Spelljamming ship

A spelljammer flying through wildspace

A Spelljamming ship, also known as a spelljammer, is a flying vessel that is capable of travelling through the void of wildspace from world to world, or through the rainbow ocean of the phlogiston from sphere to sphere. It is important to note that while all spelljammers can fly, not all flying ships are spelljammers.

While a spelljammer's defining characteristic is its ability to fly at spelljamming speed through space, it must be able to fulfill a variety of needs. It must be able to retain enough air within its atmospheric envelope to support its crew and passengers for an extended period of time, and be able to handle both the vacuum of wildspace and the glittering ether of the Flow. In some cases, it must be able to land on the surface of a large planet and be able to leave at a later date.

Designing a spelljammer

The primary restrictions in designing a suitable spelljammer is to make the ship large enough to support its crew but not so large that it cannot be moved by a spelljamming helm. These restrictions set both the maximum and minimum dimensions for ship designs. The basic designs in use by the various humanoid spacefaring races reveal their aquatic origin. The first human ships in space were modified seacraft equipped with spelljamming helms, which remain the go-to-designs for most groundling adventurers, who often select a modified galleon or caravel as their first spelljammer. Such vessels are both easy to acquire and familiar to their crews. However, the very nature of travel in wildspace doesn't limit spelljammers to aquatic designs, as the dwarven flying mountains and elven butterflies clearly illustrate. Why then are aquatic designs so common?

The basic seafaring ship's shape and organization is ideal for operating in space. The ship's plane of gravity usually runs very low along the ship's hull, often in line with the keel itself, while the ship is portable and designed to withstand pressure from several directions. Its layout, with a limited crew under the command of a captain and his officers, makes it easy to handle in space. Even the rigging, including oars and other equipment, aid in maneuvering the ship. Finally, the standard hull sizes available meet the tonnage requirements of most spelljamming power sources.

Other objects can and have been taken into space, including monuments and statues, boulders, several pyramids, and even a few large creatures such as dragons. However, living creatures become upset by being used as ships and often try to return to their homes as soon as possible. Castles and other buildings secured to the ground cannot move unless they are released from their moorings, and even then they experience severe structural problems as the gravity plane begins to fluctuate and move through the building. Walls designed to carry forces in one direction often end up carrying loads in directions they weren't designed to, causing some to crumble, which in turn shifts the plane of gravity even further, until the entire structure eventually collapses.

Spelljammer architecture

A Ship under construction

There are a wide variety of ship hull's available, from converted ocean going ships, to spaceborn beholder tyrant ships, to the organically grown crystalline ships of the elves. However, they all have a number of attributes and statistics in common that describe their performance and capabilities. Below is a list of the most common terms:

Tonnage

A ship's Tonnage (T) is not a measure of mass; rather it is a measure of displacement and has a direct correlation to the volume of the ship's air envelope. In practical terms, 1 "ton" is equivalent to 100 cubic yards (or 2,700 cubic feet or 76.5 cubic meters) of volume, which can bring along enough air to comfortably sustain one human-sized individual for 4 to 8 months. A ship's tonnage also determines how much damage it can sustain before breaking up and the maximum number of individuals it can carry without overstraining its air envelope.

Ship's rating

A Ship's Rating (SR) is a reflection of a ship's speed and relative power, and to a lesser extent its maneuverability. A ship with a high rating can move faster than a ship with a lower rating. A ship's rating is dependent on the power of the spellcaster piloting the ship (known as the helmsman) and on the power of the ship's spelljamming helm or other power source. In general, this means that a ship with a high-level spellcaster at the helm will have a higher SR than a similar ship with a low-level helmsman.

When travelling through a planet's atmosphere or within the gravitational effect of any object larger than 10 "tons", a spelljamming ship can travel at 500 yards per minute (or 17 miles per hour or 400 miles per day) per ship's rating. While this is fantastic when compared with terrestrial movement, which is usually measured in tens of miles, it must be considered in context with the vastness of space. When travelling in a straight line in wildspace, a spelljamming ship can attain what is referred to as "spelljamming speed", which is about 4 million miles per hour (about 100 million miles per day) regardless of its ship's rating.

Crew

Each ship has a minimum crew requirement to operate the ship properly. At the same time, the ship's tonnage determines the maximum number of human-sized individuals the ship can carry without dangerously overstraining its air envelope. Tiny and small individuals require only half as much air, while large and huge creatures require twice as much. Gargantuan creatures require five time the amount of air, though they are large enough to maintain their own gravity plane and air envelope.

While the gross motive power of a ship is determined by its helmsman, its maneuvering (including tacking, heeling and spinning), are all controlled by the crew who man the rigging and the oars. Crew are usually categorized into four ranks (namely green, average, trained and crack) which determines their rate of pay. Payment is usually in advance for the first two months, with any extra money accrued payable on landfall. In addition, crews which are expected to serve in hazardous situations (such as hiring on as privateers) may demand a crew's cut in plunder - a share equal to that of a senior officer, to be distributed among the surviving crew.

