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Ships of Sea and Sky

Soluna is a large planet with several thousands of miles worth of travel to and from each point. Though land based travel is cheap and popular, when crossing vast expanses where carriages and mounts cannot travel, one must look towards other means of transport. There are several types of ships in the world, some as small as skiffs and canoes, while others are as big as galleons and warships.

The Pathfinder Module "Skulls and Shackles" has a fully fleshed out compendium of ships, ship statistics, naval combat, and siege weapons. Defer to those rules if anything is missing from the information reflected here. Presented here is information regarding vehicular combat, not necessarily ships and airships, but also wagons, wains, and other forms of locomotion.

Facing and Movement[]

Ships do not move like creatures, even when they use creatures for propulsion. They tend to move in the direction of their forward facing, and do so quickly.

Facing: Unlike creatures, ships have a forward facing. Usually one of the shorter sides of a ship serves as the ship's forward facing. Facing represents the effect of inertia on vehicles. Ships move best when moving in the direction of their forward facing, and it takes time and skill to move them in other directions. When piloted correctly, ships can move straight ahead, diagonally, or a mix of both within the same movement. Skilled pilots can make a ship zigzag in a forward direction with ease.

Movement: Ships have a maximum speed and an acceleration listing. The maximum speed is the fastest rate the ship can travel per round (though a wind-propelled ship sailing in the direction of the wind can double this speed). A ship cannot usually start at its maximum speed. Each round, the pilot can attempt to accelerate the ship or decelerate it by a rate equal to its acceleration (see the Movement section in Ships in Combat). The rate at which a ship is currently moving is called its current speed.

Edge of the Map: When playing out ship-to-ship combat on a Flip-Mat or battle mat, the edge of the map forms an artificial boundary—on the open sea, there is no edge of the map. As a result, if a ship moves off the edge of the map, you should extend the map with a new blank Flip-Mat or battle mat, or reposition the ships so they have room to maneuver.

Propulsion[]

Vehicles have two basic types of propulsion. A vehicle is either powered by creatures, such as a horse drawn carriage or a human powered longship, or by an inanimate force such as wind, gravity, or mechanical power. Some vehicles, such as ships, have a choice of either type or propulsion, either oars or sails, while airships are powered solely by magical engines. The type of propulsion a vehicle uses determines what skill the pilot needs in order to control it, without the relevant skill, the pilot can default using a Wisdom checks.

Wind[]

Vehicles with sails depend on the wind to power their movement. To determine how a wind-powered vehicles moves, first figure out wind speed on the table below while direction is determined by rolling a d8 and following the rules for splash damage. As long as the vehicles is pointed within 90 degrees of downwind, its maximum speed is equal to the speed given in the vehicles stat block multiplied by the speed multiplier. For example, if a moderate wind is coming from the south, a galley with a speed of 20 feet heading west, northwest, north, northeast, or east has a speed of 40 feet.

Table:Random Wind Speed

d% Wind Condition Speed Multiplier
01-05 Calm (0 mph) Can't Move
06-70 Light (1-10 mph) x1
71-80 Moderate (11-20 mph) x2
81-90 Heavy (21-30 mph) x3
91-99 Severe (31-50 mph) Can't Sail
100 Windstorm (51-74 mph) or Hurricane (75-150 mph) Can't Sail

If a wind-powered vehicle turns so that the bow points within 45 degrees of the direction the wind is coming from, its speed is reduced by half as long as its headed in that direction. For example, if the wind is coming from the south, a galley heading southeast or southwest moves at half speed.

If a wind-powered vehicle turns into the wind, it comes to a halt and ends its movement that round. The vehicle can spend one of its move actions to rotate 45 degrees in either direction, which will get it moving again (at half speed until it turns to more favorable winds).

Sails and Rigging: All wind-propelled ships require the use of sails and rigging. To move at full speed, a ship requires 10 5-foot squares of sails per mast per square of the ship. For example, a 3-square ship with three masts requires 90 squares of sails. Sails have their own statistics.

Sails (including the rigging that controls them) are often weaker than the vessels they propel, though they are relatively easy to repair. Destroying a ship's sails is a good way to capture a vessel. Sails take double the normal damage from acid and fire attacks (multiply the damage roll by 2). Sails gain the broken condition if at least half the squares of sails on a ship are destroyed. If all of a ship's sails are destroyed, the ship can no longer use wind propulsion and must rely on current or muscle propulsion only.

Oar-Powered Vehicles[]

Vehicles with rowers move more consistently. As long as enough rowers are present, oar-powered vehicles move at their given speed in any direction. Furthermore, they tend to be more maneuverable in close quarters than vehicles that rely on sails. If the indicated number of rowers are not available, reduce the vehicle's speed by half.

Muscle-propelled ships that use oars and rowers to push the ship forward require Diplomacy or Intimidate, or depending on the intelligence and attitude of the creatures supplying the muscle for the propulsion.

For intelligent creatures, use Diplomacy if the creatures providing the propulsion have an attitude of indifferent, friendly, or helpful. If the creatures providing the propulsion are friendly or helpful, Diplomacy sailing checks are made with a +5 bonus. An average crew is considered indifferent, though a particularly loyal crew might be considered friendly. Intimidate is used for intelligent creatures with an attitude of unfriendly or hostile, such as captive rowers on a slave galley.

The maximum speed and acceleration of a muscle-propelled ship depends on the number of creatures providing the propulsion, but most muscle-propelled ship have a maximum speed of 30 feet and an acceleration of 30 feet. Larger muscle-propelled ships with many rowers have a maximum speed of 60 feet and an acceleration of 30 feet.

Some vehicles, such as the galley and the warship, have both oars and sails. The driver of the vehicle decides whether it is using rowers or sails for locomotion. The method of locomotion can be changed in as little as 1 round. All muscle-propelled ships require the use of oars. Oars have their own statistics.

Oars are often weaker than the vessels they propel, and are difficult to replace. Destroying a ship's oars is a good way to capture a vessel. Oars gain the broken condition if at least half the oars on a ship are destroyed. If all of a ship's oars are destroyed, the ship can no longer use muscle propulsion and must rely on current and/or wind propulsion only.

Drawn Vehicles[]

The speed of a drawn vehicles such as a wagon or chariot depends on what's pulling it. Horses are the most common creatures, but the world is open to feature carriages pulled by dire wolves, orcas, pegasi, and even war elephants. For these vehicles, Handle Animal is the required skill to control them.

Warhorses, ponies, and other creatures trained for battle serve readily as drawn creatures in a fight. Other creatures tend to be frightened by combat. If the vehicle does anything other than remain still, the driver must make a DC 5 Control check each round as a move action or DC 20 if the vehicle is in combat. If the driver succeeds on the check, the vehicle functions normally, while a driver who fails must spend the rest of the round trying to calm the creatures and can't take any other actions.

Drivers who need both hands to fight can try to control a drawn vehicle with a verbal command, by wrapping the reigns around an arm or by using some other makeshift manner. But it's difficult; the pilot gains a -5 penalty on their Control check and is required at the beginning of the round you try this. If you fail, you can either pick up the reigns or choose to let the vehicle be out of control.

Airship Propulsion[]

Airships are propelled by magical forces that lift them into the air and push them at high velocities. These machines are mostly self sufficient, not relying on things such as man-power and wind-power to function. Because of this, the amount of people required on any one airship is greatly reduced, generally just mechanics, craftsmen, magicians, and a pilot or two. On Empyrean Warships, extra crew members handle things such as cannons, ballistas, and other arms. These magical engines are not hampered by weather, as they should be, since high altitude winds are generally severe.

