Re: New helm being Submitted to Compendium

Rian A. McMurtry wrote:
>
> The Merchant Helm
> Cost:  50,000 gp
> Maximum Tonnage:  500 tons
> SR:  1 point for every 12 levels of the spellcaster on the helm
> Special Penalty:  Reduce MC by 2
> Special Penalty:  Increase AR by 3 (maximum 10)
> Special Penalty:  Take double damage from weapons
>
> Merchant helms have only two things to recommend them:  their cost and the
> amount of tonnage they can move.  Ships with merchant helms are slow,
> unwieldy, and vulnerable to enemy fire.  Nevertheless, they are likely to
> become the workhorses of interspheric trade.
>
        Wow, this is perhaps one of the most powerful helms I've ever seen,
possibly making other helm types useless.  Even with the special
penalties, it's has many military applications, even though the
penalties don't make sense.  Why does it it increase AR by 3, and what
exactly takes double damage from weapons?  The helm?  The ship?  If the
ship, why?  The text is vague.
        This seems to be an attempt at a 'solution' to the problem I presented,
but it does nothing to solve that problem and probably makes things
worse.  Merchent ships are traditionally smaller than military ships,
not dwarfing them completely.  A 500 ton behemonth tradesmen would be
completely immune to pirates (500 crewmen is kinda hard to wipe out).
It does not increase SJ activity overall but instead just makes bigger
ships.  It has the potential to make SJ combat into simple slugfests
between two behmoth warships, the winner the one packing more guns (why
maneuver?  Just build the bigger ship).
        Sorry, but to be perfectly blunt, I don't like this helm at all.  Too
much hauling power, too little explaining text, and the penalties seem
very arbirtary in an attempt to balance out the massive hauling power
and cheap price.  Sorry:(

--
Adam Miller