Starfire ships are an experimental ship design conceived by the Antipelan Society to both collect and run on starstuff energy. The first such starstuff ship in the Antipelan fleet was given the callsign AP-SF-01 and later designated the "Sanguine Starcatcher" by its crew. This ship was sent on its maiden voyage to prove the efficacy of the starfire ship design and to scout out new starstuff reserves, eventually allowing future ships to be built.
The stern of a starfire ship contains its signature feature, a spherical latticed metal chamber housing a ball of starstuff. This starstuff engine provides the ship with a powerful source of energy, allowing it faster travel through Fellspace compared to typical spacefaring vessels. The ship's pilot can trigger the chamber to ignite any starstuff inside, achieving great bursts of speed as the energy is rapidly depleted.
The ship's gravity plane is perfectly aligned with its center, allowing it to possess both a standard deck on top and an underdeck mirroring it on the bottom half. The two decks are laid out identically, with only the spelljamming helm1 on the main deck differentiating them. A ladder extends through the ship to allow fast direct access between the decks. Two solar scoops extend from both the main deck and underdeck supported by masts pointing in opposite directions. The extended masts and mirrored vertical layout give the ship an outward appearance of a sunfish, leading some to refer to starfire vessels as "molas".
The starfire ship design is made for space travel alone, and it cannot land safely on the ground (the weight of the ship would snap its underside mast and scoop, destroying the underdeck in the process). It can land on water and float in emergency situations, but its underdeck would need to be cleared of personnel and loose effects, and it would possess no efficient means of water propulsion if the starstuff engine or helm are not functional.
Standard weaponry on a starfire ship includes two aft-facing ballistas (one on the deck and one on the underdeck) and a forward-facing astral cannon. As of the starfire vessel's maiden voyage, the full capabilities of this weapon are untested due to insufficient supplies of starstuff to power it.
Use a space galleon from Astral Adventurer's Guide1 (see Chapter 2: Astral Adventuring) to represent the decks of a starfire ship. Beneath the steerage deck, the ship continues with an inverted cargo deck, main deck, forecastle, and sterncastle. The brig and pantry in the steerage deck is replaced with a larger room containing the arcane core, protected by an arcane lock.
Gargantuan Vehicle (130 ft. by 30 ft.)
| MOD | SAVE | MOD | SAVE | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STR 20 | +5 | +5 | INT 0 | — | — |
| DEX 8 | -1 | -1 | WIS 0 | — | — |
| CON 18 | +4 | +4 | CHA 0 | — | — |
On its turn, the starfire ship's spelljammer1 can use the helm to move and steer the ship, and the ship can take up to 3 actions, choosing from the options below. It can take only 2 actions if it has fewer than ten crew and only 1 action if it has fewer than six. It can't take these actions if it has fewer than three crew, and it cannot take actions dependent on a specific crew member if the individual is incapacitated. If an action requires consuming starstuff deposits, it cannot perform the action if the starstuff engine doesn't have sufficient deposits.
Engineering. The starfire ship's engineer can trigger a surge of the engine to move the ship in a burst of speed.
Fire Weapons. The spelljammer can instruct the crew to fire one of the ship's ballistas, or the spelljammer can directly fire the astral cannon (1 ship action per weapon). The cannon's Astral Fire action cannot be taken on the same turn that the starfire ship moves.
Interface with Arcane Core. The starfire ship's engineer can feed a spell scroll to the arcane core through the starstuff engine to attempt to teach the core a spell.
Operate Solar Scoops. The spelljammer can instruct the crew to deploy or retract one of the ship's solar scoops.
Absorb Scroll (1 Starstuff Deposit per Spell Level or Cantrip). The engineer feeds a spell scroll to the arcane core through the starstuff engine, and must then succeed on an Intelligence (Arcana) check with a DC equal to 10 + the spell's level. If the check succeeds, the arcane core successfully learns the spell. This check fails automatically if the spell has a casting time of 1 minute or longer, or a range of touch or self. Whether the check succeeds or fails, the spell scroll is destroyed.
Astral Fire (5 Starstuff Deposits). Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 20, each creature or vehicle in a line 1,000 feet long and 10 feet wide originating from the astral cannon. Creatures onboard vehicles in the line are not affected by the Astral Fire. Failure: 66 (12d10) Radiant damage and the target is on fire. Success: Half damage only.
Spellshot (1 Starstuff Deposit per Spell Level or Cantrip). The spelljammer casts one of the arcane core's spells with a casting time of a Magic action or Bonus Action through the astral cannon. The core knows the following spells:
Spells can be cast at higher levels by spending a number of starstuff deposits equal to the level, but the core cannot cast spells at a higher level than the highest-level spell it knows. Cantrips with additional effects at higher levels use the spelljammer's level to determine their effects. Any spells cast in this manner requiring Concentration use the spelljammer's Concentration.
Bolt. Ranged Attack Roll: +6, range 120/480 ft. Hit: 16 (3d10) Piercing damage.
A deployed scoop can be used to harvest starstuff (see Harvesting Starstuff). If both solar scoops are deployed, roll twice on the corresponding harvest table to determine total yield or failure outcomes.
Deploy or Retract Scoop. The solar scoop is deployed or retracted.
Engine Surge (Costs 2 Starstuff Deposits). The engineer can trigger a surge of the engine, causing it to rapidly consume starstuff energy. The starfire ship moves up to 1,000 feet in a straight line in a direction of the spelljammer's choice, even if the ship would normally not be able to move this speed due to proximity of heavy objects. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Wizards of the Coast LLC, Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, 2022. ↩