Seafaring

Sailing

Table 77 gives values for commonly available ships, and the PHB gives their prices. The Base Move/Hour attribute determines how many miles the ship can cover each hour under good conditions. Where there are 2 values seperated by a slash, the first is sailing speed and the second is rowing speed. On the rare occasion that the speed of a ship needs to be known in feet per round, multiply the current speed of the ship by 90. Emergency move is the top speed of the vessel in emergency or combat situations. For sailing ships, emergency speed is gained by putting on every yard of sail possible. Galleys and other oared ships rely on the strength of their rowers. This speed can only be maintained for short periods of time. Too long and rowers will collapse; masts, yards, and sails will break. Seaworthiness is the ability of the ship to handle adverse conditions - this is further covered in the section below.

Besides the speed and seaworthiness of a ship, there are several other factors to consider, which are listed in the table below. A skeleton crew is the absolute bare minimum required to sail the ship - however, sailing with a skeleton crew will reduce seaworthiness by 10% and speed by 1. Sailing with a sub-skeleton crew will reduce speed by another 1 and reduce seaworthiness by an additional 5% per member missing. The minimum crew is the smallest crew that will allow the ship to sail properly, while the maximum passenger value is the absolute limit on how many people can live on the ship. Bear in mind that the values of skeleton crew and minimum crew only refer to personnel required to operate the ship - many ships will want to have mercenaries, specialists, archers, artillery operators, et cetera. With these in mind, it's not hard to hit the crew limit of many ships, although the maximum passenger size can be increased by sacrificing space in the hold.

Ship Type Skeleton Crew Minimum Crew Maximum Passengers Hold
Caravel 10 15-20 40-50 100-150 tons
Coaster 5 10 30 100 tons
Cog 4 8 20 150 tons
Curragh 4 6 8 5 tons
Drakkar 20 60 240 None
Dromond 31 85 200 100 tons
Galleon 50 150 250 200 tons
Great Galley 41 95 150 150 tons
Knarr 6 8 20 50 tons
Longship 16 40 200 10 tons

Hold represents how much space the ship has for cargo; it is given in register tons equivalent to either 2,000 pounds or 100 cubic feet each - most things occupy 100 cubic feet long before they weigh 2,000 pounds. Sacrificing 5 tons of hold capacity will allow one additional passenger to be taken on; however, if the total weight of a ship approaches 80% of its maximum weight capacity in tons, the ship's speed is reduced by 1 and its seaworthiness is reduced by 10%. Travelling at 100% weight capacity reduces speed and seaworthiness by the same amount again. Food occupies 1 ton per 400 units for rations, and 1 ton per 200 units for proper meal ingredients. Liquids occupy 1 ton per 800 units.

Weather

Table 79 should be rolled on every day while at sea to determine the weather. Storms, gales and hurricanes will cause you to travel very quickly but will require seaworthiness checks (see below). Table 78 lists the speed multiplier each type of weather results in, as well as which ones require seaworthiness checks.

In addition to the type of weather, you will also need to know the direction that the wind is blowing. This is found by rolling a d6 - on a roll of a 5 or a 6, there are adverse winds. Adverse winds will usually reduce the speed of the ship, but adverse winds of storm strength or greater will blow the ship off-course by at least half its movement and incur a chance of getting lost at sea, even if you have a sea chart. See the section on getting lost below for details.

Seaworthiness

Seaworthiness is a percentage attribute of a boat that determines how well it handles dangerous situations - such as storms, hidden shoals, extended voyages, huge monster attacks, and rams. Any time the DM rules that there is a chance of sinking, he rolls percentile dice. If the roll is equal to or less than the seaworthiness rating of the ship, it remains afloat, though bailing or repairs may be necessary. If the roll is higher than the seaworthiness rating, the ship sinks. Ports and anchorages give a seaworthiness bonus of +50%. Thus, vessels at anchor are in little or no danger from a normal storm.

Instead of the bonus listed in the PHB, the Seamanship NWP actually increases the seaworthiness of a ship by 10% if a successful proficiency check is made.

Visual Range

The visual range at sea depends entirely on how far above sea level you are. The chart found at this website gives the value for various heights above sea level; note that these are given in nautical miles, and must be multiplied by 1.15 for Leng miles. The visual distance at 5 feet above sea level (such as on the deck of a ship) is 3 miles. The visual distance at 100 feet above sea level (such as from the crow's nest) is about 13 1/2 miles.

