This is a very timely article for me, as the campaign I am running has the players in possession of a ship and I have been cobbling together ideas on how to handle it. I'd like to discuss this and how it would pertain to ongoing nautical adventures, of which i have many ready to go. For one thing, the ships in this article require much larger crews that I am currently requiring the party to have. That means more upkeep, but it also means more granular management of the ship. I'm really looking forward to play-testing this with my party. By the way, the ship they have would most likely be categorized as a sailing ship in terms of this article.
How would D&D Beyond go about integrating something like vehicles into the product?
I found the UA to be fairly lacking and uninspired. There are a couple of products on the DM's Guild which sound more promising.
I just wish someone would do more research into naval combat and ship design before coming up with one of these documents. Example, a Mangonel was more of a siege weapon and not really a ship to ship device. And naval combat before cannon largely consisted of grappling a ship and boarding it. Or ramming one and sinking it.
I would like to see more focus brought to smaller vessels like Cogs and Caravels. These would be the most common designs according to a time period prior to cannons becoming widespread. Some thought should be given to the type of ships that might be provided to players. Sure there might be a use for a war galleon with a couple hundred crew but I am more likely to give my players a ship to sail from Sharn to Xendrik and back or to use to smuggle items from city to city. Something smallish but big enough to accommodate a party along with some few NPC's.
And no treatment of ships in DnD should be without a few paragraphs on magic! Magical construction, magical enhancements and magical attack forms. It's just not present in the UA and that is a deeply glaring oversight.
I do not understand the travel pace. Why are they different in this UA vs PH ? Only the galley as the same pace (4 mph).
Keelboat 1 mph vs 3 mph
Longship 3 mph vs 5 mph
Rowboat 1.5 mph vs 3 mph
Sailing ship 2 mph vs 5 mph
Warship 2.5 mph vs 4 mph
The new speeds are a lot more realistic, for one. The other is that they allow players to outrun pursuers on the high seas, especially if certain spells and/or classes in conjunction with them.
I think the new UA is really good. It is a bit lumped, and as has been pointed out, lacking in the magic filled fun of most every other D&D supplement and UA. But this is fairly easily fixed with some creative license and a bit of head-scratching. The rules seem to allow for the building of naval encounters, with pirates or even professional navies.
I think that the rules seem to be aimed at allowing players to encounter naval threats on boat trips, rather than be an in depth ship ruleset to the same extent as class specs or new spells or even the Into the Wild UA. They aren't perfect by any stretch, but I like them and think they could be a good foundation for a new supplement. With magical boats and boarding actions a plenty.
The speeds might be more realistic in the average over a long period. The type of sailing ships that would be available would be able to go much faster if the wind is blowing in the direction they want to go, but if they wanted to go directly to windward they would have to tack back and forth. On a bad day, they might end up farther from their destination then when they started.
Unless you really want to have some realistic high seas adventures, I wouldn’t bother trying to find more realistic rules. If you just want to know how long it takes to get from point A to point B, these rules are sufficient.
How would D&D Beyond go about integrating something like vehicles into the product?
Other types of vehicles are already listed in Equipment. I imagine for UA purposes that they would simply add the ships as items and expand the descriptions.
UA article Link
This is a very timely article for me, as the campaign I am running has the players in possession of a ship and I have been cobbling together ideas on how to handle it. I'd like to discuss this and how it would pertain to ongoing nautical adventures, of which i have many ready to go. For one thing, the ships in this article require much larger crews that I am currently requiring the party to have. That means more upkeep, but it also means more granular management of the ship. I'm really looking forward to play-testing this with my party. By the way, the ship they have would most likely be categorized as a sailing ship in terms of this article.
How would D&D Beyond go about integrating something like vehicles into the product?
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I do not understand the travel pace. Why are they different in this UA vs PH ? Only the galley as the same pace (4 mph).
Keelboat 1 mph vs 3 mph
Longship 3 mph vs 5 mph
Rowboat 1.5 mph vs 3 mph
Sailing ship 2 mph vs 5 mph
Warship 2.5 mph vs 4 mph
I found the UA to be fairly lacking and uninspired. There are a couple of products on the DM's Guild which sound more promising.
I just wish someone would do more research into naval combat and ship design before coming up with one of these documents. Example, a Mangonel was more of a siege weapon and not really a ship to ship device. And naval combat before cannon largely consisted of grappling a ship and boarding it. Or ramming one and sinking it.
I would like to see more focus brought to smaller vessels like Cogs and Caravels. These would be the most common designs according to a time period prior to cannons becoming widespread. Some thought should be given to the type of ships that might be provided to players. Sure there might be a use for a war galleon with a couple hundred crew but I am more likely to give my players a ship to sail from Sharn to Xendrik and back or to use to smuggle items from city to city. Something smallish but big enough to accommodate a party along with some few NPC's.
And no treatment of ships in DnD should be without a few paragraphs on magic! Magical construction, magical enhancements and magical attack forms. It's just not present in the UA and that is a deeply glaring oversight.
Current Characters I am playing: Dr Konstantin van Wulf | Taegen Willowrun | Mad Magnar
Check out my homebrew: Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Feats
The new speeds are a lot more realistic, for one. The other is that they allow players to outrun pursuers on the high seas, especially if certain spells and/or classes in conjunction with them.
I think the new UA is really good. It is a bit lumped, and as has been pointed out, lacking in the magic filled fun of most every other D&D supplement and UA. But this is fairly easily fixed with some creative license and a bit of head-scratching. The rules seem to allow for the building of naval encounters, with pirates or even professional navies.
I think that the rules seem to be aimed at allowing players to encounter naval threats on boat trips, rather than be an in depth ship ruleset to the same extent as class specs or new spells or even the Into the Wild UA. They aren't perfect by any stretch, but I like them and think they could be a good foundation for a new supplement. With magical boats and boarding actions a plenty.
The speeds might be more realistic in the average over a long period. The type of sailing ships that would be available would be able to go much faster if the wind is blowing in the direction they want to go, but if they wanted to go directly to windward they would have to tack back and forth. On a bad day, they might end up farther from their destination then when they started.
Unless you really want to have some realistic high seas adventures, I wouldn’t bother trying to find more realistic rules. If you just want to know how long it takes to get from point A to point B, these rules are sufficient.
Other types of vehicles are already listed in Equipment. I imagine for UA purposes that they would simply add the ships as items and expand the descriptions.
Good to know.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
*Bumping old thread*
Have you found updated or somehow better rules for ships?
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- Goldfish Archipelago campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/-3HajWXM (Sequel to Clam Island, Levels 5-8)