More Complicated

Ship Rules
More Complicated Ship Rules

As it stands, ship combat presented in Ghosts of Saltmarsh is a fairly streamlined system, functionally
presenting the ship as another creature in combat. Managing that “creature” is fairly straightforward,
but does detach the players from the operation of the ship and, potentially, the consequences of
combat or hazards. This set of rules attempts to blend a more active role for the players as part of the
crew as well as present a potentially different, almost mini-game, way that combat may be handled. This
product references the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG), Ghosts of Saltmarsh (Gos), and Volo’s Guide to
Monsters (VGtM). This product also utilizes a crew quality check, which is a d20 modified by the crew
quality score. Any game feature that affects an ability check can affect a crew quality check. Player
characters are considered to be crew members.

Stations

GoS 186 identifies different components of a ship. Typically, those components have some action
associated with them. Stations are ship actions that require a certain number of crew to perform said
action. Instead of following the Action section of each ship stat block, a ship can take each action so long
as it has sufficient crew assigned to that station. For example, the Galley requires 40 crew for its oars to
function. If 40 crew are assigned to the oars, then the movement action is taken.

Assigning Crew

At the beginning of each round, players determine how they wish to assign their crew, with players
holding officer positions making final decisions (e.g. Captain has final say, but if no player has the role of
the Captain, then First Mate and so on). Any adjustments to crew at stations determines the actions that
the ship will take that round. Reassigning crew at the beginning of a round has no negative
consequences.

Minimum crew requirements

Below are the requisite number of crew necessary for each station to function. Additional crew assigned
to those stations do not generate any benefit unless the station specifically says so. The weapon station
reflects the number of crew necessary to operate 1 of that weapon. If a ship has more than 1 of a type
of weapon, the crew does not need to be assigned to both weapons in order to take the action, but only
the weapons that have sufficient crew can attack that turn.

Helm. 1. If a Helm is unassigned or destroyed, all attacks against the ship’s hull or its stations have
advantage.

Oars. Galley: 40 / Keelboat: 2 / Longship: 20 / Rowboat: 1 / Sailing Ship: 0 / Warship: 20

Sails. Galley: 6 / Keelboat: 1 / Longship: 1 / Rowboat: 0 / Sailing Ship: 4 per sail (-15 ft. speed for each
unassigned sail, minimum 0) / Warship: 4 per sail (-10 ft. speed for each unassigned sail, minimum 0)

Weapon. Ballista: 3 / Mangonel: 5 / Cannon: 3

Combat

Pursuit

An open and flat ocean affords a ship and crew to observe vast distances, particularly if they are using a
Crow’s Nest. As such, ships frequently have the option of avoiding one another. Below are rules to
simulate a chase at sea.

Table 1 Ship Speed Reference Table

Ship Oar Speed Sail Sail Into Wind Sail With Wind
Galley 30 35 15 50
Keelboat 20 25 15 35
Longship 20 45 15 60
Rowboat 15 0 0 0
Sailing Ship 0 45 15 60
Warship 20 35 15 50

First, assume that the ship being chased will only become aware that they are being pursued when the
pursuant is within 10,000 feet (feel free to modify based on situational adjustments). At this point,
assume that both ships will begin heading in the same direction. If the pursuant ship’s speed is less than
the pursued ships, the pursuit is called off. If the pursuant ship utilizes its oars to close the distance, then
the pursuant ship should make a crew quality check (DC 10) for every 1000 feet they need to close. For
each failed check, the DC increases by 1 and all crew members gains 1 level of exhaustion. After the
pursuit has ended, the crew quality score decreases by the number of levels of exhaustion gained during
the pursuit. It is recommended that a variation on Chase Complications (DMG 253) be included in this
process. Utilize the Hazards and Ocean Environs (GoS 200-207) to help with narrative description, but
functionally the pursued and pursuing ships should make checks (either using crew quality or player
ability) to increase or decrease distances, typically by 1000 feet. If the pursued ship ever gets more than
10,000 feet away from the pursuing ship, consider the pursuit ended.

Fleeing

Trying to determine distances between ships and various speeds during combat can make it difficult to
determine if a ship can escape or not. Utilize the following to determine if a ship can flee combat.

