Spelljammer Helm Question

[kalos72]

So my group wants to purchase a sailing ship and install a major helm in it so they can "jam" when they need to but other wise sail as usual.

My question is, could the major helm be used to enhance the speed of the sailing ship vs standard normal sailing speeds?

I am thinking like a "float" options where it is more like half the "jam" speed per SR but to the casual observer its just riding the waves as usual?

[shaikujin]

Spelljammer didn't get much love in 3.x unfortunately.

For what's it worth, Spelljamming helms are really expensive. For that price, I'd say they can use tactical speeds when in atmosphere. That's the only speed they have iirc to get in/out of the atmosphere before they can reach spelljamming speeds.

If that's too much, A&E guide has a section that says something like if a vehicle has more than 1 mode of propulsion, they can add half of the movement speed from the second propulsion method.

Note: My memory of spelljammer is really vague now, so I might be wrong on some of the points :)

[Maat Mons]

Unortunately, I don't know anything about Spelljammer. I can ,however, give you some advice on magical sailing ships in 3.5.

A Cloud Keel (Arms and Equipment Guide, p49) lets a ship fly at a speed of 20 feet, or however fast it could normally sail, whichever is greater. 200,000 gp.

Everfull Sails (Stormwrack, p131) let a ship generate its own wind, so you can always achieve top speed in whatever direction you want. 12,000 gp per mast.

Soarwood (Eberron Campaign Setting, p127) doubles the speed of any ship built out of it, but quadruples the cost.

Fharlanghn's Lines (Arms and Equipment Guide, p50) reduce the crew needed for a sailing ship by 5 per set. 8,100 gp each.

[Bullet06320]

as mentioned already, spelljammer got very little 3rd edition support
Dungeon 92/Polyhedron 151 is the main source

as well as the official fan site
http://www.spelljammer.org/

lords of madness has a little scattered in it
NAUTILOID SPELLJAMMER SHIP on pg 228
and in the adventure starting on pg 101 mentions a neogi spidership with a lifejammer
there may be other references as well but those 2 stick out