Re: Whatever happened to the 3.5e conversions to the Spelljammer Spells?

From: "Peter Aronson" <pbaronson@???.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 4:33 AM
Subject: [SPELLJAMMER] Whatever happened to the 3.5e conversions to the
Spelljammer Spells?

> Hi,
>
>    I was reading through the SPELLJAMMER-L archives and came across
> Richard
> Gant's conversion of Spelljammer spells from April, 2004.  It looked like
> good stuff, but there was a fairly active discussion of casting times that
> never seemed to be resolved.  Did the matter ever go further?

I don't know what happened before but I've checked the Players Guide to
Spelljammer on the BtM 3e conversion page and nothing seems to have got
there yet:
http://www.spelljammer.org/sj3e/#PlayersGuidetoSpelljammer

We could always pick *one* SJ spell from the CoAS convert it. Then move onto
the next one. If we actually *submit* anything we finish to BtM we can make
sure it makes its way into chapter 8 of the Player Guide to Spelljammer.

> And none of
> the spells from LOST SHIPS seemed to be covered.  Did/do people use these?
> I kind of liked the look of Spark Burst, and Disable Helm looked like a
> real
> aid to piracy (although, if you have a spellcaster who can cast 6th level
> sorcerer/wizard spells, how much help do you *need* for piracy?).  On the
> other hand, Flyfield seemed perhaps to be overly elaborate, and I wasn't
> sure about how necessary Destroy Minor Helm, Collapse Portal and Destroy
> Major Helm were.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Peter

I'd be willing to move onto Lost Ships and any other SJ sources as well. I
think the advantage of "Disable Helm" is that it stops a targeted ship from
escaping if the opposition starts to turn the tide in a battle. I wonder if
it could be cast onto a ships ram (or if a ram could have charges of this
spell in a similar way to a magic wand)?  I wonder how metamagic feats would
improve Disable Helm. An Enlarged Disable Helm could be much easier to use
in combat. Collapse Portal is an interesting spell that I would want to
convert. I'm not so interested in the Destroy Helm spells (as they reduce
the number of helms in play), but I suppose someone might want to use
conversions of these spells to destroy helms like Death Helms (without
harming the victim inside them).

Anyone interested in converting things from 2e to 3e will be interested in
WotCs official conversion rules. It took me ages to find the link, so here
it is for anyone else:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnD_CYC_intro.asp

There is a zip file to download from that page, but you can look at the
table of contents with any browser. It doesn't quite tell you everything,
but you can combine it with the SRD to work out what you need to know. I've
listed the duration and other spell variables.

The casting times and durations should be fairly easy to convert in most
cases:
* Casting times of "less than 1 round" become "1 round",
* Casting times of "more than 1 round" stay the same and
* Casting times listed in turns get converted into minutes (at a 10 minutes
per turn rate).

(That should not cause any problems.)

Durations generally follow these rules:
* 4 rounds or less become "1 round/caster level",
* 5 rounds or more (but still listed in rounds) become "1 minute/caster
level",
* Durations measured in turns become "10 minutes/caster level",
* Durations measured in hours or days stay the same,
* "Permanent" duration either stays "permanent" or changes to
"instantaneous",
* "Instantaneous" stays the same and
* Special needs to be looked at on a case by case basis.

(The magic in permanent spells remains and can be dispelled - the magic in
instantaneous spells comes and goes in an instant and can not be dispelled.
So if for example the Create Portal spell was listed as being "permanent" we
would have to look to see if it could be dispelled to see if it switches to
"instantaneous" in 3e.)

I believe that all former 2e "reversible" spells are now listed as two
*separate* spells (with each saying in its description that it "counters
and/or dispels" the other spell). From what I recall the negative one of
the pair often seems to be one spell level higher than the positive one
(Darkness is higher than Light). So all the reversible SJ spells will turn
into two (and we get extra SJ spells for free). :-)

Material components are now divided into three types slightly differently.
Ones that are not used up are now called a focus (listed as "F"). A cleric
that casts spells without material components often uses a divine focus
(holy symbol) instead (listed as "DF"). Components that are consumed are
still called material components (and listed as M").

We need for example to decided if a chair used for a Create Minor Helm or
Create Major Helm spell vanishes after the spell runs out. If it does vanish
it gets listed as "M" but if it is a focus it gets listed as "F". (Do you
think it is realistic for ships to go around with several ornate chairs in
the hold?) I think the clerical version of Create Minor Helm allowed a
cleric to use a divine focus. I might be wrong but if someone could check
that would be great.

Spell ranges are another thing that has changed:
* "0" is now "Personal",
* "Touch" stays the same,
* Ranges between 0 and 30 yards are now called "Close" (see below) - they
reach 25ft + 5ft per two full caster levels,
* Ranges between 31 and 100 yards are now called "Medium" - they reach 100ft
+10ft per caster level,
* Ranges of more than 101 yards are now called Long - they reach 400ft +
40ft per caster level and
* "Unlimited" stays the same - according to the SRD it reaches anywhere on
the same plane.

Some spells that radiate out from the caster's body keep the range that they
had in 2e. I don't think any SJ spells do that but if they do we need to
check a similar spell that is in both the 2e and 3e PHBs.

(We need to make a decision about unlimited spells. Should people be able to
teleport anywhere within a crystal sphere? Planets move, so should that stop
people teleporting from one planet to another? If you "know" a ship, but
can't see it, can you still teleport to it? Does it already cover this in
the CoAS?)

Spell Area of Effect is usually the same in 3e.

Saving throws have now changed:
* "1/2" - saves for half become Reflex Saves if they cause damage and Will
Saves if they do not,
* "Neg" - saves to negate an effect become Will Saves against mental effects
and Fortitude Saves against death or alteration,
* Illusion spells with a "Neg" save become a "save to disbelieve" and
* "None" - Spells that have no save gain a "save to negate" if their range
is not Personal or Touch.

Spell Resistance is now always "yes" unless the spell doesn't create a
direct effect. (I don't think any SJ spells are directed at people anyway.)

Spell Levels are generally the same, but spells that cause damage have their
levels adjusted depending on how many dice of damage they cause. I've turned
Wizard's table around to make it easier for me to use. I've done two
versions for the two types of spell damage.

Spells that deliver a fixed amount of total damage (for multiple targets
damage is shared out):

dice      Wiz Level Clr Level
1           1              1
2-5       1               2
6-10     2/3           3/4
11-15   4/5           5/6
16-20   6/7           7/8
21-25   8/9           9

Spells with multiple damage (each target gets the same amount of damage):

dice      Wiz Level Clr Level
1-5       2              3
6-10     3/4           4/5
11-15   5/6           6/7
16-20   7/8           8/9
21-25   9              n/a

(A fireball is a type of multiple damage spell. After doing all this I can't
remember anything except Spark Burst that causes damage, so we might not
have to adjust anything.)

Continued in second email...

David "Big Mac" Shepheard
Webmaster
http://virtualeclipse.aboho.com/
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/virtualeclipselrp/
(See the Spelljammer links at my yahoo group. Click on: Links > d20 System >
Spelljammer)