all the entries i find for ships in any of the wizards of the cost products mention nothing about cannons, i've begin running the ST and have allowed black powdered weapons, but have restricted my players to using only WOTC books. now i find i want to add cannons and more variations on the firearms and such, what do you guys think, i personally think the sea wyvern would be so much more bad ass sailing into hell guns blazing lol.
The only problem is that you'll have introduced black powder weapons to your game. If you don't mind the 'fallout' from that then go for it. What then is to stop the pirates from doing a long range bombardment of Farshore?
The fact that "long range" for cannon is 1500 ft. or so, and you'd be lucky to hit a barn at that range?
This is my take on firerarms, I'm using them, and so far they've had minimal impact.
There were rules for firearms in an old issue of Dragon and another for cooler ships is another issue..I'll post the numbers when I can.
i've already allowed black powder weapons, tho no one has taken advantage of it yet. as far as long range bombardment it aint very accurate. i have rules for cannons and all, but like i stated before its not a WOTC book, its a 7th sea setting book. well stormwrack has rules for a light and heavy cannon, but i wasn't impressed. either way i think the the Wyvern, and most other caravels can hold at least 6 cannons on deck, 3 to a side, and maybe 6 more in the hold. tho yer typical historical merchant ship usually carried around 20 i belive.
eh maybe more, i'd have to look again at the deck plans, i'm figuring that a cannon is roughly a square on the map.
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Savage Tide and firearms match quite well. My homebrew setting has always used firearms (the tech level of the campaign is Napoleonic) and well if you're running a campaign with pirates....
However firearms become pretty much a non-issue as the levels go up. Cannons are still great but take so long to reload its better to trust the wizard.
Do also remember, historically, cannon were in use for a considerable period of time before personal firearms became widespread.
Naturally, many will want to take inspiration from the "Black Pearl" series, "Master and Commander" and other films for the genre.
^_^
exactly my point, cannon fights are one of the most important aspect of pirate-ty adventures.
As for cannons - well, if you think they are "piraty", more power to you. Just rember that basically canonballs are extremely deadly in real life, and basically cannons allow NPC mooks to kill the PCs from an unassailable distant position by simply sinking their ship with a well placed salvo. Also, armour (artificial and natural) should be fairly useless against mounted guns, which causes mayhem with DnD's system of making heroes harder to hit, rules-wise
Iron Kingdoms has some pretty good/intricate rules for cannons, gunnery and small arms, but a friend's experience with these for a "Freeport"-campaign were less than glorious simply because ships in DnD are not really meant for semi-accurate gunnery duels - random death of heroes due to cannonballs in ship-to-ship battle was a major breaker for that campaign
If you ever want to have a "close-to-reality" impression of what havoc naval gunfire will cause, watch "Master and Commander : the Far Side of the World", where a handful of broadsides (of lighter calibres too ) wreak real havoc. Movies like "PotC I-III" or the older douglas Fairbanks flicks are greatfun, but gunfire in those is more a sort of background flavour than a real effect and consideration-
Oh, and last but not least, pirates vastly prefered boarding ships with their more numerous crews, simply because it didn't damage the prize as much (which could then be sold etc. ).
Piracy also existed long before anyone ever thought of a gun - Caesar himself had to deal with pirates along the italian coastline in his earlier career.
@Carl Cramer
Engagement range for 18th/19th centruy naval combat was 700 yards (2000') and closer, and since ships actually are much bigger than barns...
Green Ronins "Freeport" campaign setting is all about pirates and cannons are used.
I'd look up the rules and see if it sounds good.
When the big GG was creating the game, the stats he used on fireball were essentially those from a cannon fire in a different game. The rules already support fireball so I would create a magic item for it. Just to mess with their heads give the ship evasion!
In fact, barring the math, I just did! O:)
Ship's Stick of Fire. Activating this spell-completion item creates a 4d6 fireball as per the spell (caster level 4), except that it requires a ranged splash attack to hit the target (-4 for unfamiliarity with weapon). Once fired it can not be used again for 2d4 rounds, though a successful use magic device check (DC 20) to 'reload' the material spell component (bat guano) can reduce this by one round (minimum 1 round). It is not uncommon for ship's officers to take levels in rogue/expert/adept for use magic device or for adding fireball to their spell casting list.
Craft Wonderous Item, Craft Wand, Caster level 10, fireball. Cost to make 1 billlion gold.
Green Ronins "Freeport" campaign setting is all about pirates and cannons are used.
I'd look up the rules and see if it sounds good.
Well the "cannons" of the "Freeport" setting are massive - very massive indeed 12' long siege engines and anything but mobile. Plus, as far as I remember they suck soul(s) to fuel their incredibly powerful shots (20th level fireballs) .
Single hit = ships turn to floating assembly of burning embersNot quite the proper sort of weapon for exchanging broadsides at dusk
if you care to take a look, - page 74 of "The City of Freeport". They are listed as "minor artifacts" and of extraplanar origins.
Firearms up to swivel-gun level are to be found in the same book, p.147, although I would prefer the Iron Kingdom rules for those. YMMV
Actually, if you think sea-battles are bland, but have problems with cannons (and the associated gunpowder debate ) check out some historical sources on ammunitions used by the roman navy when fighting pirates.
From Naphta (Greek Fire, basically a early form of Napalm) in earthware pots, over caustic lime-mixtures (flesh-eating acidic clouds upon impact) to pots full of vipers and scorpions (instant swarms aboard the targeted ship -massive fun with rowers chained to their oars and unable to escape...). Tackling "harpoons", broad-tipped rigging-slashing ballista bolts and salvo- firing "porcupine" siege engines (all of these are actual "meatworld" gadgets successfully used ) could provide some fun effects as well.
If you feel destructively inclined - consider trebuchet launched boulders turned into smart missiles through telekinetic steering effects or air elementals. How about ballista bolts/small boulders lauched from onager type catapults, tipped with potions of fiery burning or enscribed with glyphs of warding, set to release upon touching wood/solid objects after having been inflight ?
Anyone feel like filling earthware sphere with death scarab swarms, kyuss worms or other undead nastities ?
Hck, even delivering a dust devil or other sort of small air elemental could cause all sort of wickedness upon a sailing ship...
Actually, if you think sea-battles are bland, but have problems with cannons (and the associated gunpowder debate ) check out some historical sources on ammunitions used by the roman navy when fighting pirates.
From Naphta (Greek Fire, basically a early form of Napalm) in earthware pots, over caustic lime-mixtures (flesh-eating acidic clouds upon impact) to pots full of vipers and scorpions (instant swarms aboard the targeted ship -massive fun with rowers chained to their oars and unable to escape...). Tackling "harpoons", broad-tipped rigging-slashing ballista bolts and salvo- firing "porcupine" siege engines (all of these are actual "meatworld" gadgets successfully used ) could provide some fun effects as well.If you feel destructively inclined - consider trebuchet launched boulders turned into smart missiles through telekinetic steering effects or air elementals. How about ballista bolts/small boulders lauched from onager type catapults, tipped with potions of fiery burning or enscribed with glyphs of warding, set to release upon touching wood/solid objects after having been inflight ?
Anyone feel like filling earthware sphere with death scarab swarms, kyuss worms or other undead nastities ?
Hck, even delivering a dust devil or other sort of small air elemental could cause all sort of wickedness upon a sailing ship...
This is perhaps the best counterargument to the cannons question- I look forward to bringing it up at the end of my weekly campaign, as I am interested in running Savage Tide.