Mechanik’s Union

As the use of technology rises throughout the Iron Kingdoms, it is undeniable that armor is not only thickening, but becoming tougher and tougher to get through. Steam Armor, Warcasters, and even ‘Jacks are becoming more frequently seen prowling through Immoren searching for fortune and mischief, and with such daunting targets, sometimes it takes alittle more power behind a bullet to take the enemy down.

Plate Puncher Ammunition is a highly specialized type of ammp designed to do just as it says, punch its way through plate armor, steel, and even ‘Jacks. Physically, the ammunition is a serricsteel projectile in a brass sabot casing, which means it must be paired with a breechlock mechanism. The round its self is shaped in an odd fashion, the tip a long, thin, tapered point, which ends in a broad, flat surface, much like a thumbtack. This shape makes an initial, concentrated point of impact against a hard target, then follows it up with a full punch of blunt force, inverting the material and forcing a puncture. Because of the immense amount of force needed to punch through steel, and the tremendous amount of pressure needed to fire the round effectively, this ammunition can only be fired from a long rifle, military rifle, or similar rifled firearm with a length of more then 3 feet.

When attacking a living target with an Armor Bonus of +7 more, or a mechanical construct, increase the Critical Multiplier of the weapon by 2 and the Threat Range by 1, on top of the additional +3 equipment damage bonus the round gives to the damage dice of the weapon it’s fired from. For example, a Cygnaran ranger rolls a 18 for attack against a Menite light warjack with a Military Rifle. Not only does he roll 2d8+3 for damage, but he increases his Critical Multiplier from x3 to x5.

There are two drawbacks to the great advantages of this specialized ammunition. Because of the unique, yet un-aerodynamic shape of the round, users incur a -2 penalty to attack.  Secondly, these rounds are very expensive; not only does the serricsteel material require the secret, Rhulic knowledge to forge it, but the added requirement of using sabot shells multiplies the original cost of the round by 10. Because of this, this ammunition is very rare, and is recommended for more experienced adventures, fighting very high priority targets.

Ammunition Cost:

Initial Weapon Ammo: 8-12 G

Serricsteel Plate Puncher Ammo: +10 G

Sabot Casing: x10

Projected cost per round: 180-280 G

*Note:  Because of the nature of the materials, these rounds also ignore hardness up to 15/Serricsteel.

With the increasing need of cutting edge technology for the Rhulic mercenaries and contracted forces of the Hammerfall Highshields, the master gunsmith Glenrock Copperfist answers the call of one of their soldier’s biggest concerns; dealing with large, rushing mobs of targets.Whether they be angry human peasants or Cryx Thralls, taking apart waves from a distance isn’t a problem with double rifles and ranking fire, but once the enemy gets within striking range, it became quite a struggle to hack away at ripping claws and gnashing teeth with only hand axes. So, instead of trying to reinvent his kin’s melee weapons, Glenrock sought to improve the use of their shields.

The Copperfist Riot Shield is a Masterwork Rifleman’s Bulwark fitted with an extremely short range, wide bore cannon. Instead of firing a projectile like other shield guns, however, an over-sized blasting cap is used to send a concussive wave of pressure out of the barrel, which is used to knock opponents off of their feet. Mechanically, the stout blasting chamber is set just over the forearm of the user, with a rotating handle that slides open a breech at the top of the cannon. A thick, puck-shaped, prepackaged charge of blasting powder is then set into the chamber, which must then be rotated back into its closed position, thus arming the offset trigger. Reloading takes a Craft (Demo) check (DC 12) and 1 full round action.

Because of the unique nature of the weapon, the Riot Shield requires Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Riot Shield) to use it properly. Untrained individuals have suffered serious injuries using them, and many have ended up flat on the ground after using one for the first time. Non-proficient use of this weapon causes the normal -4 penalty to bash attacks, but the user must also make a Strength check (DC16) or suffer 1d6 bludgeoning damage as well as be knocked prone. The trade off, however, is that an attack with the shield is rolled as a Melee Touch attack, and the target must make a Strength check (DC 16) or be knocked back 5 feet and prone. When combined with a charge and/or Bull Rush, the check increases (DC 18).