As a variant of the Full Speed Ahead action, the Captain, First Mate, or Bosun can make an opposed
crew quality check against any enemy ship’s crew. If this action is taken and successful for four
consecutive turns, the combat ends and a pursuit (see above) begins at a distance of 2000 feet. Only 1
success can be achieved per round. To determine the crew quality of the opposing ship, use a base of 0,
then roll a d4 and a d6. Use one to determine the modifier and the other to determine if it is a positive
or negative modifier (evens is positive, odds is negative).

Initiative
To accommodate the rules of stations follow these guidelines for initiative. A ship rolls initiative as a
Dexterity check, and uses its crew’s quality score as an additional modifier.

All the stations act on that initiative except for any weapons. Weapons act on a different turn depending
on what the weapon is. Ballistas act on (the ship’s) initiative-2; Mangonels act on initiative-5; and
cannons act on initiative-3.

Siege weapon attack modifiers

While the DMG and GoS assign attack bonuses to siege weapons, this variant presents an incentive for
the characters to participate in the operation of the siege weaponry on their ship.

Assume all siege weapons have an attack bonus of +0. A crew member assigned to a siege weapon adds
their proficiency bonus plus their dexterity modifier to the attack roll. Use only the highest modifier of
all crew members assigned to that weapon.

Fire

Fire can be extremely dangerous on a ship at sea. If a ship is damage by fire, and the effect says that
objects are ignited, then the ship has caught fire. On initiative count 0, the ship’s hull and any station
that was targeted takes 1d4. This damage doubles for each consecutive round that the ship remains on
fire (e.g. 1d4, 2d4, 4d4, etc.). Each time that a ship is subjected to fire damage that ignites objects,
increase this damage by 1d4. If a station that is on fire is destroyed, the fire spreads to a nearby station.
An unassigned crew member can use an action to make a crew quality check (DC 18) to reduce the fire
damage by 1d4. If the fire damage is reduced to 0, then the ship is no longer on fire.

Ammunition

Siege weapons require specific types of ammunition, and the ammunition can be quite costly. Assume
the following prices: 1 gp/ballista bolt, 5 sp/mangonel stone, 5 gp/cannon ball. While tracking the
amount of ammunition is not fun in general, this can be shorthanded as follows: track how many of each
ammunition type are used during combat. When a ship docks in port, the adventurer’s must pay the
amount of money to cover the cost of their ammunition, before paying crew (see below). If the
adventurer’s cannot pay, then they are not able to use those weapons until they can pay their deficit.

Weapon Type Capacity

Ships of a certain size can only house a certain number of each type of siege weapon. See the chart
below for the maximum number of possible weapons of each type.
Table 2 Maximum Number of Weapons of each type per ship

Ship Ballista Mangonel Cannon Total

Galley 6 4 6 6
Keelboat 2 0 2 2
Longship 1 0 0 1
Rowboat 0 0 0 0
Sailing Ship 4 2 4 4
Warship 5 3 5 5

Crew

A party can hire an assortment of characters to be a part of their crew. The cheapest are commoners
(paid at 1 cp/day): people with little skill, experience, or ability. But as time goes on, those people can
evolve into experienced characters that have stories of their own, if you are willing to pay for them.

Each crew member requires pay and food in order to maintain a certain level of quality. Each crew
member requires 1 ration/day (5 sp/day). A crew member’s pay is based upon which stat block they use
and whether they are an officer. For ease of tracking this, track the number of days at sea. Upon arriving
in port, calculate the total expenses (both food and pay) for the journey. If the players are unable to pay
the crew, their crew quality score and crew quality score maximum decreases by 2 (the maximum starts
at 10). Daily wages for a crew member can be found in the Upgraded Crew Chart below. Officers are
paid double their tier’s wage.

Upgraded crew

All crew are assumed to begin as commoners, unless they already use some other stat block. A crew
member that participates in a naval combat gains experience from each battle. When a crew member
has participated in enough battles according to the chart, they can change the stat block they use by
moving from one tier to another. The change in their stat block only occurs after docking at a port (thus,
their wages are determined by the tier they started the journey with). It is possible for a crew member
to move up multiple tiers after a journey. In transitioning from a commoner to a tier 1 character, players
choose what the focus of the character should be. Once a path (or column) is selected for the character,
they cannot change stat blocks within their column. Example: An acolyte can become a deck cleric or
priest but not a thug. Some paths do not have stat blocks for each tier; a character’s wages do not
change until they achieve a new stat block.

