thanks for all your support.

More detailed review in DTRPG to follow.

Patrick,

Email me at info@tribality.com and I’ll send you a draft.

Thanks
Shawn

we have a page of nautical terms.

Oops. Bad link. Fixed.

Unfortunately the link’s not working for me. That being said, I don’t have any practical experience with tallships, but I do have experience with rowing and line handling as well as navigation and conning (commanding) a vessel. Let me take an opposite approach and describe what each of the six stats would be useful IMO in a naval combat situation:

STRENGTH: useful for boarding actions and melee combat, obviously; can also be used to maintain course in heavy seas/storms, secure cargo that has broken free of lashings, cut lines, or place batting to plug damage to the hull. Also useful in the unfortunate event of being sunk, to either hold on to a piece of floating debris or to swim in dangerous waters.

DEXTERITY: useful for tying of knots for individual applications (such as securing oneself in to the ship in heavy seas), throwing grapples for boarding operations, maintain footing in heavy seas, and climb through the rigging. Since there’s plenty of footholds and handholds in the mast netting, Athletics is going to be less useful for rigging work. Post-battle repairs might call for a Carpenter’s kit (Dexterity) check to craft replacement masts/rails/etc from any spare lumber in the hold (or from the beach if the ship can make it to a beach or anchorage). Possibly used for small boat navigation and stealth boarding operations.

CONSTITUTION: mainly functions as written in the PHB for holding one’s breath or fending off exhaustion from lack of food or water, or for enduring long periods of exposure if stuck on a boat or chunk of debris for long periods of time. Possibly Concentraton saves for spells in really heavy seas.

INTELLIGENCE: identification of ship colors/heraldry, plotting a position with no landmarks (celestial navigation), creating a voyage plan to shorten travel time between ports, setting up predetermined formations and tactics; basically any check prior to the action as opposed to “in the moment”.

WISDOM: ship handling and maneuvering, weather prediction, coastal navigation (with visual landmarks); this will be the bread and butter of moving the ship in any tactical situation. Spotting ships on the horizon or in fog (to determine surprise and thus the starting range of the encounter).

CHARISMA: anything involving commanding the crew: Persuasion/Intimidation to perform lengthy tasks in less time (adjusting/setting sails, heaving anchor, loading cargo), morale checks, convincing the crew not to mutiny in adverse conditions, etc.

Basically I view STR/DEX as being used for individual tasks, whereas INT/WIS are for tasks involving the ship as a whole. Even evasive maneuvers are all about observing how the ship handles so you know when to “shift the rudder” (i.e. steer the other way) in order to prevent over or under steering. CHA is used to make the crew perform better than the norms as opposed to actively doing anything; a failed CHA check is only going to result in a task taking the normal or slightly longer amount of time, but repeated failed CHA checks can degrade crew morale and lead to decreased overall performance and eventual mutiny or surrender in extreme cases.

I’d also dedicate a page in the pdf to nautical terms, like port/starboard instead of left/right, overhead instead of ceiling, bulkhead instead of wall, deck instead of floor (the floor of the ship is the bottom part of the hull), galley instead of kitchen, head instead of toilet, etc. “Heading” is the direction the ship is pointed, “bearing” is the direction of anything else (celestial bodies, landmarks, other ships, etc.).

Knots are speed in nautical miles per hour (each nm = 1.15 mi); nautical miles are relevant because the diameter of the (Earth’s) equator is exactly 360 x 60 nautical miles, so on a smaller or larger world, nautical miles will be shorter or longer. In fact, if the campaign world has, say, an 87% smaller diameter, then nm == miles and knots == mph. The world would have to be around 32% more dense in order for gravity to remain the same.

The point system is the standard way of reporting relative direction (“bearing”) as well, where there are 32 points on the compass, each representing 11.25° of arc: a ship right in front of your bow is “Dead Ahead”, with vessels to either side being 1, 2, or 3 points on the port/starboard bow (for 11.25°/22.5°/33.75°) respectively. 45° off the bow is “broad on the port/starbord bow”. 90° off the bow is “on the port/starboard beam”, with 1-3 points forward or behind that being 1/2/3 points “forward the p/s beam” or “abaft the p/s beam” respectively. Directly behind is “dead astern” with 1-3 points “on the p/s quarter”; 45° off the stern is “broad on the p/s quarter”.

Here’s an excellent resource on sailing vessels: http://www.classic-sailing.co.uk/sites/default/files/Tall%20Ships%20Guide.pdf

Edit: here’s a good equation for you as well: the viewable distance of a thing in nautical miles (assuming Earth diameter) is 1.17 times the square root of the height of eye above the water’s surface plus 1.17 times the square root of the height in feet of the object being viewed. So if a sailor in the crow’s nest is 100 feet above the water, the horizon will be 11.7 nm away, and he’ll be able to see the top of a 100 ft mast at 22.4 nm away, assuming clear conditions and the lookout is paying attention. If the diameter of the planet is more or less than normal, simply divide 1.17 by the percentage of normal (i.e. the world above would be 1.17/0.870, or 1.34, times the root).

It is based on the 2014 articles.

Good point about Wisdom vs. Dex. I now mix it up based on situation.

Cha for ordering the crew to quickly get up to full sail
Dex for evasive maneuvers (though this could still be Wis or Int)
Int for looking at another ship for a weak spot or visualizing the line a wave will take.
wisdom for nearly everything else.

What do you think?

Here is an example of a naval chase which uses this skill for most checks. Let me know what you think of the checks in action…
https://www.tribality.com/2018/01/25/naval-sea-chases-complications/