So a couple of questions about driving infernal war machines:
Do you need to use an action to steer them?
It says that "If the driver is incapacitated, leaves the helm, or does nothing to alter the infernal war machine's course and speed, the vehicle moves in the same direction and at the same speed as it did during the driver's last turn until it hits an obstacle big enough to stop it." It also says that the driver can use a Bonus Action to cause the vehicle to take the Dash or Disengage action.
So, if you use the Devil's Ride (move speed 120ft) as an example. Assuming the engine is already running, could you use an action and a bonus action Dash to move 240ft in that round, and then take NO actions the following turn that affect its speed, would it just stay going at 240ft?
Thanks for the help, I'm just a bit confused by the actions these machines require!
From what I can tell, the RAW here is broken, but the RAI seems to be that the bike's default speed can only be 0 or 120 - if you use a bonus action to make the Bike Dash 240 on round 1, on round 2 it's intended to be going 120, not 240, and you need to spend a bonus action again to get it to Dash again. That's my interpretation. Here's the actual RAW - note that you do not need an action to steer.
Infernal War Machines have multiple rules that only make sense if you treat them as creatures, not objects, so you should basically consider them a creature with special rules, not an object with special rules. This includes the fact that they have turns and an action economy.
The machine's initiative is poorly defined, and things get worse if the current driver swaps positions with another PC, as the mounted combat rules in 5E don't really work. The game starts to collapse if players can shift the machine's initiative order, but the rules read like they're intended to be controlled mounts, not uncontrolled mounts. I recommend locking the machine's initiative so that it takes its turn immediately after its current driver's turn at the start of combat or the first time it's mounted, and leaving it there even if it changes drivers mid-combat. Have it obey its driver's actions and bonus actions as soon as it can, on its turn.
All speeds are constant until the bike hits something or you change it.
Dead Stop to 120: Driver's action, bike's move.
120 to Dead Stop: Driver's action, bike's nothing.
120 to 240: Driver's bonus action, bike's action (on top of bike's move, which the 120 is consuming every turn). While at 240, the bike is using its action every round to Dash.
240 to 120: Driver's bonus action to force the bike to Disengage, bike's action to Disengage. Disengage is not automatic every round - the bike will go 120 while not Disengaging from here. Bike's move to go 120. There's no other listed mechanic for slowing the bike to 120 without stopping it entirely.
Dead Stop to 240: Driver's action and bonus action, bike's move and action.
240 to Dead Stop: Driver's action, bike's nothing.
Math above assumes no demon ichor, which increases the speeds from 120/240 to 150/300.
Thanks! You are right, RAW is weird but I think I'll just use the rules you outlined.
No worries! I was curious, so here are the legal Infernal War Machine speeds in mph, ignoring other buffs, like Haste (it's not clear how spells resolve against the machines - the strictest RAW I can bring to the analysis is that they're creatures with creature type Vehicle, i.e. they're not Fiends, and they have no hit dice or CR, like the creatures summoned by Summon X spells; best guess, their alignment is Unaligned, since they're Int 0 and have no Languages; I have no idea how spells that are willing target only work with the machines, and my best guess is that they're either intended to be permanently unwilling, or the helmsperson is intended to have an actionless toggle switching the machine between willing and unwilling):
Explanation
Feet Per Round
Miles Per Hour (Rounded)
Dash: No, Demon Ichor: No, Devil's Ride: No
100
11
Dash: No, Demon Ichor: No, Devil's Ride: Yes
120
14
Dash: No, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: No
130
15
Dash: No, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: Yes
150
17
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: No, Devil's Ride: No
200
23
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: No, Devil's Ride: Yes
240
27
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: No
260
30
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: Yes
300
34
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: Yes, Transmuter's Stone or Longstrider
320
36
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: Yes, Transmuter's Stone and Longstrider
340
39
Sorry for the two bonus rows at the bottom, these forums have no option for manipulating tables - I just copied the table from Apparatus of the Crab and replaced the information in it. Actually, for fun, I'll include two speed buffs at the bottom that don't care about target willingness: a level 6 transmuter wizard with longstrider (the subclass speed buff and the spell speed buff are the same size and stack with each other). If you can legally Haste a machine, simply double the speeds above - you would need two bonus actions to get the machine to Dash twice, which is really hard to get (you need to be allowed to take two turns, like a high level Thief or suicidal high level Samurai can).