The engines are magical constructs, the secrets of their craft is a mystery to all save for a few elite members of the Empyrean Government. What IS known is that there is a magical stone that emanates such a magical force that it lifts and propels these aerial behemoths. This stone is a large ioun stone like item, 12 inches long and 5 inches wide, this item is extremely powerful and extremely magical. The stone has 8 hardness and 75 HP. Because of their value and their power, as well as their use in keeping the airship afloat, these stones are often placed inside a casing made of a strong alloy to protect it and the intricate inner machinations and runes that harness the stones power. The type of alloy used for their outer casing defers from ship to ship.

Airship engines are split into two distinct types: Primary engines and Auxilliary Engines.

Primary Engine: A primary engine is a casing usually of iron or brass (though more exotic and expensive types exist) to house both the magical focus that harnesses power into thrust and the ioun stone itself. A single primary engine is capable of providing 30 feet of motive power, and generally two are sufficient enough to be placed on a single airship. Primary engines are also capable of harnessing even more power from the magical stones heldwithin, this surge focus, as it is called, increases the motive power of a single engine by 15 feet per round. However, use of this power, requires knowledge to the engine's inner workings in addition to the danger of explosion.

Activating the surge focus requires the Knowledge Engineering, Knowledge Arcana, or Spellcraft skill. Unlike a control check, this cannot be bypassed by using Wisdom instead. The DC for this check is 15+active rounds squared. For example initially activating the surge focus is a DC 15, while continued activation DC are 16, 19, 24, 31, etc. Failing this check by 4 or less immediately ends the surge and disables the engine for 1d4 rounds, however, failing it by 5 or more, will disable it by 1d4 minutes, lastly failing the check by 10 or more, disables the engine for 1d4 hours.

Auxilliary Engine: An auxilliary engine is a special casing made to harness the power of lift. Each auxilliary engine is capable of lifting a 30 foot by 30 foot section of a vehicle (1 square) and must be placed so that the stress of the entire construct is distributed evenly. If the size and weight of the vehicle increases to the point where the engines cannot compensate, the ship is considered to be sinking.

Miscellaneous Propulsion[]

Current: All boats and ships can use water currents for propulsion, but ships that only rely on currents for propulsion are somewhat limited. These vehicles can only move in the direction and at the speed of a current unless they also employ some other means of propulsion or manipulation, and thus often have an additional form of propulsion, such as muscle in the case of a rowboat, or wind in the case of a sailing ship. A current-propelled ship requires a Profession (sailor) check for the sailing check.

Mixed Means of Propulsion: Some ships use multiple forms of propulsion. Multiple methods of propulsion add flexibility and can work in concert to create faster movement. If a ship has two means of propulsion, such as wind and muscle, it generally adds its two maximum speeds together to determine its maximum speed. Acceleration remains the same. Nothing is added for a third form of propulsion, except for the flexibility of having a back-up form of propulsion. A ship with multiple methods of propulsion often requires a large crew to get it going and keep it moving.

Controlling Vehicles[]

Driving a vehicle under normal or good weather conditions with a sufficient crew requires a DC 5 control check. If it's a land based vehicle, you just drive along the road. However, if the weather turns afoul, the terrain treacherous, or your vehicle short-manned, you gain penalties on your check based on the circumstances on the table below.

Vehicles reliant on animal power, require a Handle Animal check in order to control, while most sea vehicles require Profession (Sailor). If the driver doesn't have the relevant skill, they can make a Wisdom skill check in lieu of a skill. If a vehicle is in combat the control check is DC 20 with the appropriate penalties or bonuses depending on circumstances. Since piloting a ship outside of combat is easily accomplished by taking 10 on the skill check, sailing checks are not normally needed. Almost every character can do it with relative ease; the DCs are given only to adjudicate special situations that may come up in your game.

Aid Another: Just as with other skills, a character can spend a standard action to use the aid another action. This represents an extra pair of eyes observing the enemy, giving orders to the crew, or simply helpful advice. The helping character makes a sailing check as well. If the result is 10 or higher, the pilot gains a +2 bonus on her sailing check. Only one character can use the aid another action to help a pilot on a single sailing check.

If the driver fails a vehicle control check, what happens depends on the movement scale. A pilot can even take 10 (when outside of combat) or gain the benefits of the aid another action when using Wisdom instead of the ship's normal sailing skill.

Table:Vehicle Control Penalties

Task Penalty
Drive in precipitation -5
Drive during storm -10
Drive during powerful storm -15
Drive on mountain highway, jungle road, swamp road, hill road, trackless scrub -5
Drive on mountain road, trackless forest, swamp, hills, or desert -10
Drive on trackless jungle, mountains -15
Sail in light seas 0
Sail in moderate seas -10
Sail in heavy seas -15
Less than full crew -10
Less than half crew -15
Less than 1/4th crew

-20

Destroyed control device

-10

Overland Movement: A land vehicle is reduced to half speed for 1 hour if the driver fails a control check by 1-4 points. Failure by 5 points or more means that no progress is made in the next hour. Minor breakdowns, stuck wheels, and uncooperative creatures account for many of these delays. The consequences of failure are the same for water and air vehicles, with one additional consideration: If the control check fails by 10 or more, the vehicle is sent off course in a random direction for 1 hour at it's maximum speed.

Local Movement: All vehicles move at half speed for 1 minute if the control check fails by 1-4 points. They make no progress at all for 1 minute if the check fails by 5 or more.

Tactical Movement: If conditions require a control check in combat, the driver makes one immediately when it's his turn. If the check fails, roll on one of the following two tables, depending on the degree of failure.

Table:Failed Control Check (1-4 points)

d6 Result
1 Vehicle can't move this round
2-4 Vehicle moves half speed this round
5-6 Vehicle is considered out of control

Table:Failed Control Check (5+ points)

d6 Result
1 Vehicle can't move until repairs are made.
2 Vehicle turns as often as it can, in a random direction each time, at last round's speed.
3 Vehicle must turn left as soon as possible; thereafter functions normally.
4 Vehicle must turn right as soon as possible; thereafter functions normally.
5 Vehicle drives straight ahead at maximum speed.
6 Vehicle can't move this round.

Out of Control Vehicles: Sometimes a driver is incapacitated or leaves the wheel, voluntarily or otherwise. If that happens the vehicle is out of control. On the driver's initiative count, roll on the table Failed Control Check (5+ points)above to determine how the vehicle moves. Unless the result indicates a turn, the vehicle moves straight ahead. An out of control vehicle continues to roll on the table every round until it comes to a stop from the result on the table or a collision. An out of control vehicle automatically reduces it's speed by 30 ft.

Control Devices[]

Every vehicle has a control device for steering. A control device is typically an object with object immunities and resistances and with its own statistics. The following are some of the typical control devices for ships, plus their usual Armor Class, hit points, and hardness. When a control device gains the broken condition, all sailing checks take a –10 penalty. When a control device is destroyed, a ship cannot be piloted until the control device is repaired. Airship engines, though inherently magically treated, have a different AC/HP/Hardness stat.