• Green crew are sailors that can be recruited anywhere - from groundlings eager to get into space to ex-mercenaries trying to get away from their past. In general they barely know the difference between a hawser and a ballista. They are little more than warm bodies to fill the ranks, and nothing more. Green crew are usually paid 2 gp per standard month (28 days).
• Average crew can usually be recruited from space stations, asteroid bases or other spaceborn communities, and generally have experience with sailing in wildspace and are considered competent to operate a ship fairly well. Average sailors can expect to be paid 4 gp per standard month (28 days).
• Trained crew are veterans of many voyages and have served on various ships. Trained crew expect to be paid 6 gp per standard month.
• Crack crew are specialists, and are the best at what they do for a particular captain and onboard a particular ship. Taking a crack crew from a nautiloid and assigning them to a squidship would reduce their status to that of trained. A crack sailor can expect to be paid 6 gp per standard month (28 days), with additional benefits onboard ship.
• Weapons teams are specialists who have been trained to operate a large shipborne weapon, such as a catapult, and are expected to lead other crewmen on operating and maintaining a ship's weapons. A weapons specialist can expect to be paid 6 gp per standard month (28 days).

Senior officers

A spelljamming ship has a number of senior staff positions onboard. These vary from ship to ship and from race to race, but usually include the following:

• Owner - The owner is the one who actually owns the ship and signs documents in the ship's name. The owner is usually but not always the captain.
• Captain - The captain is the ultimate authority on the ship when under sail, and may or may not be the vessels owner.
• First Officer - The first officer, also known as the first mate, is the captain's second-in-command, and takes command if the captain is not present or is incapacitated. The first officer is often responsible for leading boarding parties.
• Helmsman - The helmsman is the spellcaster currently powering the spelljamming helm whose abilities determine the speed and movement of the ship. There may be several helmsmen onboard a ship, with differing levels of ability and additional duties.
• Ship's mage - The ship's mage is the most powerful arcane spellcaster other than the primary helmsman, and often serves as backup helmsman when necessary.
• Ship's cleric - The ship's cleric is the most powerful priest not currently powering the spelljammer, and often serves as backup helmsman when necessary.
• Ship's spellmaster - The ship's spellmaster is usually the most powerful spellcaster onboard regardless of class.
• Navigator - The navigator is responsible for long-distance movement and tactics and maintains the ship's star charts.
• Quartermaster - The quartermaster is responsible for a ship's supplies, including food, air, and weapons.

Maneuverability class

A ship's Maneuverability Class (MC) refers to its tactical maneuverability, which is determined in part by its rating, by its hull design, the materials used in its construction and the various control devices available, including sails, oars, fins, etc. (generally referred to as the ship's rigging). In general, the most agile ships are the most graceful, especially the elegant designs of the elves, while the most sluggish are typically sea vessels that have been converted into spacecraft. Spelljammer maneuverability classes are rated from A to F, with A being the most maneuverable. An F-rating indicates that a particular ship is below the standard expected of most spaceworthy ships, and is usually a converted sea craft with minimal modifications which will be outclassed by craft specifically designed for space travel.

Power type

The principal method of travelling through wildspace is by means of spelljamming - the collection and conversion of magical or some other mystical energy into motive force. The most common method is through the use of a spelljamming helm, though other devices or engines are also used. The dwarves rely on their forges to propel their great stone citadels, while the beholders use a mutated version of their own species, known as an orbus, to power their own ships. The mind flayers in turn have developed their own series helms to power their nautiloids. Most helms and other magical engines have limitations on how large or how small a mass they can move. This, in turn, sets a limit on the size of most space vessels. A ship can have multiple power sources; however, the one that is currently in-use is the primary power source, while all others are considered backups. Only one power source can be in use at any one time. A ship without power is adrift and is unable to control its motion.

Armament

A ship's Armament usually consists of heavy weapons developed from terrestrial siege machines and large naval weapons, and can include a variety of rams, catapults, ballistae, jettisons, trebuchet, and scorpions. Bombards and other "cannon" are also available, though they are fairly rare throughout the Known Spheres. All standard ships are designed to carry at least one large weapon. Each additional weapon added beyond the standard loadout takes up cargo space, and the total number of weapons added cannot exceed half the ship's total tonnage.

Cargo space

A ships Cargo Space encompassess the total amount of stuff a ship can carry. Each "ton" of a ship's displacement reflects 50 cubic yards (or 1,350 cubic feet or 38 cubic meters) of internal space that may be used to carry cargo. The remaining space is utilised by the crew, the ship's armament and other necessities. For each large weapon added to a ship over and above its standard armament, one ton of cargo space is lost to the weapon's mounting as well as its ammunition.

