[3.5] Need ideas to "pimp out" my Gnome zeppelin.

[Pika...]

So my latest character (as a player) is this power hungry little Kobold who is beginning a Robotech Zentraty inspired airship colony fleet of Kobolds to travel the world, mine mineral and gem deposits on uninhabited lands (or on inhabited lands when no one notices), and hopefully prevent adventurers from breaking in and squashing them like in your traditional D&D Kobold underground complex.

So currently all he has is a dirigibile named "Killy Killy Ship" in Draconic (see Arms & Equipment Guide), which is basically a lesser zeppelin. If/Once he compeltes the current mission he will have the gold needed to build a true zeppelin (see Arms & Equipment Guide).

Once that is done I he will put the dirigible under the command of his yellow shirt wearing Kobold named Sulu as it follows my new "flagie ship".

After that I will invest in "pimping" out the two vessels until his follower population grows to maximum again, and he needs a new vessel to house "his people" as their All-Watcher.


ps. Fluff-wise the dirigible was "captured" from Gnomes, since they are Gnome designed items. Currently there is a Half-Gnome on board, so I amd the crew are just hoping she falls off or something. She is not a very big fan of the side art either.

Spoiler

Show

edit:
Oh, and the dirigible already has the Veil of Obscurity upgrade, so it looks like a cloud in the sky. I plan on having that "cloaking field" as the DM and party put it transplanted to the zeppelin.

[jiriku]

Get two dirigibles and build a big platform between them, like a gigantic airborne catamaran.

Oh, and you need fuzzy dice on the helm.

Edit: To help out raven's cry, the airborne catamaran idea above can also be translated as:

Yo dawg! We heard you like airships, so we put a zeppelin on your zeppelin so you can look fly while you fly!

[Ravens_cry]

*blinks*
Half Gnome.
Half. Gnome.
If mama was a gnome, ouch now, and ouch, nine months later.
Sorry, my brain can't exactly get around this. I was going to make a joke about you liking Zeppelins, so we put a Zeppelins in your Zeppelin, but ouch, it's like my brain has hit a road block or something.
*walks off muttering about Half-gnomes*

[Knaight]

Add on decanters of endless water. Not only could you make it rain, they could be used as thrusters.

[Crafty Cultist]

The rules for woundrous architecture in the stronghold builders guidebook allow you to save money on magic items by making them immobile. this can be used to enhance your zeppelin;

magic missle(machine guns)
fireball(cannons)
cure light wounds(instant infirmary)

Hope these help

[loopy]

An enchanted set of drums and a warforged with a voice augmentation to yell out "WHO'S THE KOBOLD?!" and battle raps as you approach your destination?

[Pika...]

*blinks*
Half Gnome.
Half. Gnome.
If mama was a gnome, ouch now, and ouch, nine months later.
Sorry, my brain can't exactly get around this. I was going to make a joke about you liking Zeppelins, so we put a Zeppelins in your Zeppelin, but ouch, it's like my brain has hit a road block or something.
*walks off muttering about Half-gnomes*

It's a Half-Gnome, Half-Elf to boot...


ps. And yes, the mother was the Gnome. She is a very strange player.

Get two dirigibles and build a big platform between them, like a gigantic airborne catamaran.

Interesting. Not sure how that would help, though.

Oh, and you need fuzzy dice on the helm.

Yes, oh yes. What craft would you say they would need for that?

Edit: To help out raven's cry, the airborne catamaran idea above can also be translated as:

Yo dawg! We heard you like airships, so we put a zeppelin on your zeppelin so you can look fly while you fly!

I am too white-washed to understand that...

Add on decanters of endless water. Not only could you make it rain, they could be used as thrusters.

That is so awesome.

I wonder if I can get the thrusters past the DM...

The rules for woundrous architecture in the stronghold builders guidebook allow you to save money on magic items by making them immobile. this can be used to enhance your zeppelin;

magic missle(machine guns)
fireball(cannons)
cure light wounds(instant infirmary)

Hope these help

Ooh, and here I was focusing on mere ballistas. Many thanks!

[Malfunctioned]

You could add a Lightning Turbine and another of those magic items that were suggested before, except this time a Lightning Bolt spell, that way the ship can have a continuous 90ft speed or double the current wind speed whichever's bigger. Maybe Planar Sails if you need to make an even faster getaway, though I'm not sure how they would work out on a zeppelin.

[Telonius]

For defense: Traps. Traps that cast Defenestrating Sphere that activate if a kobold says, "No Ticket." Portable Holes that lead outside. Emergency escape "parachutes" that actually contain loadstones.

[Malfunctioned]

Fitting with the traps given above, how about two entrances to the zeppelin, the real one is glamered to look like a normal part of the wall, the fake one casts Prismatic Wall whenever anyone walks pasts?

