After spending the casting time communing with the psychic echoes left behind by the past and present crew of a seafaring or spelljamming vessel you are aboard, you touch the ship's helm, where those myriad thoughts and feelings coalesce into a single, unique consciousness. You call forth the soul of the vessel, which manifests as a kind of nymph called a naviad. The naviad appears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the ship's helm. This corporeal form uses the naviad stat block.
A naviad's power is derived from the competence and morale of her officers and crew. To represent this, the naviad stat block uses the proficiency bonus (PB) of her vessel's captain and the quality score (QS) of its crew (see “Crew Members” in Appendix A of the Ghosts of Saltmarsh) in several places. For a spelljamming vessel, the captain is automatically the creature attuned to the ship's spelljamming helm, regardless of that creature's actual rank or role aboard the vessel. If your DM has opted not to use the rules for a crew's quality score, use the naviad's Charisma modifier (+4) instead.
The naviad's appearance and personality are reflections of the ship, and are determined by the DM. She is physically and mentally shaped by many factors — the ship's name, design, purpose, and history, as well as its crew's feelings, memories, thoughts, and values. Her appearance can range from something concrete and familiar to abstract and bizarre, and her alignment and disposition are usually similar to those of her crew. The ship's statistics determine certain traits in the naviad's stat block.
In combat, the naviad shares the ship's initiative count. She obeys the commands of the the ship's officers. If she isn't issued any orders, she defends the ship and its crew to the best of her ability.
The spell fails if you cast it on a vessel that has never completed a voyage of 30 days or more or if the vessel's soul has already manifested as a naviad.
Naviad
Large, Medium, Small, or Tiny Fey, Any Alignment
Armor Class equal to the AC of the ship's hull
Hit Points half the hit point maximum of the ship
Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft.
Damage Immunities Poison, Psychic
Condition Immunities Blinded, Charmed, Deafened, Exhaustion, Frightened, Incapacitated, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Stunned, Unconscious
Senses Darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Aquan, Common, Sylvan, understands the languages the captain speaks
Challenge — Proficiency Bonus equal to captain's
Hybrid Nature. The naviad has two creature types: construct and fey. She can be affected by a game effect if it works on either of her creature types.
Innate Spellcasting. The naviad's spellcasting ability is her crew's Quality Score (spell save DC = 8 + PB + QS, spell attack modifier = PB + QS). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: catapult *
3/day: conjure barrage
1/day each: conjure volley
*See “Actions” below.
Limited Telepathy. The naviad can magically communicate simple messages to the vessel's officers, provided a receiving creature is within the area described by naviad's Shipbound trait.
Magic Resistance. The naviad has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Part of the Crew, Part of the Ship. The naviad is friendly towards her crew, as though charmed by them (ignoring her condition immunities). She obeys the orders of the ship's officers' to the best of her ability. She is indifferent toward nonhostile passengers.
The naviad can command her ship to take its available actions on the ship's turn if the ship's officers issue no commands or command her to do so in their stead.
Rejuvenation. When the naviad drops to 0 hit points, her body is destroyed. Provided her ship has at least 1 hit point, the naviad remains conscious of what occurs on or around the ship, and she maintains the same level of control over it as when she had a body. If the ship isn't destroyed, the naviad gains a new body after 1d10 days, regaining all her hit points and becoming active again. Her new body appears within 5 feet of the ship's helm.
Ship Shape. The naviad's appearance is a reflection of her ship's name, design, or purpose and her crew's disposition, and is determined by the DM.
Ship's Passage. Once on her turn, the naviad can use 10 feet of her movement to magically step into the deck or hull of her ship from a point within her reach and emerge from a second point of her choosing elsewhere aboard the ship, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the chosen point.
Ship's Watch. At any time, the naviad can see and hear what's happening on and around the ship as though she were standing in a location of her choice aboard it.
Shipbound. The naviad is bound to her ship, and is confined to an area that extends out from her ship's surface a distance equal to the ship's longest dimension. For example, if the ship is 180 feet long, the area extends 180 feet out from the ship. The naviad can't leave this area, nor can she be banished or otherwise transported outside of of it. If the ship is subjected to such an effect, the naviad goes with it. The naviad dies if the ship is destroyed.
Water Walk. The naviad can move across the surface of any body of water as if it were harmless solid ground.
Whenever the naviad starts her turn underwater, she rises 60 feet toward the surface unless she chooses to remain in place.
Actions
Multiattack. The naviad casts catapult once for each functional siege weapon installed on her ship.
Catapult (Spell). The naviad chooses one object weighing 1 to 5 pounds within 60 feet of her that isn't being worn or carried. The object flies in a straight line up to 90 feet in a direction the naviad chooses before falling to the ground, stopping early if it impacts against a solid surface. If the object would strike a creature, that creature must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + PB + QS). On a failed save, the object strikes the target and stops moving. When the object strikes something, the object and what it strikes each take 3d8 bludgeoning damage.
Executive Action. The naviad takes a Special Officer Actions, such as the ones described in Appendix A of the Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
Command Ship (Recharge 5–6). The naviad commands her ship to take one of its available actions, which doesn't count against the number of actions the ship can take on its turn in combat.
Description
The Soul of a Ship
Now, some say that men make a ship and her fame
As she goes on her way down the sea:
That the crew which first man her will give her a name –
Good, bad, or whatever may be.
Those coming after all fall in line
And carry the tradition along –
If the spirit was good, it will always be fine –
If bad, it will always be wrong.
