Every so often I'll explain something. Possibly to manage expectations, or possibly because the die rolls for a random encounter make me feel like might appear to have been a bit heavy handed, rather than just dealing with a bit of bad luck for you lot on the encounter charts.

You have patrons, and a rather limited opportunity to earn magic items, given the nature of space combat, and the nature of your enemies.

The fix for this is your Patron, and the Gemstone Army's armoury.

First, keep in mind: this is a small base, not HQ. What they have is limited. Probably what HQ has, as well, but for reasons you don't know.

I'm going to be hard core here and not make even slightly non standard items. That being said, there's a bit of a limited work around for that, too.

An example: Moontouched swords are as cheap a magic weapon as you will find, but they are limited to swords. Silly, right? why not a mace, or a spear, or anything else? Well, for one thing, a military armoury doesn't have that sort of variety, necessarily. Especially not a small one. For another, magic items take special formulas and special ingredients. The rare the item, the more components, and the rarer they are. Moon touched swords are limited to swords. So I'm assuming the most logical reason: the only formula known only works on swords. There are a LOT of such examples in the DMG, actually, which guides us in determining the various formulas for those items.

This does not mean you can't research a mace version, or hire someone to do so, but that's on you. It hasn't been done yet.

Also, "sword" means anything with sword in the name. Not dagger, rapier, or scimitar.

So... this lets you know some of the limits you'll face.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:30, Wed 29 Nov 2023.

I worked up an ideal list of issue items you'll receive at the Op Outsider base, eventually. However, not all items work for everyone. Not all of you use martial weapons, or can wear specific types of armor.

So, I listed the items by Rarity, then by individual. After removing what couldn't be used (Mages don't use martial weapons and/or medium armor, for instance) I started looking for replacements. In some cases I just couldn't do it, so I played around a bit more. That got me down to 2 characters at issue, so I used combinations until I got something equivalent.

"Equivalent" here means more than just rarity of item, of course. It means function, where possible, as well.

And it leaves one last issue: Just because I find it equitable doesn't mean the player in question will find it desirable. Hopefully, of course, I'm the genius I think I am and it will be quite desirable, but I'm not that delusional (usually). There are limits to what I can do given the limits established for the Armoury, of course, especially when it involves some of the items involved. (And items I do not want involved easily).

This is my approach, given the RAW on the matter. Some aspects, such as setting DC are highly subjective to the DM, of course, but sometimes the books will set them for you. I will use such if/when they apply, and do my best, otherwise.

First the DMG's difficulty chart:
DC 5 is a very easy check
DC 10 is easy
DC 15 is moderate
DC 20 is Hard. This is the limit with no training.
DC 25 is very hard. Maximum Ability is 20, which is +4. You need training to get here
DC 30 is nearly Impossible. You need training, character level 17 and a stat mod of +4 to get here

In 5e outside factors give Advantage, not a discrete bonus, so Advantage doesn't help reach  the out of reach. All it does is make the within reach numbers easier to achieve. Generally speaking, at least.

I've been asked: but what do I know about previous instances? Well, that assumes previous instances.  And that you know about them, somehow.

What you know is determined by training in the right proficiency, and what you remember of odds and ends of stories from bards and what not (which is reflected by your Int modifier). There may be the occasional class ability (Rangers' Enemies) or reference book (Sage gear) conferring Advantage, but this is just reflective of the fact what your memory is better in this instance, or you MIGHT have a passage that helps.

Of course, there has to have been a previous instance. Has there? Why? How many? Have the stories gotten to you? This is the DC. On that it's pure DM opinion, usually. Setting can have an effect, and what a groundling finds common or easy may be rare to impossible in space (like getting lost in a forest). And what is common in space might be rare to unheard of on a planet (like flying pigs).

Seriously, "When Pigs Fly" has a whole other meaning in space. Especially around halfling farmers.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:36, Wed 29 Nov 2023.

Ok, for 2e old timers, a quick update on new helms:

Series helms, minor helms, and major helms have all been combined into one item. Speed is no longer level based (it's based on ship construction, apparently), and anyone with pretty much any actual spell ability can man a Helm: Racially innate spells, even the Magic Initiate feat.

You can adjust your viewpoint to see and hear from any point in the gravity envelope generated by the helm, but you can't speak, only watch and listen, from that point. This is important, as the bridge is generally indoors and isolated from the deck. Trust me, it's better than being the primary target in ship to ship combat. But it means that you can't post to IC during helm duty, as you aren't were you can be seen or heard. Post to your private thread, and I'll work out what, if anything, gets past the walls, deck, ceiling, and door of the bridge room for others to notice and respond to. Gem dragonborn have a minor advantage here, Thri-Keen a major one.

The Helm is an Attuned item, so anyone that already has 3 attuned items will have to unattune one, which can be a bit of a pain to keep doing. Best just to settle for 2 items. Attunement can be passed in 1 action by touch. The books says touching a willing recipient, but I prefer having both spelljammers touching the helm being passed (willing is still a requirement for both involved). That just makes more sense to me. Call it a House Rule. Otherwise you could be passing control of a helm that's a mile away. That doesn't make sense.

Anyone can read a Protection Scroll. (Not, however, a spell scroll with a Protection from xxx spell on it)

Spell scrolls can be read if they are on your class list.

So.. that leaves feats and racial spells. As the game is in transition between editions 5 and 6, and in a sort of 5.5 limbo as things are changing, especially regarding spells from feats., I'm going to allow any racial spell or feat spell actually known to be used form a scroll, but, even in the case of races with options (Gnomes, Astral Elves, etc) not spells that are not known.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, or, at best, only half right, but the transition is still somewhat guess work. Still, it works well enough.

In the old days of SJ2e you went out to the farthest edge of a solar system and encountered the shell of the crystal sphere that was the container of the system. You opened a passage and went into the phlogistron (sp?) which was cut off from everything. Eventually you arrived at a new shell, opened it, and went in.

Now you kind of get to an area where space gets wonky (probably about the same distance out but it's really been left to the DM) and you kind of slip into Astral. Then you go for a color pool to the new system that's big enough to handle your ship, and slip into that system. Where, again, is left up to the DM.

While in the Astral, all normal rules for the Astral apply...except where they don't, which is generally in the gravity field generated by an active spelljamming helm. Mostly it means you can't fly by will alone in the gravity well, and everyone moves with the ship, hence, together at one speed.

Presumably gravity works as in wildspace on those dead god bodies folks live in and on (I'm assuming a lot of free flying is missing there, too). A lot of things don't work: Biology, for one. That's why elves and gith are born and raised in wildspace. I'm not sure that fire burns well enough to matter to a smith, but smithing seems to get done anyhow. Probably. It might be done on those wildspace colonies, actually. Again, left up to the DM.

In theory you shouldn't be able to heal (naturally, that is. Spells would work), but we pretend not to notice that little contradiction.