Components:

Masterwork Rifleman’s Bulwark – 190 G

Concussion Chamber – 375G

Loading and Trigger Assembly – 125G

Concussion Charge – 25G Each

Utilizing a rare arcane invocation similar to the more common incantation for creating a billowing fog bank over a small area, this convergence engine produces a obscuring mist effect in a 100ft radius cloud which reaches 20ft high. Mounted like a small backpack, this engine has two large mechanikaly conduited  exhaust flues extending above the bearers shoulders. Between these pipes and the Convergence Engine Housing is mounted a Cabalic Crucible in which a flask of Muting Mist must be installed for the engine to function effectively.

The cloud spreads to its full extend of 100ft by 20ft within 5 rounds [expanding its radius at a rate of 20ft per round and its height at a rate of 5ft per round] and lasts for 5 minutes from activation. The cloud moves with the center of effect on the engine itself at a rate of 10ft per round. Each use of the engine draws 1 charge from a standard accumulator. When the engine is switched off or runs out of fuel, the obscuring mist effect disperses at the same rate as it formed. During this time the cloud remains in the position it was when the engine shut down, and no longer follows the center of effect. The cloud is effected by wind conditions and burning off just as an obscuring mist would be, it also does not function underwater.

These engines have appeared a number of times, mainly amongst military shock troops or elite mercenary units specialising in assaults. As a squad bearing one of these engines and outfitted with Mist Piercer Goggles becomes a lethal fighting force indeed. There are even rumors circulating in the forces near occupied Llael that alchemists with a more psychotic bent have added gaseous inhaled poisons and toxins to the Muting Mist alchemical which these engines use, making the blinding mist they gout out into a choking cloud of death.

Components:-

• Convergence Engine Housing – 300gp
• Charge Socket – 200gp
• Cabalic Crucible – 950gp
• Cloud Venting System – 800gp
• Etched Plate [morning mist*] – 1850gp
• Mechanical Trigger -  200gp

Total: 4300gp

not including the five uses of Muting Mist or Standard Accumulator

*Dragon Magazine #309

This nifty little pile of cogs was the brainchild of a brilliant yet deranged Mechanist living out of Five Fingers and the land around the Bay of Stone in the years before the great Khadoran push into the Gnarls. It compacts the functions of a optical conversion engine and mobile observation device into one neat inconspicuous package. Namely it appears to be an ordinary, if slightly large and heavy bowler or stove-pipe hat. Only on activation does a quartet of barrel lenses extend from the nominal front of the hat, and eight articulated spider-like metal legs extend from the interior. Based it seems of a few recovered scraps of Vasily Jasenov’s notebooks recovered over a lifetimes searching, this device only truly comes into its own when possessed by a skilled Mechanist.

*costs not including ‘true air’ gas and light accumulator.

This little servitor can unfold into a spider-like form, in which it can scuttle and climb on its eight metal legs at a base speed of 20ft. However on command or via the prompting of a Mechanist, it can deploy a tough rubberized balloon that is inflated via a pressurized canister containing an alchemical mixture similar to ‘true air’ found in concussion grenades. This allows for 5 hours on sustained lift before it is exhausted. Each refill costs 50gp+ or requires a DC 25 Craft: alchemy check to create with access to a Alchemists Lab.

The balloon expands from the hats lining and hence flips the servitor over,  each of its articulated legs can lock halfway along the joint into a small propeller-like prop. Additionally the eight legs can all turn in tandem as their base rotates left or right at speed, creating the propulsion required to raise or lower the device. Using these limbs it can maintain a steady position, ascend, descend or to slowly drift to another one at a base speed of 10ft. However wind conditions above moderate make this form of locomotion impossible. While in this reversed position, the servitor can aim its barrel of scopes in a 90 degree arc along its axis and realign using its propellers to observe anything below it.

This servitor also possesses a compact convergence engine at its very apex, which can be activated manually, or by a Mechanist possessing the servitor via Omnipresence.  The effects it is able to produce for the servitor is Arcane Sight and Invisibility at basic caster level and duration. The ocular lenses it uses to ‘see’ are cannibalized from a high powered telescope which has been conduited into the output matrix of the convergence engine, allowing the servitor to double the effective range of  its own dark-vision as well as the Arcane Sight effect.

This servitor has the same stats as a mite servitor of its size, saving that the gasbag it uses to float is very vulnerable to attack, more than 5 points of piercing or slashing damage directed at the gasbag will rupture the rubberized skin and cause the servitor to plummet to the ground within 1d4 rounds.

