D&D 5E Experiences Running or Playing Ship Combat?

[Hexmage-EN]

I've started a Spelljammer campaign and pretty soon the players will be leaving the Rock of Bral. I've looked online for impressions on ship combat and would like to see how it's played out for others here, as well as whether the rules for ship combat in Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Spelljammer were followed or some other variation was used instead.

Some of my main concerns are:

• Was ship combat fun, or tedious?
• Is the positioning and movement of ships handled via some visual representation or theater of the mind?
• Did all players get to meaningfully contribute?
• When ships are attacking one another at range, what is being targeted: the ships themselves, or the crew?
• Do ships attack each other from range for extended periods of time, or does it quickly shift to normal D&D combat on the decks as one side boards?

 

[iserith]

I wrote up a whole island-hopping hex crawl campaign using the Saltmarsh rules. After the first ship-to-ship combat that happened in the first session, I completely threw out those rules. They were bad - really bad - at the table. Boring, left some folks without anything to do for periods of time. Lots of questions over what can be targeted. Terrible at every level.

I then just decided that all the ship-to-ship combat rules were really just a prelude to the boarding of the ship and the regular D&D combat that ensues. So I just turned the ship-to-ship combat rules into an abstraction with ability checks like how Saltmarsh deals with hazards or events at sea (basically a group check). The result determines the state of the ship when the boarding battle begins. And that was a lot better.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I wrote up a whole island-hopping hex crawl campaign using the Saltmarsh rules. After the first ship-to-ship combat that happened in the first session, I completely threw out those rules. They were bad - really bad - at the table. Boring, left some folks without anything to do for periods of time. Lots of questions over what can be targeted. Terrible at every level.

I then just decided that all the ship-to-ship combat rules were really just a prelude to the boarding of the ship and the regular D&D combat that ensues. So I just turned the ship-to-ship combat rules into an abstraction with ability checks like how Saltmarsh deals with hazards or events at sea (basically a group check). The result determines the state of the ship when the boarding battle begins. And that was a lot better.

That seems like a good way to handle it

 

[Quickleaf]

I did pretty much exactly the same as @iserith when I opened a campaign with a ship chase that transitioned into a "nautical battle" where the enemy used magic (arcane gate & dimension door) to board the PC's ship while a NPC mage focused on weather magic to repel missile fire and try to increase the gap till the PC's ship could get to a safe harbor where the pursuing pirates dared not go. It was a nice surprise for the player when the boarding happened via teleportation magic, and the feel was very swashbuckler-y which we enjoyed. But in terms of "ship combat system" it was all hand-waved and consisted of lots of ad lib narrative, skill checks, and finally the PC druid having the breathing space and range to cast flaming sphere on the pursuing ship's main sail which I used as the segue to concluding the encounter.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I've started a Spelljammer campaign and pretty soon the players will be leaving the Rock of Bral. I've looked online for impressions on ship combat and would like to see how it's played out for others here, as well as whether the rules for ship combat in Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Spelljammer were followed or some other variation was used instead.

Like others have said, those rules, as written, are terrible. They are definitely not meant to be used without a lot of handwaving and personalization.

Was ship combat fun, or tedious?

I've managed to make the sessions fun in spite of the rules. I had to modify them on the fly to pull it off. They don't really work.

Is the positioning and movement of ships handled via some visual representation or theater of the mind?

I've done both. Theatre of the mind works better, as mostly you'll just be pushing ship-tokens toward each other until they hit. You can do a lot more dynamic action in TotM.

Did all players get to meaningfully contribute?

They DID, but again, I had to MAKE SURE OF IT. It was a hard fight (in my head, AGAINST the rules to pull it off).

When ships are attacking one another at range, what is being targeted: the ships themselves, or the crew?

I've run them for multiple (I think three, maybe four?) groups of players, all of whom were playing for the first time. ALL of whom wanted to use siege weapons to target enemies directly. The rules don't say. I tend to let players do what they want to do, so I allowed it. DON'T. Make mangonels and ballista only able to target the enemy ship. If you want more granularity, allow them to target parts of the ship (such as weapons or decks) but after damaging the ship, make the crew damage into a 10ft radius AoE "spell-like" effect and have the creatures in the area roll DEX saving throws (dc=8+ weapon attack) for half damage. It's more cinematic and more fun. Do the same in reverse as well.

