Eberron: Project Skyraft
Creating Eberron Vehicles Using Infernal War Machine Rules
Vehicle Template
Below is a template converted from the vehicles found in Baldur's Gate: Descent to Avernus. The template can be used as a jumping off point for creating other drivable vehicles using the official D&D ruleset.
Vehicle Template
Size vehicle (weight lb.)
- Creature Capacity eg 1 Medium Creature
- Cargo Capacity (weight lb.)
- Armor Class AC
- Hit Points Hitpoints (damage threshold, mishap threshold)
- Speed Speed
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA Str (Mod) Dex (Mod) Con (Mod) 0 0 0
- Damage Vulnerabilities damage_vulnerabilities
- Damage Immunities poison, psychic
- Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned, unconsious
Prone Deficiency. If the vehicle falls prone, it can't right itself and is incapacitaded until pulled upright
Action Stations
Helm (Requires 1 Crew and Grants Half Cover). The Creature Name makes Number and type of attacks
Weapon Mount (Requires 1 Crew and Grants Half Cover). Attack Style: Attack Bonus to hit, Reach/Range, one target. Hit: Damage Damage Type damage
Reactions
Juke. If the Vehicle is able to move, the driver can use its reaction to grant the Vehicle advantage on a Dexterity saving throw.
The following is the statblock for one of the vehicles from Avernus, an infernal motorbike made of metal, wrought of fire, and powered by the souls of the damned. Devil's Ride is a single seater heavy motorbike. Real world bikes are on average 400lb. and we wouldn't expect them to have an Immunity to fire damage! Take this into consideration when making single seater vehicles.
Devil's Ride
Large vehicle (500 lb.)
- Creature Capacity 1 Medium Creature
- Cargo Capacity (100 lb.)
- Armor Class 23 (19 while motionless)
- Hit Points 30 (damage threshold 5, mishap threshold 10)
- Speed 120ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 14 (+2) 18 (+4) 12 (+1) 0 0 0
- Damage Immunities fire, poison, psychic
- Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned, unconsious
Jump. If the Devil's Ride moves at least 30 feet in a straight line, it can clear a distance of up to 60 feet when jumping over a chasm, ravine, or other gap. Each foot it clears on the jump costs a foot of movement.
Prone Deficiency. If the Devil's Ride prone, it can't right itself and is incapacitaded until pulled upright
Stunt. On its turn, the driver of the Devil's Ride can expend 10 feet of movement to perform one free vehicle stunt, such as a wheelie or a burnout. Before the stunt can be performed, the Devil's Ride must move at least l 0 feet in a straight line. If the driver succeeds on DC 10 Dexterity check using the bike's Dexterity, the stunt is successful. Otherwise, the driver is unable to perform the stunt and can't attempt another stunt until the start of its next turn. If the check fai ls by 5 or more, the Devil's Ride and all creatures riding it immediately fall prone as the bike wipes out and comes to a dead stop.
Action Stations
Helm (Requires 1 Crew and Grants Half Cover). Drive and steer the Devil's Ride.
Reactions
Juke. If the Vehicle is able to move, the driver can use its reaction to grant the Vehicle advantage on a Dexterity saving throw.
'Skyrafts'
Sharn, City of Towers, has a unique set of vehicles that allow its inhabitants to get around its towering verticality. Most famously are the Skycoaches, which tend to be portrayed a flying boats, filling a similar role to a bus and or a taxi. These tend to be mentioned in every official Eberron sourcebook, and are noted as being powered by levitation and flight magics which are powered up in Sharns Manifest Zone (an area enriched by a close Planar connection to Eberrons Plane of Air, Syrania, the Azure Sky.)
'Skyrafts' as the term has been coined for them appear less frequently, but most noticeably in the Eberron Graphic Novel, 'Abraxis Wren of Eberron' by Paul Crilley and Keith Baker (the creator of the setting). Skyrafts appear to be much more akin to flying cars, with the styling of 1910 dual seat vehicles, without wheels.
Sharn Skyraft
Large vehicle (1000 lb.)
- Creature Capacity 2 Medium Creatures
- Cargo Capacity 300 lb.