Tiny Construct (Servitor): CR 1/2; HD 1/2d10, hp 5; Init +3; Spd 20 ft.; AC 15, touch 13, flat-footed 12; Base Atk +2, Grp -6; Atk claw +2 melee (1d2+1 piercing); Full Atk 1 claw +2 melee (1d2+1 piercing); SA –; SQ Darkvision 60 feet, Construct traits, Servitor traits; AL neutral; SV Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +0; Str 10, Dex 16, Con –, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 1.

Often as not firearms in Iron Kingdoms, while being iconic and flashy are, rules wise, a crossbow that takes a skill check to reload and grabs the party gold faster than the dwarven rogue. So I have experimented with giving firearms in the Kingdoms a benefit which makes their use and proliferation make some sort of sense rather than have everyone use the far less expensive and equally dangerous bows and crossbows. Namely the ability to ignore base AC [aka non-magical AC bonus] and a reworking the proficiency rules.

Proficiencies:-

• simple firearms such as pistols, pin locks and the like are usable by any class except Barbarians, Druids and Monks. (just including basic classes here)

• martial firearms such as carbines, long rifles, military rifles etc, are usable by Fighters, Rangers, Paladins and so on. Rogues get long rifles and carbines.

• exotic firearms such as the clockwork pistols, radliffe firestorm, chain-gun etc require the exotic weapon prof. feat to use effectively.

Penetration:-

• pistols, hand guns or anything of similar firepower can ignore the base AC given by light armor unless the armors description says otherwise.

• carbines & rifles can ignore the base AC given by light and medium armor unless the armors description says otherwise, they can also ignore the first layer of light or sparse cover such as thin wood, foliage, plasterboard walls etc. [although this doesn't help you hit if you still cant see what your aiming at].

• heavy or exotic weapons such as cannons, chain-guns and other large ordinance ignore all base AC unless the armors description says otherwise. Ignores all but the most solid of cover.

The only issue I’ve come across so far is how to deal with natural armor, mostly I have treated natural armor as medium armor for the purposes of penetration unless its obvious that you’d need some serious heavy ordinance to ignore the targets natural armor, or if such is impossible due to it being made out of solid rock or something similar.

I found that this encouraged players to use cover and go prone during firefights rather than stand around sucking up bullets, provoking a more realistic firefight scenario. Plus, the Damage Resistance given by the greatcoats suddenly made a bit more sense.

I may have to think about the sort of damage a load of bullets punching through armor would cause to such items eventually, but that’s for another time.

First developed in 592 AR by a pioneering mechanik and pirate sailing out of Five Fingers, this handy little device was a stopgap for the sea-dog with less limbs than sense. Tired of hauling out those he had outfitted with mechanikal replacement limbs every time one fell into the drink, this mechanik developed a variation of the ever popular punch piston design. Incorporating additional expansion chambers and pumps for compression, a spool of metal cable attached to a powerful clockwork spring-coil, reflexive wrist-locking mechanisms and solid metal ratchet locks for the fingers.

With this mechanikal addition to a prosthetic arm, the wearer may charge the compression pumps and launch the arms hand as a full round action upon making a DC 15 Concentration check. The hand can shoot up to 40ft in the desired direction, and automatically attempts to clamp and lock onto whatever it hits. The wearer of the prosthetic arm may as a free action will the hand to unlock, however rewinding it back into the arm requires a standard action which provokes an attack of opportunity.

If the wielder is using the arm to winch themselves towards whatever object the hand has attached itself to, the speed at which the rewinding occurs depends on the characters weigh, for example a standard action for light or no encumbrance and a full round action for medium encumbrance, heavily encumbered characters are usually to much for the clock-coil spring to handle, unless a more powerful motor is installed into such a device by a mechanik who knows his gear-stuff, then the character will likely just have to climb the cable.

Since its invention and spread through the Fingers steamshops, many adventurous sorts have found other uses for this ‘handy’ extension of their mechanikal limbs. With a DC 18 Concentration check, the wielder of a Grapple Hand may used it as a ranged attack dealing 1d8 damage on a successful hit. In addition to clobbering their opponents from a relatively safe distance, a skilled user might even try immobilizing them as the more common wrist harpoon is want to do by grabbing them in its crushing grip. This action required a DC 18 Concentration check and is subject to the usual attacks of opportunity a grapple attempt provokes, although in this case the attack would be directed at the prosthetic limb itself. As you might expect, the extended cable of the Grapple Hand means it can be used to make Trip attempts, such are subject to the usual rules for attempting a trip, but in the case of this device, the wielder cannot avoid being tripped in turn by dropping the Grapple Hand. Use of the Grapple Hand as a weapon in this manner without the traditional -4 penalty to attack rolls requires an Exotic Weapon Proficiency: grapple hand.

