Gez
First Post
Hello all,
Having at least got Seas of Blood, I am much pleased by the book. The rules are quite straightforward and are exactly what we needed for our pirate campaign.
However, I have three minor comments on the rules.
It's sad, I think, that the navigator-wizard need to be a wizard (spell mastery feat). Especially when it is said that sorcerers are more common on the seas.
There's a feat that allows to take 20 on all Balance checks. I think it is intended to be "take 10", i.e. it is a specialised version of the rogue's Skill Mastery ability.
Finally, I'm not happy with the expense formula for maintaining a ship in good order. 100 gp times the SD is IMHO not really accurate, as this means that, crew's wage excepted, it is more costly to maintain 20 rowboat than one Sovereign Dreadnought. I've worked up another formulae, a bit more complex indeed, that takes into account the fact that small, simple ships (without weapons or sails) are cheaper to maintain than big complicated ones.
Here it is:
Base cost × Size multiplier + special
Base cost:
Auxiliary: SD × 3 gp
Coastal: SD × 5 gp
Merchantman: SD × 10 gp
Warship: SD × 15 gp
Size multiplier:
Tiny: 1/2
Small: 1
Medium: 5
Large: 10
Huge: 15
Gargantuan: 20
Colossal: 30
Special:
Sailed ships needs lots of spare ropes and cloth for rigging and sails. Cost is increased by +50%.
Submersible ships are complicated to the extreme to maintain. Cost is increased by +200%.
This way, a peasant is not too much ruined by possessing a rowboat (15 silver piece per month), because it's just half his income (it's still very expensive, but at least it's not 33 times his income); and a sovereign dreadnought is indeed crippling violently a nation's economy (10 800 gp each month, plus the crew's salary).
Having at least got Seas of Blood, I am much pleased by the book. The rules are quite straightforward and are exactly what we needed for our pirate campaign.
However, I have three minor comments on the rules.
It's sad, I think, that the navigator-wizard need to be a wizard (spell mastery feat). Especially when it is said that sorcerers are more common on the seas.
There's a feat that allows to take 20 on all Balance checks. I think it is intended to be "take 10", i.e. it is a specialised version of the rogue's Skill Mastery ability.
Finally, I'm not happy with the expense formula for maintaining a ship in good order. 100 gp times the SD is IMHO not really accurate, as this means that, crew's wage excepted, it is more costly to maintain 20 rowboat than one Sovereign Dreadnought. I've worked up another formulae, a bit more complex indeed, that takes into account the fact that small, simple ships (without weapons or sails) are cheaper to maintain than big complicated ones.
Here it is:
Base cost × Size multiplier + special
Base cost:
Auxiliary: SD × 3 gp
Coastal: SD × 5 gp
Merchantman: SD × 10 gp
Warship: SD × 15 gp
Size multiplier:
Tiny: 1/2
Small: 1
Medium: 5
Large: 10
Huge: 15
Gargantuan: 20
Colossal: 30
Special:
Sailed ships needs lots of spare ropes and cloth for rigging and sails. Cost is increased by +50%.
Submersible ships are complicated to the extreme to maintain. Cost is increased by +200%.
This way, a peasant is not too much ruined by possessing a rowboat (15 silver piece per month), because it's just half his income (it's still very expensive, but at least it's not 33 times his income); and a sovereign dreadnought is indeed crippling violently a nation's economy (10 800 gp each month, plus the crew's salary).
