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Ship Mechanics Ships have different methods of landing and some don't

have any. A ship can land on water or land, and if a ship has
Much of the way in which ships function remains the same. neither it can never land on a planet. If it crashes on a
Their Hull Points value, tonnage, cargo, armaments, value, planet, it's likely never going to be able to take off either.
etc, all remain unchanged. Armor Rating and Weapon All ships can however dock with space stations (that have
THAC0 have been converted using a formula (see chapter docks) and in some cases such as with single man small
on Conversion Formulas). ships, can dock onto other larger ships (if the cargo bay is
All of the ships presented in the core Spelljammer books large enough).
have been converted and can be seen in the chapter 'Ship
Cards'. SHIP MANEUVERABILTIY CLASS
Every ship has a maneuverability class rating (see chart to
BASICS right). The maneuverability class of a ship is a general
In order for a ship to be space worthy it needs a proper representation of that ships ability to turn and move
power source. Many exist but the most commonly used and through space. From a mechanical standpoint the rating
most versatile is the Spelljammer Helm. In order for a ship effects two factors, initiative and overall movement (see
to leave a planet or make any movement in space it must chapter on combat for more information). There are
have a Ship Power of 1. Ships also have other requirements methods of modifying a ship to have a better or worse
such as needing a specific amount of crew in order to maneuverability class (described in Ship Modifications and
operate, this is detailed on each ship's card. When creating Other Equipment).
your own ship, consider the ships overall size, armaments,
and facilities when determining the proper amount of crew Ships
needed in order to operate. Maneuverability Ships
Class Modifier Dexterity
Ships have two types of travel, Long-Distance which is
A +3 16
basically like a warp speed and Short-Distance which is used
for combat, landing, surveying, etc. B +2 14
C +1 12
When a ship is traveling in Long-Distance mode, any D 0 10
obstruction (such as a planetary body or another ship) will E -1 8
cause the traveling ship to immediately and safely slow to
F -2 6
Short-Distance speed in order to prevent a fatal crash. This
is how pirates often initiate their attacks, by waiting in
POWER SOURCE TYPES
highly traveled areas.
Every ship typically has 2 power sources, a primary and a
All ships travel at the same speed when in Long-Distance backup. These are generally not sold with the ship and
mode regardless of the ships power or its maneuverability instead are transferred from one ship to another during a
class. A ship can cover 100 million miles in a 24 hour period. trade or sale. Below are the different types of power
That is Earth hours, in general it's just easier to use Earth sources.
time references.
Spelljammer Helms Minor 100,000 gp, Major 250,000 gp
Short-Distance travel is measured using a hex grid. Each hex These are the most commonly used type of power method
represents 500 yards and unlike ground based combat, 2 or because of their versatility. They require a spell casting
more ships can occupy the same space. A ship can move 1 class capable of casting 1st level spells or higher to be
hex per total ship movement (this is much like ground seated in them. When the spell caster sits upon one they
based movement), however it's important to note that choose a level of spell to expend into the helm. The level of
changing the facing of a ship also uses 1 full movement. spell determines the ships power rating for the next 12
This is because the way in which armaments are mounted hours. If the caster is separated from the helm at any point
to a ship requires specific facings (unless a turret is before the 12 hours the ship's power drops to 0 and
installed) to be used in order to be effective. More on ship another spell slot must be used in order to power the ship
movement is covered in the chapter on combat. again. A spell caster can only use a helm for 12 hours at a
time, each hour beyond that will require another spell slot
and inflict 1 level of exhaustion to the helmsman. Because
of this most ships like to have more than one caster on
1
them in order to rotate helmsman. Use the chart below to forge requires 200 cubic yards for every 50 Dwarves. 100
determine ship power levels as related to the helms rarity Dwarves generates 1 ship power. Its for this reason alone
and spell level cast into it. that a Dwarven ship, is quite literally a full size city, usually
with a mine. They range in size from 100 tons to 700 tons. A
Slot Ship Power side effect of the forge is a large amount of trade-able
Level Minor Helm Major Helm goods. Every month spent moving in space generates
10,000 gold in tradable goods. A negative side effect is that
1st 1 1
after awhile the mines run dry and the ship is no longer self
2nd 2 2
sustainable. These are often abandoned only to become
3rd 3 3 monster lairs.
4th 4 4
5th 5 5 Furnaces 100,000 gold
A furnace uses the magical energies within a magic item to
6th 5 6
fuel a ship. A single magic item confers a ship with power
7th 5 7
for 1 month, the amount of power depends on the quality
8th 5 8 of magical item (see chart below). After the month is up the
9th 5 9 item is completely consumed, furthermore once placed into
a furnace the item cannot be removed as it becomes