Table: Control Device Statistics

Control Device AC Hit Points Hardness
Oar 12 10 per oar 5
Sails 6 4 per 5 foot square 0
Steering Wheel 10 25 5
Tiller 10 25 5
Skystone Engine 9 60 10
Magically Treated none x2 x2

Combat in Vehicles[]

Combat on vehicles follow the same rules are regular combat, however, depending on inclement weather and movement, all attacks both magical and mundane suffer penalties. Vehicles also generally provide a small measure of cover for their occupants. Driving a vehicle is a move equivalent action, so a driver can generally attack and move at the same time. Passengers on a vehicle can make attacks normally, but it's sometimes hard to fight aboard a moving, vibrating vehicle. It's also possible to run into a foe with your vehicle. Such collisions represent an unusual type of attack.

Melee Attacks: If the vehicle moves more than 5 feet per round, the driver and passengers can usually only take one single melee attack. Essentially, you have to wait until your vehicle gets to the enemy before attacking, so you can't make a full attack. If you attack a medium-size or smaller creature who's standing on the ground, you get a +1 bonus on the attack roll for being on higher ground.

Ranged Attacks: Normal ranged attacks and siege engine attacks made from a water vehicle incur a -2 penalty during inclement weather, a -4 penalty during a storm, and -8 penalty during a powerful storm because the waves cause the ships deck to pitch, making such attacks difficult. These penalties stack with any penalties from high winds. As with mounted combat, you are assumed to make your attack rolls when the vehicle is at the midpoint of it's movement for that round.

Casting a Spell: Spellcasters aboard a moving vehicle must succeed on a Concentration check to cast spells. The check is DC 10 + spell level for all land vehicles and for air or water vehicles in inclement weather. The check DC is 15 + spell level aboard an air or water vehicle in a storm, and DC 20 + spell level in a powerful storm. Aboard a big air or water vehicle, a spellcaster can reduce the check DC by 5 by going below deck.

Attacking an Occupant: This is a normal attack against a ship's occupant—any creature that is a passenger, pilot, crew, or providing propulsion on a ship. Occupants get partial cover (+2 to AC and +1 on Reflex saving throws) or greater against attacks coming from outside of the ship. Occupants in a forecastle or sterncastle have cover (+4 to AC and +2 on Reflex saving throws), while those inside a port or hatch have improved cover (+8 to AC and +4 on Reflex saving throws). In general, once combat begins among the occupants of two ships (such as when boarding), ship-to-ship combat should be replaced with shipboard combat.

Ship-to-Ship Battles[]

Steampunk Pilot

A captain of one of Soluna's Skyships

When ships themselves become a part of a combat, things get more unusual. The following rules are not meant to accurately simulate all of the complexities of ship-to-ship combat, only to provide you with a quick and easy set of rules to resolve such situations when they inevitably arise in a nautical adventure, whether it be a battle between two ships or between a ship and a sea monster. These rules apply to airships-to-airship battles and aerial monsters.

Because they're inanimate objects, vehicles generally have a very low AC. They're protected by their hardness and the fact that objects are harder to damage than creatures. Like all inanimate objects, vehicles are immune to critical hits, subtle damage, and sneak attacks. They take half damage from all ranged weapons smaller than siege engines, as well as from acid, fire, and lightning. Cold attacks deal 1/4 damage. Divide the damage by 2 or 4 before subtracting the objects hardness. Sonic attacks deal full damage.

Preparation: Decide what type of ships are involved in the combat. Use a large, blank battle mat to represent the arena on which the battle occurs. A single square corresponds to 30 feet of distance instead of the regular 5 feet. Represent each ship by placing markers that take up the appropriate number of squares (miniature toy ships make great markers).

To establish the position of the ships on the battle mat, roll 1d4 to determine the ships' heading (the direction they are facing). Since both ships are coming out of a chase, they are both assumed to have the same heading. A roll of 1 is north, 2 is east, 3 is south, and 4 is west. Place the defending ship as close to the center of the map as possible on the correct heading.

Next, roll 1d8 to determine the bearing of the attacking ship (its position relative to the other ship). Follow the guidelines for missed splash weapons, with a roll of 1 indicating north, and counting squares clockwise for a roll of 2 through 8 to determine the bearing. In some cases, this will put the attacking ship ahead of the defending ship—this simply means the attacking ship overshot its quarry as the chase came to a close.

Finally, roll 1d4+2 to determine the number of squares on the battle mat between the two ships. Place the attacking ship on the map at the appropriate bearing and distance from the opposing ship. Unless otherwise detailed in an encounter, assume that each ship begins combat with a speed of 30 feet. Any siege engines carried on a ship are likewise assumed to be loaded at the beginning of combat.

Wind: If any of the ships in the battle rely on sails and wind to move, randomly determine what direction the wind is blowing by rolling 1d8 and using the same guidelines for determining heading. See the effects of wind above under "Wind Propulsion".

Chase: On the wide, open sea, one ship can spot another from miles away, making it virtually impossible to surprise another ship. If both ships want to engage in combat, the ships close with one another and begin ship-to-ship combat normally. If one ship wants to avoid combat, however, a chase ensues. At the GM's discretion, a faster ship can always catch a slower ship, but even slow ships can take advantage of favorable winds, currents, or coastal terrain to make good their escape.

When two ships first encounter one another, the pilots of the two ships must make three opposed sailing checks. Whichever pilot wins at least two out of three of the opposed checks is victorious. If the pursuing ship wins, it catches up to the fleeing ship and ship-to-ship combat begins. If the fleeing ship wins, it escapes. If the result is a tie, the pilots should begin a new series of three opposed checks.

Initiative: When combat begins, allow the PCs (and important NPC allies) to roll initiative as normal— the ship itself moves and attacks on the captain’s initiative result. If a ship has no pilot, it moves on the turn of the last creature that was its pilot, or on a turn determined by the GM. If they wish to take actions in combat, the PCs (and important NPCs involved in the combat) should roll initiative at this time as well.

Upper Hand: At the beginning of every round, each pilot makes an opposed sailing check to determine who has the upper hand that round. This represents the vagaries of luck, skill, and the environment, whether catching a favorable gust of wind, taking advantage of a fast current, sliding down the back of a large wave, or disrupting an opposing ship's wind with your own ship's “dirty air.” The pilot who succeeds at the check gains the upper hand, and can immediately reposition her ship by one square in any direction as a free action. For every 5 by which the successful pilot's check exceeds the opposing pilot's check, the pilot with the upper hand can reposition her ship by an additional square. On a tie, neither pilot gains the upper hand.

Alternatively, the pilot who wins the upper hand can change the heading of her ship by 90 degrees. For every 5 by which the successful pilot's check exceeds the opposing pilot's check, the pilot with the upper hand can change the heading of her ship by an additional 90 degrees.

A ship that is upwind of another ship (closer to the direction of the wind) is said to “hold the weather gage,” and gains a +2 bonus on the opposed check to gain the upper hand.

Movement: At the start of a pilot's turn, she can take any of the following sailing actions (except the “uncontrolled” action) by making a sailing check to control the vehicle. The pilot must take whatever action is required before doing anything else that turn. Just as in normal combat, a pilot can perform a standard action and a move action each round. Once the pilot has selected an action, or takes some other action forcing the ship to become uncontrolled, the ship moves. If a ship has less than half its crew or has no pilot, or if the pilot takes no action, takes some other action instead of piloting the ship, or delays or readies an action, the ship takes the “uncontrolled” action.

