Ship Combat and Sailing
Sinking Ships
A ship has a maximum number of Flooding Points. At the start of its captain's turn, the ship takes a number of Flooding Points equal to the number of holes in the ship's hull. If the ship reaches its maximum, the ship sinks. A member of the ships crew can use his or her action to do one of two things to attempt to stop the ship from sinking:
Bail. By moving down to the level of flooding and bailing water out via a bucket (as an action), a crew member can reduce the number of Flooding Points of the ship by 3.
Repair. A creature can use its entire turn (sacrificing actions, bonus actions, and reactions) to repair a hole in the ship, reducing the number of holes by 1. A ship's masts cannot be repaired in combat.
Repairing Ships Outside of Combat
While holes remain in a ship, continue adhering to initiative in order to track the progress of the ship sinking. A ship's mast can be temporarily splinted with a Wisdom (water vehicles) or Wisdom (Survival) check, but its AC is reduced by 5 until the mast is properly repaired at a dock.
Ship Combat
Cannons
Loading and firing a cannon each take an action. A creature can avoid disadvantage on the attack roll to fire a cannon by using their bonus action to make a DC 11 Strength saving throw on the turn they fire the cannon. The loading and firing do not need to be done by the same creature. You add your proficiency bonus and Wisdom modifier to cannon attack rolls. If a cannon hits, it creates a hole in a ship. It also does 44 (8d10) bludgeoning damage to creatures and objects in a 5-foot sphere from its point of impact. A cannon has a range of 600/2,400 ft.
Other Ship Weapons
Mangonels and ballistae cannot create holes in ships, but follow the same rules for loading and firing.
Mangonel. Mangonels cannot hit targets within 60 feet of themselves, and have a range of 200/800 ft. On a hit, they deal 27 (5d10) bludgeoning damage in a 5-foot sphere from the projectile's point of impact.
Ballista. Ballistae have a range of 120/480 ft. On a hit, they deal 16 (3d10) piercing damage, and can optionally be loaded with tethered bolts to create ropes between two points. They can also destroy masts.
Ship Collision
If you decide to ram your ship into another, the ship that was hit takes on a number of holes equal to the speed the offending ship was travelling at divided by 10. The ship that rammed them takes on half that number.
Ship Statistics
A ship has a number of statistics, listed here.
Armor Class. Treat the hull, mast, and helm of the ship as having separate ACs. The hull of a ship has a variable AC based on reinforcement, but should be around 15. A mast has a higher AC, but may be reduced after even a single hit. A normal mast has an AC of 18. Finally, the helm of a ship has an AC of 21. If the helm of a ship is hit, the helm is destroyed at the direction of the ship can no longer be changed. All other orders that can be taken by a creature at the helm still apply.
Flooding Point Maximum. A ship's Flooding Point (FP) Maximum determines the amount of water it can take on before sinking.
Anchor Length. A ship's anchor length determines how long it takes to raise its anchor. Details on raising and lowering anchors, as well as how the anchor behaves, can be found in the Piloting a Ship section of this book.
Maximum Speed. A ship's maximum speed is the speed it travels at when all of its sails are fully unfurled and the wind is favourable. The speed it travels at is reduced by a fraction equal to the number of unfurled sails over the number of furled sails. If the wind is unfavourable, the ship's speed after calculating this fraction is cut in half. If there is no wind, a sailing ship cannot move via sails regardless of their state. A ship with fully furled sails, but favourable winds, will travel at a speed of 5 feet. If a ship's mast is destroyed, the sail on that mast is considered furled.
As an example, let us consider a ship with three masts (considered, albeit unrealistically, to have 3 sails) and a maximum speed of 60 feet (about 7 miles per hour). If the wind is blowing in the direction the ship is travelling, and all of the sails are fully lowered, the ship will travel at its maximum speed. If one of its sails is furled, the ship will travel at only two-thirds of its maximum, or 40 feet. If two of its sails are furled, it will travel at 20 feet, one third of its maximum. If all of its sails are furled, it will travel at a speed of 5 feet. If the wind is unfavourable with all of the sails furled, it travels at 30 feet, 20 if one is furled, and 10 if two are furled. It will not move if all of the sails are furled and the wind is not favourable. A table for this example is provided below.
| Favourable Winds | Sails Unfurled | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 3 | 60 |
| Yes | 2 | 40 |
| Yes | 1 | 20 |
| Yes | 0 | 5 |
| No | 3 | 30 |
| No | 2 | 20 |
| No | 1 | 10 |
| No | 0 | 0 |
Piloting a Ship
You (or another creature) can pilot a ship by taking control of its helm, usually located at the back of the ship. While piloting a ship, you are unable to take actions other than those listed here and always act at initiative 30. If you relinquish control of the helm, you return to your ordinary initiative roll.
Movement. On your turn, the ship must move its speed, and you can choose to make one 90-degree turn at any point during this movement (no action required). A ship's speed is determined by the size and status of its sails. If all of a ship's masts are destroyed, its speed is 0.
Advanced Movement. You can attempt to move the ship past its capabilities. As an action, you can make a Wisdom (water vehicles) check to do one of the following:
Rush. You give orders that temporarily boost the ship's speed. The ship moves twice its speed on this turn, but cannot change direction.
About. You order the anchor to be dropped, causing the ship to make a full 180 degree turn. The anchor is then raised on the same turn if its Anchor Length is less than or equal to 4. This also halts the ship's movement for the turn.
Giving Orders. You can use your action to give orders to up to 3 crew members. That crew member should (though will not necessarily) attempt to carry them out on their turn. Orders that can be given (and thus actions a crew member can take, separately from operating weaponry or repairing the ship) are as follows:
Readjust Sails. A crew member can align one of the ship's masts' sails into the wind, if not sailing directly into the wind, to boost its speed.
Furl/Unfurl a Sail. A crew member can raise or lower a sail to control the ship's speed.
Adjust Sail Length. You can make a Wisdom (water vehicles) check to give an exact amount to raise or lower the sails. On a success, you can adjust the ship's speed to any number within the range that that sail dictates. For example, on the same ship used in the earlier example, passing this check would allow the speed to be changed by up to -20 in favourable winds, if applied to a fully unfurled sail.
Raise/Lower Anchor. A crew member can raise or lower the ship's anchor. Raising the anchor takes a number of turns that varies between ships, but can be reduced by ordering additional crewmembers to help with the task. Lowering the anchor immediately halts the ship's movement and prevents it from moving again until the anchor is raised.
Credits
This document was created by NoiseGenerator as a replacement for the ship combat rules found in Ghosts of Saltmarsh. You are free to use, modify, and reproduce them however you wish, but I'd appreciate credit if possible. I really can't stop you. Everything in this document is subject to change. No rights reserved. Image on this page credit to Wizards of the Coast, I think.