Jammers:An SJ Player's Primer pt 2

<see previous post>
Part 2:
11.Atmospheric Movement
        Travel within planatary atmospheres is a very tricky buisiness,
spelljammers are are not really designed to stand up to the stress caused
by wind and weather and in many ways landing on a planet is the most
dangerous maneuver a spelljammer might routinely attempt.
        When a spelljammer is caught in a storm the vessel must make a
saving throw versus crushing blow each turn.  This save can be modfied in
several ways.  If all sails are taken down and secured (reducing the ship's
MC to "F") then the save is made at +4.  Additionally, if the helmsman has
the Spelljammer proficiency,  he can add +1 to the roll.  Regardless, if
the roll fails the ship suffers a random critical hit.  As some of these
can be disasterous for a vessel within a gravitational field (such as
spelljammer shock) atmospheric traval is often considered quite dangerous.
Stronger storms impose penalties on the save,  the DM informs the crew of
this as appropriate.
        Even when the wind is calm spelljammers are limited to a move of 24
in the atmosphere, the rough equivalent of SR 1.  If the ship is pushed
beyond this limit the vessel must make a saving throw again for each turn
spent beyond SR 1, further more, the roll is penalized by the amount over.
A vessel flying at SR 4, for instance, would have a -3 on the save.
Positive modifiers can be used here as well when appropriate.  Again the
ship suffers a random critical hit when the save is failed.
        Additionally, spelljammers are inherently less maneuverable within
the atmosphere, all MCs are reduced by one level.  All spelljammers can
hover, however, though they can't turn while hovering unless they are MC
"A" within the atmophere.
        Note the saving throws for speed and weather are cumulative.  If a
ship is traveling through a hurricane at SR 6 that vessel would have to
make two saves each turn, not one.
        Finally, nearly all planetary bodies of size D and larger have a
band of very high winds in the upper atmopshere, similar in most respects
to the Earth's jet stream.  Passing through this band, whether on landing
or take off requires a saving throw versus crushing blow as well.  Again,
if the save is failed a critical hit occurs.
        Ship's suffer damage in this way often enough to keep spelljaming
interference within most world's affairs to a minimum.  All the major
campaign worlds, (Oerth, Krynn, Mystara, Toril) possess such a band of high
winds.  A few planets smaller then size D have it as well.

Beaufort's Wind Scale
Developed in 1805 by Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, this describes
the strength  of the wind based on the effect of wind on sailing ship.
It was revised as steam became more used.  The following table is from
the 1957 Worldbook Encyclopedia

Beaufort                Wind                    Miles per hour
Scale #                 Designation             Wind speed

0                       Calm                    0-1
1                       Light air               1-3
2                       Slight breeze           4-7
3                       Gentle breeze           8-12
4                       Moderate breeze         13-18
5                       Fresh breeze            19-24
6                       Strong breeze           25-31
7                       Moderate gale           32-38
8                       Fresh gale              39-46
9                       Strong gale             47-54
10                      Whole gale              55-63
11                      Storm                   64-75
12                      Hurricnae               Above 75

12.Languages
        One of the great mysteries of wildspace is the way so many worlds
possess the same languages.  Elvish, for instance, is intelligible to the
elves of most worlds, the same principle applies to dwarven, gnomish, and
most other demihuman and humanoid languages.  Dialects, accents, and even a
few "odd" languages appear of course, but the widespread use of these
languages on worlds whose development was seemingly unrelated is
remarkable.  The "common tongue" of Toril is almost identical to the common
tongue of Oerth and Krynn, as well.
        A variety of explanations for this have been advanced by sages,  a
current popular approach is the idea that each crystal sphere is in fact an
alternate prime material plane in which evolution took a different course,
and thus the languages just show that each sphere is simply an alternate
diminsion.  Another suggest that each races vocal cords are structured in a
way whioch makes certain language forming sounds unavoidable.  A third says
this all comes from the gods.  Many other explanations exists but when it
comes right down to it, most spacers don't care why it is so they are just
glad that it is so.  After all, wildspace is a difficult enough place as it
is.

13.Religion
        Nothing illustrates the limits of the gods better then the
philogiston,  where priests are completely unable to recover their spells
(their ability to man a helm is not effected, however).  Moreover, all
deities cannot be contacted in all spheres. Unless a diety already has an
established band of worshippers (100 seems to be the minimum number) within
that sphere a priest must go to extrordinairy lengths to stay in touch.
For this reason many dieties highly encourage their priests to establish
temples and centers of worship in new spheres, hoping to expand their
influence.