Although not in the original design blueprints, a few other like minded bodgers have added their own innovative modifications to this device. One of which bulks up the arm considerably by adding a second launching device and cable spool, resembling a small harpoon projecting from the rear of the prosthetic arms elbow.  This addition can be launched as part of the full round action as mentioned above, increasing the concentration check by +3, or on its own with a DC 15 Concentration check. If the harpoon section and the hand section of this modified device are attached to solid objects, the wielder of the prosthetic arm may use it as a rip line. This modification does however have its drawbacks, removing the harpoon from a solid object requires a DC 20 strength check, which can prove fatal if the wielder of the prosthetic arm would like to be elsewhere fast.

The Grapple Hand is not a precise instrument and as such is not of much use for grabbing fine or delicate items from across a room, even if it where to get hold of them its powerful grasping action would likely crush the item it was trying to retrieve.

Exotic Weapon – Grapple Hand:

• Damage – 1d8 x3 [bludgeoning]
• Damage additional harpoon – 1d4 x3 [piercing]
• Range – 40ft
• Special – passive +2 to all climb checks when hand is retracted
• Hit Points – +2 (+4 for  rip-line device)
• Cost – 1500 gp

{-500 gp if the arm already has a Punch Piston installed, in which case the Grapple Hand replaces the Punch Pistons function, +1000 for rip-line device]

SCARAB (South Carolina Area Roleplayers and Boardgamers) is an annual gaming convention held in Columbia, South Carolina. The first convention is scheduled for January 2011. SCARAB was founded in November 2009 by Columbia area gaming enthusiasts to promote gaming in the local community.

The convention encompasses many genres of gaming including role-playing games (RPGs), board games, card games,collectable card games (CCGs), miniature wargaming, strategy games, and many others. SCARAB features games in both tournament and open gaming formats, as well as a vendor’s area.

Website: www.s-c-a-r-a-b.com

News

Mar 1, 2010

Looking for writers and artists

We want to make our Convention booklet different from the rest. We’ll have all the standard stuff of course, but not only are we looking for advertisers; we are looking to publish short stories, poems and artwork from the community at no cost to the artists. This is your chance to get your work published and circulated to hundreds of people and companies in the gaming world. Keep checking back for more details. 

Feb 21, 2010

SCARAB now on Facebook

Check out our fan page on Facebook. Keep up to date with what is going on with the convention planning and chat with our hardworking staff. 

Feb 11, 2010

The Second and Third annual conventions have dates and venues.

We are pleased to announce that we have booked the Scottish Rite Convention Center in Columbia, SC to host the second and third SCARAB events on Martin Luther King weekends of January 2012 and 2013. Each of these events will be 4 day events. Continue to check back on this website for more information.  

Feb 1, 2010

The first annual convention has a date and a venue.

We are pleased to announce that we have booked the Scottish Rite Convention Center in Columbia, SC to host the very first SCARAB event on the weekend of January 14th through the 16th of 2011. This first event will be a three day event, but we hope in the future to make this a four day event. 

Mission Statement

To support the roleplaying and boardgaming community and industry by hosting an annual convention that brings gamers together in the spirit of competition and fellowship. Thanks,
SCARAB

Prepaying for your room has a huge benefit. If you book the hotel room online at Magnuson Hotels website within the next couple of weeks you can get your room for [color=#FF0000]$47.20 [/color]per night for a single king or two double beds or [color=#FF0000]$52 [/color]a night for a single king or two double bed suite. Conditions are [u]you have to prepay for the room and there is no refund[/u]. This makes the price of the room for the entire weekend less than the price of one night at just about all of the other cons in the whole of the southeast.[i] If you’re planning on coming to SCARAB, you’re crazy if you miss this opportunity![/i]

[b]Don’t miss our Iron Kingdoms RPG Tournament![/b]

As ‘Jack warfare becomes more frequent, the brilliant minds that create these machines are constantly innovating new tactics and equipment for battlefield victory. One of the most valuable abilities a ‘Jack can offer however, is to simply leave one of its hands open so it may perform grappling or throwing attacks. Although many designs call for turning an entire ‘Jack arm into a weapon, attaching a weapon to the forearms of a ‘jack and keeping its hand free is becoming a more common practice. From the Kodiak’s armored fists, the Mangler’s punching dagger, and even the terrifying new Cygnaran Cyclone’s chain guns, mounting weapons without sacrificing a Jack’s fists gives it’s wielder a tactical upper hand (pun intended).