Full Ahead (standard action): With a successful sailing check, the ship's current speed increases by its acceleration (usually 30 feet), but no higher than its maximum speed. The ship can move forward or forward diagonally. In other words, each time a ship enters a new 30-foot square, it can choose any of its forward-facing squares—the one directly in front or either of the squares directly forward and diagonal. This allows the ship to swerve. A pilot who fails her sailing check does not accelerate and can only move into a square directly in front of the ship's forward facing.
Hard to Port or Hard to Starboard (standard action): The pilot can turn the ship while it moves forward at its current speed. With a successful sailing check, the pilot can change the ship's forward facing either left (port) or right (starboard) by 90 degrees at any point during the ship's movement. Do this by pivoting the ship so that the rear square of the ship takes the place of the ship's former forward facing square. If a ship's current speed is twice its acceleration, the pilot takes a –5 penalty on the sailing check. If a ship's current speed is three times its acceleration, the pilot takes a –10 penalty on the sailing check. If its current speed is four or more times its acceleration, the pilot takes a –20 penalty. On a failed check, the ship does not turn, but can be moved forward diagonally during its movement. Note: A wind-propelled ship that turns into the wind (its forward facing is pointed in the opposite direction from the wind) is said to be “in irons” and takes the uncontrolled action until its pilot turns it to face another direction.
Heave To (standard action): With a successful sailing check, the ship's current speed decreases by 30 feet. On a failed check, the ship does not decelerate. Either way, the ship can move forward on its current facing and can move forward diagonally. If deceleration reduces a ship's speed to 0, some amount of inertia will continue to move the ship forward. The ship moves forward (either directly forward or forward diagonally) 1d4×30 feet before coming to a complete stop. Having the Expert Driver feat reduces this distance by 30 feet (minimum 0 feet).
Make Way (standard action): With a successful sailing check, a pilot can make a tricky or difficult maneuver that forces an enemy pilot to react. The result of this sailing check then becomes the DC of the enemy pilot's next sailing check. On a failed check, the ship's speed remains constant, but the ship cannot move forward diagonally, and the enemy pilot makes his next sailing check at the normal DC.
Stay the Course (move action): With a successful sailing check, the pilot can move the ship forward on its current facing at its current speed, and it can move directly forward or forward diagonally. Failing the check keeps the speed constant, but the ship can only move directly forward, not forward diagonally.
Full Astern (full-round action): With a successful sailing check, the pilot can move the ship backward at a speed of 30 feet, moving either directly backward (the reverse of its forward facing) or backward diagonally. On a failed check, it does not move backward. A ship may only be moved in reverse if its current speed is 0.
Uncontrolled (no action): When the pilot does nothing, if there is no pilot, or if the ship has less than half its crew, the ship is out of control (see Out of Control table above). An out of control ship does nothing but roll against the out of control table or until someone becomes its new pilot. Even if a ship does nothing, it can still perform ramming maneuvers (see Ramming).

Attacks: Ships typically don't have attacks and do not threaten any area around them, though some ships can be fitted with rams. Some ships also carry siege engines. Provided that the ship has enough additional crew to operate them, these siege engines can make attacks. While individuals aboard a ship generally don't play a significant role in ship-to-ship combat, important characters such as PCs might still become involved if they wish to fire siege engines or if an enemy ship is in range of their ranged attacks or spells. When attacking a ship, you can attack the ship's structure, occupants, propulsion, or control device. You can also attempt to grapple and board a ship. In addition, a ship can make a ramming maneuver or shearing maneuver as part of its movement.

Attacking the Structure: This is an attack against the ship itself. If the attack is successful, the ship takes damage normally.
Attacking Propulsion: A ship's means of propulsion usually has its own set of statistics, while creatures propelling a ship use their own statistics. See Attacking an Occupant above if crew members providing propulsion are attacked. Individual ship stat blocks detail their means of propulsion.
Vehicles reliant on wind usually have rigging and masts. If the rigging takes half damage, reduce the speed of the ship by half. If the rigging is completely destroyed, it can't move at all under wind power. Similarly, airships are reliant on magical engines that keep them afloat and power their movement. If one were to attack a magical airship engine, treat this attack the way you would on a normal magical item. If half of the airships engines are not functioning, then it moves at half speed. If all the engines are damaged, the airship is treated as if it were sinking.
Attacking the Control Device: A ship's control device is an object with its own statistics. When a control device is destroyed, the ship can no longer be piloted.
Attacking a Siege Engine: Siege engines mounted on a ship have their own statistics. Siege engines benefit from cover as occupants on a ship.
Broadsides: Some ships can carry a large number of siege engines. Rather than bog down ship-to-ship combat with numerous individual attack rolls, siege engines can be fired in “broadsides.” All siege engines of the same type on a single side of the ship can fire at once. Broadside attacks can only be used to attack the structure of a ship or propulsion. Make a single attack roll for all of the siege engines in the broadside. If the attack roll is successful, all of the weapons hit their target. If the attack roll fails, all of the weapons miss. On a successful attack roll, take the average damage of a single weapon and multiply it by the number of weapons in the broadside to determine the total damage dealt.
For example, a sailing ship with a bank of 10 light ballistae on its port side fires a broadside attack. A single light ballista deals 3d8 points of damage, for an average of 13.5 points of damage. If the attack hits, the broadside deals 13.5 × 10, or 135 points of damage.
Crew members in excess of the ship’s minimum crew requirement can be allocated to man siege engines. Siege engines attack on the captain’s initiative count.

A ship can also attempt to ram a target if it has its minimum crew. To ram a target, the ship must move at least 30 feet (or its equivalent full move speed) and end with its bow in a square adjacent to the target. See more information regarding "Collisions" below.

If you are attacking a ship with multiple layers (such as one with armor plating), you must overcome each layer in turn. Damage left over from a single attack that destroyed the previous layer must overcome the hardness of the new layer before damaging it.

Sinking: A ship gains the sinking condition if its hit points are reduced to 0 or fewer. A sinking ship cannot move or attack, and it sinks completely 10 rounds after it gains the sinking condition. Each hit on a sinking ship that inflicts damage reduces the remaining time for it to sink by 1 round per 25 points of damage inflicted. Magic (such as make whole) can repair a sinking ship if the ship’s hit points are raised above 0, at which point the ship loses the sinking condition. Generally, non-magical repairs take too long to save a ship from sinking once it begins to go down.

Shipboard Comabt: Shipboard combat is just like any other combat between the PCs and their opponents, except the encounter takes place on board a ship, rather than in a dungeon or on a forest path. For the most part, shipboard combat can be resolved normally. The only constraints are the size of the ship (and therefore, the size of the battlefield), the danger of falling overboard into the water, and the effects of weather on the ship.

If the combat happens during a storm or in rough seas, treat the ship's deck as difficult terrain. Remember to take into account the effects on spellcasters' concentration checks due to weather or the motion of the ship's deck. If a combatant falls overboard, see the rules for aquatic terrain and water dangers. In all other ways, shipboard combat functions no differently than combat on land.

Withdrawing: Once in ship-to-ship combat, a ship can withdraw from combat by simply moving off the edge of the battle mat, ending ship-to-ship combat immediately. At the GM's discretion, the ship has either escaped completely, or the two ships can go back to the evasion and pursuit rules above.

Grappling and Boarding[]

When the crew of one ship wishes to board an enemy ship and attack its crew, they must first grapple the other ship. To grapple, the two ships must be within 30 feet of one another (in other words, they must be in adjacent squares on the battle mat). If both pilots want to grapple, grappling is automatically successful. The two crews throw out grappling lines and draw the ships together. If both ships are reduced to a speed of 0 as the result of a ramming maneuver, they are also considered grappled.

