Re: Alternative helm creation (furnaces and other helms)

>From: Dreamer <dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk>
>Reply-To: Discussion list for the Spelljammer campaign setting              
><SPELLJAMMER-L@??????.???????.com>
>To: SPELLJAMMER-L@??????.???????.com
>Subject: [SPELLJAMMER] Alternative helm creation
>Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:15:01 +0000

>Furnaces are the obvious other helm. I note the basic rules don't
>obviously give a tonnage limit (in the text, anyway), but I would
>assume this is no better than the 100tn of a Major Helm. It would
>seem reasonable for these to be built as easily as a Minor Helm.

I think that it is 100 tons to make these. Paul Westermeyer has these helms 
down as not working in the flow:

http://spelljammer.org/rules/fastplay2e.html#Helms

So I'm not sure where you would create them. Perhaps they need to be built 
in wildspace, instead.

>None of the other Helms look too interesting to want to create in
>any numbers.

A crown of the stars would be nice, but as it is priceless you wouldn't be 
able to make one. Necromancers might want to make Lifejammers and things 
like that. Even if your characters don't want to make them, you will need to 
think about other races making them. You can't open this can of worms and 
decide what worms stay inside.

>Though, a Lifeboat Helm which does SR1, can only land on but not
>take-off from planets, and is otherwise as a Minor Helm, might be
>worth considering. If this was made it would likely have a list
>price of 50,000gp, maybe only 10,000gp if it needed a complete
>re-build after use and particularly after a landing (and so was
>effectively single-use). As easy to build as a Minor Helm, but
>cheaper.

This one (or the next one sounds a bit like a tactical helm). Actually if 
you want a single use helm then a magic scroll (with create minor helm on 
it) and a chair will be easier and cheaper to make.

An alternative to this one shot thing is to have a furnace helm that eats 
itself instead of another item. Maybe it could pop out of existence at the 
end of a certain amount of time. Or perhaps the helm could slowly melt (as 
if made from ice).

>A Wildspace Helm is a similar idea, only SR1, but cannot safely
>land or take-off from celestial bodies larger than class A -
>useful for orbit-to-orbit runs, otherwise as a Minor Helm. I
>don't see why you couldn't use this in the phlogiston. List price
>25,000gp? As easy to build as a Minor Helm, but cheaper.

If you can use this in the phologiston *as well as* in wildspace then it 
shouldn't have this name. Wildspace Helm suggests a helm that only works 
inside a sphere.

>One reason that I am trying to work this out is that I want PC
>enchanters to be able to build a Helm, if stuck on a groundling
>world, as long as they have access to good enchantment
>facilities, and the right spells.

If most spacefarers don't know how to build a helm, it isn't logical for 
groundlings to be able to make one. At the very least you should need to 
have access to wildspace in order to make one. Making a spelljammer on a 
groundling world is like building a space shuttle in the middle of a rain 
forest. While thoretically you could do it, it should be so difficult to 
cope without the usual tools and resorces that it would take you a lifetime.

I think it would be better to have a spelljamming vessel visit your world 
and give the PCs a chance to steal it. Perhaps the spelljammer could be a 
slave ship coming to kidnap groundlings and your players could help attack 
it.

>If you are an enchanter, and can make the magic items to power a
>Furnace (a scroll with a single Magic Missile spell on it looks
>attractive as 'standard' fuel), building a Furnace might look
>like a good idea. And, maybe easier than a Minor Helm.

You can not power furnaces with scrolls. You must sacrifice magical *items* 
(of at least 150 xp in value) to gain SR. Furnaces get rid of magic items 
like dysons get rid of dirt!

Hope this has been useful.

David Shepheard
easyInternet internet cafe
London UK