14.Magic
        In most respects Spelljammer is a typical setting in regards to
magic.  The only significent, constant difference is the way the phlogiston
prevents any spell which contacts extradiminsional space or the planes in
any way and the way fire spells tend to cause massive conflagrations in the
phlogiston (just like any other source of fire).  While magic does work
differently in some spheres,  in most of the well known spelljamming
spheres it follows standard patterns.  This is a major difference when
compared to Planescape, for instance, where magic tends to change rules
from plane to plane.
        Note this stability includes the existence of wild dead magic zones
within wildspace and the Flow.  These are somewhat dangerous as they are
difficult to chart, a dead magic zone in space is often called a sargossa
as it causes helms to cease functioning and leaves vessels adrift, unable
to replenish air. Unless a non-magical means of movement is available these
become slow death traps for ships.  The most common method of avoiding them
is to bank as hard to port or starboard as possible the moment one is
encountered, hoping the vessel will drift out with it's incoming velocity.
        A final note concerning magic, in wildspace it is somewhat more
common then on many worlds, even worlds as rich in magic as Toril, for
instance.  This is especially true of "household" magic used to make living
easier.  Artifact level magic is no more common (aside from the helms, if
they are seen that way) then elsewhere, however.

15.Economics
        Spelljamming economics tend to revolve around high profit goods,
though as always this is usually a function of supply and demand.  The
civilizations of most large worlds are self-sufficient,  they tend to
supply much of the raw material and basic goods needed by spacefaring
civilizations.  In return they often are good places to sell rare products
from other worlds.  Wildspace civilizations require virtually everything,
especially staples like food, water, building materials, even air.
        Spelljamming is a very expensive buisiness,  the cost of the helm
alone often takes a ship owner ten years or more to pay off.  As a
buisiness spelljamming ships require high intial investments and are high
risk in addition, they are attractive only to the more adventurerous
investor.
        Economic conditions within any given sphere are highly variable, it
is advisable to find a guide or at least purchase a sphere book before
undertaking any trade ventures within or to a unfamiliar sphere.

16.Proficiencies
        There are many proficencies which have a direct impact on
spelljamming vessels and spelljamming life.  Most of these are detailed in
the Complete Spacefarer's handbook or the War Captain's Companion.  For a
variety of reasons I consider the CSHb to be the more authoritative source,
so when these to conflict I go with that source.  A list of these
proficiencies  and their slot costs follows.

Weapon Proficiencies:
Ballista  1
Catapult  1
Bombard   1
Greek Fire projector 1
Jettison 1
Note:Nonproficiency penalties apply when firing crew served weapons.

Nonweapon Proficiencies:
General:
Heraldry(space) 1 slot  Int(0)
Shipwright 1 slot  Dex(+1) Note spellcraft is also required to design a SJ ship
Signalling 1 slot  Int(+2)
Slow Respiration 1 slot  Wis(0)
Spacemanship 1 slot  Dex(+1)
Sail Manipulation 1 slot Int(0) (this allows a sailmaster to increase MC by
one step for 1 rd)

Wizard or Priest Group:
Cartography 1 slot  Int(-2) (also in the Rogue group)
Navigation(wildspace) 1 slot  Int(-2)
Navigation(Phlogiston) 1 slot  Int(-2)
Planetology 2 slots  Int(-1)
Spelljamming 2 slots  Int(-2)

Note: The Seamanship proficiancy is sufficient to handle the rigging on
most spelljammers, on "groundling" vessels such as a galleon or galley
seamanship is identical to spacemanship and provides all the needed
knowledge.  See the section on crew for how this affects the crew rating.

Also, anyone can attempt to use a proficicency, even if they don't have it,
but the NWP score is halved before modifers are added. In some cases,
additional modifiers will be used.

17.Ship to ship combat
        Ship to ship combat is one of the primary features of Spelljammer,
two different but very similar systems were developed, the original system
in the first SJ boxed set and and "large battle" style system presented in
the WCC boxed set.  This system is a modfied version of both of these.

First the combat sequence:
1. Initiative (modified by MC)
2. Initiative Winner Moves
3. Initiative Loser Moves
4. Return to 1 and repeat process:)
Fire from personal missile weapons, spells, and siege weapons can occur
during any of the phases above, but must follow the initiative order within
each phase.

Keep in mind that in space, each hex represents 500 yds across.  Most
"personal" weapons can only be fired when vessels are within the same hex,
a few (longbow, heavy crossbow, for example) have a range of one due to the
lack of gravity.  Spell ranges should be carefully considered.  Generally,
those with a range of at least 100 yards can be cast at targets within the
same hex, those with less then 100 yards range can only be cast at grappled
or rammed targets.  Some spells only work when the air envelopes are mixed.


Ships move on a hex grid. Beside each vessel counter, the ship will have a
3-d indicator showing the ship's height above or below that combat's "0"
level.  Each vessel's bow will point to a hex side, not the joint between
two hex sides.  Speed is determined by SR, how often the ship can turn is
determined by SR.

