Leveling Up Sailing Abilities

While characters can choose any action station, it can be fun to have characters "level up" and gain experience at certain stations. Here are some ideas for exploring this concept:

• Increase the value of a Sailing Die (d6, d8, etc.)
• Adding modifiers to Sailing Dice (+1, +2)
• Exploding Sailing Dice (reroll and add when rolling the max value)
• Giving Advantage to sailing die rolls
• Covering two action stations at once
• Increasing Gunners' damage
• Giving the Bosun a larger bonus
• Giving an experienced Captain a Sailing Die that they can include in any roll

New 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.

• Drifting. The DM may choose to have a Derelict ship drift one space each turn depending on weather conditions.
• 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 saving throw.
• Repairing. The only action a Derelict ship may take is Repair, which must be made at Disadvantage. If the Repair action is successful, the ship loses the Derelict condition and regains 1 hit point (instead of the normal amount recovered by the Repair action).

Customizing Ships

The ships in this supplement are intended as a jumping off point. A tough warship might have more hit points. An old pirate sloop might be in need of repair and move very slow. Perhaps the characters have acquired a living ship that can cast a gust of wind spell several times a day. The sky's the limit.

Ship Upgrades

The following upgrades can be purchased and applied to a ship in port. Each takes 1 workweek (5 days) and requires a skilled shipwright. A ship can have a maximum of three upgrades.

Reinforced Hull (300 gp). The hull has been reinforced at the joints and other weak points. Critical damage from cannon fire is reduced by 3.

Spiked Ram (250 gp). The ship's ram is fitted with spikes and barbs. Ram attacks deal an extra 1d4 piercing damage.

Firearm Cannons (500 gp). The ship's cannons receive a firearm upgrade (Stub, Muffled, Scoped, Lightweight, or Kalterlock). This increases the cannon's misfire score by 1.

You can give ships extra abilities just by borrowing them from existing monsters. Have a haunted ghost ship? How about adding a Ghost's Etherealness and Horrifying Visage to a ship's stat block. Is the flagship in the fleet issuing commands? Use the Leadership ability from a Knight. Here are some jumping off points for:

• Aggressive. Upgraded cannons.
• Breath Weapon. Unique or upgrade ship weapons.
• Damage Resistance. Armor plating, flame resistant.
• Damage Vulnerabilities. Old, weak ships.
• Elementals. Magical wind, water, and fire ships.
• Etherealness. Ghost or Fey ships.
• Feats. Character feats like Lucky, Savage Attacker, or Inspiring Leader.
• Flying Speed. Steampunk airship, Hot Air Vessels.
• Incorporeal Movement. Ghost or Spirit ships.
• Invisibility. Fog bank ability or a mage on board.
• Leadership. Flag ships, military vessels.
• Legendary Resistance. Tough, boss level ships.
• Legendary Actions. Ships with extra crew.
• Magic Resistance. Enchantments and protection runes.
• Martial Advantage. Well armed marines or buccaneers shoot muskets at close by enemies.
• Pack Tactics. Fleets of canoes or small warships.
• Parry. Evasive maneuvers, skilled pilot.
• Ram. Battering ram: advantage on ram actions.
• Reel. Grappling hooks, magic tractor beams.
• Regeneration. Skilled carpenters.
• Relentless. Armor plating, reinforced hull.
• Spellcasting. Mage on board, living ships.
• Swallow. Mimic ships, sea monsters.
• Teleport. Magic or haunted ships, alien vessels.
• Undead Fortitude. Undead ships.

Tags

• #System

References

• 5e - Supplemental - Limithron's Guide to Naval Combat.pdf