The Pile Driver utilizes this principle, and besides it’s already impressive ability to punch through steel, turns a rather utilitarian looking device into a devastating weapon, as well as offering a ‘Jack more options or special attacks to choose from.

In short, the Pile is a long, tempered steel spike attached to a large steam piston assembly and armored in a plate housing. Much like the Khadoran Marauder, the system is powered directly by the Jack’s engine via thick armored hoses connecting to the rear of the piston. When activated, the spike travels a very short distance with great acceleration, and in most cases, can  punch a perfectly clean hole through serric armor. Instead of replacing the entire arm, however, the assembly is specially mounted onto the forearm of the ‘jack with a custom heavy duty frame.

Stats:

• Size- Large
• Damage- 3d10 +4
• Type- Peircing
• Critical- x3
• Special- After a successful melee Slam attack, immediately make a second attack as a free action and hit automatically (I.e. feat: Bayonet Charge). This attack ignores hardness.
• Special- After making a successful Grapple attack or check, immediately roll a second attack. If successful, this attack ignores hardness.

While having one of these weapons on a ‘Jack is beneficial, mounting two of these weapons (one on each arm) grants devastating abilities.

Critical Gore: After resolving a full round attack on a living creature,  the target must make a DC18 Fort save. If failed, the target suffers ongoing 1d8 bleeding damage (DC 16 heal check).

Critical Steam Bleed: After resolving a full round attack on a Warjack, the target must make a DC18 Fort Save. If failed, the target suffers a cumulative -2 penalty to attack, damage, and AC  (DC 18 Craft Mechanika).

Installment:

• 3500G Pile Driver assembly/ 1750G, Exp 89, DC22
• 300G Engine Coupling mod/ 150G, Exp 20, DC20
• 200G Mounting bracket/ 100G, Exp 15, DC15
• Weight- 180lbs each complete system.

As the Dwarves of Rhul settle themselves in the lands of men, word of their military expertise and ingenuity spread as well. It’s rare to see a dwarf that is both skilled and humble, so when a fine Rhulic weapon design is improved upon, word gets out fast.

One example of this is the Copperfist Entry Rifle. While most human riflemen in the Iron Kingdoms are trained as scouts, snipers or assassins, the Rhulfolk tend to take a different approach. Like the Hoplites of our time, units such as the Hammerfall High Sheild Gun Corps utilize solid defense and harrowing offense to deal with their problems, their bulwark shields and double barreled serric rifles working with deadly accuracy on the battlefield.

The Copperfist Rifle however, is designed for close quarters and urban environments, when one doesn’t always have the benefit of a shield-walled platoon. Essentially a shortened yet heavier version of its original cousin, the Entry Rifle is a +1 Breech Lock Sound Burst Double Barreled Serric Rifle (it’s a mouthfull, isn’t it?) capable of making devastating surprise round attacks.

Components include:

• Hammerfall Rifle
• 2 +1 Enhancement Rune Plates
• 1 Sound Burst Rune Plate
• Conduits
• Accumulator Socket
• Heavy Accumulator
• 2 Breech Lock Mechanisms

Stats Include:

• Range- 120 ft
• Weight- 18 lbs
• Length- 3’1″
• Damage- 2d8 (per barrel) + 1d8 Force
• Crit- 19 – 20 x 2
• Effects- Stun (Fort DC 16)
• Reload- 1 Standard (per barrel)

Despite it’s weight (A single +1 rune plate is needed for each barrel, while only 1 Sound Burst plate is needed for the effect), the heavy accumulator needed to power it, and the diligent maintenance needed to clean a breech lock and it’s sabot rounds, the owner of a Copperfist Entry Rifle can literally be the proverbial “SWAT Dwarf” of the IK world.

This doesn’t fit any Mechanika categories, and I apologize if this is inappropriate, but I have to ask…

I’m just getting into IK here in Seattle after years with DnD.  Anybody playing IK here in Seattle, WA?

Hello!

