Hi everyone. I was hoping to steal a couple ideas for a skill challenge in a storm at sea. So far I have a plan for structure to have a round by round with different problems to deal with each round, with failures adding up to make successive rounds more difficult. Failure would be caused by the ship taking enough damage to sink it. If anyone has ideas for some of the skill checks or threats that would be amazing.
I recently did something like this that also incorporated combat. There were three "stations" the PCs could be at - lookout, by/on the sails, and by the captain at the wheel.
Every round, I'd roll 2d6 for complications on a table something like this:
Rope snaps, need to refasten it
Captain loses confidence, inspire or take over wheel
Sail comes loose blocking captain's view, lookout needs to navigate or needs to be tied back down
Captain needs help turning the wheel
Captain needs guidance, low visibility
Wind is too strong, let out sail
You probably want more possible complications than this. I ended up improvising a few instead of repeating them. Failures would result in the ship pitching to one side or taking on water, which could knock people down, hamper movement, or throw them overboard. I recommend this over ship damage unless you have real consequences for a damaged ship (and a slower sailing speed doesn't count unless you have time-related consequences) and you're prepared to handle the case where it actually sinks. Otherwise its either a toothless threat or an outcome you will end up fudging to avoid because you're not ready for it.
At the same time, I had about half a regular encounter's worth of storm-themed creatures attacking the ship, so the PCs had to decide each round who was handling the complications and who would go after the monsters. If ignored, the monsters could add more complications or make the skill checks harder to succeed in addition to the damage and effects from their attacks. It was pretty hectic and fun.
The first thing I do in storm encounters are survival checks by whichever character is captain, other characters can help give these advantage based on what they say they are doing.
If the check fails then something bad happens the players need to deal with. This isn’t done round by round a storm might last hours or days so I will roleplay it through with moments of tension broken by moments of respite and always a chance that a good set of survival rolls means they pass unscathed.
Another thing that you can do is give the players a few rounds to prepare before the storm hits and lower the DC for the checks during the storm based on how well/poorly they prepared.
Hi everyone. I was hoping to steal a couple ideas for a skill challenge in a storm at sea. So far I have a plan for structure to have a round by round with different problems to deal with each round, with failures adding up to make successive rounds more difficult. Failure would be caused by the ship taking enough damage to sink it. If anyone has ideas for some of the skill checks or threats that would be amazing.
I recently did something like this that also incorporated combat. There were three "stations" the PCs could be at - lookout, by/on the sails, and by the captain at the wheel.
Every round, I'd roll 2d6 for complications on a table something like this:
You probably want more possible complications than this. I ended up improvising a few instead of repeating them. Failures would result in the ship pitching to one side or taking on water, which could knock people down, hamper movement, or throw them overboard. I recommend this over ship damage unless you have real consequences for a damaged ship (and a slower sailing speed doesn't count unless you have time-related consequences) and you're prepared to handle the case where it actually sinks. Otherwise its either a toothless threat or an outcome you will end up fudging to avoid because you're not ready for it.
At the same time, I had about half a regular encounter's worth of storm-themed creatures attacking the ship, so the PCs had to decide each round who was handling the complications and who would go after the monsters. If ignored, the monsters could add more complications or make the skill checks harder to succeed in addition to the damage and effects from their attacks. It was pretty hectic and fun.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
The first thing I do in storm encounters are survival checks by whichever character is captain, other characters can help give these advantage based on what they say they are doing.
If the check fails then something bad happens the players need to deal with. This isn’t done round by round a storm might last hours or days so I will roleplay it through with moments of tension broken by moments of respite and always a chance that a good set of survival rolls means they pass unscathed.
Another thing that you can do is give the players a few rounds to prepare before the storm hits and lower the DC for the checks during the storm based on how well/poorly they prepared.
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