Answers [-very- long]

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By the way, since i am here i just wished to add a ship to the list of
spelljamming ships that any of you have... here we go..

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Sword Breaker class starship

Built by: Unknown
Used by: PSI endowed captains
Tonnage: 20 Tons
Hull Points: 30
Crew: 1/5
MC: A
Landing: Land, no water
AR: 0
Saves as: Hard Metal
Power type: PSI helm (see below)
Ships rating: see below
Cargo Capacity: 1 ton
Keel Length: 40 meters (i think 120')
Beam Width: 10 meters (i think 30')
Armament:
-1 turreted medium ballista left flank up to down 180deg, front to aft 180
degree.
-1 medium ballista, same as above only right flanked
-1 Main PSI-Cannon
Special: Outher shell immune to non naval-sized PSI activity. See below for
the rest.

[image]
http://www.poli.studenti.to.it/~dragons/LosUni/sh-sb1.gif

Description: [see image] This strange ship is not exactly the only one of
its kind but it is as prized as a... well... you cannot really compare
anything to this kind of ships. While not unique, the appearance of a Sword
Breaker is something -very- rare, and it is nearly impossible that a
captain is foolish enough to sell it, expecially if it is a captain chosen
by the ship itself (in which case it is just impossible). What? Why are you
looking at me like that? Oh... yes, i forgot to add something: This kind of
ships has its own will. Thanks to the few who have accepted to be tested,
it is confirmed that this ship is just a single, enormous, psionic device,
AND, just like any psionic device, it is sentient. Actually this ship is
also able to project a tridimensional image of "itself" anywhere inside the
hull, and liyttle outside (no more than 10 meters, 30 feet i suppose). I
mean... Well it does create an illusion of a woman or a man, and then
refers to this image as itself, but the illusion is not solid, and the ship
can change it if it wants to. Each ship does have a name too. Normally they
are Neutral good in allignment, but any allignemnt has been seen.

Ok, lets get to the specifics. The helm of this ship actually looks like a
golden medallion, while wearing it a mage normally could use the ship as if
using a minor helm. A priest would not be normally able to power the ship
at all. Actually this helm is called PSI heml for a reason, it shows its
full potential while worn by a Psionicist, in this case the Ship rating
will be as if a major helm was being used, and actually the ship rating is
increased by 2 compared to the major helm class. Actually even a wild
talent could use this ship, even though it would propel it only at a SR of
1 unless it was the chosen captain. At the end of the normal 8 hour period,
any PSP or spells are drained, as for normal helms.

Talking about the armament. The ship is equipped with a couple of turreted
ballistas, which are normally handled by the ship itself [thac0 20, critics
as normal] but since the ship is not all that good at firing, anyone that
is proficient with firing naval weapons can come on the main bridge and
take control over the two ballistas from a special seat nearby the
captain's seat, this seat will read the mind of the person sitting on it
[which cannot be the captain] and adjust the ship's aiming with the
knowledge given. This will dramatically improve aiming [DM ruling, but
usually a +2 or +3 is given]. The ballistae themselves have each 10
missiles, they recharge autonomously in half time a normal medium ballista,
since the missiles are shoved in through some sort of dimensional pocket
directly onto place, they aim themselves without any external aid (if not
what is said above), thus using this ship could be a one-man job, though
there is enough air for 5 people. These Ballistae can also repair damage
that has ben deal to them, In practice they regenerate, if one of them is
hit enough hard as to destroy it, it will rebuild itself in 5 Turns (nearly
one hour). Normally it is not possible to reach them, if not walking
outside the hul, and these balliste are also covered by metal domes whith
several openings big enough to fire out but not to get in.

The main cannon cannot be used by anybody else except a psionicist, because
it is (in practice) a Psionic amplifier. If anybody wonders where this
cannon would be, it is the area between the wings of the ship. This cannon
can only amplify 3 specific psionic powers, the powers are at double normal
cost and maintenance, if a critical error is made while using the cannon,
that specific power cannot be amplified any more for the rest of the day.
Other side effects are to be applied as per the normal PSi power. The
cannon cannot be used more than once per round, due to the nature of the
cannon, "ammos" are only the PSPs spent for doing this (which, as i said,
are twice the normal cost of the power).

-Inertial barrier: the main cannon will create a sfere around the ship
which prevents any hit from coming in or getting out, the barrier as an AR
of -4 and 10 Hull points of damage, if the barrier is destroyed, the same
power canno be used any more for another 24 hours.