[Crafty Cultist]

glad you liked my idea. its good to know i have caused an increase in fire power. for bonus points, use elemental substitution metamagic to convert the fireballs to acid(no extra cost, full damage to objects)

you know your zeppelin's when it can reduce a gnomish city to a smoking crater

[Pika...]

The rules for woundrous architecture in the stronghold builders guidebook allow you to save money on magic items by making them immobile. this can be used to enhance your zeppelin;

magic missle(machine guns)
fireball(cannons)

Could someone please explain how to stat these two items up? @.@

[root9125]

Could someone please explain how to stat these two items up? @.@

It's all in Stronghold Builder's Guide, which is a great book for this.

[Superglucose]

Clearly you must make the Zepplin out of lead.

EDIT:

This:

Edit: To help out raven's cry, the airborne catamaran idea above can also be translated as:

Yo dawg! We heard you like airships, so we put a zeppelin on your zeppelin so you can look fly while you fly!

Is an internet meme and not connected to race

[Pika...]

It's all in Stronghold Builder's Guide, which is a great book for this.

I have, and LOVE that book, but I do not remember anything about how to make a machine guns or canons.

[Beorn080]

Bags of Holding. Not so much as pimping, as dumping 6000 pounds of alchemist fire on a city at once, or if slaving is more your style, tanglefoot bags. Likewise large quantities of water marbles from the Dust of Dryness item. Really, dumping 3 tons of just about anything at once on a town, let alone 20+bags worth, is probably worthwhile.

Also, I second the decanter idea. One thousand decanters glued to the bottom of your ship = effective mining tool + Massive water cannon.

[Myrmex]

Use enveloping pits, MiC, instead. They have 5 times the volume of a portable hole for a 5th the cost. You could have an entire kobold kingdom on your airships!

Check out stronghold builder's guide for useful looking stuff. Their rules for things like traps of Heal are pretty sweet. And cheesy.

[Crafty Cultist]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crafty Cultist
The rules for woundrous architecture in the stronghold builders guidebook allow you to save money on magic items by making them immobile. this can be used to enhance your zeppelin;

magic missle(machine guns)
fireball(cannons)

Could someone please explain how to stat these two items up? @.@

Normally the cost for use activated magic items is;
caster level x spell level x 2000
I the object is large or bulky, but technically mobile(like a statue) the cost is;
caster level x spell level x 1000
If the object cannot be moved without damaging it(like a cannon built into the side of the ship) the cost is;
caster level x spell level x 500

and such a magic item is usable by a 1st level kobold

[Korivan]

Biological Warfare=Drop cows with diseases, or water with a spell that contaminates it. Use a retractable floor on the bottom of the zepplin.

Defenses=Modified Shield Spell, or modified Wall of Force for a force field. We've once did a two man flyer that had shields you could fire out of, but it had HP and depleted rather quickly.

Miscilanious=Use a variation of the Invisibility spell for a cloaking field. Etheral Jaunt to phase in and out of battle. Dimension Door to port' behind your opponents. Haste for thrusters.

Weapons=Primary Weapons-lesser orb of X (magic missile doesnt deal damage to objects if I recall). Fireball works well as a torpedo. Disintegrate as speacial weapon.

Some of this would require negotiations with your DM, but in generel just use a few spell levels highter then the original for some sembalence of balance.

[Dixieboy]

*blinks*
Half Gnome.
Half. Gnome.
If mama was a gnome, ouch now, and ouch, nine months later.
Sorry, my brain can't exactly get around this. I was going to make a joke about you liking Zeppelins, so we put a Zeppelins in your Zeppelin, but ouch, it's like my brain has hit a road block or something.
*walks off muttering about Half-gnomes*

Bastards and bloodlines have half gnomes half cloakers.

Also half gnomes half umberhulks.

[Crafty Cultist]

Weapons=Primary Weapons-lesser orb of X (magic missile doesnt deal damage to objects if I recall). Fireball works well as a torpedo. Disintegrate as speacial weapon.

orb spells are short range only; use magic missle as machine guns to take out soldiers or enemies who try to fly up to you. acid substituted fireball can blast through fortification

[Korivan]

orb spells are short range only; use magic missle as machine guns to take out soldiers or enemies who try to fly up to you. acid substituted fireball can blast through fortification

I guess I havn't read up on the range of the orbs. I wouldn't mind replacing Magic Missile with Isaacs Many Missile Storm (NWN1 verson, not NWN2).

[Bayar]

Bastards and bloodlines have half gnomes half cloakers.

Also half gnomes half umberhulks.

Rolling Humanity check: [roll]1d20-20[/roll]



The half-gnome is probably upset you spelled "Gnome suck" instead of "Gnomes Suck". Make sure to throw him overboard with a couple of blast disks in his backpack set to explode after 5 rounds, above a gnome settlement.

You could also paint your zeppelins red with flames on them to make them go faster.

Make sure you have someone that can craft magical items, fix airships...stuff like that. Probably an artificier. Have him take the craft construct feat. Make him build you Giant wasp effigies for use as fighter jets.