Becoming Lost

Becoming lost at sea is always a risk. If you simply set out to sea in a random direction, the chance of getting hopelessly lost is 100%. However, planning can mitigate the risks. If you do not have a sea chart to navigate by, the best you can hope to do is figure out roughly where you are and the rough direction you want to sail in and hope that you make it. If you do this, the chance of getting lost is 20% in sight of land or 70% on the open sea, rolled once per voyage. If you have someone with the Navigation NWP, the chance falls by 30%. If you have a sea-chart and a member of the party with the Navigation NWP, there is generally no chance of getting lost as long as you know where on your charts you are. However, adverse winds of storm strength or greater always incur a "getting lost" check, even if you have sea charts and even if you have already made a check for this voyage.

There is an exception to the rule that being blown off-course always bears a risk of becoming lost. To qualify, a character must have the Navigation NWP, an accurate sea-chart, and a mariner's astrolabe. Mariner's astrolabes are expensive and rare (at least 1,000 gp), but they can be used in conjunction with a sea-chart to figure out exactly where you are, even if you have been blown off course. This takes an hour, during which the ship should remain stationary.

Travelling by Sea

Passage across the Sea of Vintas from Sanction to Lorknir, a distance of about 250 miles, usually costs 100 gp (for a bedroll in the cargo hold) to 300 gp (for a nice cabin on a merchant ship). Generally speaking, prices on a ship are very expensive for individual passengers, because they are taking up space that could be used for cargo. Depending on how high the demand is for goods across that waterway and how many ships are making the journey, as well as the distance, the price will vary considerably. Passage on a ship may cost anywhere between 50 and 1,000 gp per person.

Life on Deck

Those who are unaccustomed to seafaring will have trouble on board a ship. Those who have the Seamanship NWP will operate normally on a ship, as will those who have been sailing for at least 3 months. Landlubbers, however, will have a hard time of it. Landlubbers on board a ship receive a -2 penalty to-hit and must make a Dexterity check each time they move or be limited to half speed. After a landlubber has been on board for 3 days, they will get their sea legs and these penalties will go away. However, being on dry land for 3 days will gie them their land legs back, and the penalties will return when they board.

Armour is the bane of the seafarer - it is not without reason that pirates and sailors do not wear it. Leather armour and studded leather is the heaviest armour that can be worn (though on tropical oceans, this will be stiflingly hot) without penalties. Medium weight armours will impose a -2 penalty to hit and halve movement speed at all times. Heavy armours such as plate incur the same penalty, but also require a Dexterity check each round to avoid being knocked over. These penalties stack with the penalties from being unused to seafaring.

Nautical Encounters

Encounters in specific oceans can vary, and the DM can tailor as he sees fit or simply include appropriate setpiece encounters. However, the supplement contained at this link contains information on rolling for encounters near the coast and on the open sea.

One of the possible encounters that can be rolled with the supplement is an attack by pirates. This can take various forms; while the DM will decide the exact percentage chance of encountering specific kinds of piracy by area, the kinds of pirate are listed below:

Nautical Combat

When engaging in ship-to-ship combat, the concept of the "nautical round" comes into play. The duration of a nautical round changes depending on the distance between your own vessel and the nearest enemy ship - as does the action you may take in that round. Of course, the normal combat rounds still apply - even if the nautical round takes 10 minutes, individuals can take 10 rounds' worth of actions in that time.

Distance Round Duration Available Actions Movement Speed*
0-250 yards 1 minute Flee, Evade, Close, Ram**, Board**, Ranged Combat*** 10 yards
251-1000 yards 10 minutes Flee, Close, Ranged Combat*** 100 yards
1001+ yards 30 minutes Flee, Close, Ranged Combat*** 300 yards
* Per point of movement that your ship has.
** Ramming and boarding are only possible if the range is 0.
*** Ranged attacks such as spells, artillery or archery are dependent on their maximum range, of course.

Ship Statistics

Each ship has the following characteristics:

Move: The basic movement rate of the ship, usually measured in miles per hour.
Seaworthiness: Effectively a saving throw vs. wrecking in dangerous conditions.
Pursuit: The dice used for maneuvering during 10 or 30-minute rounds.
Maneuverability: The dice used for maneuvering during 1-minute rounds.
Size: The ships size rating, which ranges from "Small" to "Very Large".
RF: The Ramming Factor - a number between 0 and 4 that represents relative mass. Ships with no RF cannot ram.
Defense Class: A letter grade representing how well a ship offers cover from missile fire for its crew and passengers.
Marines: How much room the ship has for non-crew personnel on the deck, such as archers, artillerists or boarders.
Hull/Crippling Points: How much damage the ship can withstand before coming apart or becoming crippled.

