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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

    Join Date
    Apr 2014

    Default d20 Future(ish) Starship/Monster interaction

    I'm running a (progressively more and more altered) version of d20 Future.
    For a long time now I've been wrestling with how to handle the inevitable interaction between a starship and a large monster (e.g. dragon) or some other magic wielding "character-sized" foe (e.g. epic wizard).

    I could just role-play the interaction, but that is less interesting for my players because they can't plan. And in the current stats of a star ship there would be no contest simply because of the speed difference. A dragon, while it's defenses may make it nearly invulnerable to a fighter, and it has the damage to destroy a fighter readily-- I probably can't ever hit the fighter that can zip 500-5000ft in a turn.

    So my question is this: does anyone have any stat adjustments to enable such an encounter with some measure of balance and interaction for the PCs?
    In my mind, an Ancient or older dragon should be a fair match for most moderately sized starships, but probably will have trouble with the upper end (which by virtue of their HP alone seem to cover this).
    What do all y'all think?

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Troll in the Playground
     
    PirateGirl

    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Elemental Plane of Purple
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    Default Re: d20 Future(ish) Starship/Monster interaction

    It really depends on the size of the starship and the size of the dragon. Can the dragon board the starship or are you implying that PCs would be flying the starship into combat with a dragon? Without knowing the scope of the encounter, it's really hard to help.

    Debby
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  3. - Top - End - #3
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

    Join Date
    Apr 2014

    Default Re: d20 Future(ish) Starship/Monster interaction

    Ideally, I had been hoping for a "general" tool with which to design the encounter. Certainly, I think, in the case of a massive starship the dragon would, in fact, board it and render the issue irrelevant. In the case of a smaller ship, Light sized, for example: How to handle it?

    In general situations, I feel like it is almost solved simply be Hardness of the ships (rendering them largely immune to small arms fire, or normal monster attacks) but the ship's damage against others still doesn't quite work properly. Take a Nuke for example, 16d8 (72) damage, is not even remotely enough damage when compared to standard D&D values (90hp for a 1ft thick Masonry wall).

    There may just be no quick and easy fix for it. I certainly can't think of one, hence the asking for other opinions. The way I see it, Starship stats only work when interacting with other starships (since the actual value is irrelevant, just the relative value for balance). Likewise the values of a player on foot, or a monster like a dragon, only work with other characters at the same scale. I had hoped there might be a conversion method to let the two scales interact.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Milo v3's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Australia
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    Intersex

    Default Re: d20 Future(ish) Starship/Monster interaction

    IIRC pathfinder has space dragons in their fourth bestiary with space speeds or something similar as an ability. You could give that ability to whatever the creature battling the spaceship is.
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