The platform idea is good and bad. Good because you could build more accomodations or stuff on it, bad because you become 1 big target instead of 2 smaller ones.

Look at Life rings in the Eberron Explorers Handbook for ways to escape a crashing airship, just in case. Or if you want to do a bit of night time covert operations via airdrops.

[Crafty Cultist]

I guess I havn't read up on the range of the orbs. I wouldn't mind replacing Magic Missile with Isaacs Many Missile Storm (NWN1 verson, not NWN2).

This would cause large amouts of damage, but i think magic missle cannons give you better bang for you buck. each cannon would require a seperate gunner, but with the amout of kobolds on board, this should not be a problem

[Triaxx]

Orbs are probably better launched from cannons, or catapults.

There's also Icewind Dale 2's Mordenkainen's Force Missiles. 2d4 damage, and up to seven missiles if you go epic with the CL.

[maniakmastah]

Magic Missile guns, and elemental torpedoes would fit a ship theme, also remember that no ship is complete without bombs to drop. Even you can also get a few flying creatures, pump them up and you can turn your zeppelin into a Protoss Carrier, letting loose the hordes. Also, remember "the flag", the flag is the key figure to pimping out your ride.

[Pika...]

Magic Missile guns, and elemental torpedoes would fit a ship theme, also remember that no ship is complete without bombs to drop. Even you can also get a few flying creatures, pump them up and you can turn your zeppelin into a Protoss Carrier, letting loose the hordes. Also, remember "the flag", the flag is the key figure to pimping out your ride.

Dude, I am going to need both our artificers to get all this to work.

[Korivan]

How we did this before was that there was a crystal/orb in the cockpit that were tied to the various crystals surrounding the ship. The mage had to cast a specific spell at the crystal that corrisponded with the dirrection he/she wanted to fire in. Each crystal was keyed to a specific spell. There was also seperate crystals to "receive" the spells for special effects like Invisibility.

[Pika...]

Normally the cost for use activated magic items is;
caster level x spell level x 2000
I the object is large or bulky, but technically mobile(like a statue) the cost is;
caster level x spell level x 1000
If the object cannot be moved without damaging it(like a cannon built into the side of the ship) the cost is;
caster level x spell level x 500

and such a magic item is usable by a 1st level kobold

Oooh. Thanks!

I just looked at D20srd.org, and each would be 500gp a pop. Oh my oh my!

Bags of Holding. Not so much as pimping, as dumping 6000 pounds of alchemist fire on a city at once, or if slaving is more your style, tanglefoot bags. Likewise large quantities of water marbles from the Dust of Dryness item. Really, dumping 3 tons of just about anything at once on a town, let alone 20+bags worth, is probably worthwhile.

Also, I second the decanter idea. One thousand decanters glued to the bottom of your ship = effective mining tool + Massive water cannon.

I just looked up the Decanter of Endless Water, and it says the ship/person would need to fail a DC 12 Strength Check to be pushed back. Not sure how that would work.

In addition, it has a range limit for the stream's effect, so not very useful for hitting enemies from above.

And at 9,000gp a pop I can't have too many of them. If the thrusters idea is usable maybe, but not sure. Then again saving up for it's "warp drive" might be a better idea.

The half-gnome is probably upset you spelled "Gnome suck" instead of "Gnomes Suck". Make sure to throw him overboard with a couple of blast disks in his backpack set to explode after 5 rounds, above a gnome settlement.

I am so hoping the Half-Gnome's player gives my PC and/or it's crew an excuse to do something. My cleric of Kurtulmak is already having a hard time justifying not killing that PC.

You could also paint your zeppelins red with flames on them to make them go faster.

40k reference?

But sadly they already have a "cloaking field" that makes them look like a cloud.

However, while in a town/port that would look pretty pimp with the fussy dice hanging from the mirror...

Make sure you have someone that can craft magical items, fix airships...stuff like that. Probably an artificier. Have him take the craft construct feat. Make him build you Giant wasp effigies for use as fighter jets.

Nearly half of his kobolds are already Experts. Some carpentry, some leatherworking/seamstresses, some blacksmiths, some weaponsmiths, some armorsmiths, and one with Craft (Siege Engines) since I was narrow-mindedly thinking only in terms of ballistas.

And he is currently looking for an artificer cohort to build him his first zeppelin (right now he has a mere dirigible). A fellow party member has an artficier cohort, so I am hoping to bargain with them.


The effigy fighter jets idea is awesome, though!

Look at Life rings in the Eberron Explorers Handbook for ways to escape a crashing airship, just in case. Or if you want to do a bit of night time covert operations via airdrops.

Will do, thanks.

I was originally thinking featherfall tokens for the party doing commando airdrops during the night.

[Bayar]

Will do, thanks.

I was originally thinking featherfall tokens for the party doing commando airdrops during the night.

Basically the same thing, only with more class. And 400 GP a pop.