The following are guidelines for using the rules for Spelljammer ship combat in Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons (3e). These guidelines are designed to offer as few changes as possible to the existing system, just enough for it to mesh with 3e and be fully playable, while retaining the style and feel found in the original. Because of that it should be stressed that these are guidelines, and cannot give rules for every situation that may crop up.
Anything not listed here should follow the system as written in either the Concordance of Arcane Space or in the War Captain's Companion, depending on which version of space combat you use. These guidelines should work with either.
Ship combat uses a unit of time called the ship turn, or simply turn for short. A turn is 12 seconds long, which is equal to two normal combat rounds. During this time a ship operates much as it did under the 2e system of ship combat; when dealing strictly with the actions of one ship against another, the difference in time scale should be mostly transparent. This includes movement, attacks with heavy weapons, ramming and other similar ship actions. When the actions of individuals onboard these ships becomes important refer to Character Actions, below.
Each hex on the space combat map is equal to 100 yards, or 300 feet. This is 1/5th the scale of the 2e version of combat, the same as the new time scale. How this affects movement, weapons and attacks and character actions are detailed below.
The difference in time and scale does not modify the rules for ship movement. Ships still follow all rules outlined in either the Concordance of Arcane Space or in the War Captain's Companion, depending on which set of rules you are using.
Much of the statistics for ships remain the same. The only two modified stats are Armour Rating and saving throws.
A ship's Armour Rating should be converted over to the 3e system of rising Armour Class. To do this subtract the ship's old AR from 20, or use the following table.
2e AR: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 3e AR: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Rather than a matrix of saving throws, all ships in 3e have a Fortitude, based on their materials. Use the ship's Save As entry in its description and check the following table to find its Fortitude. The details of how this is used is detailed below in the Damage section.
Saves As Fortitude Bone +2 Ceramic +5 Crystal +6 Leather +4 Metal +10 Stone +8 Wood, Thick +4 Wood, Thin +3
In order to be an effective member of a heavy weapon crew a character must have the appropriate Heavy Weapon Proficiency feat. Unlike in 2e, a character must have this feat, or the heavy weapon will have penalties to hit.
In order to attack at the weapon's listed base attack bonus it must have the listed minimum crew. For each man who is part of the crew but does not have the appropriate proficiency, it gains a -1 to hit. If the weapon has no person manning it with this proficiency, it suffers a minimum penalty of -4 to hit.
See Appendix: New Feats for more information on these proficiency feats and other new feats.
Rather than THAC0, heavy weapons in 3e have a base attack bonus, much like a character does. This base attack bonus can be found on the Heavy Weapons table below.
Each weapon has a loading time, which is the number of turns it takes to load the weapon before it can fire again. A ship cannot fire a weapon in the same round it reloads. For every man short of the minimum crew listed it takes an additional turn to reload. A heavy weapon must have at least one man in the crew in order to reload.
These numbers result in the same rate of fire as they had in 2e. With the alteration of the time and distance scale for 3e this means that ships load and fire in a much smaller time. While perhaps unrealistic, it is necessary in order to retain the same feel as the 2e system.
The range for heavy weapons has not changed, though its use has been modified. See the Combat section for more on how range is used.
All weapons now have a Threat range in place of the Critical Hit from 2e. This works much like any other threat range in 3e. The actual effects of a critical hit are handled in the Combat section, below.
These have not changed. See the Damage section for more on how damage is handled in 3e.
The saving throw against the damage of a greek fire projector is a Reflex save against DC13. When a ship has a greek fire projector aboard all weapons attacking that ship increase their threat range by 1. For example, a threat range of 19-20 becomes 18-20.
Note that in 3e greek fire is now known as alchemist's fire.
Resisting being knocked down by a sweeper is a Dexterity check against DC 12.