Ship Statistics

As a final note, it should be observed that ships with oars tend to be much more maneuverable than sailing ships. However, this comes with a drawback: exhaustion. The strenuous rowing of combat has a 40% chance of tiring the crew every 1d10 rounds. Experienced rowers automatically pass the first check, while veterans automatically pass the first two. Once they are fatigued, they will not recover until 30 minutes of complete rest of 3 hours of non-combat rowing.

A ship whose rowers are fatigued suffers a -1 penalty to Maneuverability and Pursuit rolls.

Maneuverability and Pursuit Dice

The first phase of a nautical round is dedicated to maneuvering for position and advantage between ships. As noted above, the ships' Pursuit Dice are used during 10 or 30-minute rounds, while Maneuverability Dice are used during 1-minute rounds. This reflects the fact that some ships are very good at closing distance, but this does not necessarily reflect their ability to steer and turn quickly.

At close ranges, when Maneuverability Dice are in use, there is one other factor which affects ship movement: the crew. Although it is less relevant at longer ranges, an experienced crew can make or break a ship at close range - where tight turns and clever positioning are essential. Depending on the overall composition of the crew, they can apply anywhere from a -2 penalty to a +2 bonus to Maneuverability Dice.

Fleeing and Closing

If you and your adversary both choose to flee, you both move away from each other in accordance with your movement rating, as per usual. No additional rolls are required. Likewise, if you both choose to close you will move towards each other at your normal movement speed. If one chooses to flee and the other chooses to close, you both roll Maneuverability/Pursuit dice.

One ship rolls twice as much as the other. In this case, the ship that wins can gain on the loser by a number of movement points equal to their dice roll. They also receive a +1 bonus to their next Maneuverability/Pursuit roll and their archers or artillery receive a +3 bonus to-hit. The loser's archers and artillery receive a -2 penalty to hit.

One ship beats the other. In this case, the ship that wins can gain on the loser by a number of movement points equal to the difference between their dice rolls. They also receive a +1 bonus to their next Maneuverability/Pursuit roll and their archers or artillery receive a +2 bonus to-hit. The loser's archers and artillery receive a -1 penalty to hit.

It is a tie. In this case, the faster of the two ships gains by 1d10*10 yards. There are no other modifiers.

Firing at the Crew

Depending on how much capacity a ship has for marines (i.e. non-crew on deck), they may be able to field archers or artillerists. No matter how much space the ship has for marines, however, there is an upper limit to how many archers or artillerists can effectively fire from the ship's deck. This is 5 for a small ship, and 20, 30 and 40 for medium, large and very large ships. Archers and artillerists are not restrained to one attack per nautical round: they use the regular sequence of combat. A light ballista, for example, can fire once every 2 rounds if fully crewed - or 5 times in a 10-minute nautical round.

For the most part, missile combat is the same as normal during a nautical round - but there are some differences. First of all, determine how many attacks will be made in the round. If you have 5 archers on deck and each has a ROF of 2, that is 10 shots per minute - or 100 shots in a 10 minute round. For every 10 shots being fired, roll one attack roll. Use the average THAC0 of your archers and the average AC of your targets to see if you have a hit. Then, for each hit, make a roll on the following table to see which crew, if any, take a hit dice worth of damage:

Dice Roll Ship Defense Rating
A B C D X
1 - - - - N/A
2 - - - - N/A
3 - - - Sailors N/A
4 - - Sailors Rowers N/A
5 - Sailors Rowers Rowers N/A
6 Sailors Rowers Rowers Rowers N/A
7 Sailors Rowers Rowers Marines N/A
8 Marines Marines Marines Marines N/A
9 Marines Marines Marines Marines N/A
10 Special Crew Special Crew Special Crew Special Crew N/A

Artillery is much the same as archery; the only difference is that each type of artillery is targetted at the crew, at the ship, or at whichever is desired. If it is targeted at the crew, the artillery simply acts as a number of "effective shots". For example, a light ballista has a ROF of 1 shot every 2 minutes, and each shot is the equivalent of 3 archers. So in a 10-minute round, it effectively contributes 9 shots. You can find a full reference of artillery types in the artillery table.

Incendiary Weapons

Ordinary archers and light artillery are meant more for killing crew than actually damaging a ship; but other weapons, such as incendiary weapons and heavy artillery, can reduce the structural integrity of a ship directly. If you use general-purpose artillery (like catapults) to launch incendaries, their effective range is reduced by one-third.

The procedure for incendaries is the same as normal shots: total up the number of shots fired in the nautical round, remembering that artillery count for multiple "effective shots". For every 10 shots, you roll 1d20 to see if there is a hit using the average THAC0. It is a much easier shot to make, however, since they are targetting the ship directly - they only need to hit AC 10.