If only one pilot wants to grapple, she must make a combat maneuver check against the target ship's CMD, using the base CMB of the ship plus the pilot's sailing skill modifier (or Wisdom skill modifier if she is using that ability to control the ship) as the total CMB of the grappling maneuver. If the check is successful, the target ship is grappled. On the next round, the two ships are moved adjacent to one another, and the speed of both ships is reduced to 0. If a ship has less than its full crew complement, the pilot takes a –10 penalty on her combat maneuver check to make a grappling maneuver.

Breaking a Grapple: The pilot of a grappled ship can attempt to break the grapple by making a combat maneuver check against the opposing ship's CMD, but at a –4 penalty. If the check is successful, the crew has cut the grappling lines and the freed ship may now move as normal.

Boarding: Once two ships are grappled, a crew can board the other ship. The pilot with the highest initiative can choose whether to board the opposing ship with her crew first or wait for the opposing crew to board her ship. Characters boarding an opposing ship are considered flat-footed for the first round of shipboard combat, due to the difficulty of climbing over the ships' rails and finding footing on the enemy deck. Characters using a corvus to board another ship are not considered flat-footed.

Collisions[]

If you hit something with your vehicle (intentionally or by accident) at full speed, the collision deals the ram damage given in the vehicles stat block. Your vehicle takes an equal amount of damage (or damage -10 if it's a creature). For example, if you try to run down a pedestrian who has 17 hit points, your vehicle can't take more than 7 points of damage no matter how fast you're going. Some vehicles have extra braces and heavy striking surfaces that make them better at ramming. Vehicles with rams only take half damage from collisions they initiate.

To ram a target, a vehicle must move at least 30 feet (or it's equivalent full speed) and end with its forward square in a square adjacent to the target.The ship's pilot must make a ramming combat maneuver check against the target's CMD, using the base CMB of the ship plus the pilot's sailing skill modifier (or Wisdom skill modifier if she is using that ability to control the ship) as the total CMB of the ramming maneuver. A ship's base ramming damage is listed in its stat block. If the pilot's combat maneuver check exceeds the target's CMD by 5 or more, the target takes twice the ship's ramming damage. If the combat maneuver check exceeds the target's CMD by 10 or more, the target takes twice the ship's ramming damage and the target's speed is immediately reduced to 0. Regardless of the result of the combat maneuver check, the ramming ship's speed is reduced to 0.

The given damage is for a vehicle traveling at maximum speed. If a vehicle can't reach its maximum speed due to terrain, damage, or other factors, cut the ram damage by half.

If a ship collides with another ship or a solid object (an immobile structure with a hardness of 5 or more), it also makes a ramming maneuver, regardless of the pilot's intent. There is no combat maneuver check for this ramming maneuver; its effects happen automatically. When a ship makes a ramming maneuver against a solid object, to determine how much damage both the solid object and the ship take, allow the ship to enter the solid object's space. The ship will only travel through that space if the damage is enough to destroy the solid object; in all other cases, the ship takes the damage and its speed is immediately reduced to 0 as it comes to a sudden stop directly in front of the solid object.

A ship can be outfitted with a ram on its forward facing. A ship equipped with a ram deals an additional 2d8 points of damage with a ramming maneuver, and ignores the damage for the first square of a solid object it enters, and all damage from ramming creatures or other objects (such as other ships). A ram can be added to a Large ship for 50 gp, a Huge ship for 100 gp, a Gargantuan ship for 300 gp, and a Colossal ship for 1,000 gp. If a ship has less than its full crew complement, but has at least half its crew, the pilot takes a –10 penalty on her combat maneuver check to make a ramming maneuver. A ship without at least half its crew complement cannot make a ramming maneuver.

Collisions and Passengers: The driver, crew, and passengers in smaller vehicles are vulnerable to damage in a collision. All aboard a vehicle that comes to a stop after a collision take 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet of relatives speed in the collision. A successful reflex save (DC 20) cuts the damage by half. If the vehicle is huge or larger, those aboard take damage only if the collision destroys the vehicle.

Leaving a Moving Vehicle: Whether you jump or get pushed, sometimes you leave a vehicle while it's still moving. Hitting the ground deals 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet of speed, that can be halved with a Reflex save DC 20. Regardless of the save result, such a character is prone unless he or she succeeds on an Acrobatics check (DC 15 + 1 per 10 feet of speed).

Drawn Vehicles and Collision: An inattentive captain can easily sail a ship into a dock, but even the worst driver can't drive a team of horses into a wall. When confronted with an inanimate object, drawn creatures simply stop.

Running over Opponents: Drawn vehicles with war-trained creatures can attempt to run over foes. Treat such attacks as overrun attempts. Accordingly, the defender chooses to either avoid or block the creatures. If the defender chooses to avoid them or is tripped by them during the blocking attempt, the vehicle deals the indicated ram damage as it drives over the defender, and the defender is prone after the ram if she wasn't beforehand. If the defender chooses to block and succeeds, the vehicle comes to a halt with the drawn creatures adjacent to the defender just as in a normal overrun. Depending on the result of the trip attempt, the creatures may or may not be prone themselves.

If two or more creatures are harnessed abreast of each other, each creature making the overrun attempt gains a +2 circumstance bonus on trip attempts for each other creature harnessed in the line, because the harness gives them more stability. For example, if one tries to run over an orc with a chariot drawn by two heaver warhorses, only one of the warhorses makes an overrun attempt because only that one will actually run the orc over. But if the orc chooses to block, the heave warhorse receives a total bonus on the trip attempt of +9 (+7 CMD for a heavy horse and +2 for the other horse). Note that just as with a normal overrun attempt, creatures can only run over opponents who are one size larger, same size, or smaller. If your creatures have the trample special ability, they make trample attacks rather than an overrun attempt.

Combat After Boarding[]

Ship-to-ship combat assumes that the PCs are more interested in capturing enemy ships than in sinking them. After all, if you sink a ship, you can't plunder its cargo, ransom its crew and passengers, and sell (or use) the ship yourself. So once a ship has been boarded, ship-to-ship combat ends and shipboard combat begins on whichever ship was boarded first.

Shipboard combat is normally a battle between the “primaries” of the two ships—usually meaning that the PCs fight the enemy ship's captain and any other major NPCs on the enemy ship in normal combat. Meanwhile, the two ships' crews are assumed to be fighting each other in the background.

Whoever wins the “primary” combat (either the PCs or the enemy NPCs) wins the entire battle. In other words, a ship's crew is victorious over an enemy crew if their captain defeats the enemy captain. While a ship's crew will likely take losses in a battle, it is assumed that enough members of the defeated crew join the victorious crew to replenish any losses. This keeps the PCs from having to play out combat between large numbers of low-level opponents, and from needing to track exactly how many casualties their crew takes in each battle.

The PCs earn normal XP for the foes they defeat in shipboard combat. In most circumstances, the ship-to-ship battle just serves as a prelude to the main combat. If, however, the PCs decided to fight out an entire ship-to-ship battle and they sink or destroy a ship without ever fighting the ship's captain and NPCs, then they earn XP based on the captain's CR (as the captain is the only one piloting the enemy ship in ship-to-ship combat).

