I have a sort of Star Wars like campaign, where I plan on them having encounters with space pirates. How would I effectively do spaceship combat? Like, piloting and gun cockpits
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I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
It depends a lot on the encounter type. Fighting as commander of a large battleship is completely different from fighting as a pilot in a small TIE Fighter or X-Wing.
The first one is about tactical decisions, correct arrangements of your smaller vessels, maybe distribution of energy in your ship etc. You will usually be able to survive several hits from your enemies and have a large amount of tactical information from your sensors available. This is very similar to normal combat in D&D with Minis and you could probably just refluff the existing classes to represent ship types. E.g a Dreadnaught class star destroyer could be a refluffed level 10 bear totem barbarian, while a fast Mon Cal Corvette would be a lower level monk (high movement, lots of weapons but weaker hits...). If each of your players controls one such ship this should work and be already balanced.
The small fighter scenario on the other hand is focused on split-second decisions with limited information available, high movement speed, and the knowledge that one single hit from one of those bigger ships is all it takes to destroy you. I would run such a combat in the theatre of the mind style, no minis or maps. I'd also get rid of weapon ranges: as the instructor in Mass Effect told us, "when you pull the trigger, you will ruin someone's day somewhere in this universe". To capture the feel of rapid and chaotic combat I'd have enemies enter your sensor range at random speeds and target vectors, some will try to come after you, others will ignore you and leave your sensor range. I'd also add several maneuvers you can attempt. E.g make a Dex check against your enemy's wisdom to somehow loop behind them before they realize what you're doing, granting you advantage on your attack. Or make a Charisma check to lure them into your battleship's weapon fire. Or help your team mate by playing decoy and drawing enemies on you so your friend can sneak up on them and fire with advantage.
Finally, the pirates could board the players ships. Or the players could board the pirate ship. Then you'd have a perfectly normal fight in space.
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I have a sort of Star Wars like campaign, where I plan on them having encounters with space pirates. How would I effectively do spaceship combat? Like, piloting and gun cockpits
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert
Try basing it off the already-made DnD vehicles. And remember that a space battle is fought in 3 dimensions not 2.
There is no dawn after eternal night.
Homebrew: Magic items, Subclasses
Look up Dark Matter by Mage Hand Press. It has a great section on space combat, including ship stats, different roles, and all that jazz.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
It depends a lot on the encounter type. Fighting as commander of a large battleship is completely different from fighting as a pilot in a small TIE Fighter or X-Wing.
The first one is about tactical decisions, correct arrangements of your smaller vessels, maybe distribution of energy in your ship etc. You will usually be able to survive several hits from your enemies and have a large amount of tactical information from your sensors available. This is very similar to normal combat in D&D with Minis and you could probably just refluff the existing classes to represent ship types. E.g a Dreadnaught class star destroyer could be a refluffed level 10 bear totem barbarian, while a fast Mon Cal Corvette would be a lower level monk (high movement, lots of weapons but weaker hits...). If each of your players controls one such ship this should work and be already balanced.
The small fighter scenario on the other hand is focused on split-second decisions with limited information available, high movement speed, and the knowledge that one single hit from one of those bigger ships is all it takes to destroy you. I would run such a combat in the theatre of the mind style, no minis or maps. I'd also get rid of weapon ranges: as the instructor in Mass Effect told us, "when you pull the trigger, you will ruin someone's day somewhere in this universe". To capture the feel of rapid and chaotic combat I'd have enemies enter your sensor range at random speeds and target vectors, some will try to come after you, others will ignore you and leave your sensor range. I'd also add several maneuvers you can attempt. E.g make a Dex check against your enemy's wisdom to somehow loop behind them before they realize what you're doing, granting you advantage on your attack. Or make a Charisma check to lure them into your battleship's weapon fire. Or help your team mate by playing decoy and drawing enemies on you so your friend can sneak up on them and fire with advantage.
Finally, the pirates could board the players ships. Or the players could board the pirate ship. Then you'd have a perfectly normal fight in space.