Airship Combat

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[edit] Combat

First off, normal bows and other ranged attacks do not work on an opposing airship. The winds and sheer magical aptitude of these beasts protect them from normal attacks. One obvious way to deal damage is with large ballistic weaponry such as catapults or cannons. These can be cumbersome and hard to fire on a moving airship however specially modified cannons can be placed upon the airship's hardpoints. In order to strike a airship hull via turret, the character must roll to strike the opposing airship. This is done by a base DC of the turret which is modified by several factors. If successful, the ammo then screams off and strikes the hull of the opposing airship. Because the airship is so massive, pilots cannot make a dodge roll and turrets do not really have to aim as long as the opposing airship is within range of the turret’s range. The size of the airship also plays a roll as smaller airships are harder to hit because of their speed and agility. This negative is applied to the DC when trying to hit an airship of that type. For example if a turret was trying to hit a scout ship, the scout ship has a size modifier of +5 which means that all turrets trying to hit that ship would have a +5 to the DC of weapons. The larger the ship, the easier it is to hit with a turret.

However there are some things a pilot and or captain can do in order to prevent damage. A new type of crystal will allow a pilot or captain to activate it with a shard that will let the ship “dodge” one attack per round.

[edit] Phaze Shard

Requires a Nature spell and a 6’’ crystal. Can only be activated if the pilot attempts to dodge a turret and can only be done if the crystal has the energy to do it. In order to perform this, the pilot would roll a 1d20 and add in his pilot airship skill. If it beats the turrets roll to cast the crystal activated quickly enough. The shard quickly blinks the airship out of existence to dodge the attack. Once used, the crystal is drained of energy until it is refilled. The Phaze shard must be refilled by a character in order for it to work again. It requires 5 PE to be put into it by touch.

Along with Phazing the airship, no more than once a round, a pilot can temporarily take a sudden burst of power to all turret hardpoints. This unique crystal will double the damage of all weapons onboard for up to 5 attacks. The crystal is then completely drained of energy until the airship lands and the crystal engines rest for a minimum of 36 hours.

[edit] Cold Fuel Ball

Requires a Ice spell and a 6’’ crystal. Creates a crystal that will double the damage of all weapons onboard for up to 5 attacks. The crystal can not be activated again until the airship is landed and the engines are rested for 36 hours.

As a last ditch effort, a captain can initiate a retreat. Other characters see the airship enter into a strange phenomenon. The airship enters what looks like a bright light rift and then disappears. Some see this disturbance as a warp. All around the airship within a 500’ radius see a bright flash and feel a powerful blast of air.

Upon activation of this crystal, the deck and hull glow white as the world around them fades into blackness. The ship is then teleported to a different location up to 40 miles away. The exact location and distance and even direction are unknown. The crystal then completely shatters requiring extensive energy to warp such an object. The airship is kept at the same altitude and is possible to be warped into mountains or other land formations but is very improbable. There is a 1% chance this will happen if such an object is there at the same altitude as the airship. The DM rolls a 1d8 for the direction at which the airship travels (unbeknown to the players) and then rolls a 2d4*10 for the miles.

[edit] Warp Cube

Requires a Cosmic spell and a smooth 6’’ square crystal. Allows a captain to activate a warp of the airship. The cube shatters after use. Direction sense, navigation, or other forms must be used to figure out the new location of the airship.

[edit] Destroying an Airship

The hull HP must be dropped to 0 to bring these behemoths down. Once achieved, the airship begins to plummet to the ground. Very little can save characters on board as the fall from such a great altitude will kill almost anything upon impact. Levitation spells and other types of spells can help.

To help in the destruction, airships come in many sizes. The differences are of maximum speed, weight, HP, and the turret hardpoints. However, one such class is such a massive airship that it requires two of each crystal in order for it to function. This class is of course the Titan. The required increase of both the main crystals and turret hard points means it has an increase of firepower. A Titan has double the range and turret damage from all ammunition fired from its hardpoints.

[edit] Airship Weapons

Weapons on airships are placed upon their turret hardpoints. The DC to strike the opposing airship depends on a 1d20 roll + the Airmanship skill +/- the airship's size modifier. Each gun type takes up a single turret hardpoint.

Turrets can be fit with standard ammo which deals the damage listed or specialty ammo which augments the turret's base stats.

Catapult
Specially designed to fit on an airship. This standard catapult lobs a single stone at great range.

Gravity Cannon
Launches a very heavy, very large, single projectile at great distances. It does so by detonating a gravity crystal within its chamber.

Flak Launcher
Fires up to five stones in a row caused by a series of explosive charges. The operator makes 5 strikes, one for each stone.

Polibalast
This weapon is a stocky "repeating" ballista which fires several tens of arrows in a second. The spray factor makes this weapon very unreliable and short range.

Arbalast
The arbalast is a lightweight Ballista that can only handle shorter, keener ammo. It sacrifices power for father range.

Ballista
This single shot catapult is a very large version of a crossbow. It fires a large javelin.

Onager
Onager is a sling based catapult that fires 3 separate stone core shells. The operator makes 3 strikes, one for each stone.

Heleopoli
An enchanted version of a Ballista, this two-cabled crossbow fires lightweight javelins. The operator makes 2 strikes, one for each arrow.

Trebuchet
This extremely large sling launches a very heavy stone core at high velocities. It is hard for most operators to use.