Shearing[]

If dealing with naval combat, a ship may attempt to shear off the oars of an opposing ship, if the target ship uses oars for muscle propulsion. To attempt a shearing maneuver, a ship must be adjacent to the target's forward or rear square and move along the side of the target for a number of adjacent squares equal to the target ship's number of squares. The ship's pilot must make a shearing combat maneuver check against the target's CMD, using the base CMB of the ship plus the pilot's sailing skill modifier (or Wisdom skill modifier if she is using that ability to control the ship) as the total CMB of the shearing maneuver. If the check is successful, the ship shears the target's oars. The target's oars take damage that reduces their hit points to half their maximum hit point total and gain the broken condition, thus reducing the ship's maximum speed by half and preventing its pilot from gaining the upper hand. If the target ship is in motion, and is traveling faster than its new maximum speed, it automatically decelerates to its new maximum speed. A ship that does not use oars for muscle propulsion is unaffected by a shearing maneuver.

If a ship has less than its full crew complement, but has at least half its crew, the pilot takes a –10 penalty on her combat maneuver check to make a shearing maneuver. A ship without at least half its crew complement cannot make a shearing maneuver.

Shearing in regards to airship battles is handled in a similar fashion. As most airships in E'Dan have their skystone engines on the outer sides of the ship, a shearing combat maneuver effectively damages them accordingly. However, as shearing an airship requires an airship of your own, the damage is dealt to the attacking ship as well.  On a successful shear, the skystone engines both take the same amount of damage as the ramming damage of the ship (listed on the ships statistics). This is a faster and sure fire way to destroy airships as removing their means of flotation causes them to sink from the skies.

Taking Control of a Ship[]

If a ship has no pilot, another creature can take control of the ship as long as the creature is adjacent to the ship's control device and makes a sailing check as a free action. The ship's pilot can always give over control to another adjacent creature as a free action. If a creature wants to take control of a ship from another forcefully, it must kill the pilot or otherwise remove the pilot from the control device. When a new creature becomes the pilot, the ship moves on the new pilot's turn, but not on the new pilot's first turn after taking control of the ship.

Damaging a Ship[]

Ships have hit points and hardness based on their primary components. Most ships are made of wood (15 hit points per 5-foot-square, hardness 5). When a ship is reduced to below half its hit points, it gains the broken condition. When it reaches 0 hit points, it gains the sinking condition.

Broken Condition: Ships—and sometimes their means of propulsion—are objects, and like any other object, when they take damage in excess of half their hit points, they gain the broken condition. When a ship gains the broken condition, it takes a –2 penalty to AC, on sailing checks, saving throws, and on combat maneuver checks. If a ship or its means of propulsion becomes broken, the ship's maximum speed is halved and the ship can no longer gain the upper hand until repaired. If the ship is in motion and traveling faster than its new maximum speed, it automatically decelerates to its new maximum speed.

Sinking Condition: A ship that is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points gains the sinking condition. A sinking ship cannot move or attack, and it sinks completely 10 rounds after it gains the sinking condition. Each additional hit on a sinking ship that deals more than 25 points of damage reduces the remaining time for it to sink by 1 round. A ship that sinks completely drops to the bottom of the body of water and is considered destroyed. A destroyed ship cannot be repaired—it is so significantly damaged it cannot even be used for scrap material. Magic (such as make whole) can repair a sinking ship if the ship's hit points are raised above 0, at which point the ship loses the sinking condition. Generally, nonmagical repairs take too long to save a ship from sinking once it begins to go down.

Fire[]

Fire is an ever-present danger on every wooden ship, but while most ships are not in danger of going up in flames from a dropped torch or lantern, alchemical or magical fires can be much more dangerous. Note that many instantaneous fire spells do not automatically catch a ship on fire, but those that deal fire damage over multiple rounds have a better chance of causing a fire on board a ship (see Magic).

When a ship takes fire damage (such as from Alchemist's fire, flaming arrows, certain spells, and other effects at the GM's discretion), it must immediately make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or catch fire. Unless an attack specifically targets a ship's means of propulsion (such as sails), it is assumed that such attacks affect the structure of a ship itself.

Once a ship has caught fire, it automatically takes 2d6 points of fire damage per round (ignoring hardness) as the fire spreads. The ship's crew can attempt to extinguish the flames as a full-round action for the entire crew, allowing the ship to make a Reflex save (DC 15 + the number of rounds the ship has been on fire). A successful saving throw means the fire has been put out. A failed saving throw results in the ship taking the normal 2d6 points of fire damage for the round.

A ship must take the “uncontrolled” action each round that its crew attempts to put out a fire, as they are not sailing the ship at this time.

Those who would like more detailed rules for fires, spreading flames, and fighting fires can use the system presented in the “Catastrophe!” article in Pathfinder Adventure Path #30: The Twice-Damned Prince.

Creatures can attack ships with spells. Ships are objects, so spells that can only target creatures have no effect on ships. However, because a ship is actively crewed and piloted, it can make saving throws against spell effects. Ships are immune to most spells that require a Will save. A ship without a crew is considered an unattended object and cannot make saving throws.

The effects of most spells on ships can be determined normally. However, certain spells have different effects in naval combat. The effects of these spells are detailed on the page "Spell Effects in Naval Combat". GMs can use these examples as guidelines for determining how other spells not listed here affect ships. For the most part, these effects only apply during ship-to-ship combat, not during normal combat aboard a ship, though some affects (such as starting fires), could still apply, at the GM's discretion.

Airships[]

Slider

A skyship leaving San Sole of Naime.

E'Dan has a unique form of transportation in addition to her sea fairing vessels: the Airship. These flying behemoths are powered by magical energies, allowing them to sail the skies as smoothly as they sail the seas. A majority of airships can sail both in the water and the sky however the special designs of airships (lack of oars or masts) make them less efficient in the sea. Large and powered by powerful magical spells, these ships are expensive to create and take years to manufacture. On E’Dan, most of the airships are funded by the Empyrean Kingdom, though some of the wealthier members of the kingdom have their own private airships.

These ships are magical in nature, thus can be affected the way magical items are affected. A large anti-magic field or a strong targeted dispel magic (DC 30) spell can disable the ships engines and it's ability to fly. As such, items that permanently destroy the effects of magical items, such as rods of cancellation are forbidden on the ship. Any attempt in the sabotage of the airships are considered acts of treason and is punishable by law. Similar to the rigging and masts on a sailing ship, airships use magical engines to propel them at high speeds. The airships are usually overrun with Empyrean guards to make sure nothing goes awry. Other members of the crew include the captain and mechanics (usually magically inclined).

Airship travel is one of the safer ways to travel in the city of E’Dan, without the fear of bandits, raiders, and pirate attacks that land and sea travel are prone to. The big problem however is the threat of bigger and meaner flying monsters. Prices for an airship passage is similar to a ship’s passage.

Ship Statistics[]

All boats and vessels, whether sea or sky, have distinct physical statistics that come into play during instances of battle. Though not having attributes such as Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma, the ships have various other attributes that are dependent on the captains Profession (sailor) Skill.

Presented below are the special ships that roam not the seas, but the skies of E'Dan: Airships. Powered by magical skystone engines, these amphibious ships take off and land on water but are better built for the riggors of the skies. A majority of the Airships in E'Dan are owned solely by the Kingdom, save for the few rare special peoples that own one, namely higher ranked officials in the Church of Sophia and the Senators. For actual naval vessels and their statistics, please refer to the official ones provided by Paizo Publishing.

