Stupid Question of the Day

[iotech]

I see that several rulesets have support for "vehicles" in the db, including CoreRPG. And I also see that 5E does NOT have the record_vehicle.xml in the campaign datbase (though it does have the graphics for the sidebar button).

Is there a reason Vehicles are not included in 5E? Since they're part of CoreRPG, and 5E is layered on top of Core, I infer that they (Vehicles) have been disabled from 5E? What would it take (in general) to make them come back (or write an extension to do this)?

I did actually spend some time searching the forums before asking, but came up with nothing.

[Zacchaeus]

I suspect because there aren't really any vehicles or combat rules for vehicles in 5e.

[iotech]

Fair point. I really just want to track ships (sailing and air). Something similar to Dulux-Oz's Locations or Organizations would be perfect.... Ship type, Captain/Pilot (npc/character links), crew, cargo (items), etc. Wouldn't need combat per se.

Since it is in CorePRG, any idea of the effort it would take to enable for 5E? Or would I be better off with a DOE-like extension?

[Zacchaeus]

Fair point. I really just want to track ships (sailing and air). Something similar to Dulux-Oz's Locations or Organizations would be perfect.... Ship type, Captain/Pilot (npc/character links), crew, cargo (items), etc. Wouldn't need combat per se.

Since it is in CorePRG, any idea of the effort it would take to enable for 5E? Or would I be better off with a DOE-like extension?

If you have the Unearthed Arcana module you can see some ships that I created there as NPCs based on the 'Of ships and the Sea' article. If not then creating them as NPCs is the way to go I think.

[iotech]

I have that, and I will check it out. Thank you!

[damned]

Vehicles was really added for StarFinder and some Savage Worlds settings.
At this point in time Vehicles have little or no utility and you should ignore them - all they have room for is a name and description - there is no automation or interaction with them.

[iotech]

I see. I have examined Zaccheus' suggestion and find it very clever. I think I can get what I'm after with a combination of Mr. Z's suggestion and the DOE extensions...only thing I havent sorted out yet is an "inventory" system.. NPCs, Buildings, and Organizations cannot have "items". It seems only Characters can have an inventory, so I could create a PC for the "Cargo Hold"... but if I want a fleet of trade ships (for example), I'd end up with a lot of "fake" PCs.

Can one of you rockstars confirm that the only obects that can have "items" are "Characters" and "Parcels"?

[damned]

You could create a new campaign tool / data type if you really needed that feature.

[Zacchaeus]

I’d be inclined to create parcels for the inventory and link those to the NPC notes page, or to a special story page.

[iotech]

Great ideas!
Here is where I went with this:
FantasyGrounds_2018-12-28_17-27-11.png
FantasyGrounds_2018-12-28_17-28-35.png

Created a DOE Organization entry for the ship (WSS Morningstar)
Dragged Organization entry to map for a pin
Edited Organization, added free-form description (or speech bubble) in Notes tab, then:
- Org. Main tab is ship description, etc. and drag in Captain link
- NPC tab for the crew
- Maps tab has link to map the ship is on
- Sounds - links to DOE sounds for sea/shipboard
- Notes:
- Zaccheus' NPC Ship Parts from UA (very useful as the ship can do damage and received damage)
- Cargo as parcel(s) of user-defined items
- track NPCs assigned to crew for combat/treasure
This allows for semi-automated combat and easy distribution of treasure and cargo, along with relational uh.. relationship with other ships, fleet, etc.
Kind of a combination of all the above ideas. I'm very happy with this arrangement, thank you for your ideas and suggestions!