corrected" deck plans as well as having lots of other information about the setting and rules. However, I doubt it has been updated in the last decade.

[schreier]

The bigger sizes make sense - I can't imagine a ship holding the numbers they're listed as holding with the size as shown ... and like I said, the tradesman captain's cabin being 5' x 5' approximately - can't even lay down.

Do you use the simplified rules in polyhedron that ignore spellcaster level for speed, and do not absorb spellcasting for the day?