Table 3 Upgraded Crew Chart

Tier (Wage) Divine Pirate Guard Arcane Total # of

(proficiency (proficiency (proficiency (proficiency Battles to
bonus, Dexterity bonus, Dexterity bonus, Dexterity bonus, Dexterity reach this tier
modifier) modifier) modifier) modifier)
1 (1 sp/day) Acolyte1 (2, 0) Bandit1 (2, 1) Guard1 (2, 1) Apprentice 1
Wizard3 (2, 0)
 2 (5 sp/day) Deck Cleric4 Pirate Bosun2 Thug1 (2, 0) 3
(2, 0) (2, 0)
3 (1 gp/day) Pirate First Pirate Deck 6
Mate2 (2, 0) Wizard2 (2, 2)
4 (2 gp/day) Priest1 (2, 0) Pirate Captain2 Berserker3 (2, 1) Riptide Priest2 10
(2, 2) (2, 0)
1:MM 2:GoS 3:VGtM 4:More Complicated Ship Rules

Attacking Crew

One way to disable a ship is to disable its crew. Attacking crew is like any other part of combat, whether
it is making an attack roll or casting a spell. In the interest of expediency, any crew members (besides
players) that are reduced to 0 hit points, and aren’t killed instantly, die from their wounds at the
beginning of the ship’s next turn unless some special effort (either using a station or other player
action).

Since a ship is a closed and relatively small space, area effect spells can be quite useful at wounding or
killing multiple enemy combatants simultaneously. To streamline calculating who is hit (particularly if
you are playing in Theater of the Mind), use these approximations for how many crew are affected
(round down):

Line – 1 crew member for every 30 ft. distance ; Cone – 2 crew for every 15 feet

Sphere – 2 crew for every 10 feet of radius ; Cube – 1 crew for every 10 feet

Cylinder – 1 crew for every 10 feet of radius

Crew Quality Score

GoS does provides only 1 way to actively increase the crew’s quality score. Here are a couple of other
options.

Additional Pay. The crew’s quality score increases by 2 when the crew receives double the pay they
would receive (see the Upgraded Crew Chart above). The entire crew must benefit from double pay. The
score does not increase again for subsequent days, but can be increased by doubling the pay again (i.e.
paying 4x the amount normally received). The crew’s quality score decreases by 2 when reverting to a
previous wage rate.

Double rations. The crew’s quality score increases by 1 when the crew receives double rations. The
entire crew must benefit from double rations. The score does not increase again for subsequent days.
The crew’s quality score decreases by 1 when reverting to standard rations.

High quality rations. When not in combat, if there is a cook assigned to the ship, they may make a
Constitution (brewer’s supplies or cooking utensils) check (DC 15). On a success, the crew’s quality score
increases by 1. There is no effect if the crew’s quality score is 6 or higher. This check can only be
attempted once per day.
Performance. When not in combat, a character can make a Charisma (Performance) check (DC 15). On a
success, the crew’s quality score increases by 1. There is no effect if the crew’s quality score is 6 or
higher. This check can only be attempted once per day and only by 1 character (another character may
use the Help action for this check). A DM can elect to make a different type of ability check to achieve
the same outcome.
Modified Existing Upgrades

GoS 196-198 have ship upgrades. The following changes should be made to those upgrades to
accommodate these rules.

Churning Hull. It takes 6 consecutive successes for a ship to end combat and enter into a pursuit.

Death Vessel. Instead of “As an action, the ship can create a pulse of horrific energy”, the text should
read “An officer can use an action to create a pulse of horrific energy”.

Concussive Rounds. If this weapon hits a station, that station does not function until the start of the
attacker’s next turn.

Grasping Rounds. Instead of “As an action, the attacking ship can end this affect, and the target can end
it by taking an action and succeeding on a DC 14 Strength check”, the text should read “An officer can
take an action to end this affect, and an officer of the targeted ship can end the affect by using an action
and succeeding on a DC 14 Strength check”.