- Armor Class 21 (16 while motionless)
- Hit Points 50 (damage threshold 5, mishap threshold 10)
- Speed Fly 120ft. (hover)
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 14 (+2) 18 (+4) 12 (+1) 0 0 0
- Damage Vulnerabilities fire
- Damage Immunities poison, psychic
- Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned, unconsious
Manifest Zone Propulsion System. The Sharn Skyraft is held aloft by an array of Dragonshards interacting with the Manifest Zone to the plane of Syrania, the Azure Sky. If the Sharn Skyraft leaves the boundaries of Sharn or another Syrania Manifest Zone, or if its Dragonshards become compromised in some way, it loses its movement speed and may begin to fall toward the nearest source of gravity on the next turn.
Passenger Vehicle. The skyraft has one passenger seat, granting the occupant Half Cover.
Action Stations
Helm (Requires 1 Crew and Grants Half Cover). Drive and steer the Sharn Skyraft.
Reactions
Juke. If the Vehicle is able to move, the driver can use its reaction to grant the Vehicle advantage on a Dexterity saving throw.
Here I present two statblocks for Skyrafts, using the same principles in Descent to Avernus, and modelled after the vehicles seen piloted by Wren and his sidekick Torin. They appear to be twin seater, but for players I've also created a 4 seater vehicle, which might better suit a group of adventurers.
I've assumed these vehicles are made of Soarwood like the House Lyrandar Elemental Airships of Eberron, but like Skycoaches and unlike Elemental Airships they don't have a bound elemental as a power source. Instead I describe them as having a matrix of dragonshard crystals which would be imbued with levitation magic by an Artificer or Magewright of the setting.
I also have assumed them to be weaker than their Avernus 'War Machine' counterparts, as they are very light weight, they won't be as strong, but a high AC (when moving) reflects how difficult it might be to hit them when flying at full speed, combined with their innate AC while motionless.
Passenger Skyraft
Large vehicle (1500 lb.)
- Creature Capacity 4 Medium Creatures
- Cargo Capacity 600 lb.
- Armor Class 21 (16 while motionless)
- Hit Points 50 (damage threshold 5, mishap threshold 10)
- Speed Fly 120ft. (hover)
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 0 0 0
- Damage Vulnerabilities fire
- Damage Immunities poison, psychic
- Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned, unconsious
Manifest Zone Propulsion System. The Sharn Skyraft is held aloft by an array of Dragonshards interacting with the Manifest Zone to the plane of Syrania, the Azure Sky. If the Sharn Skyraft leaves the boundaries of Sharn or another Syrania Manifest Zone, or if its Dragonshards become compromised in some way, it loses its movement speed and may begin to fall toward the nearest source of gravity on the next turn.
Passenger Vehicle. The skyraft has three passenger seat, granting any occupant Half Cover.
Action Stations
Helm (Requires 1 Crew and Grants Half Cover). Drive and steer the Passenger Skyraft.
Reactions
Juke. If the Vehicle is able to move, the driver can use its reaction to grant the Vehicle advantage on a Dexterity saving throw.
Sharn Flying Machine Mishap Table (Work In Progress)
| d4 Result | Mishap | Repair DC |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dragonshard Flare. A jolt of raw magic erupts from the dragonshard matrix and catches the vehicle on fire. Any creature that starts its turn on or inside the vehicle takes 10 (3d6) fire damage until this mishap ends. | 15 (Dex) |
| 2-4 | Locked Steering. The vehicle can move in a straight line only. It automatically fails Dexterity checks and Dexterity saving throws until this mishap ends. | 15 (Str) |
| 5-7 | Power Leak. The vehicle's speed decreases by 30 feet until this mishap ends. | 15 (Int) |
| 8-10 | Weapon Malfunction. One of the vehicle's weapons (DM's choice) can't be used until this mishap ends. If the vehicle has no functioning weapons, no mishap occurs. | 20 (Str) |
| 11-13 | Matrix Rupture. The levitation magic emanating from the Dragonshard Crystal Matrix completely flips for a brief second every round until repaired. All occupants must succeed on a DC 14 Consistution saving throw, or be stunned for the duration of the round. | 15 (Int) |
| 14-16 | Soarwood Structural Damage. The vehicle's damage threshold is reduced by 10 until this mishap ends. | 15 (Str) |
| 17-19 | Shattered Stability Crystal. The vehicle buckles and rolls uncontrollably, caught by uneven swirls of levitation magic. Until the mishap ends, the vehicle has disadvantage on all Dexterity checks, and all ability checks and attack rolls made by creatures on or inside the vehicle have disadvantage. | 20 (Dex) |
| 20 | Death Spiral. The vehicle loses all propulsion, and begins to twist and turn violently in the air, plummeting toward the ground. Any unsecured creature holding on to the outside of the vehicle must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be thrown off, ejected to a random unoccupied space within 20 feet of the vehicle. Any creature inside the vehicle that does not have full cover, must also make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw, or be ejected from the vehicle in a similar fashion. If the vehicle was moving, it is caught in its own turbulence, and takes a further 10 (3d6) force damage, and must reroll on the Mishap table again. If the vehicle strikes a solid object (such as the ground!), it and any creatures inside take 1d6 bludgeoning damage (to a maximum of 20d6) for every 10 feet moved since its last turn. | None |
Mishap Tables
Avernus as a Guide
Above is a my own reflavouring of the Infernal War Machine mishap table from Descent to Avernus. Largely the results are functionally very similar to Avernus machines, you still for example get locked steering controls on a 2-4, and the vehicles damage threshold still drops by 10 when you roll a 14-16, so mechanically much of the system is aimed to be retained for now.