Hull Personnel Loading Base Heavy Weapon Range Damage Damage Time Crew Attack Threat Accelerator 6 1d2 1d10 0* 1 +5 19-20 Ballista, Light 6 0** 2d6 1 1 +8 N/A** Ballista, Medium 4 1d3 3d6 2 2 +6 20 Ballista, Heavy 2 1d4+2 3d10 3 4 +3 19-20 Bombard 2 1d6 2d10 2 3 +3 20 Bombard, Great 4 2d12 3d10 2 5 +1 19-20 Catapult, Light 5 1d2 2d10 1 1 +6 20 Catapult, Medium 4 1d3+1 3d10 1 3 +5 19-20 Catapult, Heavy 3 2d4 3d10 2 5 +4 18-20 Dual Ballista, Light 6 1d3 3d6 2 2 +4 20 Dual Ballista, Medium 4 1d4 2d10 3 3 +6 19-20 Dual Ballista, Heavy 2 2d4 4d10 4 5 +8 18-20 Greek Fire Projector 1 1d3 3d10 3 3 +4 18-20 Jettison, Light 3 0** 1d6 1 2 +6 N/A** Jettison, Medium 2 0** 2d6 2 3 +5 N/A** Jettison, Heavy 1 0** 3d6 3 4 +4 N/A** Sweeper, Gnomish 3 0** 1d8*** 3 3 +4 N/A**
* An accelerator can fire once every turn. If crewed by someone with
the appropriate Heavy Weapon Loader feat it can fire twice per turn at
its full attack bonus.
** This weapon does not do hull damage, nor can it score a critical hit
on ships. It can score a critical hit on personnel normally (20/x2).
*** See description.
In 3e ship combat initiative is determined before anything else, using a d20 rather than a d10. Each ship rolls its own initiative, unless the Dungeon Master chooses to group certain ships together, which may be more practical in larger combats.
Once initiative order has been determined it remains the same throughout the combat, much as it does in normal 3e combat. The 2e rule that those that "win" initiative have the option of choosing to go first or last is ignored. On each ship's initiative the ship can move and fire as normal. The timing of when a ship can move and fire its weapons will depend on whether you are using the rules in the Concordance of Arcane Space or in the War Captain's Companion. These rules do not change.
Attacking with a heavy weapon works the same as any other 3e attack. Roll a d20, add the weapon's base attack bonus, add any other pertinent modifiers, and compare it to the Armour Rating of the target ship. If it is greater than or equal to the Armour Rating, it has hit. Otherwise it missed. Roll damage as normal. See the Damage section for more on damage.
Each weapon has a range listed. This is the number of hexes a heavy weapon can fire without penalty. For every additional hex beyond this the weapon suffers a cumulative -2 to hit. Maximum effective range of a weapon is twice its listed range.
Determining whether or not a heavy weapon scores a critical hit works as normal for 3e. If the die roll for attack is within the threat range of the weapon a threat has been scored. Roll a second attack roll, using the same modifiers used for the first attack roll. If this second roll is a hit, the attack is a critical hit. If it is a miss, the attack is a normal hit.
Unlike personal weapons, heavy weapons do not resolve a critical hit normally. Instead, roll a d20 and consult the table below.
Roll Result 1 x2 Damage 2 Deck Crew Casualty 3 Interior Crew Casualty 4 Ship Shaken 5 Large Weapon Damage 6 Deck Crew Casualty 7 Hull Holed 8 Maneuverability Loss 9 x3 Damage 10 Ship Shaken 11 Fire 12 Loss of SR 13 Deck Crew Casualty 14 Large Weapon Damaged 15 Ship Shaken 16 Hull Holed 17 Maneuverability Loss 18 x3 Damage 19 Loss of SR 20 Spelljammer Shock
Consult page 59 of the Concordance of Arcane Space for details of these effects, except for additional details below.
x2 or x3 Damage: Roll damage either twice or three times and add the total together to determine damage, same as with a critical hit with a melee weapon.
If these results come up when rolling the random critical hit for a blunt ram the Dungeon Master may want to substitute x2 and x3 damage for +5 and +10 damage, respectively, lest the amount of damage achievable by larger ships becomes incredibly high.