Maneuverability Class: The helmsman controls velocity and has some very
crude maneuverability control,  depending on the design of the ship.  The
crew,  working the sails and control surfaces,  determine most of a ship's
maneuverability.  All ships have a Maneuverability Class which determines
how far they can turn each round.
MC    HFC   SC    IM    RS    CSv  Notes
A      4     3    -3     3    +8
B      3     3    -2     3    +6
C      2     3    -1     3    +4
D      1     2    0      2    +2
E      1*    2    +1     2     0   *Must move forward 1 hex before turning
F      1*    1    +2     1    -2   *Must move forward 2 hexes before turning
G      0*    1    +3     1    n/a  *Cannot turn
MC=Maneuverability class; HFC=Hex Face Change per round; SC=Speed change
per round; IM=Initiative modifier; RS=Reverse Speed Max; CSv=Crash save
modifier
Note: Officially, vessels must spend an SR to turn the HFC, but in my
campaigns I simply make that the "maximum" turn each round and SR is not
spent in that way.  This makes for a more "fluid" battle where turning and
banking are more important.

Shipweapons:
First,  in my campaign all non-proficiency penalties apply even though the
weapons Thaco is used rather then the wielders.  So taking a large weapon
proficiency can be a big help.  Weapon's have "ranges" which are really the
SR of their projectile.  The range of a lt catapult is 5,  which means its
stone moves 2500 yards each round until it hits something or goes off into
infinity.  In planetary atmospheres the range is reduced to normal
earthbound ranges.

Ramming:
        Ship's equipped with rams can inflict massive amounts of damage.
When ramming the Thaco is equal to the NWP score of the sailmaster, or
pilot if a vessel's minimum crew is 1.  If a hit is scored damage is:
Attackers tonnage/10*SR.  SR varies according to situation, for instance,
if ramming a fleeing vessel from the rear the SR will be less then if the
two vessels were colliding head on.
        Ship's which attempt to ram vessels more then three times their
size in tonnage, or vessels which ram without having a ram "crash" instead.
The crashing ship usually takes a great deal damage, though it might
inflict significent damage in return.

Shearing:
        Ship's equipped with piercing rams or shearing blades may attempt
to shear away the rigging of opposing vessels.  This is treated as a ram
attack, except no damage is done. Instead, for each successful shear attack
the target's MC is reduced 1 step until repaired (usually after the
battle).

Grappling:
        First, the relative speed difference between vessels cannot be more
then 1 SR when attempting to grapple (grappling rams exclude this).  If
both ship's crews wish to grapple the attempt is automatic, if not the base
chance is 10 or less (d20) modified as follows:
Green crew attempting to grapple    +1
Average crew attempting to grapple  0
Trained crew attempting to grapple  -1
Crack crew attempting to grapple    +2
Grappler has 2-1+ advantage in #s   -1
Defender has 2-1+ advantage in #s   +1
        Degrappling is automatic if both vessels desire it, otherwise it's
resolved just as a standard grappling roll except the defender
("degrappler") makes the rolls and gains the modifiers listed above.

Critical Hits:
        Crewed weapons often have a chance of inflicting a critical hit,
this is listed in that weapons statistics.  Other events (ramming, some
spells, turbulence, failing a save in high winds) can also cause critical
hits.  Finally, a vessel reduced to 50% of its hull points takes a critical
hit. Note, since some critical hits reduce the ship's hull points there can
be a short cascading of critical hits in this manner.  When a critical hit
occurs the result is determined by the following chart:
d20 roll
1  Loss of 5 Hull points
2  Deck crew casualty
3  Interior Crew casualty
4  Ship Shaken
5  Large weapon damaged
6  Deck Crew Casualty
7  Hull holed
8  Maneuverability loss
9  Loss of 10 Hull points
10 Ship Shaken
11 Fire!
12 Loss of SR
13 Deck Crew casualty
14 Large weapon damaged
15 Ship Shaken
16 Hull Holed
17 Maneuverability loss
18 Loss of 10 Hull points
19 Helm hit
20 Spelljammer Shock!

Most of the above is self explanatory. #20 causes the helmsman to save
versus spells or go into a coma for 1d4 days.


Notes:
The above contains TSR trademarked material,  as well as paraphrased
copyrighted material.  This use should not be construed as a challenge to
that status.

_Bibliography_
War Captain's Companion Boxed Set
Spelljammer Boxed set
SJR1 Lost Ships accessory
Lyndon Baugh's "Wind" post to the SPELLJAMMER MPGN list <lyndon@?????.com>


"Human life without knowledge of history is nothing other than a perpetual
childhood, nay, a permanent obscurity and darkness." Philip Melanchthon
westermeyer.3@???.edu
Paul Westermeyer
Phd Candidate, History, Ohio State University
Adjunct Faculty, Humanities Department, Columbus State Community College