Skulls and Shackles: Swing and a Miss with Siege Weapons

[Another Mr White]

I must be missing something in our Skulls and Shackles game, because with the pilot's sailing skill modifier being added to AC, how is a siege engine ever expected to hit on anything other than a nat 20?

Example: The base AC of a sailing ship is 2, but you add the pilot's Profession (Sailor) skill modifier to that. At 5th level, this has our ship at an AC of 20 already, and that's only going to increase every level. The siege weapons, being reliant on hirelings to aim and fire them, aren't going to improve at all and if you're not taking range penalties, you're about to be grappled/boarded.

[Old Guy GM]

I do three things in my game:

First: I don't add the pilot's skill to AC. No matter how skilled the pilot is, he can't make the ship move in any way that would be considered an evasive type maneuver that would affect a fired shot. Sailing ships just don't react that fast. (I would say that a +18 at 5th level seems like more the exception than the rule, though.)

Second: I use base AC, plus range mods, plus a speed mod that equals a +1 per 10' of movement. Faster ships are harder to hit with the siege type weapons we are dealing with.

Third: We have a player - the Master Gunner - who specializes on siege weapons. We use Base Attack plus Int modifier for his roll.

Nice and simple, works like a charm for us.

[ryric]

A bigger issue is how little damage siege weapons do compared to the hp of ships. Really, boarding actions are just more practical.

When I played S&S, after mid levels I just had my water patron witch use control water to trap the enemy ship so we could easily board it.

[Another Mr White]

Old Guy GM wrote:

(I would say that a +18 at 5th level seems like more the exception than the rule, though.)

Oh I agree, but I would have had a +22 if I had gone with my Inquisitor instead. Admittedly, +3 of that is from the ship itself.

What I do have (for those who are curious):

A Half-Elf Magus (Mindblade).
Ranks (+5), Class Skill (+3), Wisdom (+0), Child of the Sea Alternate Racial Ability (+4 racial), Skill Focus (+3), Ship (+3; Broad Rudder, Rapid Deploy Sails, Silk Sails).

As you can see, no trait is boosting this and I'm getting nothing from my attributes here.

[Old Guy GM]

ryric wrote:

A bigger issue is how little damage siege weapons do compared to the hp of ships. Really, boarding actions are just more practical.

When I played S&S, after mid levels I just had my water patron witch use control water to trap the enemy ship so we could easily board it.

Not really. This is typical of sailing ships. Wooden ships can take a serious pounding before actually sinking. In fact, most ships struck their colors long before they sank. I find the damage-to-hp ratio works fine. As I pointed out to my group, you don't want to sink them anyway unless in extreme circumstances. A captured ship is worth far more to a captain and a crew. You can loot the ship, press some of the crew members and let it go: a merchant ship will sail again, possibly to be caught again. OR you can take the ship as a prize, getting a percentage of the value of the ship as plunder (or gold).

If you have any interest in pirates/buccaneers/etc and their life, I strongly recommend reading Benerson Little's books on the subject. He is considered an expert in the field, and was/is a consultant on Black Sails as well as Firelock Game's Blood and Plunder. His books are an excellent read for the history of the Age of Piracy. Obviously, he is writing historical works (in a blackpowder age), but all of it applies to S&S.

[ryric]

I wasn't saying the low damage was unrealistic by any means, just that using siege weapons to attack ships was impractical. Pre-gunpowder, it seems both in game and IRL that the attacker is better off going after crew and sails than after the hull.