Yes, the adds definitely helped, thanks! There are several things for you to think about here.
Racial memory: perfect solution, and I had conceived of something like that myself… The Spelljammer knows much of what its predecessors knew, so the knowledge must be transmitted to the descendants.
I just reviewed some of the original print books, and there are a couple of other abilities that we’re missing:
- Natural Illusion: This one is straight from the book. A Smalljammer can create a perfect, non-detectable illusion around itself so that it looks like another ship, an asteroid (or presumably a hillock or rock outcropping if landed, or a small island if on water), or another creature (in Wildspace, typically a space monster type). The illusion cannot be penetrated at a distance, but is automatically penetrated at close approach, within the Smalljammer’s air envelope. That’s about 30 feet off the ship, larger at a larger size. So, this effect is perfect for hiding at a distance, and useless or worse for hiding in a crowd.
- Sense Portal: At some point the Smalljammer should probably be able to sense natural openings into the Phlogiston, and be drawn to them.
To make the character concept work, given these constraints, I guess I have to flip around the setup:
Smalljammer 7, Holomancer 1 on the descendant side
Time Dimensional 3, Holomancer 5 on the ancestor side
Net: Smalljammer 7, Time Dimensional 3, Holomancer 6
And yes, Smalljammer 1 // Time Dimensional 1 was always the plan; I have no Feats to spare to do it otherwise, and there’s no story reason to do it otherwise. If it matters, it’s easy to make the Holomancer levels never line up, via
Smalljammer 1 // Time Dimensional 1
Smalljammer 2 // Time Dimensional 2
Smalljammer 3 // Holomancer 1
Smalljammer 4 // Holomancer 2
Smalljammer 5 // Holomancer 3
Smalljammer 6 // Holomancer 4
Smalljammer 7 // Holomancer 5
Holomancer 1 // Time Dimensional 3
Does that clear up the race and progression?
Story logic: Given the current RAW, that many levels of Smalljammer are needed for her to have traveled from world to world already as a Smalljammer, for the outcast-in-hiding story. The Alternate Form has to come in at some point, still thinking about that; it needs to be an ability that improved, I think, rather than one from the start, for the storyline to work, no?. Then her one Holomancer level on the descendant side is a profession recently taken so that she could be useful in the society where she wanted to stay, and especially so that she could get hired at the Observatory where they study the stars, which fascinated her. (The Charm ability didn’t’ hurt either, in getting hired as a L1 Holomancer.) Bright shiny things have always had a special fascination for her (Weakness) and the stars especially, for obvious personal reasons. And she had a natural proclivity to Holomancer, though she didn’t know why until The Ancestor Change hit her and she suddenly found herself understanding a LOT more about Holomancy and Illusion than before.
The Story logic also worked for Smalljammer 3, Holomancer 5, but the world-to-world travel doesn’t. I have yet another idea on this subject….
First, I’ll note that for the “Smalljammer Who Fell To Earth” part of the story, I think Glide covers that without a Fly speed; she can just Glide to the surface without damage. The “seed” idea works, but only for the first world she visited.
How does +8 Jump matter much for a creature that Hovers and Glides? You could Jump up a few feet, that’s about it; could you then Hover at the new height, or would you sink? It doesn’t hurt, of course, but what do you want to accomplish? Perhaps there is something else instead? If you DO get to Hover at the new height, then it’s a way to go UP!! Albeit very slowly.
An inconsistency to resolve: Smalljammers as constructs are immune to fatigue, but the “Assisted Ram” fatigues them. Again, looking at various alternatives to go UP without a Fly speed, this is one of them. If there is no fatigue, then eventually, going up at 150ft per round, the Smalljammer would be able to get off-planet. I understand you want to limit Assisted Ram charges during combat. If the ability was usable no more frequently than every other round in combat for some other reason besides fatigue, for example because you have to re-orient your position before doing such an extreme charge again, then the limitation is there… and a way to go UP is there too, without introducing the inconsistency of fatigue. Then I could go back to the idea of Smalljammer 3, Time Dimensional 7, or now that I’ve seen more of Smalljammer, maybe Smalljammer 4, Time Dimensional 6.
I’m not sure I’ll do that though; more levels of TD may be very useful (especially TD7!!) but more levels of Smalljammer and fewer of TD, also with Holomancer mostly on the Ancestor side, are much more in keeping with YOUR story line. So I may go with SJ7 and get to the Fly speed directly. Still, the Assisted Ram trick would account for the extensive travel beginning at SJ2, which *is* more consistent with her Story, and with the “extensive geography” which could be personal as well as racial memory.
PS. Even with Fatigue operating, she could have a Ring of Feather Falling (2200gp) coupled with a Ring of Lesser Restoration from a Paladin(L1, 2000gp), by L4 (WBL 5400gp). Then she could go up 150ft, wait a round if necessary for the Restoration to kick in, recover, and go up another 150ft, while losing only 60ft per round. I think the Restoration Ring would work in 1 round, but if the Ring took 3 rounds for its fatigue removal to kick in as per spell, then she also needs a Ring of Feather Falling to cap the altitude loss at 180ft (net -30ft), and then with a LOT of persistence eventually she would be off-world, though it could take a long time before she was lucky enough to roll a quicker recovery than the 3 round cap, enough times more or less in a row. Or I can just give her the Quick trait, to increase base speed to 40. Then she goes up 200ft each time, and is always at least +20ft in 3 rounds, with this combo. It might take a long time, but eventually, it works. Would this ability to gain height break a game? Kind of slow, at the tactical level :-)