Deck Crew Casualty: The saving throws to avoid suffering the same fate as a damaged crew member is a Reflex save against DC 14.
Interior Crew Casualty: The saving throws to avoid suffering the same fate as a damaged crew member is a Reflex save against DC 14.
Ship Shaken: The Dexterity check to avoid falling down is against DC 14 for all characters not sitting or tied down.
Spelljammer Shock: The saving throw to avoid spelljammer shock is a Will save against DC 16.
When a weapon scores a critical hit against a crew member resolve it as for a normal weapon, with a multiplier of x2.
Ramming another ship works following the normal rules, with two exceptions. First, use the base attack bonus of the ship's helmsman or similar controller. Second, the ship rams on its initiative, much like any other attack. No other declaration is required.
Note that in the 2e rules rams do not score additional critical hits based on the attack roll. Because of the high amount of damage done by ramming, and the automatic critical hits it already achieves, this does not change.
In order to avoid a crash the helmsman must make a Reflex save. The DC of this save depends on the Maneuverability Class of the ship, as shown on the following table.
MC DC A 8 B 10 C 12 D 14 E 16 F 18
Shearing another ship works following the normal rules, with two exceptions. First, use the base attack bonus of the ship's helmsman or similar controller. Second, the critical hit for rolling a 20 is instead a threat rating of 20, as for any other attack, resolved as outlined above.
Damage to a ship from heavy weapons, ramming or similar attacks work the same. A hull point is still worth 10 hit points.
When a character attacks a ship with personal weapons follow the normal rules listed in the Concordance of Arcane Space rather than the 3e rules for damaging objects. When dealing with attacks on specific parts of a ship the Dungeon Master may choose to follow the 3e rules. Examples include cutting grapple lines, cutting through doors, cutting sails, and so forth.
Whenever a spell that could damage a ship in some manner is cast, from fireball to disintegrate, the ship is allowed a Fortitude save, regardless of the listed save, unless the saving throw is listed as None. The effects of a successful for unsuccessful save will depend on the spell, as determined by the Dungeon Master. For damage spells, a successful save results in half damage.
Damage from spells works as normal under the 2e rules: 10 hit points of damage equal 1 hull point. Fire spells start fires as normal.
When the Dungeon Master needs to determine the DC for a ship Fortitude save against something other than a spell, the best rule of thumb is to compare it to a spell and use that's spell's minimum DC. For example, a saboteur places a very large smokepowder bomb in with a ship's water supply barrels. When it goes off, the Dungeon Master allows the ship a Fortitude save for half damage. The DM feels it is more powerful than a fireball spell, equivalent to a 5th level spell. The minimum DC for a 5th level spell is 17, so the DM allows the ship a Fortitude save against DC 17.
During ship combat there are a variety of actions a character can take, from repelling boarders to launching fireballs at enemy ships. There are two general situations involving characters. The first is when the characters on a ship are doing little more than performing simple actions against other ships, such as launching spells or attacks with personal missile weapons. In these cases character actions are much like ship actions, and require only minimal additional rules. The second general situation is when timing on a ship is important, and often involves interaction between enemies on one ship.
There will be times when a character wishes to do something that affects another ship, which includes affecting the crew of another ship. Examples include casting spells at the ship or attacking its crew with ranged weapons. In most circumstances these actions can occur at the same time as heavy weapon attacks; the timing of this depends on whether you are using the rules in the Concordance of Arcane Space or in the War Captain's Companion.
Under normal circumstances a character can perform one standard action against a ship per turn, and can perform no other actions except a single move-equivalent action, such as load a light crossbow or move across the deck.
If the target ship is not moving the character can perform two standard actions that affect another ship, as long as his own ship is sitting still or moving no faster than SR 2.