For each hit scored by incendiaries, you must first roll against the ship's defense rating to see whether it actually caught fire, and whether the nature of the fire affects the hull or deals crippling damage.

Dice Roll Ship Defense Rating
A B C D X
1 Fire, Crippling Fire, Crippling Fire, Crippling Fire, Crippling Destruction
2 Fire, Crippling Fire, Crippling Fire, Hull Fire, Hull Destruction
3 Fire, Crippling Fire, Hull Fire, Hull Fire, Hull Destruction
4 Fire, Hull Fire, Hull Fire, Hull - Destruction
5 Fire, Hull Fire, Hull - - Destruction
6 Fire, Hull - - - Destruction
7 - - - - -
8 - - - - -
9 - - - - -
10 - - - - -

Then, assuming a fire was started, roll on the following table to see how bad it is:

Dice Roll Fire Size
1 1d4
2-5 1d6
6-9 1d8
10 1d10
- 1d12
- 1d20

The dice indicated is how bad the fire is: it is dealt immediately as either crippling or hull damage when the fire starts. The fire will continue to do the same amount of damage each nautical round; if it rolls max damage, it automatically grows to the next size of fire. Firefighters can try to put fires out, but not before they deal damage. For each firefighter assigned to a fire, roll the fire's dice once. On a roll of a 1, the fire is successfully put out. Firefighters can do nothing else with their round.

Firing at the Ship

Finally, heavy weaponry such as artillery can be used to attack the ship directly. The effective THAC0 of a piece of artillery varies depending on the machine, and can be seen in this table:

Artillery Statistics

The AC of common targets is as follows:

Making attacks with artillery is pretty straightforward. Based on the ROF of the engine and the length of the nautical round, determine how many attacks you get. Roll to hit, with a commensurate bonus if you have put extra points into the Engineering NWP. For each hit, consult the following table:

Roll (2d10) Effect
1 or less Glancing Blow
2-3 Partial Hit: Roll crippling damage with a -2 penalty.
4-5 Partial Hit: Roll crippling damage with a -1 penalty.
6-10 Rigging/Oar: Roll normal crippling damage.
11-12 Partial Hull Hit: Roll hull damage with a -1 penalty.
13-14 Hull Hit: Roll normal hull damage.
15 Rigging/Oar: Roll normal crippling damage, and 1 HD of crew are slain.
16 Hull Hit: Roll normal hull damage, and 1 HD of crew are slain.
17-18 Critical Hit
19 Critical Hit, and 1 HD of crew are slain.
20 Direct Hit: Deal normal hull and crippling damage, roll for a Critical hit, and 1 HD of crew are slain.

In the event of a critical hit, roll on the following table:

Roll (2d4) Effect
2 Hull Smashed
Deal 2d6 points of hull damage and the ship must make a seaworthiness check or sink.
Even if it passes, it will sink in 1d10 hours unless beached or repaired.
3 Crippling Strike
Deal 2d6 points of crippling damage.
Furthermore, 3 HD of sailors or rowers are slain.
4-5 Tactical Strike
Double damage.
If the target has a greek fire projector, roll twice on the incendiary hit table.
6 Artillery/Crew Hit
If there is artillery, a random piece is destroyed. 3 HD of artillerists die.
If no artillery, 3 HD of crew die.
7 Ram Smashed
The ram is completely destroyed, reducing RF to 0.
If RF is already 0, 1d6 hull damage is dealt.
8 Hull Smashed
Deal 2d6 points of hull damage and the ship must make a seaworthiness check or sink.
Even if it passes, it will sink in 1d10 hours unless beached or repaired.

Evading a Ramming or Boarding Attempt

If your movement in the course of the nautical round brings two ships into contact with each other, one may attempt to ram or board the other. The other ship has a choice to make:

Defending ship rolls twice as much as the attacker. The evasion is successful. The defender receives a +1 bonus to their next maneuverability rolls, and the attacker receives a -3 penalty to ramming or boarding attempts next round.

Defending ship beats the attacker. The evasion is successful. The defender receives a +1 bonus to their next maneuverability rolls, and the attacker receives a -2 penalty to ramming or boarding attempts next round.

It is a tie. The evasion is successful. The attacker receives a -1 penalty to ramming or boarding attempts next round.

Attacking ship beats the defender. The ramming or boarding attempt is successful.

Attacking ship rolls twice as much as the defender. The ramming or boarding attempt is successful. The attacker receives a +2 bonus on their ramming or boarding combat roll (see below).