Do ships attack each other from range for extended periods of time, or does it quickly shift to normal D&D combat on the decks as one side boards?

It's better if you move on to "normal" D&D combat as quickly as possible.

 

[Quickleaf]

Just spitballing an idea, but it might be interesting to extrapolate certain Class Features to the nautical scale (i.e. longer ranges, ship-to-ship prior to mass boarding, rounds lasting more than 6 seconds). Basically integrating the PCs into the Ship more so that line gets blurred, and you get maximal use out of what's already on their character sheet with a minimum of new rules the players need to learn.

For example, the rogue's Cunning Action (bonus action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide) might be scaled up so that if the rogue PC takes the helm they can use these bonus action options. Such as bonus action to Hide in a fog bank or around the cliff-ridden peninsula / sea rocks.

Or maybe a cleric at the helm can Channel Divinity into the figurehead to benefit all the crew.

Or spells with "Self" can be cast to include the ship itself.

 

[bloodtide]

Some of my main concerns are:

• Was ship combat fun, or tedious?
• Is the positioning and movement of ships handled via some visual representation or theater of the mind?
• Did all players get to meaningfully contribute?
• When ships are attacking one another at range, what is being targeted: the ships themselves, or the crew?
• Do ships attack each other from range for extended periods of time, or does it quickly shift to normal D&D combat on the decks as one side boards?

1.Fun. But you have to make it fun. Find, or make, a set of rules that work for you and your game.

2.For live games often maps and tokens; online in the mind

3.Yes. There are a couple ship vs ship combat rule sets that give each character a role. They are the best for ship to ship combat.

4.At any range, it's almost always ship to ship. You can only target the crews at short range.

5.Depends....some just ship to ship....some boarding actions.


You just need the right rules for the game you want to play.

 

[Tonguez]

I've started a Spelljammer campaign and pretty soon the players will be leaving the Rock of Bral. I've looked online for impressions on ship combat and would like to see how it's played out for others here, as well as whether the rules for ship combat in Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Spelljammer were followed or some other variation was used instead.

Some of my main concerns are:

• Was ship combat fun, or tedious?
• Is the positioning and movement of ships handled via some visual representation or theater of the mind?
• Did all players get to meaningfully contribute?
• When ships are attacking one another at range, what is being targeted: the ships themselves, or the crew?
• Do ships attack each other from range for extended periods of time, or does it quickly shift to normal D&D combat on the decks as one side boards?

1 Most ship v ship rules tend towards tedious, especially those that rely on the Captains actions - ships need to be split up so every player bets to do something
2 theatre of the mind so the tedious bits get be brushed over
3 this is the hard bit
4 I divide the ship into 1 Propulsion (Sails), 2 Hull, 3 Steering (Rudder) and 4 Deck (Crew) any of the four can be attacked, defended, reinforced or used - thus giving Players at least 4 things to do.
5 the goal is to sink the enemy ship, slow them and board, or slow them and flee. Ship v ship can get tedious player v ahip or player v NPC combat is better

 

[Hussar]

@iserith hit it right off. My experience with ship to ship combat over the years, using a shopping list of different rules is that your players will hate it.

I changed the rules so that gravity planes are unstable at the edges, thus negating all ranged combat including spells - I ruled all spells cannot leave a gravity plane, including teleportation effects.

A bit draconian maybe but it means all ship combat starts at boarding.

 

[overgeeked]

Was ship combat fun, or tedious?

RAW? Utterly tedious.

Did all players get to meaningfully contribute?

That's part of the problem. Unless they're proficient in something relevant to the ship combat system WotC made, they have basically nothing to do.

When ships are attacking one another at range, what is being targeted: the ships themselves, or the crew?

RAW, the ships themselves.

Do ships attack each other from range for extended periods of time, or does it quickly shift to normal D&D combat on the decks as one side boards?

They designed the system to quickly lead to boarding and standard combat. Which is exactly what makes it boring...or because it's boring you try to get it over with as quickly as possible.

We dumped it after the first use and switched to a cinematic skill challenge set up. It worked way better and felt more like a Pirates of the Caribbean ship-to-ship combat, which was great. If I did that again, I'd either keep the cinematic skill challenge thing we did or use something like Pirate Borg's ship-to-ship combat system.