Armor rating

All ship's have an Armor Rating (AR) which is determined by the shape of their hull and the materials used in their construction, and is a measure of how difficult it is for an attacker to cause significant damage to the ship. In general, small, light ships have poor armor ratings, whereas large, heavier-built ships have excellent armor ratings, having traded maneuverability for protection.

In addition, the materials used in the construction of a ship's hull determine how well they fair against various types of attack, including magic. Most ships are constructed of wood, though there are instances of ship's being constructed of stone or metal, as well as ceramic, leather, bone and even glass strengthened with glassteel spells.

Hull dimensions

Keel length

The Keel Length (KL) is the long dimension or major axis of a ship, usually but not always measured along the ship's keel. This determines the long dimension of the ship's gravity plane.

Beam length

The Beam Length (BL) is the width of a ship, measured at its widest point but not including any oars, poles or sails that may widen the ship without effectively contributing to its tonnage.

Height

The vertical Height of each deck should measure at least 10 feet in height (double that for giant-sized creatures). Thus the minimum height of a three deck ship, excluding masts and other deck furniture, would be at least 30 feet.

Ship modifications

A ship's captain may choose to improve their vessel's armor rating or maneuverability. Such improvements are cumulative, though they can be self-defeating. A ship can be topped out, stripped and plated at the same time, for a net increase in maneuverability by 1, a reduction in armor by 1, and will require one and a half times its minimum crew to operate effectively. Most captains would prefer their ship perform one task well, rather than many tasks poorly.

Topping out

To improve a ship's maneuverability and handling, a captain may decide to add to or "top out" a vessel's rigging, be it sails, balloons, oars, outriggers etc. Topping out a ship's rigging improves a ship's maneuverability class by one, but requires additional crew to operate, increasing the ship's minimum crew requirement by half, meaning that if a vessel required a crew of 10 to operate effectively, the same ship with improved rigging would now require a crew of 15. Topping out rigging can only be applied once to a ship, and can be used to offset the effect of plating.

Stripping

To improve a ship's maneuverability and handling, a ship's captain may decide to remove or "strip" non-essential weight out of a ship's hull. Stripping a ship improves its maneuverability class by one but reduces its armor rating by 2. A ship with an armor rating of 9 or worse cannot be stripped, nor can a ship with an adamantite or mithril hull. A ship can only be stripped once.

Increased thickness

To improve a ship's ability to sustain damage, the hull of a ship may be strengthened by adding additional layers of the original material the hull is constructed of. This effectively improves the ship's armor rating by one step while reducing its cargo capacity by 20%. A ship with a cargo capacity less than one "ton" or with an effective armor rating of 4 or better cannot have its hull thickened. A ship can only have its hull thickened once.

Plating

To improve a ship's ability to sustain damage, the outer surface of a ship's hull may be plated with a stronger material, usually with metal plates or scales. This effectively improves the ship's armor rating by one step while degrading its maneuverability class by one. It is fairly obvious to any observer that a particular ship has been plated, and a ship can only be plated once.

Stronger materials

A ship's owner may choose to completely overhaul and reconstruct their ship using different (and presumably stronger materials), including metal, glassteel, stone, thicker wood etc. While this does not affect the ship's armor rating or maneuverability class in any way, it does improve the ship's ability to withstand particular forms of damage.

Thinning

To improve a ship's capacity to carry cargo, the thickness of the hull may be reduced and some of the internal bracing removed. While this process does improve the available cargo space by 20%, it also reduces the ship's armor rating by 1, making it vulnerable to attack. Thinning a ship's hull is only possible if there is enough material available, meaning that a thin wooden hull is not a viable candidate for this process. In addition, a ship under 5 tons, or with an armor rating of 10, cannot undergo this process, nor can a ship with a hull made of adamantite or mithril. A ship's hull can only be thinned once.

Gutting

Gutting a ship means removing most of the interior bulkheads, cabins, and internal bracing, usually in an effort to improve a ship's capacity to carry cargo. While this process may increase the available cargo space by 75%, it also reduces the ship's armor rating by 2, making it particularly vulnerable to attack. Altering a ship's internal structure in such a way will not be apparent to a casual observer and will not affect a ship's overall tonnage (i.e. its displacement). A ship can only be gutted once, and ship's hull made of adamantite or mithril cannot be gutted at all. Gutting a ship costs 100 gp per ton and requires a minimum of 1 day per 10 tons to complete.

Appendix

See also

• A list of all the standard hull types found across the Known Spheres.
• A list of named spelljamming ships across the Known Spheres.
• A list of standard armaments found on spelljamming ships.

External Links

• Spelljammer article at the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.