The movement speeds on stat blocks are expressly described as short burst movement in the PHB, which also includes travel speeds. Ghosts of Saltmarsh gives sailing ships a travel speed of 5 mph constantly for a total of 120 miles a day. Fast travel speed for creatures caps out at 4 mph for up to 30 miles a day. Ergo we can reasonably intuit that creatures cannot pace the vessel for more than a span of minutes. I have repeatedly acknowledged that finding a way to stop or significantly slow the ship is a valid tactic, but attempting to do major structural damage to it with hand tools while it's in unimpeded motion is neither realistic nor particularly viable within the rules of the game. Regarding the harpoon tactic, that assumes the harpoons and their cords have sufficient hold and strength to cancel out the ship's momentum. They'd be more likely to tear free while inflicting only superficial damage rather than remain in place when the delta v hits.
The movement speeds on stat blocks are expressly described as short burst movement in the PHB, which also includes travel speeds. Ghosts of Saltmarsh gives sailing ships a travel speed of 5 mph constantly for a total of 120 miles a day. Fast travel speed for creatures caps out at 4 mph for up to 30 miles a day. Ergo we can reasonably intuit that creatures cannot pace the vessel for more than a span of minutes. I have repeatedly acknowledged that finding a way to stop or significantly slow the ship is a valid tactic, but attempting to do major structural damage to it with hand tools while it's in unimpeded motion is neither realistic nor particularly viable within the rules of the game. Regarding the harpoon tactic, that assumes the harpoons and their cords have sufficient hold and strength to cancel out the ship's momentum. They'd be more likely to tear free while inflicting only superficial damage rather than remain in place when the delta v hits.
The movement speeds on stat blocks are complete nonsense in most cases, while people who cannot travel more than 60' in 6 seconds do exist, they're not going to be adventurers. Anyone proficient in athletics should be able to maintain that pace for hours (it corresponds to a marathon time of 3:50) and should be able to double that in a burst (a 40 yard dash time of 6 seconds). The problem with comparing ship movement rules to personal movement rules is that the ship movement rules are actually realistic.
The movement speeds on stat blocks are expressly described as short burst movement in the PHB, which also includes travel speeds. Ghosts of Saltmarsh gives sailing ships a travel speed of 5 mph constantly for a total of 120 miles a day. Fast travel speed for creatures caps out at 4 mph for up to 30 miles a day. Ergo we can reasonably intuit that creatures cannot pace the vessel for more than a span of minutes. I have repeatedly acknowledged that finding a way to stop or significantly slow the ship is a valid tactic, but attempting to do major structural damage to it with hand tools while it's in unimpeded motion is neither realistic nor particularly viable within the rules of the game. Regarding the harpoon tactic, that assumes the harpoons and their cords have sufficient hold and strength to cancel out the ship's momentum. They'd be more likely to tear free while inflicting only superficial damage rather than remain in place when the delta v hits.
It would require minimal testing to match the drag - the size, basically - of a sea anchor to the strength of the tether, and the expected penetration of the harpoon. Any damage inflicted is totally irrelevant, we simply want to slow the ship. Sea anchors exist for a reason - they slow a ships motion to a crawl, helping them maintain position on the open sea (or ride off storms).
Inflicting structural damage on a ship is no problem at all. I have a mortared stone wall in my garden I need to break down. I'd much prefer to do this with a masons hammer, but I could get the job done with a screwdriver if I had to - it would just take longer.
15 minutes from where I live, they build longboats. Viking longboats. They have like 30+, without a doubt the largest fleet of hand crafted longboat in the world. They also have the largest longboat in the world, It's an open workshop, so - being a fan - I know a bit about the tools, the timber, the process. I assure you, with zero doubt, it is entirely possible to break a ships hull with just handtools and time.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Weirdly apropos: orcas are attacking ships off Gibraltar. I won't link it here, but should be easily googlable.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Stealth is relevant if you want "to have all the time in the world".
Physics is relevant because the ship is moving. A moving target is not the same as a stationary one. I notice that you keep failing to address that crucial point. Have you tried hammering something in place on board a moving van?? Hitting numerous random spots on a stationary object like a tree with an axe will not get you very far. That's why chopping a tree down usually entails striking the same spot over and over again. If you are attacking a Treant without arms, the Treat still has an AC, doesn't it? Why? Because it's moving and has a hardness. Both of those factors mean you can't just automatically succeed on your attack roll to damage the Treat.