Sometimes what is happening on a ship during ship-to-ship combat is very important and needs to be handled at the same time as the rest of ship combat. For example, a sorcerer teleports over to an enemy ship and begins blasting away with fireballs, while the marines quickly move to put a stop to it. This is a situation where personal combat needs to be resolved at the same time as ship combat. In cases such as these, each of the two 6-second rounds that make up a ship's turn need to be resolved.
When it becomes necessary to resolve the actions of characters aboard a ship follow these guidelines:
On the ship's initiative each character involved in the action should roll initiative, following the normal 3e rules. This is referred to as character initiative.
Character initiative is not part of ship combat initiative. Instead, on a ship's initiative the two rounds of combat and the ship actions are resolved, and it then moves on to the next ship's initiative.
Example: Three ships are in combat, a hammership fighting two pirate vessels, a squidship and a wasp. The order of initiative is wasp (15), hammership (11), and then the squidship (5). During the combat, on the squidship's initiative, a hasted sorcerer teleports over to the hammership and begins to rain fireballs on the crew. At this point both the continuing space combat needs to be resolved, as does the new character combat aboard the hammership. On the hammership's turn the characters involved roll initiative. From then on, the actions of those on board the hammership are resolved on the hammership's initiative.
There are two rounds of combat for each turn of ship combat. Each of these rounds of combat are resolved normally, following the character initiative order. Like initiative in normal combat, the numbers rolled at the start are used throughout the character combat on the ship.
As long as a character is not looking to perform an action that is normally considered a ship action-controlling the ship, firing weapons at enemy ships or crew, or using magic against another ship, and so on-they can act normally during the two ship rounds. This includes actions against people on their own ship or against the ship itself.
Ship actions occur between the two rounds of character actions. For example, when it comes around to the hammership's initiative, the first round of character actions are resolved, then the ship's actions, then the second round of character actions. Then it moves on to the squidship's initiative.
The actions of the first round of character actions can affect the ship actions that follow it. For example, if someone kills the helmsman in the first round of character actions, the ship cannot move during the ship actions that follow.
If a character wishes to perform an action against another ship- perform a ship action-they must take a ready action to do so. When they take this ready action they can then perform a ship action the next time ship actions are resolved. Unlike most ready actions the character need not be overly specific with their action. They need simply state they are taking the ready action to perform a ship action. Of course they will need to have ready any weapon or device they will be using.
Example: A wizard on the hammership wants to drop a fireball on the wasp, which is a ship action. On the first round of character initiative that takes place on the hammership's initiative, the wizard declares that he will take a ready action to perform a ship action. After all characters have acted in that first round the ship actions are resolved, and so then the wizard is able to fireball the wasp.
If a character performs any type of ship action they can take only a move or move-equivalent action on their next round.
When a character is taking a ready action to perform a ship action the next time ship actions are resolved, it does not have to be the initiative of the ship they are on; as with heavy weapon attacks and such, they can act on the initiative of other ships, following the appropriate timing rules.
Example: After casting the fireball at the wasp the wizard can see that they are hurting badly and on fire. He has a second fireball prepared, and decides to use it. On the hammership's next initiative he again takes a ready action, but at this point the wasp has moved away. The hammership follows, but will be unable to make it in range this turn. The wizard continues with the ready action in the second round of character actions. On the wasp's next turn it decides that the fire is insurmountable, and so heads back to try to crash into the hammership, hoping to take it over. As the wasp moves into range the wizard let's his fireball fly, since ship actions are being resolved, and he has readied himself to act during the next ship actions.
If the target ship is not moving and the character's ship is moving no faster than SR 2 a character can affect a ship or its crew normally, on each round of character actions. No ready action is required. This is the only time when a character can perform ship actions as standard actions.
If, during the ship actions, more than one person on the ship wishes to perform a ship action against another ship they can go in whatever order they agree with. If they cannot agree, go in the order of character initiative.
One turn of loading a heavy weapon equates to two character action rounds. Loading is a full round action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
If two ships come together in a way that requires a character initiative that covers both ships, this character initiative occurs on the next initiative of any ship involved.