The soul of a ship is a marvelous thing.
Not made of its wood or its steel,
But fashioned of mem'ries and songs that men sing,
And fed by the passions men feel.
It's built of ambition, of jealousy, strife,
Of friendship, of love, and of fear;
It includes almost all of the makings of life;
It's nurtured on grumble and cheer.
The soul of a ship is a molder of men –
Her spirit lives on through the years.
As she started her life, so she is in the end;
She shares each man's hopes and his fears.
And each man who joins feels the breath of her life –
As he stands up and takes heart again –
So he takes to himself the old sea as his wife,
And the ship's made a man among men.— Arthur A. Ageton
Naval Officer's Guide, 1943
Sailors have long believed that a ship is far more than a thing made of wood and steel; that they are living things possessed of a soul. It is said that a ship is molded by the men who crew her. A fine crew makes for a gentle soul while a poor crew makes for a cruel one.
A ship's soul is born and shaped from the thoughts and feelings of her crewman, similarly to how gods are given form and power by the faith of their believers Eventually, possibly as early as her maiden voyage, this soul is able to manifest as a spiritual being — a nymph of sorts called a naviad, also known as a pleione, schiffsfrau, or segelkönigin; sometimes referred to simply as a "shipwife".
Ship-Shape. A naviad's nymph form has no determined shape, as her appearance is typically a reflection of the ship's name, design, or purpose. Though they typically appear as women, it isn't uncommon for a naviad to appear as something else entirely. For instance, the naviad of a ship christened "King's Ransom" may appear as a male royal. One that arises from a ship with a unicorn figurehead may appear as a unicorn, a woman with a unicorn's horn, or something in-between. A hospital ship's naviad might appear as a caduceus, either cast wholly in metal or entwined by living snakes.
Regardless of the apparent sex or shape of her nymph form, a naviad's gender is always female, due to all ships being "she". Where personality is concerned, she can be of any disposition or alignment, typically matching the overall disposition of the crew or crews that have fashioned and fed her. She always takes the ship's name, unless instructed by the captain to adopt another while in nymph form.
Ghost Ships. As the spirit of a vessel, a naviad is no more independent of her ship than a human soul is from its body. Most naviads never mature past the point of merely existing. Such lesser specimens are little more than disembodied memories, the echoes of her crew's thoughts and feelings, who have little influence over what happened aboard a vessel. Those that manage to reach maturity, however, are able to exert control over their ship "bodies" to act with a much greater degree of autonomy, giving rise to many of the legends about ships that sail themselves.
Despite this apparent independence, even the most powerful of naviads is hardwired to adhere to the commands of her crew — her captain in particular. In the absence of a crew, an independent naviad tends to travel aimlessly, with no greater goals or ambitions than to sail for the sake of sailing.
As knowledge of the existence of naviads has become wider spread, shipwrights have begun to design vessels specifically to accommodate the naviad that may eventually rise from them, allowing even lesser naviads some degree of autonomous control of their "body".
Lair Actions
As its living soul incarnate, the naviad's ship serves as her lair. When fighting breaks out on or around the ship, the naviad can exert her dominion over the ship to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the naviad can take one lair action to cause one of the following effects; she can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:
Coast. The ship moves up to half its speed.
Potshot. The ship makes one siege weapon attack against one target that isn't on the ship.
Reverse Gravity (Spelljamming Vessel Only). The ship's gravity plane reverses polarity, replicating the effects of the reverse gravity spell (save DC 17) on both side of the plane until initiative count 20 of the next round. Creatures that are friendly to the ship have advantage on their saving throw against the spell. An affected creature can't fall farther than the limits of the ship's air envelope.
Rock the Boat (Sailing Vessel Only). The ship begins to pitch and roll violently until initiative count 20 of the next round, making all surfaces aboard difficult terrain. Furthermore, each creature on the ship when it starts rocking must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. Creatures that are friendly to the ship make this save with advantage. A creature that fails its save 5 or more also slides up to 15 feet in a direction of the naviad's choice, potentially falling overboard if it is on an outer deck.
Regional Effects
Regions and ports of call frequented by a naviad's lair is warped by the nymph's magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:
Sea Stories. Rumors about a ghost ship or vessel that otherwise moves in mysterious ways spread in regions where the naviad sails.
Call to Adventure. Any creature proficient with vehicles (air, space, or water) within 13 miles of the vessel is stricken with wanderlust. They yearn to feel the wind in their hair; to smell the salt on the sea breeze; to hear the cry of seabirds; to feel the roll of the waves beneath their feet. Though this effect instills affected creatures with a desire to board a ship and set sail, it doesn't compel them to do so.
Red Sky at Night. When weather conditions within 6 miles of the vessel would normally be fair or better, they are instead ideal for sailing. Foul weather that occurs in the region happens as normal and is unaffected.
Sailor's Delight or Dread. The region within 1 mile of the ship teems with creatures sailors regard as omens. If the naviad is of good or neutral alignment, the creatures are of good omen, such as dolphins, kindori, seabirds, and whales. If the naviad is evil, the creatures are of ill omen, like manta rays, octopuses, scavvers, sharks, and squids. These creatures are neither friendly nor hostile towards the ship, and aren't under her control. They behave as an ordinary creatures of their kind.
If the naviad dies, the creatures of omen disperse and return to normal concentrations over 1d12 hours. All other effects fade over 1d10 days.
* - (a bottle of rum, a smoking pipe, and incense worth at least one percent of the target ship's gp cost)
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