Basic magi-tek rules, anything can be made magi-tek. Any weapon, armor, mundane item, rope, wand, ship, horseshoes, anything. Magi-tek items are often ran by a magi-tek battery, which is typically a gem, stone, or other small item charged with energy.
While magi-tek items are "magical" in the sense that magic is used in part to power them, they are also technological, using electricity, and alchemy, to produce effects similar to pure magical spells. This gives magi-tek items a big advantage that other items do not have, they only have a chance to fail in an anti-magic zone. Each round spent in an anti-magic zone gives the item a 25% chance of failure. Once an item fails though, it has a 25% chance each round after of turning right back on. This can make airships going through an anti-magic zone quite the turbulent ride, activating and deactivating at random intervals.
Magi-tek items have any enchantment found in any book, and it may be applied to a lot of non-traditional items. For example, a grappling hook may have both the returning and electric burst enchantments, making a deadly weapon to toss over that city wall, that can return to you with a word.
Magi-tek items follow pretty much all the standard rules in the DMG for making magic items, except with the following rules: they may only be made by magi-tek engineers using the Craft(magi-tek engineering) skill, this skill may be used to 'substitute' for any sort of spell or material component, with a DC that is assigned on a case by case basis, but will most likely be something like 20+2 per spell level of the spell you're attempting to replicate. (Example, the grappling hook above needs a lightning bolt spell, which this specific engineer does not have, the character may roll a DC 26 craft check to attempt to grant the same enchantment without the needed spell)
The DC will increase the more things you need to replicate/try to stack on. The base might increase to 25 or 30 + 2 per spell level if the player is attempting multiple rolls on the same item. Most magi-tek engineers use some of their own magical powers, augmented by their skill to create whatever item they are going for.
A magi-tek engineer also does not need any item creation feats to make any items. If a magi-tek engineer wanted to be a weaponsmith, they would take both craft(weapons) and craft(magi-tek engineering) to make awesome magi-tek weapons. An engineer may also buy an item of masterwork quality and upgrade it in much the same fashion a wizard would.
*UNIVERSAL RULE CHANGE* Anyone who makes an item can ignore any exp penalties for making an item. I've always hated sacrificing your experience points to make an item, I feel it really discourages people from taking those feats and getting creative with items. This combined with my skill point formula will allow people who want to be creative with making items much more freedom in that endeavor.
Moving on to magi-tek weapons, there are some commonalities between all magi-tek weapons. They deal at least two types of DR, typically magic and cold iron, though magic and silver are also very common. (The items will not be made from the material, this is an odd side effect of the battery/energy mix on the weapon.) Magi-tek items are priced pretty much identically to magic items in the DMG. Magi-tek armor is done the exact same way weapons are, they do not gain any inherent damage reduction type or bonus like weapons do.
Mundane items, like ropes or dinner plates, may have virtually any enchantment put on them.
Covering that simple stuff... lets get to the good stuff: AIRSHIPS + BIPLANES (This part has its own soundtrack.)
An airship is any types of medium sized or larger floating ship like device. They come in a large variety of shapes and styles. The vast majority of airships and planes are found only on the sky layer of Artheria, only going to large populated centers like Contrador rarely to trade.
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| Airships over Entrar |
The basic construction of an airship involves 3 distinct 'parts.' The ship body, the anti-gravitational proponent, and the forward thrust component. These come in many types and varieties, from the sail bound ships like those above, to crazy propeller types like so.
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| (This airship is predominantly propeller powered) |
The base speed for all types is 150 feet a round, and unlike a dragon or living creature, they can not force the ship to move at 3 or 4 times speed. All airships have clumsy maneuverability.
Biplanes are actually easier to build and prepare than an airship, as all a biplane needs is a body, which can be built with a Craft(Aeronautical Engineering) check DC minimum 25, modified by complexity of the framing. All planes can, at most, carry 2 people comfortably, though people may hold onto wings for dear life. (Airborne gnoll raiders, using goblin planes, will often leap from the wing of a plane down onto an airship.) A plane only needs a body, and a propeller, so they are definitely the cheaper option. (Average plane cost starts at 6000 gold, 5000 for the propeller, and 1000 for a very basic body)
Planes are faster, starting with a base speed of 200 feet a round, and they also have much higher maneuverability. (Average at least.) Planes are more common in goblin territories.