The physics are still not relevant, because this is still a game. What matters isn't nails and moving vans, what matters is if a shark-riding fish-man can keep up with a boat enough to hit it with a greataxe. There's move speeds, dash actions, and attack actions. If the fish person can keep up, they can take their attacks and damage the boat on a hit. You are trying to introduce what amounts to a called shot mechanic where people have to target a specific point, but that's not how the game works -- not with objects and not with creatures. Each individual board of the boat does not have hit points, the hull as a whole has hit points. You don't need to keep hitting the same place again and again, you just need to damage the overall structure, exceed the damage threshold and the whole hull takes the damage. Get those hp to 0, and then the boat is wrecked. (Just like in the treant you brought in out of nowhere, you don't need to hit the same point on it, you don't target a specific part of it. You just do damage.) IRL, your way makes sense, absolutely. But this is a game, and the game rules are clear about how damaging objects (and creatures) works -- you damage the whole object, not one part of it.
In case it was not obvious, the Treat example is relevant b/c, ummm, the Treant is a moving target made of wood. A lot like a SHIP, actually. The Treat has an AC of 16 because of bark and the hardness of the wood beneath the bark. Doing damage to something of that hardness requires an attack roll. Therefore, you need to make a lot successful attack rolls to kill a Treant, just as you need a lot of successful attack rolls to rupture a ship's hull. Making a bunch of successful attack rolls takes significant time and pounding on the hull over and over again (not all of which will be successful attack rolls) will definitely get the attention of whoever is on the ship.
Naturally, sailors who travel in Sahuagin-frequented waters will think to bring some kind of deterrent after their financiers realize the cause of their lost cargo and ships: making a contract with the local Triton, Sea Elves, etc. and having a way to request their aid (in exchange for some items of value, probably); carrying around coagulants that choke creatures that use gills to breathe; or, you know, hiring some adventurers.
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The movement speeds on stat blocks are expressly described as short burst movement in the PHB, which also includes travel speeds. Ghosts of Saltmarsh gives sailing ships a travel speed of 5 mph constantly for a total of 120 miles a day. Fast travel speed for creatures caps out at 4 mph for up to 30 miles a day. Ergo we can reasonably intuit that creatures cannot pace the vessel for more than a span of minutes. I have repeatedly acknowledged that finding a way to stop or significantly slow the ship is a valid tactic, but attempting to do major structural damage to it with hand tools while it's in unimpeded motion is neither realistic nor particularly viable within the rules of the game. Regarding the harpoon tactic, that assumes the harpoons and their cords have sufficient hold and strength to cancel out the ship's momentum. They'd be more likely to tear free while inflicting only superficial damage rather than remain in place when the delta v hits.
The movement speeds on stat blocks are complete nonsense in most cases, while people who cannot travel more than 60' in 6 seconds do exist, they're not going to be adventurers. Anyone proficient in athletics should be able to maintain that pace for hours (it corresponds to a marathon time of 3:50) and should be able to double that in a burst (a 40 yard dash time of 6 seconds). The problem with comparing ship movement rules to personal movement rules is that the ship movement rules are actually realistic.
It would require minimal testing to match the drag - the size, basically - of a sea anchor to the strength of the tether, and the expected penetration of the harpoon. Any damage inflicted is totally irrelevant, we simply want to slow the ship. Sea anchors exist for a reason - they slow a ships motion to a crawl, helping them maintain position on the open sea (or ride off storms).
Inflicting structural damage on a ship is no problem at all. I have a mortared stone wall in my garden I need to break down. I'd much prefer to do this with a masons hammer, but I could get the job done with a screwdriver if I had to - it would just take longer.
15 minutes from where I live, they build longboats. Viking longboats. They have like 30+, without a doubt the largest fleet of hand crafted longboat in the world. They also have the largest longboat in the world, It's an open workshop, so - being a fan - I know a bit about the tools, the timber, the process. I assure you, with zero doubt, it is entirely possible to break a ships hull with just handtools and time.
https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/praktisk/baadelaug - feel free to have a look. A longboat isn't quite the size of the ship linked above, but it's close enough for comparison.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Weirdly apropos: orcas are attacking ships off Gibraltar. I won't link it here, but should be easily googlable.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
In case it was not obvious, the Treat example is relevant b/c, ummm, the Treant is a moving target made of wood. A lot like a SHIP, actually. The Treat has an AC of 16 because of bark and the hardness of the wood beneath the bark. Doing damage to something of that hardness requires an attack roll. Therefore, you need to make a lot successful attack rolls to kill a Treant, just as you need a lot of successful attack rolls to rupture a ship's hull. Making a bunch of successful attack rolls takes significant time and pounding on the hull over and over again (not all of which will be successful attack rolls) will definitely get the attention of whoever is on the ship.
Naturally, sailors who travel in Sahuagin-frequented waters will think to bring some kind of deterrent after their financiers realize the cause of their lost cargo and ships: making a contract with the local Triton, Sea Elves, etc. and having a way to request their aid (in exchange for some items of value, probably); carrying around coagulants that choke creatures that use gills to breathe; or, you know, hiring some adventurers.