Orbus (beholder ships) 300,000 gold magically bound to the furnace. Furnaces are often
The Orbus are beholders that have been bred specifically installed as a back-up means of power as they are very
for running a ship and cannot do anything else. Each Orbi reliable.
provides a ship with 1 ship power to a maximum of 5. They
have 10 AC and 50 hit points. Their eyes are blind and have Rarity Ship Power (lasts 1 month)
milky white cataracts over them. They have almost no will Common 1
of their own and will follow orders regardless of who gives
Uncommon 2
them, for this reason the Beholders never willingly trade,
sell, or give them to other races and would rather Rare 3
disintegrate them. The price listed is what a beholder might Very Rare 4
sell a single Orbi to another beholder for. Legendary 5
Artifact Not compatible
Series Helms (Illithid ships) 75,000 gold per series
These were invented by the Illithids (Mind Flayers) but have Artifurnace priceless
been adapted by many creatures that lack the normal An artifurnace functions in the same fashion as a regular
means of casting spells but have spell like casting abilities furnace except that it uses an artifact for power. The
(such as psionics). Each helm provides 1 ship power. A artifact has an endless supply of magical energy and as such
single ship can have a maximum of 5 series helms at a time. is never consumed and provides a constant ship power of 5.
Once an artifact is placed within an artifurnace it can never
Unlike Spelljammer helms, Series helms do not cause be removed.
exhaustion and the ship power rating can be modified on
the fly by either adding or removing a helmsman. This Lifejammer 80,000 gold
allows the tactical advantage to a series helm ship when Lifejammers are generally used by more evil races like the
they are ambushed as they can potentially raise their ship Neogi, or slavers. They are fueled by the life energy of a
power. Generally when long-distance traveling a ship fitted living being and can cause death. The helm can be set to
with series helms will only have one helmsman seated. extract specific amounts of life energy providing the ship
with specific ship power levels to a maximum of 5. A
Forges (Dwarven ships) 500,000 gold for the forge itself, creature seated in a lifejammer takes 1d6 necrotic damage
100,000 gold per year in materials per ship power level every 12 hours. The damage cannot be
Many Dwarves lack direct magic casting, but make up for it healed until a Greater Restoration spell has been cast on
in creative crafting. This in itself is a type of innate magic the creature.
and the Dwarves have developed a way of harnessing to
power 'ships' through space. Dwarven ships are more akin
to mountains than ships, and the forge is a literal forge
where they create weapons, armor, trade goods, etc. The
2
ARMAMENTS
The armaments remain largely the same. It's important to Ballistas
note that 2 damage values are listed, Hit Points and Hull Light Medium Heavy
Points. Hit Points pertain to attacking creatures, and Hull
GP 400 600 800
Points pertain to attacking ships. By default in this
Range 6 hexes 4 hexes 2 hexes
conversion ammo is not tracked, the DM may choose to
change this in order to create additional costs on the Hit Pts 2d6 3d6 3d10
players. Hull Pts none 1d3 1d6
RoF 4+ 5+ 6+
Catapults: Are a large stone throwing device that function Atk +10 +8 +5
on a fixed position (unless turreted). A forward facing
Crit no 20 19-20
catapult is capable of targeting its three forward hexes.
Crew 1 2 4
Ballistas: Fire large bolts, javelins, and spears. They are
mounted on a pivoting base and can fire at any target.
Jettison
Rams: Are large ramming devices generally mounted on the Light Medium Heavy
front or rear of the ship. When ramming, the two ships GP 400 600 800
make a contest of maneuverability, each one rolling a d20
Range 3 hexes 2 hexes 1 hex
and adding their maneuverability (Ships Dex) modifier, if
Radius 5 ft 10 ft 15 ft
the ramming ship rolls better they succeed in ramming. In
order to ram, the attacking ship must move 2 hexes in a Hit Pts 1d6 2d6 3d6
straight line before entering the same hex of the ship it is RoF 4+ 5+ 6+
ramming. Atk +8 +7 +6
Crit no no no
Jettisons: Are a special kind of catapults that are loaded
Crew 2 3 4
with small stones, trash, debris, iron spikes and garbage.
They are designed as anti-personal weapons to clear enemy
Rams
decks without damaging the ship itself. They are mounted
in place and cannot move (unless turreted).
Piercing Ram 100 gold per ton of ship.
Hull Points: 1 per 10 tons of ship the ram is outfitted to.
Catapults
On a hit it causes the Hull Holed and Ship Shaken critical
Light Medium Heavy effects.
GP 500 700 1,000 An attack with this type of ram has a 25% chance to cause
Range 5 hexes 4 hexes 3 hexes the grappled effect with the ship it is attacking.
Hit Pts 2d10 3d10 3d10
Blunt Ram 100 gold per ton of ship.
Hull Pts 1d2 1d4 1d8
Hull Points: 1 per 10 tons of ship the ram is outfitted to.
RoF 4+ 4+ 5+
On a hit it causes the Ship Shaken and one other
Atk +8 +7 +6 randomly chosen critical effect.
Crit 20 19-20 18-20
Crew 1 3 5 Grappling Ram 200 gold per ton of ship
Hull Points: no damage
This ram employs one or more movable arms which attach
Rate of Fire: This works like the Recharge mechanic of to another ship. On a successful hit the two ships are
monsters. After the first shot, roll a d6 at the beginning of considered grappled. The two ships must share the same
each of your turns to determine if the weapon can fire hex in order to use this weapon.
again.

3
SHIP MODIFICATION AND OTHER EQUIPMENT
Ships can be heavily modified to suit the individual needs of Passage Device 10,000 gold per ton of ship. A device
their crew. Additional equipment can be purchased and created by the Arcane, it allows ships to create a portal that
installed into a ship. Generally these features are stripped allows passage through a crystal shell.
from a ship when it is sold returning it to its 'Stock' state,
similar to how weapons and helms are stripped. Portal Locator 5,000 gold. Also created by the Arcane,
this device locates existing portals on the crystal shell with
Turrets medium 500 gold, heavy 1,000 gold, double for a 90% accuracy rate. It is often thrown into the sale of a
protected turrets ship by the Arcane as a giveaway to sweeten the deal.
Turrets are mounted rotating weapons platforms that allow
a weapon to be fired in any direction. For double the price a Planetary Locator 2,000 gold. A desk-sized device that
turret can be outfitted with plating that protects the crew displays a map of the current crystal shell. Upon entering a
manning the turret. The plating adds +4 AC to the crew new crystal shell the device scans the entire shell displaying
members. major celestial bodies such as planets, however smaller
planets and asteroids cannot be found by the automatic
Hull Armor ships can be outfitted with 2 types of scanning, they can be entered in manually later. Much like
armoring options (both can be done if desired). the Portal Locator the Arcane often throw these in when
selling a ship.
Increased Thickness 100 gold per ton of ship, +1 AC.
Increases the thickness of the hull but decreases cargo Star Charts 100-600 gold. These carry the layouts of a
space by 20%. Ships with no cargo space cannot have this particular system and often include details added by the
done. A ship can only have its hull thickness increased once. seller that may not appear on others maps or be found by
scanners. They will also often contain notes on regional
Plating 300 gold per ton of ship, +2 AC. Increases the temperatures and controlling factions.
armor class of a ship by mounting exterior plating to the
hull, this however causes the Maneuverability Class to Anchors/Tethers 10 gold per ton of ship. These allow
decrease by 1 rating, so a ship with an A rating becomes a B ships to moor at asteroids or to tie to other ships. Most
rating. A ship's Maneuverability Class cannot be lowered ships are sold with these already equipped.
below F, furthermore a ship that has plating sticks out as a
target to pirates. A ship can only be plated once. Life Boats Large (20 people) 10,000 gold, Medium (5
Additionally for 1000 gold per ton of ship, you can have people) 5,000 gold, Small (2 people) 1,000 gold. The only
Mythril plating installed, this will provide the same bonus to purpose of these are to transport groups of people from a
AC without lowering the Maneuverability Class. ship to the surface of a planet. They literally just fall down
to the surface. Once there, they cannot take off and are
Improved Maneuverability Ships can be modified to have discarded. They take up a tonnage equal to half the amount
extra maneuvering features in order to increase its of people they can carry, for example a large life boat takes
maneuverability class. up 10 tons of cargo space.

Rigging 100 gold per ton of ship, raises maneuverability


class by one rating. Additional rigging is installed into the
ship, this has 2 downsides however. The ship will now
require 50% more crew members to operate, and rigging is
not subtle. A ship with rigging beyond its normal model's
specifications make prime targets for pirates. This can only
be done once to a ship.

Stripping 100 gold per ton of ship, raises


maneuverability class by one rating. By removing non-
essential weight from the ship its maneuverability is
increased. This however causes its Armor Class to drop by 2
points. A ship that has been stripped cannot be further
stripped. This procedure is not noticeable to the naked eye.