Guardian Figurehead. Instead of “As an action, the ship can activate this item, causing it to animate as
an iron golem”, the text should read “An officer can use an action to animate the figurehead as an iron
golem”. The last sentence should read, “Once this action has been taken, it can’t be used again for 24
hours.”

Red Dragon Figurehead. Instead of “As an action, the ship can activate this item to create a 60-foot cone
of flame that originates from the figurehead”, the text should read “An officer can use an action to
create a 60-foot cone of flame that originates from the figurehead”. The last sentence should read,
“Once this action has been taken, it can’t be used again for 1 minute.”

Storm Giant Figurehead. Instead of “As an action, the ship can activate this item to create a 60-foot cone
that originates from the figurehead”, the text should read “An officer can use an action to create a 60-
foot cone that originates from the figurehead”. The last sentence should read, “Once this action has
been taken, it can’t be used again for 1 minute.”

Smuggler’s Banner. Instead of “As an action, the ship and all friendly creatures aboard it teleport up to 3
miles to a known destination of the captain’s choice”, the text should read “As an action, the Captain
can teleport the ship and all friendly creatures aboard it up to 3 miles to a known destination”.

Taskmaster’s Drums. Instead of “For the next minute, the ship gains one additional action, as long as it
has at least one action”, the text should read “For the next minute, each station requires half as many
crew members to function”.
New Stations

A ship can be retrofitted to accommodate additional stations. Each station has some cost/renovation
time, armor class, hit point, crew requirement, and reduction in cargo capacity. A ship must have
sufficient cargo capacity available when installing a new station. Renovation can only be accomplished
while docked. Upgrades to stations require 7 days of being docked.

Crow’s Nest

Cost: 50 gp/10 feet of height | Renovation time: 2 days

Cargo Capacity reduction: 0 | Requires 1 crew

Armor Class: 15 | Hit Points: 15

While traveling, the crew member assigned to this station has advantage on checks made to notice
threats. During combat, make a crew quality check (DC 15) to know the status (hit points, stations,
number of crew, etc.) of ships within 100 ft./10 ft. crow’s nest height. This check automatically succeeds
if a bosun is assigned to this station.

Upgrade: Telepathic Communication (500 gp). The crew member assigned to the Crow’s Nest can
communicate telepathically with any friendly crew member.

Upgrade: Ship detection (1000 gp). The crew member assigned to this station knows the location of all
ships within 4 miles of the ship.

Medical Bay (Keelboats, Rowboats, and Longships cannot have this station)

Cost: 100 gp | Renovation time: 2 days

Cargo Capacity reduction: 25 tons | Requires 1 crew, maximum 5.

Armor Class 15 (all attacks against this station have disadvantage) | Hit Points 100

During combat, make a crew quality check (DC 10) to stabilize a crew member. This check automatically
succeeds if a surgeon is assigned to this station. For each additional crew member assigned to this
station, make an additional check.

Upgrade: Magical healing (1000 gp). Crew members that would be stabilized are instead brought to 1 hit
point.

Repair Bay (Keelboats, Rowboats, and Longships cannot have this station)

Cost: 500 gp| Renovation time: 5 days

Cargo Capacity reduction: 50 tons | Requires 1 crew, maximum 5.

Armor Class 15 (all attacks against this station have disadvantage) | Hit Points 100
While traveling, for each crew assigned to this station, you may add 1d4 to the hit points regained
during repair activity. During combat, make a crew quality check (DC 10) to reduce fire damage on the
ship by 1d4. This check automatically succeeds if a bosun is assigned to this station, and is reduced by
4d4 for each crew member assigned. For each additional crew member assigned to this station, make an
additional check.

Upgrade: Magical mending (1000 gp). During combat, a station and the hull can regain 1d4 hit points per
crew member assigned to this station.

Brig

Cost: 75 gp | Renovation time: 5 days

Cargo Capacity reduction: 25 tons | Requires 0 crew, maximum 10.

