In the homebrew campaign im running. One of my PCs is a pirate who in our session 0 lost his ship to his crew, but day 1 he decided he was determined to get his ship back and I had the idea of giving him full creative construction of his ship and I need tips to give him for building it. It will be a main source of transportation for a while so its a little important plus I know it would make the player really happy if i could help him build his own ship instead of me just telling him how it is.
One of the back issues of Dragon+ has map of a ship that could be used as inspiration and Storm King's Thunder has others. The Unearthed Arcana had some playtest material that could be used to help, at least until Salt Marsh comes out.
Another option is to have him pick a ship from Etsy and make that his ship. If I was playing a pirate I'd happily buy one of those myself, but only if I was guaranteed to use it for a few months!
I recommend checking out p247 of 7th Sea 2nd edition.
If you haven't played it before my group calls it "Princess Bride the RPG", to give an idea of feel. It's set in a fantastic "europe" during the Age of Sail... which roughly is what I think most D&D game could be considered.
1st thing they want you to do is choose a class of ship: Brig, Brigantine, Carrack, Fluyt, Frigate, Galleon, Man-of-War, and Schooner. It gives rough visual and thematic descriptions of each class and why they are different. The game itself doesn't actually give them different stats, it's all about style and DM discretion.
2nd is give it a History, which is where it was constructed. Basically each nation gives ships different bonuses based on the setting around the nation that built it.
3rd is Ship Background, where you describe a cool thing that has happened to the ship and a bonus it gets based on that.
4th the ship can gain bonuses based on the things to party does during the story. Think of them as "Achievement Unlocked" sorts of things.
If they're a pirate, they could instead go out and steal a ship. It was quite rare for actual pirates to be shipwrights, they just pinched what they needed. You'd have plenty of scope to have the party plan out a heist and seize control of a sea-fairing schooner to chase down the mutinous swabs and start to amass a pirate fleet!
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Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!
While true, I think the OP is trying to give the player the creative choices of designing the ship as a way of having the character scoping out the various vessels and choosing which one to commandeer.
The UA "Of Ships and the Sea" has some good info, as well as realmshelp.net under the section "Ships and Sailing". Just a guess, but the upcoming "Ghosts of Saltmarsh" may also include info that would help.
The big thing is to have your player read up on ship types. How big, how fast, how much crew it needs, etc. Once they figure a type, then they need to locate a shipyard. That's up to you. Their contact there is whatever type of NPC you want ti make them. Either a "Yeah, I can build it, come back when you have money" or a "I have some jobs for you if you want to reduce the cost" type of NPC. Pricing of the ship is also up to you, but there are prices listed for the basic versions.
Another option is to give them a few used ships for sale. Anything from like new to barely floating, with prices to match. One adventure at sea where they are attacked from multiple directions, and only one ballista on the bow will let them know they need to add multiple weapons to their design. (Or speed, maneuverability, etc)
In the homebrew campaign im running. One of my PCs is a pirate who in our session 0 lost his ship to his crew, but day 1 he decided he was determined to get his ship back and I had the idea of giving him full creative construction of his ship and I need tips to give him for building it. It will be a main source of transportation for a while so its a little important plus I know it would make the player really happy if i could help him build his own ship instead of me just telling him how it is.
One of the back issues of Dragon+ has map of a ship that could be used as inspiration and Storm King's Thunder has others. The Unearthed Arcana had some playtest material that could be used to help, at least until Salt Marsh comes out.
http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/ghosts-saltmarsh
Another option is to have him pick a ship from Etsy and make that his ship. If I was playing a pirate I'd happily buy one of those myself, but only if I was guaranteed to use it for a few months!
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I recommend checking out p247 of 7th Sea 2nd edition.
If you haven't played it before my group calls it "Princess Bride the RPG", to give an idea of feel. It's set in a fantastic "europe" during the Age of Sail... which roughly is what I think most D&D game could be considered.
1st thing they want you to do is choose a class of ship:
Brig, Brigantine, Carrack, Fluyt, Frigate, Galleon, Man-of-War, and Schooner. It gives rough visual and thematic descriptions of each class and why they are different. The game itself doesn't actually give them different stats, it's all about style and DM discretion.
2nd is give it a History, which is where it was constructed. Basically each nation gives ships different bonuses based on the setting around the nation that built it.
3rd is Ship Background, where you describe a cool thing that has happened to the ship and a bonus it gets based on that.
4th the ship can gain bonuses based on the things to party does during the story. Think of them as "Achievement Unlocked" sorts of things.
If they're a pirate, they could instead go out and steal a ship. It was quite rare for actual pirates to be shipwrights, they just pinched what they needed. You'd have plenty of scope to have the party plan out a heist and seize control of a sea-fairing schooner to chase down the mutinous swabs and start to amass a pirate fleet!
Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!
Never tell me the DC.
A ship is built. A pirate ship is stolen :)
"Not all those who wander are lost"
While true, I think the OP is trying to give the player the creative choices of designing the ship as a way of having the character scoping out the various vessels and choosing which one to commandeer.
The UA "Of Ships and the Sea" has some good info, as well as realmshelp.net under the section "Ships and Sailing". Just a guess, but the upcoming "Ghosts of Saltmarsh" may also include info that would help.
The big thing is to have your player read up on ship types. How big, how fast, how much crew it needs, etc. Once they figure a type, then they need to locate a shipyard. That's up to you. Their contact there is whatever type of NPC you want ti make them. Either a "Yeah, I can build it, come back when you have money" or a "I have some jobs for you if you want to reduce the cost" type of NPC. Pricing of the ship is also up to you, but there are prices listed for the basic versions.
Another option is to give them a few used ships for sale. Anything from like new to barely floating, with prices to match. One adventure at sea where they are attacked from multiple directions, and only one ballista on the bow will let them know they need to add multiple weapons to their design. (Or speed, maneuverability, etc)
For anyone now ghosts of salt marsh has a lot of information ships, sailing, ship warfare and upgrades you can give the ship.