Name: The name or type of the ship.

Size and Type: The size and type of the ship.

Squares: The number of 30-foot squares the ship takes up on the battle mat, followed by the ship's actual dimensions. A ship's width is always considered to be one square.

Cost: The ship's cost in gp. Sometimes the description or the weapons section provides possible modifications for the ships. These are not included in the cost of the ship, nor are additions like rams or siege engines.

AC and Hardness: The ship's base Armor Class and hardness, based on its size, defenses, and its construction material (hardness 5 for most wooden ships). To calculate the ship's actual AC, add the current pilot's sailing skill modifier (or Wisdom modifier, if she is using that ability to drive the ship) to the ship's base AC. Touch attacks against a ship ignore its pilot's sailing skill or ability modifier; thus a ship's base AC is its touch AC. A ship is never considered flat-footed. If the ship is not in motion, it has an effective Dexterity of 0 (–5 penalty to AC), and an additional –2 penalty to its AC.

Hit Points: The ship's total hit points. A ship that takes damage in excess of half its total hit points gains the broken condition. At 0 or fewer hit points, a ship gains the sinking condition. A ship that sinks completely is considered destroyed. Ships do not have ability scores, and are immune to ability score damage or drain. They are also immune to bleed damage. Unlike other objects, ships do not take half damage from energy attacks, but do take half damage from all ranged weapons except siege engines. This line also lists the total hit points for the ship's oars and sails, if any.

Base Save: The ship's base save modifier. All of the ship's saving throws (Fortitude, Reflex, and Will) have the same value. To determine a ship's actual saving throw modifiers, add half the pilot's sailing skill modifier (or half the pilot's Wisdom modifier) to the ship's base saving throw. A ship is immune to most effects that require a Will saving throw (though pilots, crew members, and passengers typically are not).

Maximum Speed: This is the fastest that a ship can move. When a ship has more than one means of propulsion, it may also have more than one maximum speed. If a ship has sails, it can move at double its maximum wind propulsion speed when it moves in the direction of the wind. Airships have a boosted speed which increases it's maximum speed to that value if the surge foci are activated.

Acceleration: This is how fast a ship can increase its speed each round. It also determines the maximum amount a ship can safely decelerate each round.

CMB and CMD: The ship's base CMB and CMD. To calculate the ship's actual CMB and CMD, add the current pilot's sailing skill modifier (or Wisdom modifier, if she is using that ability to drive the ship) to the ship's base CMB. A ship is never considered flat-footed. If the ship is not in motion, it has an effective Dexterity of 0 (–5 penalty to CMD), and an additional –2 penalty to its CMD.

Ramming Damage: The base damage dealt by the ship on a successful ramming attack (without a ram).

Propulsion: The types of propulsion used by the ship.

Sailing Check: The skills typically used to make a sailing check with this type of ship.

Control Device: The typical control device the pilot uses to steer the ship.

Means of Propulsion: The actual means and amount of propulsion used to move the ship. Airships have primary engines and auxilliary engines which are required to both lift and thrust the ship respectively. Engineers and airship mechanics and pilots know that there must be a balance between thrust and lift or the airship might get into trouble. All primary engines have a surge focus that boosts the airship thrust by 15 ft.

Crew: This is the minimum number of crew members needed to move the ship, in addition to the pilot. If a ship uses muscle propulsion, the number and size of creatures providing the propulsion are listed here as well. Any crew required to operate a ship's siege engines is in addition to this number.

Decks: The usual number of decks on a ship and any important information about those decks is given in this section.

Cargo/Passengers: The amount of cargo (in tons) a ship can hold, as well as the number of non-crew passengers it can carry.


Aerial Warship[]

  • Colossal Ship
  • Squares: 3 (30 ft. by 90 ft.) Cost: 10,000 GP

Defense

  • AC: 2; Hardness: 5
  • HP: 1,620
  • Base Save: +6

Offense

  • Maximum Speed: 60 ft. (90 ft boosted); Acceleration: 30 ft.
  • CMB: +8; CMD: 18
  • Ramming Damage: 8d8

Statistics

  • Propulsion: skystone engine
  • Sailing Check: Profession (sailor)
  • Control Device: steering wheel
  • Means of Propulsion: 2 primary engines, 3 auxiliary engines
  • Crew: 10
  • Decks: 2 or 3
  • Cargo/Passengers: 150 tons/120 passengers
  • Weapons: Up to 10 Large direct-fire siege engines in banks of five positioned on the port and starboard sides of the ship, or up to four Huge direct-fire siege engines in banks of two on the port and starboard sides of the ship. These siege engines may only fire out the sides of the ship that they are positioned on and cannot fire toward the forward or aft sides of the ship. In addition, up to two Large or one Huge direct-fire or indirect-fire siege engine may be positioned on both the forecastle and sterncastle of the ship. These siege engines can be swiveled to fire out the sides of the ship or either forward or aft, depending on their position.

Description

This massive ship is similar to ocean faring sailing ships. Built by Empyreans as their primary models for aerial siege, the Aerial Warships are built to hold a moderate contingient of arms and a larger array of soldiers and are able to support long term voyages during missions. Some Empyrean merchant airships that fly along the skies of E'Dan are requisitioned aerial warships that have been put to rest or are too old to keep up with standards of the Empyrean Army.


Sky Galleon[]

  • Colossal Ship
  • Squares: 4 (30 ft. by120 ft.) Cost: 30,000 GP

Defense

  • AC: 2; Hardness: 10
  • HP: 1,400
  • Base Save: +8

Offense

  • Maximum Speed 60 ft (90 ft. boosted).; Acceleration 30 ft.
  • CMB +8; CMD 18
  • Ramming Damage 8d8

Statistics

  • Propulsion skystone engine
  • Sailing Check Profession (sailor)
  • Control Device steering wheel
  • Means of Propulsion 2 primary engines, 4 auxilliary engines
  • Crew 10
  • Decks 3
  • Cargo/Passengers 150 tons/250 passengers
  • Weapons Up to 20 Large direct-fire siege engines in banks of 10 positioned on the port and starboard sides of the ship, or up to eight Huge direct-fire siege engines in banks of four on the port and starboard sides of the ship. These siege engines may only fire out the sides of the ship that they are positioned on and cannot fire toward the forward or aft sides of the ship. For an additional 8,000 gp, a galley can be fitted with a ram and castles with firing platforms fore, aft, and amidships. Each of these firing platforms can hold a single Large or Huge direct-fire or indirect-fire siege engine. Siege engines on the fore and aft firing platforms can be swiveled to fire out the sides of the ship or either forward or aft, depending on their position. A siege engine on the amidships can be swiveled to fire out either side of the ship.

Descritpion

One of the largest ships in the Empyrean fleet are the Sky Galleons. Housing an impressive array of arms, these ships are only used in times of war. A majority of the time they are stationed in official naval yards around the country manned by cadets and veterans alike. Sky Galleons are meant solely for instanced warfare.