-Disintegrate: the main cannon fires a straight-forward beam which does
disintegrate a sfere of 5' diameter (the sfere is 5' wide from side to
side) on the outher hul of any ship, this does inflict a hull hole critical
hit, and 2 hull points of damage. The beam is considered to be fired with
the captain's thac0 worsened by 4 points. It does attack an area 60 degrees
wide in front of the ship (actually its a straight-forward beam, but since
hexagons sides do cover a 60 degree angle....) and has a range of 10 hexes.
Anybody on an open deck targeted by the disintegration ray must save versus
disintegration or suffer 2d10 points of damage if save is successfull, only
1d10 points are suffered. Moreover, if the use of the power was a power
score it will also deal a second critic on the target ship.

-Project force: The most powerful use of the main cannon, it inflicts 1d6 +
AR of target hull points of damage (that is, if a target has an AR of 8 it
can take any damage between 9 and 14 hull points (1d6 +8)). Moreover, if
the use of the power results in a power score, it also shovels a critic on
the ship. As usual the arc of fire is 60 degrees forward, THAC0 is the
captain's worsened by 4 points and the range is 10 hexes.

Finally The ship can at any time free itself of all the air inside and
outside of its hull, (natually, void can be created only in the inside if
there is air in the outside). Sword Breaker class starship are air-tight
and water-thight, since there are no open decks (this also explains why so
few people can stay inside it for a reasonable amount of time), even
thought there are several glassteel areas that allow to see the outside,
however due to the positioning of doors, water landing is not possible,
unless you like flooded starship (the ship does -not- like to get flooded.)

As i said before, the ship can also choose a specific captain (which -must-
be a psionicist or at least a wild talent), if this person comes onboard
there is a 10% chance that the helm will teleport from the previous
captain's neck to the chosen character. If the chosen captain is on board,
the ship will also have the following abilities:

-It will travel at SR 15 indefinitely, whitout the captain suffering any
effort. In fact it can travel even when the captain is sleeping or knocked
out.
-It will regenerate itself at the rate of 1 Hull Point per day.
-It can teleport stuff inside or outside of the small cargo bay (the stuff
can be teleported up to 10 meters (30') away or from the ship).
-It can navigate all by itself, and will show a map of the cristal sphere
inside a cristal ball on the main deck (see the device i am referring to...
i don't remember the name).
-It is mentally linked to the captain, unless the captain is outside the
cristal sphere where the ship is (or viceversa, the ship is in the
phlogiston and the captain is inside a cristal sphere), and could respond
to his/her calling or orders, appropriately. (note that the ship does not
know the exact position of the captain, unless the captain can tell the
ship how to get to him/her)
-While the chosen captain is on board, the ship can boast itself up to a SR
50 for up to 4 hours or teleport instantly from the outside of a specific
cristall ball to the outside of another cristall ball. This is incredibly
stressfull for the captain which must make a Con check at -4 failure
meaning a 1 month nearly comatose sleep, success meaning only 3d10 days of
such sleep.
-The helm cannot be removed from the chosen captain's neck, if this
happens, the helm will instantly turn into dust, fly away and reform itself
around the neck of the captain.
-The ship will clean itself thru small vortexes of air and water and
sometimes reorder the disposition of stuff inside the ship (teleporting
stuff), it might also happen that it could want to make the rooms "more
beautiful" (It usually happens more with the "female" version of the ship
and it might take a day or so... And no-one can dare getting inside! ^_^)
which it does happen, but how is not really understood.

A few ending quest notes:

-A Sword Breaker is a powerfull ship however it is not undestructible, and
destruction means death. Since this ship is a living being (well... at
least it is sentient) it could be a great quest to find someone that could
be able to resurrect the ship. If this happens i would first of all make it
really difficult, and the ship will be very weak upon resurrection, it woul
not be able to move at all for a few (1d8) days and the ship cannot attain
spelljamming speed for at least a month. Moreover i would say that at least
the helm must be taken to the priest that will resurrect it.

-Being a Psionic device, the ship will -at least- panic if any PSI-feeding
creature is taken (willingly or not) aboard. The ship might not notice the
presence of the creature, but it surely will notice some side effects (the
ship passing out? having blank stares? feeling sick?). This could make for
very funny or dramatic quests for finding what is doing the damage, where
it is, etc. etc.

-In wildspace there could be some PSI-dead zones, maybe these could
completely knock down the ship sentience...

-What if all those "powers" the ship gets after it has chosen a captain are
due to "love" ^_- *wink* ^_- *wink*

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