Is it even possible to save a sinking ship?

[Robert A Matthews]

Skull and Shackles is going to be sanctioned for PFS play soon so it will likely see a lot more play. I have already run 2 parts of this AP and it is incredibly fun (as long as you don't have a paladin). This never came up in my group, but it's likely that it could come up, especially depending on the tactics employed by the PCs. The sinking condition states that a ship sinks completely in 10 rounds once it is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points. It also says that magic such as Make Whole can save a sinking ship. The thing is, Make Whole has a 10 minute cast time, so it is impossible to save a ship even with that. Is there anything that you can do to save a sinking ship at all since Make Whole doesn't actually work?

Sinking Condition wrote:

A ship that is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points gains the sinking condition. A sinking ship cannot move or attack, and it sinks completely 10 rounds after it gains the sinking condition. Each additional hit on a sinking ship that deals more than 25 points of damage reduces the remaining time for it to sink by 1 round. A ship that sinks completely drops to the bottom of the body of water and is considered destroyed. A destroyed ship cannot be repaired—it is so significantly damaged it cannot even be used for scrap material. Magic (such as make whole) can repair a sinking ship if the ship's hit points are raised above 0, at which point the ship loses the sinking condition. Generally, non-magical repairs take too long to save a ship from sinking once it begins to go down.

[cnetarian]

If you started casting make whole 9&1/2 minutes before the ship reached 0HP then it would work, just have to plan ahead.

[I Hate Nickelback]

That's a complete load of crap. 9 1/2 min is a lot of rounds, it's crazy to plan that.

[FrodoOf9Fingers]

Be creative? Back in medival times they would have a repair man on the situation using cloth and wood to plug up holes, have a couple people 'pumping' water our of the bowels etc.. I'm sure there's got to be a few spells that can help out with one of those tasks, if nothing else to just help stabilize the thing.

Though the rulings on how that'd work precisely... It's up to the DM...

[Robert A Matthews]

I guess you could use Limited Wish to cast Make Whole on the ship, but at that point there are likely better things to use that on than Make Whole.

[blackbloodtroll]

Salvage spell.

[Gilfalas]

What spells and effects in game are like Make Whole in that they repair things but with a realistic casting time?

Can you summon a Water Elemental and try to have it b lock any further water from comining into the ship for the duration?

Obviously Wish, Limited Wish and Miracle can save your bacon but if your of a level to have them it is doubtful you will be ON a boat.

Did they not put any rules in their for repair teams and bailing crews?

I know 3.5 had dehydration spells and destroy water. Anything like that in Pathfinder.

Disintegrate could potentially buy you time if you target the water that is in the ship already.

Bags of holding used to bail?

[MC Templar]

GM might allow 'freezing sphere' to trap the ship in an iceberg which should keep it from sinking.

[LazarX]

It depends why the ship is sinking. If it's sinking becasue a herd of sperm whales have pounded it to pieces, then yes, it's beyond make whole because it is going down in seconds. But if the hole is small enough, and people are making heroic measures to keep the ship up, a ship can take hours to sink.

[cnetarian]

I Hate Nickelback wrote:

That's a complete load of crap. 9 1/2 min is a lot of rounds, it's crazy to plan that.

It's only 95 rounds... while I was using it facetiously after a bit of thought it could be a useful idea. Start casting make whole 9 minutes (adjust for expected damage) before the start of combat (the players can usually determine when combat starts) and receive in combat repairs which can stave off sinking. Admittedly make whole isn't much in the way of repairs (1d6/level) given the HPs of ships, but it can get rid of the sinking and broken conditions if it hits at the right time. I don't want to run skull & shackles just to try it out, but it is worth a try - if characters aren't up to it have them hire some level 3 clerics to cast the spell for them.

[Dragonamedrake]

Its not to be used to repair on the fly. Its to be used to repair the hip AFTER you save it.

1. Run the ship aground. Make Whole. Summon creatures to drag it back out to sea.

2. Cast Wall of Force under the Boat

3. Summon Dire Sharks or Elementals to hold the ship up while you repair.

Im sure there are plenty of ways to delay the sinking ship while you take the 10 minutes to repair the ship.

[Boraxo]

Find a wand of make whole. As a spell trigger item, it is a standard action to activate. A fully charged wand at 5th caster level costs 7,500 gp.

[Darklone]

Wands, scrolls, etc... yeah.

Or simply use Mending. If you have several spellcasters and the material is still available, you can use it to repair the ship pretty fast.

Take care of the reasons why it was sinking first though...

[Drachasor]

Wands, Scrolls, and Staffs don't work. Their casting time is 1 standard action OR the spell's casting time -- whichever is LONGER. Lame, I know. (Yes, the general section on spell-trigger items says "1 standard action", but the section on Wands and Staves each say they take longer to use if the spell in them takes longer. It was like that in 3.5 too).

You'd want a Wonderous Item. Actually, seems like all ships would have such an item. A 10d6 Emergency Ship Repair would just cost 1000gp. That has to be immensely cheaper than an actual ship. Only one use, but you'd expect it to be rarely needed. A 1/day item would cost 7200 for 10d6 healing...maybe the DM would let you make one for 3600. But I guess in PFS this isn't an option.

For PFS stuff...

For Casters, you want FABRICATE. That gets the job done and does it quickly.

A Lyre of Building would also work. 30 minutes of playing is equal to 100 people laboring for 3 days. So each round is like 100 men working for 8 minutes. Heh, it would be funny to see how someone handled that on the fly.

[Robert A Matthews]

Oh my... if you have a lyre of building on your ship, you would make the battle very one-sided with its 1/day immunity to damage for inanimate objects for 30 minutes.

[Drachasor]

Robert A Matthews wrote:

Oh my... if you have a lyre of building on your ship, you would make the battle very one-sided with its 1/day immunity to damage for inanimate objects for 30 minutes.

Since you don't have to keep playing for the immunity to work, I interpret that as meaning it only affects the objects within 300 feet at the time you use it.

RAMMING SPEED!

[Sober Caydenite]

Most likely Male Whole was mentioned because it is one of the Impositions you can spend Disrepute on, which is always a standard, non-magical action.