Ship Combat Actions

Combat Round Step by Step

• 1. Captain Phase. Captains choose their ship’s actions, and they may roll to Push the Crew.
• 2. Initiative. Declare any Lookouts. Lookouts (orCaptains) roll initiative.
• 3. Take turns. Each ship takes a turn in initiative order. (The default difficulty for skill and ability checks during ship combat is DC12.)

On a ship’s turn, characters may go in any order they see fit. Each may choose an Action Station based on the Captains chosen actions, and they may choose a different station each turn. They may also choose another action like casting a spell. Ships and characters may Ready actions to trigger anytime before the ship’s next turn. Every character has a Sailing Die (d4).

• 4. Begin the next round. Repeat the steps until the combat is over.

Moving a Ship

A ship may move up to its full movement each turn after adjusting for the wind. All ships must move at least 1” (exceptions: In Irons, Anchored) A ship must move directly forward to the space in front of its bow. A ship may rotate twice (rotate one hex face or 60º) at any point before, during, or after its movement, but no ship may turn more than once per space. Ships that are In Irons may not move forward but may still rotate once. Ships that are Anchored cannot move or turn.

Ships Actions:

• Fire Cannons
• Repair - (Carpenter)
• Full Sail - (Rrigger)
• Come about (turn once more/ cost 2 movement) - (Helmsman)
• Drop Anchor
• Weigh Anchor
• Cut and Run 

Roles Actions:

• Captain - Each ship must have an assigned Captain. If a ship doesn't have a PC captain the DM can let one act as Captain. At the beginning of the round, the captain chooses actions for each of the ship’s action points. Being the captain takes a character's action. Captains that choose the attack action only need to decide how many points to allocate when choosing the action. The weapons used and their targets may be chosen on the ship's turn. Push the Crew. During a time of need the Captain may to push the crew to their limits. As a bonus action, the Captain may attempt an Intimidation or Persuasion check. On a success, the ship gains one extra action point this turn but loses one action point next turn. A Captain may not attempt to push the crew two turns in a row.
• First Mate - Raise Morale. May make an Intimidation or Persuasion skill check to choose one of the following: give all of the ship’s attacks and skill check rolls +1 this turn, or temporarily remove the Stressed condition from the ship for one turn.
• Rigger - The Rigger rolls to go Full Sail, adding their Sailing Die. Characters may take other actions like casting a spell, attacking another creature, swinging from the rigging, diving from a ship, etc. to the result. If there are multiple Riggers, choose one to make the roll, but each may add their Sailing Die to the total.
• Lookout - Before initiative is rolled each round, any character may spend their action to become the Lookout. The Lookout rolls initiative for the ship, and they may add or subtract their Sailing Die from the result. In addition, any ship with a Lookout has +1 AC.
• Master Gunner - The gunners choose weapons and targets, and roll any attacks using the ship’s cannons, adding their Sailing Die to the first attack roll. If there is more than one gunner, they take turns rolling attacks until there are no attacks left.

Other Actions :  Characters may take other actions like casting a spell, attacking another creature, swinging from the rigging, diving from a ship, etc.

Ship Conditions: 

• Stressed - A ship is Stressed when it has less than half of its starting hit points. A ship is also Stressed if it has less than the required crew. A stressed ship has Disadvantage on all attacks and skill checks. The Bosun action station can take the Raise Morale action to attempt to temporarily remove this condition.
• Derelict - A ship is Derelict when it has 0 hit points. Its speed is 0, and it may only spend its Action Points on the Repair action.
• Sinking. Every time a Derelict ship takes additional damage, it must make a sinking saving throw. Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, the ship does not sink. Otherwise it fails and the ship sinks into the water. If a Derelict ship is hit with a critical hit, it immediately fails its sinking savingthrow.
• Repairing. The only action a Derelict ship may take isRepair, which must be made at Disadvantage. If the Repairaction is successful, the ship loses the Derelict conditionand regains 1 hit point (instead of the normal amount recovered by the Repair action).