Dominion Ships

Each of the divine dominions has between five and a dozen specially designed astral skiffs, astral clippers, and astral schooners to use for important missions and military expeditions. Life in the Plane Above is not always a grim contest for survival, so dominion ships are also frequently used by the exalted for trading, sightseeing, and joyriding. The craft used by the vari­ous dominions look extremely different from each other. Use the given advantages to customize the sta­tistics for the clipper, schooner, or skiff. Dominion ships aren’t precious simply because they look good, but rather because they allow the exalted of a particular dominion to travel the Astral Sea and still benefit from their dominion’s resurrec­tion power. The dominion ships tap into the Astral Sea’s memory of the original Lattice of Heaven. Each dominion ship extends the resurrecting power of the dominion to an exalted who dies onboard or within 100 yards of the craft. The exalted are not resur­rected on the ship, but return to life back in their god’s dominion. Death on a dominion ship isn’t taken lightly, however, because it is harder on the soulforms than death in the deity’s dominion. The rituals that power and enchant dominion ships are centrally controlled from the divine domin­ion. If enemies take a ship, its magic will be revoked, leaving it to drift as a powerless hunk of well-crafted wood and metal.



SHIPS OF THE DOMINIONS Each group of dominion ships has a slight mechanical advantage that can be used to modify the statistics of a specific ship. In addition, all dominion ships carry their dominion’s energy affinity, so that, for example, those aboard Hestavar’s dominion ships (radiance affinity) gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with radiant attacks and deal half damage with necrotic attacks. ARVANDOR Arvandor’s graceful craft are among the swiftest ships of the Astral Sea. Corellon and Sehanine com mand a fleet of between eight and a dozen ships. Advantage: The craft gains speed +4 when at least one crew member spends an action to sail it.  Typical Names: Names follow either elven sim¬plicity or eladrin elegance. Known ships include Arrow of the Court, Broadleaf, Crater Maker, Falcon, and Homeward Spiral. BANE Bane’s forces send far too many ships into the Shrap¬nels (page 59) and beyond to use dominion ships exclusively, especially since invasions and most mili¬tary actions require larger ships. Encountering Bane’s dominion ships is a sign that something serious is afoot. Compared to other dominion ships, Bane’s ships tend to sacrifice speed for the ability to carry more marines for boarding actions or landings.



Advantage: +25 percent crew capacity (but -2 to overland flight speed). Typical Names: Fist of Iron, Orcslayer, Slaughter, Tuern’s Remorse. CELESTIA Celestia’s ships blend the solidity of Moradin’s moun¬tains with Kord’s storm magic and roosts for Bahamut’s dragons. The size of Celestia’s small fleet varies wildly: Moradin’s workshops build new craft regularly, but the dominion’s traveling exalted veer toward the reckless side, often crashing the ships into floating objects or powerful monsters. There are anywhere between four and eighteen in service at any given moment.



Advantage: +2 bonus to all defenses, +2 to over¬land speed. Typical Names: Coldbreath, Mercy, Old Quarrel, Smoking Hammer, Stormking. GRUUMSH Missions on Gruumsh’s ramshackle dominion ships are often one-way trips. The vessels can’t always be trusted to hold together for the return trip. Even if a ship remains viable, it’s a toss-up whether the battlesworn aboard manage to get themselves killed on the craft and return to Chernoggar or head off on some other rampage, perhaps finding their way back eventually.



Advantage: When out of control, Gruumsh’s dominion ships move at full speed.  Typical Names: None—naming a ship is a fancy trick used by those who are not as strong as Gruumsh to make themselves feel better about their puny vessels. HESTAVAR The Game of Making provides Hestavar with the largest of the dominion fleets. As outlined on page 62, Erathis’s plans for reestablishing the shattered dominions require a large fleet. One advantage of Hestavar’s dominion ships is special lenses that enable those sailing in them to find Pelor’s light no matter where they are in the Astral Sea, allowing them to orient themselves toward home.



Advantage: Improved point-to-point navigation (use the next-higher row on the astral navigation chart for the trip being taken), +2 to overland speed. Typical Names: Glorious Path, Pride of Hestavar, Rising Dawn, Torch of the Morning. THE NINE HELLS The devils usually moor their hellships in Avernus or Dis. Such ships are rare—there are at most six. Asmodeus likes to use hellships because he prefers to present himself to the other dominions as a suave negotiator, and there’s nothing diplomatic or ambas¬sadorial about arriving in a clanking torture chariot. The “exalted” of the Hells are the damned, and hell’s  dominion ships are unique in that they resurrect the “exalted” riding in them quite quickly. They have to, since the screaming deaths of the damned are the only magical medium that can power the hellships. Obviously, devils are the actual masters of the hell¬ships, and just as obviously they don’t need dominion ships to get around the Astral Sea. They tend to use hellships when they want to intimidate their enemies.



Advantage: Those onboard gain a +2 bonus to Intimidate checks, and enemy boarders take a -2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends). Typical Names: Most hellships are named after the form of torture that powers the craft: Eyeball- Gouger, Chew Your Own Heart Out, and Fourfold Impaler are a few examples. TIAMAT Much as Tiamat would like to put mighty battle¬wagons with roosting spots for many dragons into the sky, her magic seems limited to creating fairly small stealth craft. Tiamat’s dominion ships have one marked advantage: They have magic foci that amplify the breath weapons of dragons that are onboard. Advantage: During each turn, one dragon onboard can double the range and area of its breath weapon. Typical Names: Ships are named after dragons that win Tiamat’s favor. A ship is never named after Tiamat herself, since ships are occasionally lost. ZEHIR Like Tiamat, Zehir has ships that are somewhat smaller than he would like. Zehir’s craft are quick and maneuverable, even for their small size.



Advantage: The craft gains speed +2 when at least one crew member spends an action to sail it. In addi¬tion, once per day, the craft can regain 25 percent of its hit points when one of its own exalted crew mem¬bers is ritually sacrificed upon it. Typical Names: Fang of Shadow, High Poison, Ren¬dered Sacrifice, Slither.





Arvandor dominion ships