I’m a french master of Iron Kigdom’s world..?  We are few. Sometimes i feel like i’m the lone cause everything about IrK are so rare in the OldWorld

So

I want to ask all your’s authors and you if they allow me to translate and post this translated creation in my own Irk site in construction

Please, dont leave my heroic players in the shadow of the knowless..

sorry for my poor english.. it’s hard for a gobber to learn you Old’tongue

 

We’ve all seen the “Sharpshooter” feat in the Iron Kingdoms book, and I’m sure we’ve all wondered why a Rifleman or trained sharpshooter can’t take a potshot of someone who moves into their line of fire. It works in the real world. In fact, it works so well, they even have a name for it. Cygnaran Long-gunners and Khadoran Widowmakers alike call it “Overwatch.”

So, in the name of “quasi-realism,” I developed a fairly high-level Feat to allow characters a functional overwatch-style shooting technique. It even works outside the Iron Kingdoms, but that’s not important right now.

Overwatch:

Req: Dex 17+, Combat Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Far Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Sharpshooter, Weapon Focus (with ranged weapon), BAB +10

A character with a ranged weapon who has not moved this round may make a number of additional Attacks of Opportunity equal to their Dex bonus.  The attacks can be used against any target that enters an area within their front facing line-of-sight with that weapon within its first range increment. The character may only take a the full number of Attacks of Opportunity in one round if they are using a weapon that can make multiple attacks in a single round. The character may only make one attack against a single target and must have clear line of sight to the target when they make the attack. Range and cover modifiers are applied normally against this attack.

Opinions are welcome, your milage may vary, offer not valid in all areas, local laws and regulations still apply.

You need:

•  Anti-Grav engine(see below)
• Masterwork Warhammer
• 3 rune plates: 1.+5 enhancement 2.Energy burst(level 5) 3.Concussion blast(level 5)
• Field Generator (cost like an arcantrix engine with 3 level 5 spells)
• mechanical trigger
• 4 conduits

Anti-Grav engine

• engine housing
• 3 rune plates: 1. Energy blast(lvl 5) 2. Containing Field(lvl 5) 3. see magic
• reflective arcane matrix
• alchemical goggles
• heavy hybrid socket
• 5 conduits

Stats:

Damage(M): 1d8 X 3

Critical: X3

Weight: 25 lb

Type Bludgeoning

Special:

When pushing the trigger, the containing field will cease to exist. When you will hit something which makes 1d8 X 5 of damage (instead of 3) + 3d8 of pure energy (don’t apply any DR or resistance to the hit) and the target is thrown 5 ft X strenght modifier. If there is a wall the damages are multiplied by 15 (no DR) and use the result of a d20+Attack bonus against the hardness of the wall if the result exceeds by 5 or more the target is thrown through the wall if the check result is 5 under the “DC” the  wall cracks. In all cases the target is stun or unconsious (DM’s choice)

What makes it go up? Rune plates of levitate. Each rune plate individually lacks the power to lift the whole ship (they are created a Caster level 3 to keep math simple and nix permanent hit point loss for creating 200+ exp items) each plate contributes to lifting 300lbs

The construction of one of the rune plates would require a wizard (or other class of caster) with scribe scroll and etch rune plate. They cost 1,650gp in materials and 132exp and 3 days to create.

However: the spell harnessed by the rune plate is power hungry, every five minutes of operation the rune plate draws a charge from its power source, you will see the dilemma soon

Displacement is a measure of how heavy a ship is sort of: its really a measure of how much water is not in the space taken up by the boat and therefore how much lighter the boat is than the water it has displaced, I will use this to calculate the number of rune plates needed to provide lift.

(For the mathematically savvy you will realize a ship is by definition lighter than its displacement, plus the air in the space held apart by the hull has a bit of something to do with buoyancy. But for the sake of argument we will assume that providing the lift to equal the ships displacement in water will provide enough force to hold the ship in the air too with enough wiggle room to mess around with a bit of extra weight here or there)

The USS Monitor (an early American Ironclad) displaced 776 tons (roughly 1,552,000 lbs) it would require 5,174 rune plates to lift (but it has a whopping 8 inches of iron plate armor…)

The USS Constellation with 1,278 tons displacement would require 8,520 rune plates to lift.

Both of these ships are prime examples of vessels available in the Iron Kingdoms.

Now we can fudge the plates a little to boost there lifting power but increase there cost dramatically or ‘GM Fudge’ the power out put of the plates for the sake of flight.

