Lightning Rail Engine

Colossal Vehicle

Size: 4 of 30' squares long (120' x 35'); Cost: 58,000 gp

Aura: Strong Conjuration; Caster Level: 12th;

Special Notes / Rules: Elemental Binding (air, 10-12 HD, usually a Huge Air Elemental)

Source: ECB, pg. 267

DEFENSE:

AC: 2; Hardness: 10

HP: 1,850 hp (Khyber Dragonshard 180 hp, hardness: 10)

Base Save: +6

OFFENSE:

Maximum Speed: 150'; Acceleration: 15'

Weapons: 1 Large or 1 Huge siege weapon can mounted on top of the lightning rail engine. However, bridges that cross over lightning rails usually do not give any clearance for such a weapon. Each side of a lightning rail car can hold either 6 Large siege weapons or 3 Huge siege weapons, but direct fire is restricted to the left or right sides of the lightning rail car. Indirect fire siege weapons must not be set up or otherwise able to be used into order to fit through a tunnel.

CMB: +8 (size); CMD: 18

Ramming Damage: 8d8

STATISTICS:

Propulsion: Magic (Elemental Bound)

Driving Check:

Controlling the Elemental: Intimidate (DC 20), Bluff vs. Sense Motive (+0) or Diplomacy (DC 25) to control the elemental

Steering: Profession (Pilot) or Knowledge (arcana) at +10 to the DC

Forward Facing: Engine Front

Driving Device: Elemental Helm

Driving Space: Nine squares in the Engine Room, around the Elemental Helm

Means of Propulsion: Elemental Bound Khyber dragonshard

Crew: 10 (1 pilot and 9 maintenance)

Decks: 1

Cargo: 50 tons plus 20 Lightning Rail Cars, 0 passengers. Lightning rail cars can hold up to 500 tons or 100 passengers, standing and packed, or 60 comfortably.

LIMITATIONS:

Lightning Rails cannot leave the path of the Conductor Stones. Any attempt to do so will automatically result in a crash, although deliberately crashing a Lightning Rail in this method is very difficult, requiring a Profession (driver) check, DC 40. While the decision on which branch to take is allowed when available, most of the actual driving options for a Lightning Rail only deal with speed. Fortunately, this also means that a Lightning Rail does not need require a pilot check for turning, as long as the Conductor Stones are following a curve.

CONSTRUCTION:

Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item, Bind Elemental, Telekinesis

Cost: 24,000 gp and a Khyber dragonshard worth at least 5,000 gp

This engine is the lead of any lightning rail, being a large, blocky contraption with a bound air elemental inside a massive Khyber dragonshard. Like other elemental vessels, controlling the elemental inside is a challenge, although certain items from House Orien do make this job easier. However, unlike other vessels, this is bound to follow the path laid out by a string of Conductor Stones, so the only real measure of control the pilot has is the speed and direction the rail travels in along this path and the choice between two branches when one is available on the track. Each car is usually 125' long by 35' wide. While the cars are only 15' tall, they are suspended 5' off the ground by the Conductor Stones. A Lightning Rail can carry up to 20 cars, which are detailed under Vehicles & Transportation.

Given the size, speed and bulk of a Lightning Rail, using it as a mobile encounter map requires a few, setting specific rules.

Attaching / Detaching A Car: Attaching or detaching a car from the Lightning Rail requires 3 full-round actions that provoke. The first two are to attach or remove two heavy chains. The third action requires a Strength check, DC 20, to put in or remove the connecting pin. Attaching a car can only be done while stationary or with a Profession (driver) check, DC 40. Failing this check is an immediate crash. Detaching a car from the engine means that at the end of each round, the detached cars begin to slow down by its acceleration rate until it is stopped.

Falling Off: The roof of a Lightning Rail is 20 feet above the ground. The windows along the side are 10 feet above the ground. The outside of a Lightning Rail can be climbed with a DC 5 Climb check. Grabbing a railing to prevent falling over requires a DC 20 Climb check. If you are thrown from, leap off of or otherwise are no longer on the lightning rail, you can attempt to get back on. You need to be standing in an adjacent square to the lightning rail and spend a move action on a successful Climb DC 20 check. For ease of calculation, if the lightning rail is running at full speed and you are standing still, assume that you need three full cars between you and the end to land, stand up and get one chance to get back on, plus one car per additional chance.

Hitting a Tunnel: There are tunnels, particularly on the northern lines, that allow the Lightning Rail through to the other side. When approaching a tunnel, determine the current speed of the Lightning Rail. For each increment of 50 feet per round, a single car enters the tunnel at the start of the turn for the first, on Initiative modifier +10 for the second and at the end of the round for the third. Any creature on the outside of a Lightning Rail when it enters a tunnel must make a Reflex save or they suffer damage as they hit the mouth of the tunnel and are pushed off the Lightning Rail. A successfull save means that the character is prone against the edge of the Lightning Rail, but takes no damage.

The amount of damage dealt by such an impact is 1d6 for each 10 feet per round the Lightning Rail is currently moving. The Reflex DC is equal to 20 + 1 for each 10 feet per round the Lightning Rail is currently moving.

Crashing a Lightning Rail: If the lightning rail engine crashes, the damage dealt to it is also dealt to each rail car it is carrying. If this damage is enough to cause the lightning rail to stop, each car becomes separated and is thrown forwarded at its current speed, causing each rail car to suffer another crash separately.