The purpose of this table (I believe) in Avernus is to represent Mad Max vehicles blowing up from being built by literal Devils who don't particularly care for their own safety. There's a lot of fire, explosions and flying chunks of shrapnel in that table as the vehicles disintegrate as they take more than 20 damage in a turn. This provides a suitably cinematic experience, and means these vehicles are far from reliable, but massively entertaining, and with their high AC and damage thresholds, they still survive plenty long enough to be as big of a threat as a massive metal beast would be.
As stated my Sharn flying vehicle table I have actually retained most of the functionality of the original table, and have assumed that while Sharn vehicles aren't as devilishly prone to tearing themselves apart, they are actually fragile in their own ways, and prone to all sorts of hickups if someone or something starts attacking them.
I've assumed that when attacked their levitation magic might fly wildly out of control, as the delicate balance maintained to keep them aloft is disrupted (imagine a car losing one of its wheels at high speed for example) but still this table allows drivers and passengers to roll to try to repair the things that break.
In Sharn you're likely to be hundreds of feet up, and able to have a chance to try to fix your vehicle, or bail on it, before it hits a hard surface. I have changed some of the rolls from purely Strength and Dex checks, to Intelligence. For reference, rolling a 20 assumes that flying vehicles tend to be open top in Eberron, which is why occupants roll only if they don't have full cover (or are fully inside some compartment or enclosed space of the vehicle.)
As a final note everything here is completely Work in Progress, and I actively seek feedback!
Infernal War Machine Mishap Table
| d4 Result | Mishap | Repair DC |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine Flare. Fire erupts from the 15 (Dex) engine and engulfs the vehicle. Any creature that starts its turn on or inside the vehicle takes 10 (3d6) fire damage until this mishap ends. | 15 (Dex) |
| 2-4 | Locked Steering. The vehicle can move in a straight line only. It automatically fails Dexterity checks and Dex terity saving throws until this mishap ends. | 15 (Str) |
| 5-7 | Furnace Rupture. The vehicle's speed decreases by 30 feet until this mishap ends. | 15 (Str) |
| 8-10 | Weapon Malfunction. One of the vehicle's weapons (DM's choice) can't be used until this mishap ends. If the vehicle has no functioning weapons, no mishap occurs. | 20 (Str) |
| 11-13 | Blinding Smoke. The helm station fills with smoke and is heavily obscured until this mishap ends. Any creature in the helm station is blinded by the smoke. | 15 (Dex) |
| 14-16 | Shedding Armor. The vehicle's damage threshold is reduced by 10 until this mishap ends. | 15 (Str) |
| 17-19 | Damaged Axle. The vehicle grinds and shakes uncontrollably. Until the mishap ends, the vehicle has disadvantage on all Dexterity checks, and all ability checks and attack rolls made by creatures on or inside the vehicle have disadvantage. | 20 (Dex) |
| 20 | Flip. The vehicle flips over, falls prone, and comes to a dead stop in an unoccupied space. Any unsecured creature holding on to the outside of the vehicle must succeed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be thrown off, landing prone in a random unoccupied space within 20 feet of the overturned vehicle. Creatures inside the vehicle fall prone and must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or take 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage. | None |