An alternate plate design calling for a casting of empowered levitate (making it a level 4 spell cast by a 7th level caster has a lifting power just over 1,000lbs [.5 tons] each of these plates would cost 7,700gp in materials + 616exp and 7 days to create.

Back to the Monitor, with its 5,174 rune plates it would need another 5,174 series conduits to link them all together 100gp + 8 exp to create each.

On to a source of power (bwa haha!)
The monitor had 2 steam engines (adequate for outrigger props but what about the rune plates?) each rune plate needs to suck up a charge ever 3 minutes (30 rounds) now comes in the arcane turbine(s) if the rune plates are linked together into banks that draw there charges at the same time (during the same round) we still need a way to generate 173 charges a round, as the rune plates are bundled into 30 sets of 173 plates; also requiring 30 mechanical triggers to start each bank Every 6 seconds another bank is turned on until all 30 banks are running and full lift is generated. Note that all 30 banks must be running at all times the rune ship is in flight, losing just one bank turns your flying ship into a 51,900 lb rock. Warcaster arcane turbines build 6 charges a round but only power 5 items we would need 21 of them just to power the rune plates or a larger arcane turbine or two (or five) LM describes larger turbines providing more charges but not being practical for warcaster armor, but we aren’t making warcaster armor we are making a Runeship.

Looking at arcane turbines I surmise the following: it generates one charge for every 1,333.3r gp + 106 exp to create in cost and they weigh 15 lbs at 6 charges but as a warcaster could easily lift 30 lbs for 12 charges/round I must assume they become weight prohibitive on a compounding scale so I would factor the weight if a player was making the turbine (probably by adding = 15 lb for ever extra charge so: [15 lb at 6 charges would be 30 lb at 7 charges and 45 lb at 8 charges ect.]

The turbines I am fitting my runeship with will be 450 lbs each there are five of them powered by two steam engines they cost 46,690 gp + 3736 exp to make. They generate 35 charges per round.

The Runeship can ascend/descend 20ft per round with the use of a control surface and there’s a single extra rune place mounted on the dead center of the keel and one amid ship on the top to provide sky ballast (a fraction of weight to pull the ship towards the earth or heavens that is neutralized by the other plate pulling in the opposite direction when/if it starts to roll on its axis. The amount of force that can be generated is 300 lbs in each direction, these plates could also be used to force the ship to roll but why would you want to do that?)

That all together creates the bare bones of a Runeship based on the Monitor
It would cost

• 233,500gp + 18,680 exp to make the arcane turbines (467,000gp to contract there construction and 56 days to make each one)
• 8,540,400 gp + 683,132 exp to make the rune plates (17,080,800 gp to contract there construction and 3 days to make each one [or 15,528 days consecutively just under 43 Iron Kingdom years for one person])
• 517,400 gp + 41,392 exp to make the series conduits connecting the rune plates to one another (1,034,800 gp to contract the construction)
• 500 gp + 40 exp to link the arcane turbines to one another with series conduits (1,000 gp to contract the construction)
• 3,000 gp + 240 exp For 30 mechanical triggers to turn the series connected rune plate banks on and off (10,000 gp to contract the construction of these)
• Control surfaces to manipulate all of the rune plates (part of the cost to link them all together)
• And the cost of the ironclad to which it is all attached. The USS monitor cost $195,000 US$ to build in 1862 the price of gold was $35 an ounce that works itself out to being 560$ / 50 gp

That works out to costing 17,410.7 gp to make the ship all the mechanika is attached to.

It took the US 4 months to make the Monitor

A player making this ship would be spending on the order of 9,312,210 gp and about 744,977 exp, it would take him/her about 18,625 days [about 51.3 years]

A nation contracting this project over a large number of workers would be spending about 18,624,420 gp

Could a nation make one? Hell yes!

Movement would be based on the props connected to the steam engines and its mass, I imagine it would move at around 16 knots (double what the monitor could pull off in the water, not factoring in wind) it would ascend descend at up to 20 ft/round (200 ft a minute)

Cargo: 15,000 cu ft

I would build it into a ship shape to allow for its already natural displacement to keep it afloat allowing one to land in rivers, lakes and what not.

It would probably have a 16 hour coal endurance (based on the Monitor and it’s endurance) fuel stores for 47,920 lbs.. When the coal runs out the arcane turbines would spin down and the ship would become a rock (unless you also added 130 heavy accumulators to power the rune plates, you would need 130 of them for every three minutes you wanted to stay aloft)