Are there any rules on how to add oars to a ship that never had them? Either Pirates of the Inner Sea OR Skull & Shackles rules will work.
I don't think there are any rules for it.
But most ships already have oars except for the Sailing Ship or the Junk Ship, I think.
I don't think there are any rules for it.
But most ships already have oars except for the Sailing Ship or the Junk Ship, I think.
Realistically, I'm not sure that's very practical as a retrofit. Oared ships (like galleys) tend to require an entire deck for the rowers to sit. Good luck fitting that kind of space into a typical naval frigate.
Also, the build needs to be taken into account when rowing -- if you're trying for high speed while rowing, you probably need to built the ship as lightly as possible (and be more vulnerable to damage and storms); if you have a strongly built tradeship with a heavy hold full of cargo, you can maybe crawl along a bit while paddling, but it's more useful for shifting anchorage or getting somewhere in a calm than it would be for high-powered combat speeds.
"Sweeps", long oars useful for moving a sailing ship in a calm, or against a light wind, did exist, but you're going to be moving v...e...r...y... s...l...o...w...l...y... compared to either a purpose-built galley with a full crew or a ship with good sails running before the wind. (You could also have the crew tow the ship by rowing the small boats, but this was something mostly done only in a complete calm.)
High-speed rowing required a LARGE crew to move a ship at battle speeds, leaving not much room for cargo (or for the supplies to keep the crew fed/watered for more than a few days, which is one reason classical galleys usually beached at night; another was to keep the hull less waterlogged to further decrease weight and increase speed.)
(None of Paizo's rules come close to properly presenting the different types of motive power and maneuverability -- but unless your players are Age of Sail aficianados, or into trireme reconstruction, they probably won't know much about the difference. Magic -- whether in the form of tireless rowers, or of weather control, or of some other motive force, offers yet a third source besides wind and muscle power -- but there are so many ways of working that little can be said until we know something about the specifics.)
TL;DR -- adding oars to a ship not built for them will have some small benefits, but that's about it.
There are two reasons I ask;
The first one is, like tonyz mentioned, sweeps a la Curse of the Black Pearl. Getting just that little extra speed to catch someone.
The second is converting normal oars to gnome-powered oars is something one of my players wants to accomplish with their recently acquired sailing ship. I have 3.5 rules for that concept.
If one assumes that your average ship moves at a speed of 6-12 miles per hour when running with the wind (depending on design), then assume that a regular crew of oarsman would move the ship at about 1 mph...
...and gnomes at about 0.25 mph. They're SMALL, with a STRENGTH PENALTY! Unless they've got some means of magically augmenting their strength (or lightening their oars), it's going to be very funny to watch, but probably not very effective.
Triremes could sprint at (IIRC) 10 mph, but that's battle speeds and doing it would exhaust the crew very quickly, with a large rowing crew on a light ship designed for speed in battle. You wouldn't get that kind of speed sustained for hours upon hours.
I should clarify that gnome-powered part; side-wheel paddles connected to a primitive steam engine.
Grrr... You'll need to Google "USS James Adger" to see the concept.
Is there a secret way of adding links?
I should clarify that gnome-powered part; side-wheel paddles connected to a primitive steam engine.
Grrr... You'll need to Google "USS James Adger" to see the concept.
Is there a secret way of adding links?
Steam engines don't actually exist on Golarion as far as I know. Gnomes of Golarion are not like Gnomes of Warcraft which you seem to be imagining. While Warcraft gnomes are great engineers, Gnomes on golarion are not.
You would be more likely to get a magically powered ship than a steam powered ship.
The primitive steam engine would (probably) work, if you want your gnomes to swing that way, though fuel would be a limit.
I would like to redact what I said, steam engine do exist in the form of alchemical engines, but are rare. More rare than even magical engines (magic is more prevalent than science).
Ultimate Combat has rules for vehicles in it, but sadly doesn't mention how much it would cost to add magical propulsion to a ship. But it is likely to be less time consuming and less expensive than refitting a ship to be a steam ship paddle boat.
I would probably just price up what it would cost for a magically powered boat (not sure if there are actually rules) versus the cost of your boat that you have. The cost difference is the upgrade price.
I think the main problem is we don't have robust rules for magically customizing boats. Skull and Shackles has some, but I don't think they include any rules for changing propulsion.
I'm not in Golarion Claxon, I'm still running in Forgotten Realms, steam power is limited but available from Lantan Island. As for the alchemical engine (AKA Steam Engine); SOOO much potential, So little information. Its like a teaser, leaving us wanting more. Sigh.
With Skull & Shackles, Instead of the one size fits all Sailing Ship = Catamaran through Carrack, it would have been nice to see ships designed more along the lines of how monsters or characters are built (type + hit dice + size + template + equipment).
And to tonyz, fuel limits... Bwa ha ha ha, oh sorry went Evil GM for a moment.
That particular painting of "Old Ironsides" more accurately depicts her being becalmed, with no wind.:P