HP of planes and airships is dependent on type and body, and material used in the construction. Airships will always have more HP and DR than a plane. (Unless it is a really epic plane... maybe made out of mithril) They will have more room for cargo, people, and weapons on the whole. Planes are mainly used by raiders and organized air forces. The goblins have the most advanced planes on Artheria, gnomes have the most advanced airships.
(Please click the links for awesome pictures of all these devices.)
Now that we've covered some basics, lets get to the gear of airships and biplanes:
*Note* All DCs for the various weapons are DC 10 + ranks in Profession (Navigator), opposed Profession checks are made whenever a ballista grapple bolt hits, (same as an opposed grapple, only using the skill instead) and even attack rolls are performed the exact same way. Profession (Navigator) is an extremely important skill for ship to ship combat. Attacking airship to airship, or large creatures, like a huge+ size dragon, suffer no penalty on attacks, attacking a biplane or a standard (large size or smaller) flying creature with any siege artillery type weapon suffers a -4 penalty. Intelligence bonus is added to all airship weapon damage.
Item: Cost: Effect:
Afterburner (1d4+1 round duration) 10,000 gp Momentary boost, +500' per round
Ballista (Multiple ammo types) 700 gp (60 gp bolts) 3d10 base bolt, 150' range
Exploding Ballista Bolt 250 gp each 6d10, 10' radius, 150' range
Grapple Bolt (Comes with rope) 180 gp 2d12, 120' range, initiates grapple
Poison Gas Bolt 220 gp 3d10, 30' radius, Stinking Cloud
Magi-tek Gatling Gun (Sling rounds) 4000 gp 10d10 60' Cone
Airship Trebuchet (LARGE SHIPS!) 2000 gp Dependent on ammo, range 250'
Trebuchet Grenade (Big boom) 300 gp each 7d10, 15' radius
Poison Bomb (Stinking Cloud) 280 gp each 4d10 30' radius
Anthrax Bomb (CLOUDKILL) 1700 gp each 4d10, 40' radius, cloudkill
Large Rock 30 gp 3d12
Blackpowder Air to Ground Bomb 2000 gp 10d20, 100' radius
Blackpowder Cannons 1000 gp Range 100'
Standard Cannonball 60 gp 3d12
Grapeshot 100 gp 5d12, range 50'
Chain-ball shot 150 gp 6d12, range 80'
Air to Air Magi-tek Missile 1000 gp 12d10, range 400'
Every weapon listed above may be equipped onto an airship of proper size, and planes may equip the afterburner, Gatling gun, any bomb, and the magi-tek missile. (Though many mount Cho No Ku with exploding bolts for a cheaper, yet still effective, air to air weapon.)
Ballista and Trebuchet are large weapons, cannons medium, missiles, bombs, and the menacing Gatling gun are small weapons as far as ships and planes go. On the airships, a small weapon is mounted in a medium slot.
Now we move onto the classes of ships and planes, with their specifics.
Starting with planes, since they are pretty much the easiest. They come in 2 varieties, single wing and double wing. (Biplane is the actual term for this type of construction, though I'm using it as a catch all)
Now, in reality, the biplane is the more primitive design, but we're changing that around for the game. The single wing holds less weight, and can at most have 4 small weapons mounted. (Say, 1 Gatling cannon, 2 missiles, and a bomb.) The biplane may have 6 small weapons. (Same load out, 4 missiles instead of 2) A single wing can have 2 humanoids on the wings, for boarding. (and it has to be 2 for balance purposes) A biplane may carry up to 5 humanoids on the wings. (3 on the top wing, 2 on the bottom)
The single wing starts with 120 HP base, with no DR, modified by materials and the workmanship of the craft. The double wing starts at 140 HP base, also with no DR. Purchasing a plane costs 4000 gold for the single wing variety, 6000 for the dual wing.
There are no large bomber type planes on Artheria that are mass produced, and the few that exist follow airship rules.
Which brings us to the airship rules. They are all based on the size and 'class' of the ship, each has a different amount of cargo it can hold, crew size, weapon slots, HP, etc. We will start small, and go on to larger ships.
