Naval Combat
Weather & Visibility. Will the weather be a factor with wind speed and direction, storms or waves?
- See page 109 of the DMG to roll random weather
- Rolling seas, storms and high winds will increase the difficulty rating (CR) for pilot checks
- High winds can provide a boost to pilots who can catch it in their sail and a penalty for pilots who try to battle against it.
- A calm sea and clear sky offers great visibility from the crow’s nest with the ability to spot another ship up to 10 miles (52,800 ft) away (roll d4+6 miles), overcast 5 miles (26,400 ft) (roll d2+3 miles), raining 1 mile (5,280 ft) (roll d4*1000' + 1280') and fog 100 to 300 feet (d6/2 * 100').
- See Naval Chase Complications.
- Use the miles per hour of each ship's travel pace to determine closing speed and run 1 hour turns until the ships are within attack range or the distance is outside of maximum visibility and the fleeing ship makes escapes (see Ending Chase rules in DMG).
- The only action possible each hour is the helmsman's Vehicle (Water Vessel) check modified by the Ship's DEX and the crew's Quality. The difference between the two helmsmen's rolls divided by 2 (round up) is added in MPH to the winner's ship that turn. Add or subtract the speeds to determine the new distance after the turn.
- It might be a good idea to sketch out the positions for you players, if you are not using grid combat.
- You might wait to do this until the ships are close to each other. If you have a big enough table or screen, place them at long range.
- How far away can either ship start to fire at the other ship with weapons or magic?
- It is important that you and your players know the distance between the two vessels.
- It is up to you to decide how many weapons could actually be aimed at a boat, if it is in range due to the facing of each vessel.
- An un-aimed attack hits Hull 1-65, Sails 66-90, Helm 91-100. A Hull hit also targets a random weapon 50% of time but only damages if it's AC is also met.
- Aiming at Sails or Helm can only be done at normal range and gives Disadvantage.
- Ships have no initiative. Both ships move first and then both ships attack simultaneously.
- Until the ships are in boarding range run turns (10 rounds) insead of rounds. Multiply ships speed by 10 and compute rate of fire per minute to determine number of attacks per turn.
- If one ship clearly should go first due to some advantage, the let that ship move last and shoot first.
- How many crew are on the ship?
- How many HP does the ship have? Do you want sails and oars to have their own HP?
- What attacks and damage can a ship fire each round? What is the range of each attack type? How much damage can the ship make by ramming another ship?
- What is the speed and propulsion type for the ship? Does it use sails and/or oars?
- What amount of damage can a ship take to its sails/rigging or oars before it is drifting?
- What amount of damage can a ship take to its hull before it is holed?
- If an attack hits with fire damage and it is a critical hit, the vessel should be on fire.
- Feel free to adjust the damage output of cannons down if you want to increase the importance of ranged weapons and ranged spellcasting.
- Repairs to the ship can be made when the vessel is berthed (see page 119 in DMG) or if a player uses powerful magic spells such as fabricate (the mending cantip can not fix a boat). Don’t be afraid to let a player get creative with a spell slot.
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