You're in a vessel. Two ships sighted off the starboard bow. Big ships. You can't take 'em. How do you lose them? Let's say they start on the open ocean, but that we're not restricted to just open ocean if the scenario takes longer than a few hours. And how do you adjudicate this?
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You're in a vessel. Two ships sighted off the starboard bow. Big ships. You can't take 'em. How do you lose them? Let's say they start on the open ocean, but that we're not restricted to just open ocean if the scenario takes longer than a few hours. And how do you adjudicate this?
Give it more sail, if you've got it. Lose some weight, cannons and such. If the other ship is, noticeably, faster, man the guns instead of shedding them.
Do you know the top speeds of the vessels? Available wind speed? Maybe, a Profession Sailor check, or whatever, depending on the system; to determine how much use each ship can make of the wind and get a speed that way.
Opposed Profession (sailor) or Profession (pilot or steersman) checks.
Maybe have the druid call up a big foggy storm? Maybe have the epic level illusionist make the ship invisible? Teleport, and leave your sails behind? Have the wizard cast water breathing and use disintegrate or shatter to hole the pursuing ships? Fireball their sails (from at least 600 feet away)? Summon air, fire, or water elementals? Wall of force in front of the prows of the other ships?
Gust of wind in your own sails? Cash in that favor the sahuagin owe you? Illusion of a kraken? Parley? Parley?! Parley!!!
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Create fog and then change course. Other great ideas can be drawn from the movie Master and Commander.
Other than that, and what was mentioned above, a lot depends on what kinds of ships your campaign is using. If using 17th century style Man'0'War vessels then pouring on more canvas is a good tactic. If it is closer to 14th or 15th century technology then try tacking into the wind with your lanteen sails and moving at an angle which denies that same wind to your enemies if they try to pursue. If going even earlier to oar powered vessels or cogs then double or triple up the oars, running them out if you don't have them out already, to gain speed while looking for a reef that you can hide behind.
The main thing is to have charts. Good charts will help you find hidden rocks or reefs that you can navigate through safely, while chances are that the enemy will lose the bottom of their ships unless their charts, and navigators, are at least as good as yours.
The party have none the spells Smilodan lists, but sabotage and combat seem one way to "lose" them. Not in these circumstances, however, as I want them to run and fight leads to a messy DnD night tonight.
Piling on more sail means simply out-running them. What happens at night, then?
The ship: She has a length of nearly 90', a beam of 26', a draught of 8' and stands 9' above the waterline to the top of her main deck rails and 17' above the waterline to the top of both her forecastle and poop decks. So a sloop or a cutter is pretty close.
Sail the ship towards reefs and hidden rocks. Does that mean being near to shore or can that happen out on the open ocean? Or lose them in fog or a storm. I could do a storm after a long chase.
Any other ideas?
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You're in a vessel. Two ships sighted off the starboard bow. Big ships. You can't take 'em. How do you lose them? Let's say they start on the open ocean, but that we're not restricted to just open ocean if the scenario takes longer than a few hours. And how do you adjudicate this?
Four things will come into that you need to adjudicate somehow using the rules (I'll put the general 3.5 rules in brackets if you want them).
1. The ships: how "fast" are they, how maneuverable are they, what crew is required. (A ship can never go faster than it's speed multiplied by the wind factor, or the speed of its rowers. Ship maneuverability is a bonus or penalty to the Profession check. If the ship is operating with less than a skeleton crew, it moves more slowly).
2. The weather: where is the wind and how fast, anything else that might affect navigation such as darkness or heavy rain. (The wind multiplies your base ship speed, or reduce it if you are going into a headwind. Finally, heavy rain might make operations on a ship rough, so a penalty could come into play for simplification.)
3. The geography: as mentioned before, the physical layout of the surrounding area might affect the battle. (Make not of any terrain features that might affect the battle, such as islands or shallows).
4. The Captains: the Captain and/or helmsman need to control the actions aboard and direction of the ship. (Typically, the Captain uses a standard action to make a Profession check while the helmsman steers the ship.)
(Finally, incorporating the above, the captain rolls his Profession (sailor) check. If it is better than the opposing captains check, he can choose whether to close, hold, or pull away. You can only pull away if your ship is actually faster. If in range you can also make boarding actions/ramming attacks/etc by using opposed Profession (sailor) checks as attack rolls/AC (unless the opponent just accepts the maneuver).)
What kind of spellcasters are available?
What kind of spellcasters are available?
Bard 7/Rogue 1 is the PC. One of her two cohorts is a Sorcerer 4/Expert 1 (malevolent miasma is her second level spell: 4d6 nonlethal damage area of effect spell; magic missile is her 1st level attack spell)
Um, let them catch you and then use Charm Person on the captain? What's the range of the Malevolent Miasma? That might be enough damage to drop the crew.
Um, let them catch you and then use Charm Person on the captain? What's the range of the Malevolent Miasma? That might be enough damage to drop the crew.
I predict that's my player's backup plan, yeah, but I'm hoping that I won't have to resort to mass combat. I want this to be a "Run!" encounter to signal the power of the BBEG but also that he's dispatched most of his minions, leaving him vulnerable when he returns.
Shallow waters. Remember the general rule, bigger the ship (especially sea vessel) deeper the draft.
As previously noted familiarity with the water ways and its hazards is key.
Also if you need a last minute delay.. there is always a good storm (or monster attack).
Shallow waters. Remember the general rule, bigger the ship (especially sea vessel) deeper the draft.
As previously noted familiarity with the water ways and its hazards is key.
Also if you need a last minute delay.. there is always a good storm (or monster attack).
I think I'm going to start that encounter with a K: nature or survival check of incoming storm.
The chase:
Spot 20 for lookout at 12 miles, check every mile at decreasing –1 DC; automatic at 6 mi.
