Re: What System for Ship Combat do you use for 3E?

On Sunday, August 31, 2003, at 01:57 PM, Mark Doolan wrote:

> I also would like to hear how other DMs have handled 3E spelljammer in
> their campaigns.

As the author of one of the systems out there, my choice is obvious. : )


> First is to use a system that had 50 or 100 yards to a hex/square...
> but the players being the smarmy people they are stated that each
> hex/square would be a -15 or -30 to spot checks and that at a distance
> of even more then hexes/squares characters would not even be able to
> make their spot checks to see another ship let alone fire upon it.

As others have pointed out, I don't think the Spot rules were designed
to reflect these situations. In open space, I use -1 per 1,500 feet
when dealing with ship spotting (anything 1 ton or over, though size is
otherwise not yet taken into account). That was a number off the top of
my head, and I don't know if it is too generous or too stingy.


> Another disadvantage to large hexes is that ships that move 1 hex per
> tactical speed rating or such are soooooo much faster then most
> critters; this is the one reason I have moved away from this system as
> once a ship decides to avoid combat with a slow moving critter the
> critter has little chance of catching a ship that moves 150 to 300
> feet per tactical speed rating. About the only way to explain this
> away and allow critters that are slow moving to 'keep' up with ship is
> that it is caught up in the ships gravity field and is dragged along
> no matter what the ships tactical speed (this assumes the critter is
> smaller then the ship). One of the initial reasons I like the 50/100
> yard hex/square system was that most ships can fit within such.

As I tend not to use many monsters flying around in space, I am not too
worried about these kinds of situations. I say that any creature native
to space is likely to have the ability to move very quickly, so I don't
really see it as a problem.


> Another system I been working with is a variation on D20 Spelljammer
> with hexes instead of squares and each hex being 40 feet across
> (instead of the 30 feet to a square). This system has seemed to serve
> me the best so far as many of the critters in space are able to keep
> up with the ship's tactical speed (ranging anywhere from 40 feet to
> 240 feet).

If you don't mind having lots of multi-hex ships this seems perfectly
workable. For myself, this is a much slower and smaller scale than I
want for my ship combat.


> I have since 2E spelljammer enjoyed hexes more then squares for combat
> and have continued to prefer hexes.

I agree with that. I use hexes for normal 3e combat.


Leroy Van Camp III
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