4
In order to go from short-distance to long-distance travel a
COMBAT
ship needs to move 5 hexes in a straight line and have no
other ships within a 10 hex vicinity.
In space no one can hear your ship being ripped apart by
reavers. Combat between ships happens, whether you're Initiative (d20 + Ships Dex mod)
on the winning side however... The interesting part is that Initiative is very easy to determine. Much like rolling for
death (other than crew, who are akin to red shirts) is not ground based combat, you simply roll a d20 and add the
common when being defeated by another ship. Reavers, ships maneuverability (Ships Dex modifier) class modifier
Neogi, Illithids, and even Beholders will generally take for a total score. Each ship rolls initiative and combat
prisoners, either for slaves or possibly even food. proceeds according to the order rolled. If additional ships
come into play in subsequent rounds, roll initiative when
Encounters they first appear and then put them into the order of turns
When two ships come into short-distance range with one in the next round.
another it's not always going to be a combat situation.
Many meetings like this occur simply because two ships Flow of Combat
were passing too close to one another during long-distance When initiating combat you must first determine the
travel. When this happens both parties will generally want following factors; position (ships coming out of long-
to move on. You can use the two charts below to determine distance travel will be 10 hexes away from one another),
the type of race/group (and by proxy ship) and their total movement, and initiative.
motives.
After you have set the stage with all that information
d12 Race d6 Motive combat proceeds similarly to ground based combat. Each
1 Neogi (Always Hostile) 1 Hostile ship has 2 phases, movement and actions. These can be
done in any order (movement then attack or vice versa). If
2 Beholder 2 Indifferent
however a ship wants to split its movement (attacking in
3 Illithid 3 Friendly between) that is called a 'fly by' maneuver and all attack
4 Reaver (Always Hostile) 4 Flees rolls will be done at disadvantage. Ship combat does not
5 Dwarven 5 Follows use the opportunity attacks mechanic.
6 Elven 6 Abandoned
7 Giff You can only move in the direction of your
8 Human facing. Changing facing costs one hex per 60
9 Adventuring Group (mixed races) degrees.
10 Random Race of DM's Choice
11 Gargantuan Monster (Radiant Dragon, Krajen, etc) You can only fire weapons based on your facing.
12 The Spelljammer

Movement (Ships Dex Mod + SP = hexes you can move)


Movement in short-distance range is determined by two
factors, ship maneuverability class and ship power. Each
maneuverability class has a modifier associated with it (see
ship mechanics for the chart). To determine the total
movement of a ship you add the maneuverability class
modifier (Ships Dex modifier) with the ship power. So a
ship that has a maneuverability class of C with a normal
spelljammer helm operating on a 1st level spell would have
a total movement of 2. It's important to note that a ship's
total movement will be 0 if it loses its ship power and it
cannot take any movement until it regains at least 1 ship
power.