Ways to describe successful advantage checks:
Stay with the wind at your back
Bec punches a hole through their sail with a lucky shot from ballista, requiring a patch
Pile on sail.
Stay closer to the wind than they can due to rig and sail type
Bigger ships have more drag due to increased mass
Concentration to hold steady
Possible dramatic escapes:
Head towards obscuring or dangerous weather (fog, storms)
Navigate through fog in a reef area (Anya’drea sailing by dead reckoning)
Use a small island to obscure where you are
Sail away over the horizon line at night
One sailing racing tactic is to position yourself upwind adjacent to an opposing ship. So you capture all the air in your sails and block the wind going to theirs. If your boat is small your sails probably aren't big enough to block the wind going to the other two boats. However, if you can position yourself so one of the big ships blocks the wind going to the other one, you could ditch at least one of the ships. One ship stalls out and gets rammed by another one
Other:
Lose weight by ditching cargo. (they should get cargo from the natives)
Storm Skill checks:
Easy DC might be something like 10, moderate 15, difficult 20. Require 8 successes before 3 failures.
Knowledge nature or Survival: Advance warning of storm’s severity
Climb, Jump and Profession (Sailor) (Easy): Get into a better position, +2 to next skill check. No count for success/failure. Can be used as often as you want.
Profession (Sailor) (Moderate): Do your job of a sailor. Counts as success/failure. Can be used as often as you like. Failure opens up Bluff or Intimidate (so that the crew doesn't lose trust in you, see below). Success opens up Geography check (see below).
Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate (Moderate): Organize the Crew in these unusual circumstances so they man their posts and work well together. Counts as success/failure.
Intimidate to Man the bilges
-- One of the things that keeps a crew most busy on a wooden ship in a storm is pumping bilges. Because of how wooden ships are built, they flex in heavy seas, opening the seams between the hull planks and letting in water. The older and worse shape a ship is in, the more pronounced this effect can be. Your PCs will have to allocate substantial crew to pumping, and if resources run short or men get tired, they may no longer be able to keep up with the flow.
If so, then it becomes slow death. As she loses buoyancy, she loses maneuverability too, and the wind and seas slamming her around inflict more and more damage.
Heal DC 15 checks: Keep manning the bilges
Man the bilges for one hour. Hour 2: lack of air and back breaking labor causes 1 nonlethal damage and fatigued (-2 Str, Dex; 8 hours rest cures); Hour 3: 2 points, exhausted (-6 Str, Dex; 1 hour makes fatigued); Hour 4: 4 points. Heal check postpones condition one hour.
Knowledge geography for piloting DC 30 in a storm
Bonuses: +2 from aid another from Nicolette (+9), +2 seaworthiness, Inspire competence
Offshore this may mean that you are more than just "off course", you may be hundreds of miles from where you were when the storm hit. In game terms this may mean being way late to wherever you were going; or ending up somewhere different altogether. Consider a randomized distance and direction table for assessing the impact of the storm. The pirates end up discovering the new land? The longer it lasts, the further off you're likely to be. If your navigation system is based on celestial observation, you not only have to wait for the wind to die down, but also for the skies to clear before you can begin to work on where you've ended up.
If the storm hits along a coast (within 100 miles or so) you could stand the chance of being set aground. Obviously, a shipwreck can drastically change the course of your game, but grounding doesn't always equal total loss. There could be a lot of damage that needs to be repaired and they may have to wait for an extra high tide to get them off.
- Swim (Moderate):
You rescue a sailor that has gone over board. Counts as success/failure.
Use Rope and Strength checks: someone goes aloft and you tie a rope to them; if they fall into the water, you haul them up.
Climb and Jump and Balance: Aloft
Walking on the yardarm normally Balance 15, here it’s 25;
brace with one hand +5, 2 hands +10
Climb the rigging is usually DC 5, here it’s DC 15
One of the biggest risks a ship faces in heavy weather is losing all or part of the rig. Because the structural support for a sailing ship rig is so integrated, even losing one section of a mast or having one small element of rigging fail has the potential to cause a chain reaction that brings down the rest of the rig. A falling mast in any conditions might damage the hull, but in a storm the debris, half hanging in the water and slamming up against the hull, can be disastrous.
Consider, as a failure of complex seamanship skill checks, including a chance of all or partial rig failure. If it happens, the crew must immediately turn to the task of cutting away debris (agility, seamanship). If it's only an upper spar that's broken or fallen, this task may include going aloft amid the swinging debris to get it under control. It's a highly chaotic, terrifying situation. Success means that you can fix it.
In describing climbing the rigging in a storm, keep in mind that when a ship rolls in a heavy sea, the impact aloft is like hanging onto the end of a giant whip. Every wave threatens to toss you off like a dog shaking water off its back.
Balance or Strength: green water
Light surges are DC 6; fail fall prone, washed 1d4 rounds towards edge, Ref 11 to hold on.
Heavy surges as above, but DC 12, 2d6 rounds, Ref 17
Knowledge: Geography for minimizing pounding by wave
Not only does it stand the chance of taking out crew members, but a good smack from a wave may cause damage to deck structures and/or exposed cargo. Steering mechanisms are particularly susceptible to this. Losing the wheel or tiller can mean losing control over the ability to direct the ship at all.
Thanks for the help and ideas!
Crap! She has an anchor feather token. She's going to engage one of the ships after disabling the other one!
How is she going to get the feather token on the other ship?
What prevents them from immediately cutting it off?
How do we know they don't have a Feather Token of their own? Or an item that summons wind elementals to make them faster/their opponents slower?
She can get to one of the ships by using reduce person, invisibility and riding the back of her pseudodragon, although that's pretty dicey for the return trip.
Can you get the feather token off?