Example: The wasp crashes into the hammership, having survived the wizard's second fireball, and the crew is going to try to swarm over onto the hammership and take it over. After the crash it becomes necessary to continue resolving both ship combat and character combat, as the hammership crew must deal with both this new threat and the squidship, which is still attacking. On the hammership's next initiative the newcomers roll initiative, putting them somewhere in the already existing order, and character actions are resolved as normal.
Note that these rules are necessary only when the action on any one ship needs to be resolved. Under most circumstances the rules in Affecting Other ships, above, can resolve the action of characters. These rules and the simpler rules of Affecting Other Ships can be mixed; only ships than need character initiative need bother with it. In the example combat the wasp and the squidship never bother with character initiative (at least until the wasp crashes into the hammership), because nothing was happening aboard their ship other than ship actions, or things that are resolved as ship actions, such as the sorcerer teleporting over to the hammership.
With the difference in the distance scale it is feasible for a character to affect another ship without being in the same hex. Assume that each ship is in the center of a given hex, and the distance from one center to another is one hex, or 100 yards. This means some spells and attacks may have as much as a two hex range or more. For example, a fireball from a 13th level wizard has a range of 920 feet, which is three hexes.
If two ships are in the same hex the Dungeon Master will need to determine the range of one ship to another, as before.
Choose a type of heavy weapon from the following list: accelerator, ballista & dual ballista, bombard, great bombard, catapult, greek fire projector, jettison or sweeper. You understand how to use that type of heavy weapon in ship combat. This applies to all sizes of heavy weapons, should that type come in multiple sizes.
Benefit: When you are part of a heavy weapon crew you contribute without penalty.
Normal: A character without this feat who helps crew a weapon results in a -1 to hit., cumulative for each crewman without it.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new weapon.
Choose a type of heavy weapon from the following list: accelerator, ballista & dual ballista, bombard, great bombard, catapult, greek fire projector, jettison or sweeper. You are especially good at using this weapon. This applies to all sizes of heavy weapons, should that type come in multiple sizes.
Prerequisite: Proficient with weapon and 4+ ranks of Profession (siege engineer).
Benefit: When you lead a heavy weapon crew that weapon gains a +1 to hit.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new weapon.
Your precise aim with a heavy weapon allows you to do additional damage.
Prerequisite: Heavy Weapon Focus with weapon, fourth level or higher.
Benefit: When you lead a heavy weapon crew and are within the normal listed range for the weapon, that weapon gains a +2 to damage.
Choose a type of heavy weapon from the following list: accelerator, ballista & dual ballista, bombard, great bombard, catapult, greek fire projector, jettison or sweeper. With that weapon you have a knack for finding the weak spot on target ships. This applies to all sizes of heavy weapons, should that type come in multiple sizes.
Prerequisite: Heavy Weapon Focus with weapon, 11+ ranks in one of Craft (Shipbuilding) or Profession (Shipwright) or Profession (siege engineer).
Benefit: When you lead a heavy weapon crew, that weapon's threat rating is doubled.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new weapon.
Choose a type of heavy weapon from the following list: accelerator, ballista & dual ballista, bombard, great bombard, catapult, greek fire projector, jettison or sweeper. With that weapon you are especially fast at loading. This applies to all sizes of heavy weapons, should that type come in multiple sizes.
Prerequisite: Proficient with weapon, Dex 13+, Int 13+.
Benefit: When you lead a heavy weapon crew, that weapon's reload time is reduced by one. If you take this feat for the accelerator you can fire it twice per turn.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new weapon.
You are especially good at ramming.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +1 or better.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus to hit on any ramming attempt.
You know where to ram a ship where it counts most.
Prerequisite: Ramming Focus and either base attack bonus +4 or better or 7+ ranks in either of Craft (Shipbuilding) or Profession (Shipwright).
Benefit: When ramming you figure your ship size as if it was 10 tons larger.
