Sailing through a storm

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

In that case, it's relevant for me to post the character I DM in my 1 PC game: Bard 6/Rogue 1 is the PC with two cohorts Fighter 5 and Sorcerer 4/Expert 1.

Notable (remotely relevant) skills for these characters:

• The Fighter's got Climb +9, Jump +6, Swim +7.
• Sorcerer/Expert: K (geography) +12, Bluff +9.
• The PC: Bluff +14, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +7, P (sailor) +6; She also has Daredevil Athlete as a feat, allowing her 3/day to get a +5 to a skill check that's physical in nature (e.g. climb, swim, escape artist, etc.)

The skill ranks seem in a workable range.

One suggestion:

Easy DC might be something like 12, moderate 15, difficult 18. Require 8 successes before 3 failures.

- Climb, Jump and Profession (Sailor) (Easy): Get into a better position, +2 to next skill check. No count for success/failure. Can be used as often as you want.

- Profession (Sailor) (Moderate): Do your job of a sailor. Counts as success/failure. Can be used as often as you like. Failure opens up Bluff or Intimidate (so that the crew doesn't lose trust in you, see below). Success opens up Geography check (see below).

- Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate (Moderate): Organize the Crew so they man their posts and work well together. Counts as success/failure. You can use Diplomacy as often as you like, Bluff and Intimidate must be opened up first.
Failure on one causes you to lose a Sailor and open ups new use for Swim. (see below)

- Geography, Profession (Hard): Plot a route that might be a little safer. +2 to next skill check, counts as success/failure. Can be attempted until succeeded.

- Swim (Moderate):
You rescue a sailor that has gone over board. Counts as success/failure.

SUCCESS: The ship escapes mostly unscathed and you're still on course. (Optionally: You meet another ship that went through the same storm, but might have had less luck - do you want to help them, potentially getting some reward/allies? Or do you attack them in their moment of weakness?)

PARTIAL SUCCESS (no less then half the checks succeeded): Ship has taken some damage, and the travel time is increased as you've gone slightly off course.

FAILURE (less then half the checks succeeded): Ship has taken serious damage and needs repairs. It has gone off course and you must plot it again. You possibly run into further trouble (maybe enter an area with a hostile ship?)


Change as you see fit. As always:
Suggest that everyone attempts something. The low DC checks are meant to be without "risk" and give the characters with a low skill value a chance to contribute.

Remember not just to roll the dice. Either the players describe what they want to do and you suggest the skill they roll (sometimes they might do so and you have to decide whether it appropriate), or you or the player describe the scene after they have picked the skill and/or have seen the result.

What works best depends on you and your group.

 

[El Mahdi]

You guys are awesome! I copied this entire thread. These are great ideas on using the 4E skill challenge system in 3.xE. This is why I love ENWorld.

 

[Stoat]

The Sea Wyvern's Wake in Dungeon 141 includes some rules for riding out a storm. You might take a look at them.

 

[roguerouge]

XP awarded for the help! Thanks!

 

[CarlZog]

Good advice here on skills and mechanics.

In no particular order, here's a few other circumstances associated with a sailing ship in heavy weather that you may want to consider as possible events or plot devices:

-- One of the biggest risks a ship faces in heavy weather is losing all or part of the rig. Because the structural support for a sailing ship rig is so integrated, even losing one section of a mast or having one small element of rigging fail has the potential to cause a chain reaction that brings down the rest of the rig. A falling mast in any conditions might damage the hull, but in a storm the debris, half hanging in the water and slamming up against the hull, can be disasterous.

Consider, as a failure of complex seamanship skill checks, including a chance of all or partial rig failure. If it happens, the crew must immediately turn to the task of cutting away debris (agility, seamanship). If it's only an upper spar that's broken or fallen, this task may include going aloft amid the swinging debris to get it under control. It's a highly chaotic, terrifying situation.

In describing climbing the rigging in a storm, keep in mind that when a ship rolls in a heavy sea, the impact aloft is like hanging onto the end of a giant whip. Every wave threatens to toss you off like a dog shaking water off its back.

-- On deck, large swells may be washing over the deck on a regular basis. The power of green water coming over the deck is always amazing to see. Not only does it stand the chance of taking out crew members, but a good smack from a wave may cause damage to deck structures and/or exposed cargo. Steering mechanisms are particularly susceptible to this. Losing the wheel or tiller can mean losing control over the ability to direct the ship at all.

-- One of the things that keeps a crew most busy on a wooden ship in a storm is pumping bilges. Because of how wooden ships are built, they flex in heavy seas, opening the seams between the hull planks and letting in water. The older and worse shape a ship is in, the more pronounced this effect can be. Your PCs will have to allocate substantial crew to pumping, and if resources run short or men get tired, they may no longer be able to keep up with the flow.

If so, then it becomes slow death. As she loses buoyancy, she loses maneuverability too, and the wind and seas slamming her around inflict more and more damage. It's like watching a fighter, no longer even able to put up his guard or seemingly aware of what's happening, just get pummelled until he collapses.

-- One of the tactics of making it through a bad storm is minimizing the sails set and positioning the ship to minimize the impact of the wind and seas. There are various methods of doing this (heaving to, lying ahull, etc.), but often the net effect is that you are no longer controlling the direction of the ship's movement. You're just riding it out.

Offshore this may mean that you are more than just "off course", you may be hundreds of miles from where you were when the storm hit. In game terms this may mean being way late to wherever you were going; or ending up somewhere different altogether. Consider a randomized distance and direction table for assessing the impact of the storm. The longer it lasts, the further off you're likely to be. If your navigation system is based on celestial observation, you not only have to wait for the wind to die down, but also for the skies to clear before you can begin to work on where you've ended up.

If the storm hits along a coast (within 100 miles or so) you could stand the chance of being set aground. Obviously, a shipwreck can drastically change the course of your game, but grounding doesn't always equal total loss. There could be a lot of damage that needs to be repaired and they may have to wait for an extra high tide to get them off.

For whatever it's worth,
Carl