Re: ship to ship combat

From: "Bart Dedecker" <dragoth_dm@?????.com>
Subject: [SPELLJAMMER] ship to ship combat

<snip>

> Main topic of today:
>
> how to keep ship to ship combat interesting for low or
> mid level characters?
>
> Ok the bigshots can just teleport to the other ship or
> walk the stars, jamm the vessel, or zigzag their
> flitters between ballista bolts and catapult stones
> towards a nice boarding action, but what about the mid
> levels or even the low ones?
>
> Any advice?

That is a *very* good question as I've seen official Spelljammer adventures where they
seem to treat ship battles more like a wargame than part of the adventure.

I think that because the player characters are heroes, they should be given roles above
those of the rest of a ships crew. Each one could be given the power of an officer and
could get the crew that they are supervising ready for the forthcoming combat.

If there is a bard among your players they could use their bardic music ability to Inspire
Courage throughout the crew. A 2nd level Paladin will do the same thing automatically, but
you could require them to be on deck and say something motivating for their Aura of
Courage to kick in for the crew. A cleric can say some prayers (although that will not
take up much time unless you get them to roleplay what they say). If the ships main cleric
is manning the helm (and his assistant is of a similar level to the PCs) a bless from a
2nd or 3rd level cleric might even be the best spell that is available to the crew.

Someone in charge of a ships weapon can get extra shots brought up from below decks (i.e.
the crew have only brought up x number of ballista bolts and if the character doesn't tell
them to bring more they might run out).

The actions of some characters could have as much effect as magic. If a ship was carrying
hay and a character used a catapult to fire flaming bales of hay at the enemy sails they
could take out the enemy ships manoeuvrability. With enemy deck crew having to deal with
the fire, something like this could damage their morale and boost the moral of the PCs
crew.

Someone in charge of a healing station can arrange for all the things that are needed, to
be taken out of storage and made ready.

A player could also take responsible for ensuring that things are lashed down. If the
characters do a good job at lashing up internal items, you could negate the first ship
shaken roll that results in an interior deck casualty.

Characters with good spot skills, useful knowledge or lip-reading ability might be able to
gather useful intelligence about the enemy. For example if they spot that a pirate captain
has a wooden leg they might advise the ships spellmaster and he can try to cast a warp
wood spell that might take the enemy captain out of the combat.

Don't forget the aid action. A low level character could help boost someone else's ability
to do stuff beyond what they could do for themselves. If a player really can't think of
something for their character to do then maybe someone fairly important right next to them
could get shot. If the person loading the ballista bolts was to get knocked down a
character could fill in for them for a few rounds while a replacement arrived.

The characters could also take on the enemies "big shots" who attempt to teleport in or
walk the stars. If a wizard pops into existence in front of a monk and they can get a
Stunning Attack in, they might be able to stop them casting long enough for the rest of
the crew to knock them unconscious.

David "Big Mac" Shepheard
Virtual Eclipse Role Playing Club
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/virtualeclipselrp/links/d20_system_001071937434/Spelljammer_001071430476
http://virtualeclipse.aboho.com/