Hamal/Zuben el Genubi[]

  • Colossal Ship
  • Squares: 2 x 7 (60 ft. by 210 ft.) Cost: -

Defense

  • AC: 2; Hardness: 15
  • HP: 4,200
  • Base Save: +8

Offense

  • Maximum Speed 90 ft (105 ft. boosted).; Acceleration 30 ft.
  • CMB +12; CMD 22
  • Ramming Damage 8d8

Statistics

  • Propulsion skystone engine
  • Sailing Check Profession (sailor)
  • Control Device steering wheel
  • Means of Propulsion 3 primary engines, 14 auxilliary engines
  • Crew 20
  • Decks 4
  • Cargo/Passengers 600 tons/1000 passengers
  • Weapons Up to 24 Large direct-fire siege engines in banks of 12 positioned on the port and starboard sides of the ship, or up to 10 Huge direct-fire siege engines in banks of five on the port and starboard sides of the ship. These siege engines may only fire out the sides of the ship that they are positioned on and cannot fire toward the forward or aft sides of the ship. Four large Siege engines on both the fore and aft firing platforms can be swiveled to fire out the sides of the ship or either forward or aft, depending on their position. A siege engine on the amidships can be swiveled to fire out either side of the ship.
  • A special cannon, the Hammer of God, is stored facing forward by the bow of the ship on the cannonade deck. This weapon is a huge direct fire cannon that is powered magically by a Scorpio shard and deals 10d6 points of damage ignoring the hardness of objects. It has no need for black powder or ammunition as it uses the magical energies of the stone as a source of power. The cannon was specifically designed to use a shard of any Tear of Soluna artifact and not regular ioun stones. Should the PC's requisition the cannon for their own personal use, using ioun stones, the cannon gains a 1-10 misfire (20 foot radius) and burns out the ioun stones magical properties permanently. Using the cannon requires a DC 20 Use Magic Device skill check.

Descritpion

The largest warship of the Empyrean Army, designed to obliterate all other opposing force in the air, land, and sea. Made mostly of pure mythral, the airship is light for a ship it's size and durable in combat. It's cannonade deck boasts outward facing cannons pointing in all cardinal directions allowing the ship to fire at all incoming threats, placed above rotating and tilting gunwhales allows for an even greater degree of control. The Hamal model airship and its prototype, the Zuben el Genubi, housed a prototype magical cannon to increase the forepower of the warships. Large and imposing the ship was designed as a literal floating castle, able to house soldiers and nobles and servants for long distance missions. The ship is so large in fact that it's bottom decks are reserved for housing and repairing of other airships, making the Hamal model indispossable in any fleet it is placed in.


Crafting and Repairing Ships[]

Sometimes fixing a vehicle is a simple matter of carpentry. But if the damage is severe and the situation is dire, only magic can rebuild a vehicle fast enough. Likewise, building a vehicle can be a task hired out to a shipyar or a project for a powerful spellcaster.

Crafting Ships[]

Building a new vehicle or addin augments to an existing one requires the assistance of a group of carpenters, engineers or other crew members. The number of members in the crew must equal the hardness of the material being built. For example building a wooden rowboat requires a five person crew because the wood hardness is 5. Only one member of the crew need have the relevant Craft skill, the others can be unskilled and untrained. Unlike the normal way of crafting items, shipbuilding is reliant on the skilled member of the crew, as long as they can give orders and commands without distraction or fail, a shipbuilding crew can easily craft the item without rolling a Craft check. A work crew can build 125 GP worth of the ship per day, a dock or shop or any well-equipped facility can build 250 GP per day, and a major facility or a dry dock can build 500 GP per day. Once the ships total GP cost has been met, the ship has been completed.

Repairing Ships[]

Similarly to building a ship, repairing one requires the right amount of people based on the hardness of the item repaired. In this regard, the skilled member of the work crew (which now is the repair crew) must make a DC 10 Craft check. For every point by which the Craft check exceeds by 9, 1 HP is restored. This represents 1 minutes worth of work for the repair crew.

Rigging can be repaired in the same manner as described above. However, if the rigging of a ship is completely destroyed, it must be repurchased at the cost of 20 GP per hit point of the undamaged rigging.

Magic can also help speed the repair process or provide makeshift repairs in battle. Mending and Make Whole can help restore damaged areas of the ship as long as the ship is not completely destroyed. Minor and Major Creation can help repair ships made of more exotic materials, however, these spells are temporary and cannot permanently fix a ship, only delay the inevitable. The fastest and easiest way to repair a ship is with spells. Mending is not powerful enough to meaningfully affect an object as large as a ship, but make whole affects a ship as if it were a construct, repairing 1d6 points of damage per level. In addition, more mundane methods can also be used to repair ships. Because of their specialized construction, ships (as well as oars and sails) usually require the Craft (ships) skill to repair. Depending on the nature of the damage, skills such as Craft (carpentry) or Craft (sails), or even various Profession skills, can be used to repair ships with the GM's approval. In general, a day's worth of work by a single person using the appropriate skill to repair a ship requires 10 gp of raw materials and a DC 10 skill check, and repairs 10 points of damage on a success, or 5 hit points on a failure. Fabricate can also be used to create the raw material needed for repairs. New oars can be purchased for 2 gp each.

Augments[]

Tinkering and augmenting vehicles make each and every ship unique. This section will illustrate many but mundane augmentations that the PC's can place on their ships to give it that little something extra. Magical augments can be found in the Ship Augment section of Magical Items.

Table:Mundane Ship Augments

Augment Cost Weight
Armor plating, Adamantine 5,000 gp 5,000 lbs.
Armor plating, Darkwood 3,000 gp 500 lbs.
Armor plating, Iron 1,000 gp 5,000 lbs.
Armor plating, Mithral 3,500 gp 3,000 lbs.
Armor plating, Wood 200 gp 1,000 lbs.
Firing Castle 1,000 gp 4 tons
Masterwork Controls, Medium 300 gp -
Masterwork Controls, Large 600 gp -
Masterwork Controls, Huge 1,200 gp -
Masterwork Controls, Gargantuan 2,400 gp -
Masterwork Controls, Colossal 4,800 gp -
Rotating Platform 500 gp 1,000 lbs.
  • Armor Plating: You can increase the hit points and hardness of a ship by adding armor to its hull. All statistics below are per inch of thickness. You can layer the same material to get thicker protection or layer different materials if you like. Each layer takes damage separately and damage left over after an outer layer is destroyed is delt to the next layer inward; hardness is applied a second time if the new layer is a different material.
  • Firing Castle: A bunker attached to the deck of a vehicle, the firing castle provides protection for defenders and serves as a platform for siege engines. Four medium sized creatures benefit from total concealment inside the firing castle itself, with arrow slits available for ranged weapons. Another four medium sized creatures gain concealment behind the crenellations of the roof. The firing castles walls are 1 foot thick masonry (hp 90, hardness 8). A firing castle can be installed anywhere a heavy catapult could fit, and a heavy catapult, two light catapults, or two ballistas can subsequently be fitted atop it.
  • Masterwork Controls: Whether it's a finely tuned wheel that allows delicate adjustments to the rudder, or a complex harness system that directs the drawn creatures with just a flick of the wrist, it's possible to get more performance out of a vehicle by improving its control system. Masterwork controls provide a +2 circumstance bonus on Handle Animal or Profession checks made by the driver. The cost depends on the ships size as it's weight does not change.
  • Rotating Platform: This low platform mounted on rollers doubles the fire arc of a siege engine so that catapults have a 180 degree fire arc and ballistas can fire in any direction. A rotating platform doubles the crew required to operate such siege engines.
  • Siege Weaponry: Siege weapons count towards the Arms statistic of a specific ship, with each one counting as a single point. Look to the Pathfinder rules regarding cost and damage to these Siege Weapons as they are applicable to those that are mountable on a ship.