Effects of Boarding

When a boarding attempt succeeds, the DM should look at how many boarders are on each ship. Any marine who has not fired a missile weapon this nautical round can act as a boarder. By removing sailors or rowers and reducing the ship to a skeleton crew, it is possible to inflate the size of your boarding party at the expense of your ship's maneuverability. If you really want to, you can even send your entire crew to board - banking on the fact that enough will survive for the journey home. This is commonly done by orcs and goblins.

In order to determine the results of a boarding attempt, the DM should roll on table below. For every 5-man difference in boarders between the attacker and defender, a bonus or penalty of 1 should be applied to the dice roll.

Modified Roll (2d10) Result
6 or less Grapples Repulsed
No boarding is possible this round.
The target ship may try to evade again next round.
7-8 Partial Grapple
A few grappling hooks have found their mark.
If already partially grappled, treat this as a full grapple.
9-12 Full Grapple
Ship is fully grappled, but boarding parties cannot enter until next round.
13-14 Quarter Board
As Full Grapple, but one quarter of the boarding party can immediately board.
They may choose to hold back until all can board.
15-17 Half Board
As Full Grapple, but half of the boarding party can immediately board.
They may choose to hold back until all can board.
18-19 Three-Quarter Board
As Full Grapple, but three quarters of the boarding party can immediately board.
They may choose to hold back until all can board.
20 All Board
As Full Grapple, but the entire boarding party can immediately board.

When a ship is grappled, it cannot move normally. As soon as it is grappled (and every round thereafter), the ship has a 1 in 6 chance of breaking the grapple. This chance raises to 2 in 6 if it is only partially grappled. However, if the sailors or rowers are no longer at their posts, this chance drops to 0 in 6. For every 10 men you set to cutting the grapples (instead of fighting boarders or firing missiles), this chance is increased by a further 1 in 6 - to a maximum of 5 in 6. The ship can sail away in the same round the grapple is broken.

Effects of Ramming

Assuming your vessel has an Ramming Factor, a successful ramming attempt means that you get to make a ramming combat roll. This is a 2d6 roll with the following modifiers:

Using these modifiers, roll on the following table:

Modified Roll (2d6) Result
1 Critical Miss
2 Ramming ship takes 4d6 hull damage.
3 Ramming ship takes 3d6 hull damage.
4 Ramming ship takes 2d6 hull damage.
5-6 Complete Miss
7 Target takes 1d6 hull damage.
8 Target takes 2d6 hull damage.
9-10 Target takes 3d6 hull damage.
11 Target takes 4d6 hull damage.
12-14 Critical Hit
15 Critical Hit
Target takes 2d6 additional hull damage.
16 Critical Hit
Target takes 3d6 additional hull damage.
17+ Critical Hit
Target takes 4d6 additional hull damage.

Refer to this table for critical hits:

Roll (2d4) Result
2 Target ship immediately loses half its maximum hull points.
Make a seaworthiness check at -2 or sink.
3 Oars are broken or mast is cracked.
Movement speed is reduced to 0, and half the sailors/rowers die.
If it has oars and sails, pick one randomly.
4 Crew knocked down and stunned.
No movement possible this round.
Maneuverability next round is at a -4 penalty.
PCs and NPCs get a save vs. breath weapon to avoid it.
5-6 Ramming ship gains a +3 bonus to maneuverability and a +2 to boarding attempts next round due to the tactical advantage.
7 Target immediately loses one-quarter of its maximum or hull or crippling points (the rammer chooses which).
Target suffers a -3 to all subsequent maneuverability checks until repaired.
Targets base movement is reduced by two-thirds until repaired.
8 Target ship immediately loses half its maximum hull points.
Make a seaworthiness check at -2 or sink.

Refer to this table for critical misses:

Roll (2d4) Result
2 Target takes 1d6 hull damage, but ram shatters. RF is reduced to 0.
If the ramming ship fails a Seaworthiness check at a -3 penalty, it founders in 1d10 hours.
3 Ramming ship misses narrowly, and its oars are broken or sails torn.
Movement speed is reduced to 0, and half the sailors/rowers die.
If it has oars and sails, pick one randomly.
4 Target takes 1d6 hull damage, but ram is damaged. RF is reduced by 1. If this reduces RF to 0, treat this as a roll of 2.
5 Oars or rigging are fouled.
The ramming ship moves at two-thirds speed for the rest of the round.
6 -3 penalty to maneuverability for the ramming ship next round.
7 Ramming ship collides with geography or floating debris and takes 2d6 hull damage.
If this happens in coastal waters, make a Seaworthiness check at -2 or run aground.
8 Target takes 1d6 hull damage, but ram shatters. RF is reduced to 0.
If the ramming ship fails a Seaworthiness check at a -3 penalty, it founders in 1d10 hours.