Armor Class 19 (all attacks against this station have disadvantage) | Hit Points 100

If the crew quality score would be reduced due to a Crew Conflict failure result, players can choose to
place 1d4 crew members in the brig to prevent crew quality from decreasing. If the crew quality score
would be reduced due to a Crew Conflict total failure result, players can choose to place 10 crew in the
brig to prevent crew quality from decreasing and the mutiny from occurring.

Crew that are assigned to the brig cannot participate in combat. Crew are removed from the brig either
by executing them (each crew member executed reduces crew quality by 1) or when docking.

During combat, if the brig is destroyed and crew members are assigned to it, those crew members join
the combat as enemy combatants.

Upgrade: Dimensional prison (1000 gp). Any creature that attempts to teleport onto the ship is
teleported into the brig until it is fully occupied.

Shields

Cost: 1000 gp | Renovation time: 10 days

Cargo Capacity reduction: 0 tons | Requires 3 crew. These crew members must be spellcasters.

Armor Class 13 | Hit Points 25

After assigning crew, the ship gains 24 temporary hit points. Damage to any station, crew, or the hull
reduces these hit points first.

Upgrade: Efficient shielding (2000 gp). The required crew decreases by 1 and the temporary hit points
increases by 12. This upgrade can be applied twice.

Teleporter

Cost: 365 gp | Renovation time: 7 days

Cargo Capacity reduction: 0 tons | Requires 2 crew. These crew members must be spellcasters.

Armor Class 15 | Hit Points 50

Up to 8 creatures are teleported up to 100 ft. to unoccupied space that the assigned crew can see.

Upgrade: Teleport further (365 gp). The distance creatures teleport is increased by 100 ft. This upgrade
can be applied 9 times.

Cloaking

Cost: 10000 gp | Renovation time: 30 days

Cargo Capacity reduction: 25 tons | Requires 2 crew. These crew members must be spellcasters.

Armor Class 15 (all attacks against this station have disadvantage) | Hit Points 50

The ship, and all creatures and objects aboard the ship, are invisible. This invisibility ends if a creature or
object makes an attack or casts a spell aboard the ship.
Additional Upgrades

Helm Upgrade: Self-driving ship (500 gp). A helm that is unassigned does not cause attacks against the
ship’s hull and stations to have advantage.

Weapon Upgrade: Shrapnel (15000 gp). When this weapon is used to attack a station, the crew that are
assigned to that station must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 12). On a failed save, the crew takes
half of the damage that the station took.

Weapon Upgrade: Hull Piercer (5000 gp). When this weapon is used to attack the hull, it does not have
to meet the damage threshold to do damage.

Weapon Upgrade: Flak (1000 gp). The weapon is capable of hitting up to three targets. Each target takes
half damage.

Weapon Upgrade: Greek Fire (5000 gp). This weapon does no damage but ignites flammable surfaces.
Fire started by this attack starts doing damage at 10d4. Checks to reduce this fire damage cannot
automatically succeed.

Weapon Upgrade: Autoloader (5000 gp). This weapon only requires 1 crew member assigned to it to
function. This upgrade can be applied to a weapon that is already upgraded.

Weapon Upgrade: Ammunition Replicator (5000 gp). This weapon magically replicates its own
ammunition. No ammunition needs to be purchased for this weapon to function.

Figurehead Upgrade: Treasure Hunter (10000 gp). This figurehead depicts a snuffling pig. As an action,
the Captain can activate this item and detect the location (direction and distance) of any object with a
value of 500 gp or more within one league of the figurehead. Once this action has been used, it can’t be
used again for 1 hour.
Deck Cleric Stat Block

Medium Humanoid (any race), any alignment

Armor Class 11 (leather armor)

Hit Points 18 (4d8)

Speed 30 ft.

Str 10 (+0) Dex 10 (+0) Con 11 (+0) Int 12 (+1) Wis 15 (+2) Cha 12 (+1)

Skills Medicine +6, Persuasion +3, Religion +3

Senses passive perception 12

Languages any one language (usually Common)

Challenge ½ (100 xp)

Spellcasting. The deck cleric is a 3rd level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 12,
+4 to hit with spell attacks). The deck cleric has the following cleric spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): light, sacred flame, thaumaturgy

1st level (4 slots): guiding bolt, healing word, sanctuary

2nd level (2 slots): hold person, spiritual weapon

Actions

Mace. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage