Conversion Info > Bestiary > Monsters > A-C > Arcane Ballista'READY!!!' said Commander Ishil ir'Vorn to no one in particular. 'You do realize that no one can hear you shouting from way over here?' ask his bewildered apprentice as the two looked over the valley below and at the forces of Breland and Thrane pitched in a heated battle for the past three days. 'True, the troops below might not hear me, but that is not who I am barking orders at.' Ishil leaned down and pointed so his apprentice could see the clearing on the far side, barely visible from the valley floor. There, hidden among the trees were a dozen of them. Covered in tarps and with noone manning them, twelve animated ballista rolled silently into position at the mouth of mountain pass. 'AIM!!!' shouted the Commander, almost deafening his apprentice's ears. As one, the ballista turned into position, their fiery bolts now lit and ready to mow down the impudent Brelish troops. As the commander straightened his back and drank some of the warm soup his apprentice had been cooking, he handed the young girl the medallion of office he always wore. The medallion of command. 'Go ahead. You'll be graduating in a month. What better story to tell your peers...' The young girl didn't know any of the Brelish troops. Didn't know why they would dare invade the holy land of Thrane. She couldn't imagine that they were bad people as all the other knights and priests keep shouting. But she did know about the burnt villages along Thrane's southern border. She did know that, somewhere out there in the muck, was her father, fighting for his life. And that the Brelish had foolishly put their backs to a dozen loaded siege engines. She knew that too. 'FIRE!!!'
| Arcane Ballista | CR 5 |
| XP: 1,600
Neutral Huge Construct
Init: +1; Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light; Perception +0
DEFENSE:
AC: 19, Touch 9, Flat-Footed 18 (-2 Size, +1 Dex, +5 armor, +5 natural)
HP: 73 (6d10+40)
Fort: +2; Ref: +3; Will: +2
Immune: Construct traits
OFFENSE:
Speed: 20 ft
Melee: Slam +7 (1d8+3)
Ranged: Bolt +8 (4d8+3, plus 1d6 fire, 19-20, 180 ft. range)
Space: 10 ft.; Reach: 5 ft.
Str 16, Dex 12, Con -, Int -, Wis 11, Chr 1
Weapon Enchantment: Arcane ballista are enchanted to a +5 bonus, similar to other magical weapons. By default, they are +3 Flaming Burst heavy ballista.
Self-Loading (Ex): Arcane ballista are capable of reloading themselves without the need of siege crew. An arcane ballista can reload itself as a single full-round action. It can aim as a move action.
ECOLOGY:
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or Troop (5-10)
Treasure: None
Role: None
Source: FoW, pg. 149 |
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Arcane ballista are animated siege weapons, used throughout the history of the Last War. Given their ability to move, reload and fire upon their own, they were often used in situations were cover fire was needed, but at the cost of loosing valuable resources. Since the end of the Last War, many of this magical war machines were destroyed, but some can still be found in the Mournland or at Cannith outposts. Arcane ballistas are crafted around a masterwork heavy ballista mounted on a mobile stand. The body itself costs a total of 1,000 gp (850 for the masterwork ballista and 150 gp for the stand). As part of the initial crafting, the arcane ballista must have a total of a +5 enhancement bonus (including at least one special weapon quality) under the same rules as enchanting a masterwork ballista. By default, arcane ballista are enchanted with +3 Flaming Burst, but this is only one of hundreds of possible combinations. It is possible to improve on this enchantment, up to the normal +10 maximum, but it will increase the necessary cost and caster level appropriately for the upgrade. Lastly, a pint of blood must be donated from the creature that the arcane ballista will call master. Arcane ballista an be created with additional Hit Dice, each additional an additional 5,000 gp to the base cost. Requirements: Craft Construct, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Geas / Quest, Telekinesis and the spells necessary for its weapon enchantments (usually Flame Blade, Flame Strike or Fireball); Skill: Craft (weaponsmithing) DC 25; Cost: 38,000 gp. |
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Hull, Control: Helm, Movement: Sails, Weapon: Ballista, Weapon: Mangonel View Sailing Ship Details. Warship Ghosts of Saltmarsh Warships are slower but more heavily armed vessels capable of taking on more cargo. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, their respective logos, and all Wizards titles and characters are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC in. Medium Ballista. Medium object Armor Class: 16 Hit Points: 40 Damage immunities: poison, psychic Cost: 1000 gp Like the crossbow, except bigger and mounted on a stand. Before it can be fired, it must be loaded and aimed. Seeing as my next campaign is going to focus more on surface world skirmishes than dungeons, I want to include things like ballistas in the tactical mix. The 5e DMG provides rules for them, but they are honestly so perfunctory they need to be expanded on for actual play. Here's my version of a D&D relevant ballista.
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Constructing Siege Engines[edit]
Wooden siege engines (e.g. ballista, trebuchet, siege tower, couillard, springald, mantlet) are sometimes built on-site using materials from the land around the structure to be besieged. This might be timber from felled trees, or pulled from houses. Alternatively the devices can be built remotely and in advance, then broken down into a major components, to be transported and re-assembled at the target site.
Costs are about 10x the HP of the device, e.g. a 50HP engine would cost about 500GP to make.
Creation time, by default, would be one person-day per 25GP of cost. Therefore it would take a five-person team four days to build, from scratch, a 50 hit point wooden siege engine. This is for a team of casual laborers under the supervision of a single, proficient foreman -- the DM may allow you to shave down the time if you can add more proficient craftsmen to the team instead of ordinary laborers.
Dnd 5e Ballista Damage
Construction can be hurried, halving the construction time. This requires at least half the craftsmen to pass a DC 15 Constitution (Endurance) check. If less than half the craftsmen pass the check, the construction time is not reduced and all the craftsmen gain one level of exhaustion.
Siege engines can be constructed over a longer time period with fewer workers, or in lesser time with more workers, with the DM deciding the minimum and maximum headcount that is practical for constructing the device in question.
Re-assembly of pre-built siege engines is much quicker than the initial construction, of course; a number of minutes equal to the HP of the device would be a reasonable estimate, provided there is adequate 'man-power' for the job.
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Dnd 5e Light Ballista
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