User:Eiji-kun/Complete Transportation/Introduction

=The Sky's The Limit=

Some sort of clever intro saying why this is cool.

= Vehicles in your Game = Until about level 9 and the appearance of teleport, players typically must rely on outside forms of transportation to bring them across large distances. When handling an adventure that goes well outside the city limits or a particular dungeon, travel times can take considerable amounts on foot and sometimes time is of the essence. Thus PCs find a need for mounts or vehicles to get from point A to point B. Even after 9th level, they may need to use vehicles to transfer to places never before seen or bring large amounts of supplies besides themselves along for the ride. And really, what is more awesome then being able to say you own an airship?

Sadly, WotC seems to have forgotten that airships lose some of their relevancy past 9th. The prices for airships are absurd, when its base function is barely worth more than an Mass Fly spell at will, or even Phantom Steed. This sourcebook seeks to rectify the issue of pricing, as well as providing opportunities for vehicles to be more than just weaker transportation options. Besides transport, vehicles also provide new and interesting stages for battles and encounters. Be it a high speed chase between a train and a horse-drawn carrage, or a battle on the deck of a battleship, these mobile active battlegrounds provide DMs with any environmental opportunities they would not have with static dungeons. A DM must ask themselves what role vehicles play in their campaign setting, and what effect it has on the economy, war, knowledge, and the world at large.

We will cover vehicles from the simple chariot to starships sailing in the depths of space. As the technological level grows, so do the overall power of vehicles and their effect on the world. Keep this in mind as you choose the technological level of your campaign setting, for once your PCs witness that airships exist they will doubtlessly want to ride aboard one, if not own one themselves. Also remember that fluff is always mutable, and a seemingly technological battleboat can always be dressed up in the guise of magic items and spells, and vice versa.

= Vehicle Sizes =

Vehicles tend to be large. Even the smallest of vehicles is at least the size of a human being, if not larger in order to hold one or more passengers. The size of the vehicle does not typically matter as vehicles are usually set pieces which act as background and backdrop, but every so often their size and AC are important for PC vs vehicle and vehicle vs vehicle combats. Using the traditional size catagories in D&D does work for smaller vehicles, but many vehicles are well over colossal size, sizes which are not covered. Therefore we will expand the size table and its progression using the 3rd party Immortal's Handbook method of calling Colossal+ "Titanic", and continuing the advancement again with the terms Macro-, Giga-, and so forth to bring sizes as high as needed. The growth is expodential and soon gets absurd (especially as space taken up is concerned), but fortunately most vehicles do not get larger than Macro-Medium in size. The others are listed below for completion.

In addition, vehicles do not always fit neatly into a cubic shape. Vehicles might be unusually long but no where near as wide or some other elongated shape. Other vehicles may be segmented like a train, with parts behind following the path of parts that are moving in front. For such vehicles, it is advised to make them segmented or oblong objects.

Even though a size chart has been given for large ships, it is rare that PCs would find themselves facing down with one in combat. DMs may wish to have ships larger than colossal fill out their actual size in squares, and simply keep the number of sections any segmented or oblong ships would have. This works especially well if PCs intend to board the ship, for the ship could be a battleground in and of its own.

= Operating a Vehicle =

The PCs may end up not simply riding vehicles, but piloting them as well. There are three effective means of operating most vehicles; Ride checks for animal based vehicles (including riding the mount itself), Profession (Sailing) for naval craft, or Profession (Pilot) checks for anything which flies or drives. I have chosen not to divide the profession still further into parts like Profession (Driving) or Profession (Starship Pilot) as I find the Profession skill to already be horribly underused already, and skill points precious. So for simplicity, Profession (Pilot) functions equally well on a car as it does an airship. As shorthand, this sourcebook may refer to the required profession checks as simply Sailing or Piloting.

Typically an appropriate Profession skill check is required to start up a vehicle if it is inert and does not move on its own violition, with a DC set by the vehicle itself (default DC 15). After this initial check, the vehicle can be operated without further checks unless they encounter abnormal circumstances or attempt some sort of stunt. The options available to the pilots of various vehicles are covered in their individual sections.

