Sailing without a crew

[Kid Charlemagne]

If you take a look at Broadsides, which is my favorite d20 sailing resource, they have the minimum/normal/ideal crew levels for a variety of ships. I'll check out what it has to say when I get home.

 

[Khayman]

I'm not sure how well they reflect nautical reality, but Broadsides by Living Imagination lists optimal, adequate, and skeleton crew numbers for a variety of ship types.

As regards using animated skeletons in a skeleton crew... ordinarily, mindless undead wouldn't do as they could not independently perform complex actions. However, there are some third-party spells that summon undead crews --- Broadsides has its Skeleton Crew spell, and Relics & Rituals 2 has Undead Crew. Note that these sources are 3E, not 3.5.

Crew could also be reduced non-necromantically using Fharlanghn's Lines (see Arms & Equipment Guide). These animated ropes reduce the crew required by 5. Theoretically, a spell that has the same effect could be based on the item.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

From what I've read, you could probably get by with around 8 sailors. What might normally take minutes could now take hours, but it could be done. Heck, you could probably get by with 2-4 if you really had to (it's amazing what a person can do when their life is on the line).

In regards to your situation, I'd think navigating and sailing in a straight line would be much more of a challenge than working the sails (especially if land is not in sight).

In regards to skeleton crews, the DM could just say that the skeletons retain the ability to sail out of habit. Or you could cast the Awaken Undead spell from Libris Mortis that grants low Int to undead.

 

[Terwox]

I think I speak for everyone when I say that if D&D can't support undead pirates, it's a much worse game for it.
Interesting topic.

 

[Tonguez]

Their Skeletons with the 'On Stranger Tides' Template

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

If you want some excellent sources for this sort of thing, then you'll want to go back to the "sources," as it were.

Horatio Hornblower by C.S. Forester, The Lord Ramage Novels by Dudley Pope, and the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian are all excellent (and entertaining) sources.

In them, you'll notice that a prize crew - a small detachment of sailors, marines, and officers from one ship, tasked with taking a captured enemy ship and its crew to a safe port - is generally about a dozen skilled hands.

As in, a dozen people who absolutely, positively understand what they are doing and are very, very good at it.

3-4 PCs, none of whom have ranks in Profession (Sailor), are going to get lost, run aground, and / or otherwise lose their ship very, very easily.

They need to start cutting deals with the pirates they've captured, and magical influences should not be ruled out.

 

[Saeviomagy]

3-4 PCs, none of whom have ranks in Profession (Sailor), are going to get lost, run aground, and / or otherwise lose their ship very, very easily.

Getting lost and running aground are both functions of survival, not profession(sailor).

Stopping the ship without running aground is probably profession(sailor)

Turning the ship quickly is probably profession(sailor)

IMHO, skeletons would make a good crew IF under the direct command of someone who knows what they're doing. Primarily all they do is decrease the manpower requirements.

Personally, I'd tell the PC's that they're going to have hard going doing it with as few people as they've got unless they come up with a good plan.

Then I'd wait until they had a plan that I thought was good enough.

Chances are your PC's can summon monsters, use telekinesis, animate the dead and the like.

Anyone with survival is probably better at it than the ship's captain.

Anyone with balance, climb and jump is probably better at it than the crew, and are probably stronger to boot.

Let them stop the ship. Let them think up a plan.

Don't railroad them into releasing the crew.

 

[Michael Morris]

Assuming they all had some sailing skill?

Sorry to have to ask this, but what credentials do you bring to this discussion? What books can you point to for information?

I have seen no where that says a 3-mast, 140'-long ship could be sailed reliably or safely by 4-8 men. It could take that many men just to furl/unfurl one main sail. And I can't see even a war ship having 10 times the necessary crew (even taking out any men associated with guns).

Quasqueton

:sigh: You asked if it could be done. I said yes, it 'could' be done. Nowhere did I say safely or easliy.

But if you want an official answer, look it up.

 

[Orryn Emrys]

Getting lost and running aground are both functions of survival, not profession(sailor).

I don't know, right off, what the official ruling on this one might be, but I think that getting lost, as the idea pertains to the act of navigation at sea, should be more a function of sailing than survival. Attempting to maintain a specific course without landmarks, other than the stars when they are visible, would likely be well beyond anyone who lacked experience with naval navigation. Just a thought.

 

[barsoomcore]

This issue sure makes people cranky. I remember a previous discussion (I think it was one in which I was ranting about the rank stupidity of "Pirates of the Carribean") and people got very huffy about their experiences and knowledge. I guess it's one of those things.

I think it's clear that a party of four adventurers without significant sailing experience are unlikely to be able to take a ship of the size Quasqueton describes any distance unless they are very, very lucky. They will be most likely unable to set a course (I agree that Survival is a poor choice -- naval navigation is primarily mathematics and I would say an Int-based skill is the way to go. Knowledge (navigation) or something like that). Even if they could set a course, a group of four would have trouble preparing the ship to travel in that direction unless it already happened to be going that way. They certainly aren't going to easily tack the ship if the wind happens to be against them.

And should any sort of emergency strike, four people can't do much more than hang on and pray.

Note that I have no experience beyond an almost encylcopedic recall of C.S. Forester novels.