5
Breaking Apart d20 Result Effect
When a ship is reduced to 0 Hull Points it begins to break 1 Loss of 5 Hull Points The ship loses an additional 5 hull points.
apart. Roll a d6 for each 10 tons of ship to determine the 2 Deck Crew Casualties Randomly choose an exposed crew
amount of large atmosphere-retaining pieces break apart. member, that crew member and all others (including PCs) are
Victors will usually sift through such debris looking for subject to the attack (remember to use hit point damage not hull
anything that can be salvaged (including prisoners). point damage).
3 Interior Crew Casualties The same as Deck Crew Casualties
If the player's ship is breaking apart, each player must make except that you randomly pick an interior crew member
a DC20 Dexterity saving throw to determine if they are able 4 Ship Shaken All crew and players not sitting or firmly tied down
to stay on board with one of the atmosphere-retaining (a person in a spelljammer helm is safe) must make a DC15
pieces. On a fail the player is floating in space. A medium Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. While prone they cannot use
sized player retains enough oxygen to survive 1d10+2 turns, weaponry for that turn.
a small (halfling, gnome) takes less oxygen with it and only 5 Large Weapon Damaged One randomly chosen large weapon
has enough for 1d6+1 turns. Large and Gargantuan takes damage and is inoperable until repaired.
creatures bring enough oxygen to last 1d20+4 turns. 6 Deck Crew Casualties See 2.
7 Hull Holed The attack punches a hole in the ship. The DM
Towing chooses the location based on the situation.
A ship can tow another ship by grappling them as long as 8 Maneuverability Loss The ship drops 1 maneuverability class
the opposing ship has a ship power of 0. Once grappled the rating for 1d10 turns.
towing ship's power is halved, once in long-distance travel 9 Loss of 10 Hull Points The ship loses an additional 10 hull points.
the rate of travel is still 100 million miles every 24 hours. 10 Ship Shaken See 4.
11 Fire! A fire starts somewhere on board the ship (determined by
Criticals DM). Fire deals no damage on the first round. Subsequent rounds
Critical hits are where the fun is at! In Spelljammer when a it deals 1 hull point damage and has a 50% chance to spread to
ship hits critically you roll a d20 on the critical table to another part of the ship. Each spread results in 1 hull point
damage per round. A Crew member or Player may put out 1 fire,
determine an extra effect occurs (you also double damage
however doing so will remove that person from being able to do
dice as with ground based combat). All ships also suffer a
anything else.
random critical effect when they are brought below 50%
12 Ship Power Failure The ships power drops to 0. If a
Hull Points, this means a critical can potentially trigger 2
spelljammer helm is being used a new spell must be cast into it on
critical effects if it is also bring the hull points below the the next round. Helms that provide constant power such as series
50% mark. helms, forges, orbus, etc will need to be restarted and only lose 1
round of power.
Players and NPCs Damaging Ships 13 Deck Crew Casualties See 2.
Players and NPCs can only damage a ship when they are on 14 Large Weapon Damaged See 5.
the ship itself (such as the case when boarding) or when 15 Ship Shaken See 4.
grappled to another ship (using ranged attacks). When they
16 Hull Holed See 7.
deal damage the ship loses 1 Hull Point for every 30 Hit
17 Maneuverability Loss See 8.
Points dealt. Anything below 10 Hit Points has no effect and
18 Loss of 10 Hull Points See 9.
is not cumulative.
19 Ship Power Failure See 12.
20 Spelljammer Shock! The spelljamming caster must make a
concentration check (based on what the hit point damage would
be), on failure the caster falls into a coma for 1d4 days (a Greater
Restoration spell ends the effect early) The ship's power becomes
0 and the ship cannot move until another caster takes the helm or
a backup method is employed. In the case of a series helm or
orbus all creatures must make the save, losing 1 ship power per
failure. In the case of Forges, Furnaces, and Artifurnaces they are
rendered nonfunctional for 1d4 days.

6
Conversion Formulas and Principles AR AC THAC0 Atk Bonus
0 22 20 +2
One of the nice things about the Spelljammer setting is that a lot
1 21 19 +3
of the elements are individual unto itself meaning that much can
be left as is. Some things however, such as THAC0 and Armor 2 20 18 +4
Rating need to be converted. In addition some mechanics, I felt 3 19 17 +5
were overly complicated and therefore streamlined or cut out in 4 18 16 +6
order to keep in line with 5e's style. 5 17 15 +7
6 16 14 +8
THAC0 To Attack Bonus Conversion Formula: (20-THAC0) +2. This
puts a THAC0 of 18 at a +4 attack bonus. 7 15 13 +9
Armor Rating to Armor Class Conversion Formula: (20-AR) + 2. 8 14 12 +10
This puts an Armor Rating of 4 at an Armor Class of 18. 9 13 11 +11
10 12 10 +12
Summary of Mechanics Removed or Simplified
The following mechanics have been removed in order to
streamline gameplay. More information on the mechanics can be
found in the corresponding chapters.
Crew status and their statistics (see chapter on combat)
The need to declare if one is going to perform a ramming attack
is no longer needed
The calculation of % to lock with another ship when using a
piercing ram
Ship saving throw system has been removed
The way in which PCs and NPCs can damage a ship and the
formula for converting hit point damage to hull point damage (see
chapter on combat)
How to calculate total ship movement and initiative (see chapter
on combat)
Spelljammer Helm types have been revised to be in line with
magic items of 5e (see chapter on ship mechanics)
Ship rating has been changed to ship power and
Maneuverability Class now has modifiers associated to them (see
chapter on ship mechanics)
2 changes had to be made to the critical hit chart involving the
'Loss of SR' and 'Spelljammer Shock!' effects (see chapter on
combat)
Series Helms and Orbus Helms have been given a maximum
rating and had their tonnage restrictions removed (see chapter on
ship mechanics)
Pool helms and Gnomish helms have been removed due to
redundancy
Bombards and Greek Fire Projectors have been removed due to
redundancy
Ramming mechanics have been modified (see chapter on
armaments)
Towing has been modified (see chapter on combat)
Added Beholder ships, but removed beam weapon, they prefer
to ram then board as a tactic
Races: Dracon race left out (too similar to Dragonborn),
Ephemeral race left out (can easily use ghosts), Modified Krajen's
alignment to chaotic evil to fit description for 2e core book (did
not convert immature stages), Only converted a base Neogi (no
great old master)

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