=Vehicle Action Economy=

Vehicles are treated much like creatures of their own, in that they are able to perform immediate, swift, move, standard, and full-round actions. However there are some differences in how they use these actions. Vehicles are capable of performing the following actions:

Adjust Direction: Unlike creatures, vehicles maintain their current speed and direction from the previous round as long as they have power to their mode of propulsion. By adjusting one's direction, one can chance which direction a vehicle is traveling each round. How much a vehicle can turn in a single action depends on its maneuverability. Adjusting your direction is a move action.

Adjust Speed: Unlike creatures, vehicles maintain their current speed and direction from the previous round as long as they have power to their mode of propulsion. By adjusting one's speed, one can accelerate or decelerate from a standstill to the vehicle's maximum speed. As a move action you can gain or lose up to 10% of your top speed.

Attacking: A vehicle equipped with weapons is capable of using those weapons in battle as a standard action. Vehicles are able to attack on the move and may attack once with each weapon they have available, up to a maximum of 8 attacks (but see Volleys). Each weapon which attacks requires a seperate crew member to operate (a vehicle pilot is capable of activating one weapon as well). Weapons use the BAB of the crew member, plus the bonuses of the weapon in question.

Holding Attacks/Active Defense: A vehicle does not need to fire all the attacks granted to it (up to 8). By holding back weapon attacks, they can be used to form an active defense. Using active defenses is a free action, and much like attacks of opportunity you can only make a limited number of active defense attempts a round based on how many attacks were withheld.

Perform a Stunt: Vehicles can perform various maneuvers which allow the vehicle to attack, defense, or move in unique ways. By default, a stunt is a standard action.

Volley: If a vehicle possesses more than 8 attacks, it can choose to fire all of its weapons at once (so long as it has the crew to man all the weapons) in a line area of effect as wide as the vehicle itself and as long as the shortest range increment of the weapons involved. The attack becomes difficult to avoid, with a Reflex save to halve the damage. The attack deals as much damage as the sum of all the weapons being fired.

Crews and Supplies
Vehicles often require some form of fuel to propel themselves, and a crew to run the vehicle. Fuel can be free, as is the case for wind sails or human powered devices, or it can come in the form of gasoline, coal, water, and other materials. Its important to note that with fuel comes weight, and so long duration craft with large fuel supplies often travel slower or need more powerful engines to push their own supply. A few vehicles may gain an endless fuel supply, though such sources are often expensive.

In addition to fuel, vehicles must be aware of crew. For small vehicles, the crew is the pilot and any passengers he can carry. Larger ships may require a minimum number of crew operators to successfully run the vehicle. The minimum amount of crew needed to operate the vehicle is given in the description of the vehicle. NPCs may be hired to operate vehicles which the PCs cannot handle on their own. However, when heavily damaged a vehicle may have casualties inside the ship and as a result crew may be wounded or killed, making it harder to run the vehicle. Once a vehicle is broken (under 50% hp) it is subject to a form of massive damage. Damage recieved after hardness forces a special saving throw using your ranks in Pilot as the save, against a DC equal to the damage dealt. A successful save negates any casualties, while a failed save kills off 1 HD worth of crew members per point the save failed. Since many NPC crew members only have 1 HD, this often kills them. Craft with strong competent pilots can mitigate the damage and thus are less likely to have its crew die from attacks.

When a vehicle reduced to the critical condition (10% hp or lower), this becomes a Fortitude save for half instead of save negates. At that point the ship is in shambles and its almost impossible to avoid casualties. If a ship is destroyed, it make a Fortitude save of the damage of the killing blow without hardness, with a save for half. Even if the save is made and crew survive, they might die from the vehicle sinking, falling out of the sky, or other hazards from the vehicle's location. PCs and other important characters, on account of being badass, are not subject to these rules.

&rarr; Complete Transportation