Someone told me that you can ONLY sell captured ships for plunder. Where is that rule at? I've not seen it.
Nope not there, as far as I'm aware it's the same as normal, sell for half it would cost to buy new
Skulls and Schakles 2, Raiders of the Fever Sea, page 19:
If the PCs wish to claim a captured ship as their own, they
must put a prize crew on the ship (each ship’s minimum
crew is noted in its stat block) under the command of a
trusted officer to sail it to Bloodcove or Senghor, the two
closest cities in which they can sell a ship. A captured ship
can be sold in Bloodcove or a similar port for half of its cost
in plunder, rounded down (usually 5 points of plunder for
a longship or sailing ship). A ship that has been damaged
below half of its hit points can only be sold for one-quarter
its cost in plunder, rounded down. Alternatively, the PCs
can hold on to the ship by having it squibbed or sailing it
to some hidden location to anchor.
Not exactly a rule, but I consider that a guideline from the makers of the adventure path.
That's fine I would rule it as either or really. I mean if you are selling it in port why would you only get plunder for selling a ship only to exchange said plunder in port for gold again. It makes little sense unless you just wanted the plunder for the start of book 3 for example(remember you can only exchange plunder for gold in a port or settlement). I suppose you could say that if you sell a ship for plunder only then you would need to exchange it for gold at another port but it does seem long winded to me.
The reason for translating it to gold would be that it takes time to sell a ship (1 day pr. plunder), and that the prize it fetches is lower in a fishing village than in Bloodcove.
The pirates arrive in Bloodcove, it takes 5 days to sell their ship, and it gives them 5000 gold, unless they make some diplomacy checks to increase the prize.
So far, deducting the price of squibbing from the sell price seems to keep things manageable.
You can sell most mundane ships for 5,000gp, but no one wants to buy a ship that is obviously stolen, so either the PCs pay for the squibbing themselves, or else deduct it from their price.
For an unmodified sailing ship, that will net the PCs 3,000gp in profit. Split four ways that is only 750gp per PC.
Totally manageable.