Canoe: The smallest, most basic framing for an airship. It can hold 3 people, has room for 1 small weapon, very little cargo, and requires both 1 vertical thrust and 1 forward thrust device. Base HP 100, no DR, and 10100 base price.
Clipper: The next smallest class of vessel is a very fast type of ship made primarily for speed. It requires 2 upward and 2 forward thrust devices to function properly. It has a smaller body than the rest of the ships, and like the Corsair later, it has a 200' movement base. It has room for a crew of 12, room for 6 medium weapons and 1 large weapon. It carries 2 tons of cargo. Base HP is 300, with 5/- DR. Base Price is 23,000 gold.
Clipper: The next smallest class of vessel is a very fast type of ship made primarily for speed. It requires 2 upward and 2 forward thrust devices to function properly. It has a smaller body than the rest of the ships, and like the Corsair later, it has a 200' movement base. It has room for a crew of 12, room for 6 medium weapons and 1 large weapon. It carries 2 tons of cargo. Base HP is 300, with 5/- DR. Base Price is 23,000 gold.
Cog: We move up to a primitive early raiding vessel, the cog, this requires only 1 upward thrust device, but requires 3 forward thrust devices. It has a maximum crew of 28, room for 8 medium weapons and 2 large, with a bay for bombs as well. (All airships need special mounts for air to air missiles) It may carry up to 2 tons of cargo.
Base HP is 400 with 5/- DR. Base price is 30,000 gold.
Corsair: Also known as a more advanced longship, (viking ship) this ship has multiple sails, and was traditionally powered by rowing. This ship requires 3 upward thrust devices, and 4 forward thrust devices. Unlike other ships, this has a base 200' move per round. It is otherwise identical to the Cog, except it may carry 4 tons of cargo. Base price is 40,000 gold.
Caravel: This is quite the technology jump from the corsair, this is the more traditional pirate/renaissance style ship. Both the Nina and the Pinta of Columbus's fleet were Caravels. They require 4 upward and 4 forward thrusting devices to power. They have a maximum crew of 40, room for 10 medium weapons, 4 large weapons, they carry up to 8 tons of cargo. Base HP is 500, with 5/- DR. Base price is 48,000 gold.
Carrack: A larger, heavier duty version of the Caravel, the Santa Maria, Columbus's flagship, was a Carrack. It requires 5 upward and 5 forward thrust devices to power. This ship has a maximum crew of 60, with room for 12 medium weapons, 5 large, and 12 tons of cargo. Base HP is 600, with 5/- DR. Base price is 60,000 gold.
Galleon: While most 'galleon' class vessels were actually smaller than the Carrack, these are modeled after the Spanish Galleon, which were actually double the size of a Carrack. They require 8 upward and 8 forward thrust devices to power. They have a maximum crew of 120, with room for 20 medium weapons, 10 large weapons, and 24 tons of cargo. Base HP is 800, with 10/- DR. Base price is 120,000 gold.
Man of War: The largest class of vessel available, it is about 50% larger than a galleon. These ships are massive, and typically very heavily armed. They require 12 upward and 12 forward devices to power. They have a maximum crew of 160, with room for 30 medium weapons, 14 large weapons, and 32 tons of cargo. Base HP is 1000, with 10/- DR. Base price is 250,000 gold.
These are all the base prices and stats at minimum for each. Adding more thrust devices will increase the speed of your airship slightly, (10' or so) and adding extra devices to planes increases the speed by 20'. The HP and DR will be modified by the quality and type of the material, and skill checks when making the ship. This will all modify the price as well.
Thus concludes basics on magi-tek and airships. Quite the post. I'm looking forward to epic airship battles, and gnolls in planes and on half-fiend hippogryphs attacking airships.... While many of these weapons will kill something like a hippogryph in 1 hit, remember that these weapons have very limited angles of firing. You can only angle a cannon or ballista so much, and you certainly can't just move them all over your ship at will. If a foe attacks from an angle you don't have a weapon, there will be very little you can do to defend yourself.
I'm looking forward to this, Skies of Arcadia style airship battles, dragons, planes, goblins, gnomes, the sky realm is going to be great fun.
"Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price." Amelia Earhart