Thanks! You are right, RAW is weird but I think I'll just use the rules you outlined.
No worries! I was curious, so here are the legal Infernal War Machine speeds in mph, ignoring other buffs, like Haste (it's not clear how spells resolve against the machines - the strictest RAW I can bring to the analysis is that they're creatures with creature type Vehicle, i.e. they're not Fiends, and they have no hit dice or CR, like the creatures summoned by Summon X spells; best guess, their alignment is Unaligned, since they're Int 0 and have no Languages; I have no idea how spells that are willing target only work with the machines, and my best guess is that they're either intended to be permanently unwilling, or the helmsperson is intended to have an actionless toggle switching the machine between willing and unwilling):
Explanation
Feet Per Round
Miles Per Hour (Rounded)
Dash: No, Demon Ichor: No, Devil's Ride: No
100
11
Dash: No, Demon Ichor: No, Devil's Ride: Yes
120
14
Dash: No, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: No
130
15
Dash: No, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: Yes
150
17
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: No, Devil's Ride: No
200
23
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: No, Devil's Ride: Yes
240
27
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: No
260
30
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: Yes
300
34
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: Yes, Transmuter's Stone or Longstrider
320
36
Dash: Yes, Demon Ichor: Yes, Devil's Ride: Yes, Transmuter's Stone and Longstrider
340
39
Sorry for the two bonus rows at the bottom, these forums have no option for manipulating tables - I just copied the table from Apparatus of the Crab and replaced the information in it. Actually, for fun, I'll include two speed buffs at the bottom that don't care about target willingness: a level 6 transmuter wizard with longstrider (the subclass speed buff and the spell speed buff are the same size and stack with each other). If you can legally Haste a machine, simply double the speeds above - you would need two bonus actions to get the machine to Dash twice, which is really hard to get (you need to be allowed to take two turns, like a high level Thief or suicidal high level Samurai can).
Awesome! Love the amount of thought you put into this!
For the purpose of most spells I reckon I would treat them as objects, though would probably allow Haste and Longstrider for fun flavour.
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So a couple of questions about driving infernal war machines:
So, if you use the Devil's Ride (move speed 120ft) as an example. Assuming the engine is already running, could you use an action and a bonus action Dash to move 240ft in that round, and then take NO actions the following turn that affect its speed, would it just stay going at 240ft?
Thanks for the help, I'm just a bit confused by the actions these machines require!
From what I can tell, the RAW here is broken, but the RAI seems to be that the bike's default speed can only be 0 or 120 - if you use a bonus action to make the Bike Dash 240 on round 1, on round 2 it's intended to be going 120, not 240, and you need to spend a bonus action again to get it to Dash again. That's my interpretation. Here's the actual RAW - note that you do not need an action to steer.
Math above assumes no demon ichor, which increases the speeds from 120/240 to 150/300.
Thanks! You are right, RAW is weird but I think I'll just use the rules you outlined.
No worries! I was curious, so here are the legal Infernal War Machine speeds in mph, ignoring other buffs, like Haste (it's not clear how spells resolve against the machines - the strictest RAW I can bring to the analysis is that they're creatures with creature type Vehicle, i.e. they're not Fiends, and they have no hit dice or CR, like the creatures summoned by Summon X spells; best guess, their alignment is Unaligned, since they're Int 0 and have no Languages; I have no idea how spells that are willing target only work with the machines, and my best guess is that they're either intended to be permanently unwilling, or the helmsperson is intended to have an actionless toggle switching the machine between willing and unwilling):
Sorry for the two bonus rows at the bottom, these forums have no option for manipulating tables - I just copied the table from Apparatus of the Crab and replaced the information in it. Actually, for fun, I'll include two speed buffs at the bottom that don't care about target willingness: a level 6 transmuter wizard with longstrider (the subclass speed buff and the spell speed buff are the same size and stack with each other). If you can legally Haste a machine, simply double the speeds above - you would need two bonus actions to get the machine to Dash twice, which is really hard to get (you need to be allowed to take two turns, like a high level Thief or suicidal high level Samurai can).
Awesome! Love the amount of thought you put into this!
For the purpose of most spells I reckon I would treat them as objects, though would probably allow Haste and Longstrider for fun flavour.