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SJ Ship to Ship Battles (& Vehicle Rules in General)
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<blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 8754214" data-attributes="member: 86653"><p>This is the entire ship-to-ship combat "system" in 5E Spelljammer...</p><p></p><p>[SPOILER="Ship-to-ship combat..."]Ship-to-Ship Combat</p><p>The following rules are designed to make ship-to-ship combat simple yet exciting.</p><p></p><p>Starting Distance</p><p>At the start of an engagement, the DM decides how far a ship is from its enemies. Three possibilities are provided in the Starting Encounter Distance table. The shorter the distance, the less time crews have to load weapons and make other preparations.</p><p></p><p>Starting Encounter Distance</p><p>Distance | Notes</p><p>250 feet | Long range for ballistae, mangonels, shortbows, longbows, light crossbows, and heavy crossbows</p><p>500 feet | Long range for longbows and mangonels; beyond the range of ballistae and crossbows</p><p>1,000 feet | Beyond the range of most ranged weapons</p><p></p><p>Initiative</p><p>The Dungeon Master’s Guide presents a variant rule called side initiative, which is ideal for ship-to-ship engagements, since it saves you the trouble of tracking initiative for individual creatures aboard each ship.</p><p></p><p>Moving and Steering a Ship</p><p>A spelljammer can use a ship’s spelljamming helm to move and steer the ship without expending their own actions or movement. On their turn, the spelljammer determines how far the ship moves (up to its maximum speed) and decides whether to approach another ship or put more distance between the two.</p><p></p><p>On its turn, a ship can be turned and reoriented so that all its weapons can aim and fire at any target within range, regardless of where they’re situated on the deck.</p><p></p><p>Boarding</p><p>When one ship moves to within 5 feet of another ship, the spelljammer or pilot of the moving ship can maneuver it alongside the other ship, enabling creatures to move safely from one ship’s deck to the other ship’s deck until one of the ships pulls away from the other.</p><p>A ship that has enough movement can pull alongside another vessel, deploy a boarding party, and then move away, provided the members of the boarding party took the Ready action to position themselves so they can move onto the other vessel when it’s close enough.[/SPOILER]</p><p></p><p>There's a lot that's not covered by this. The above "system" is non-existent by D&D standards. And I say that as someone who's more than comfortable playing games where the <em>entire</em> game system fits on one side of a 3x5 card.</p><p></p><p>You could take a page from Classic Traveller and port in one of their battle systems.</p><p></p><p>[SPOILER="Classic Traveller..."]THE FREE-FORM SYSTEM</p><p>The free-form system of mission resolution is best used to resolve larger conflicts involving player characters. No precise rules can, or should, be given here, as much of the realism of the system derives from the on-the-spot interaction between the referee and the players.[/SPOILER]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="overgeeked, post: 8754214, member: 86653"] This is the entire ship-to-ship combat "system" in 5E Spelljammer... [SPOILER="Ship-to-ship combat..."]Ship-to-Ship Combat The following rules are designed to make ship-to-ship combat simple yet exciting. Starting Distance At the start of an engagement, the DM decides how far a ship is from its enemies. Three possibilities are provided in the Starting Encounter Distance table. The shorter the distance, the less time crews have to load weapons and make other preparations. Starting Encounter Distance Distance | Notes 250 feet | Long range for ballistae, mangonels, shortbows, longbows, light crossbows, and heavy crossbows 500 feet | Long range for longbows and mangonels; beyond the range of ballistae and crossbows 1,000 feet | Beyond the range of most ranged weapons Initiative The Dungeon Master’s Guide presents a variant rule called side initiative, which is ideal for ship-to-ship engagements, since it saves you the trouble of tracking initiative for individual creatures aboard each ship. Moving and Steering a Ship A spelljammer can use a ship’s spelljamming helm to move and steer the ship without expending their own actions or movement. On their turn, the spelljammer determines how far the ship moves (up to its maximum speed) and decides whether to approach another ship or put more distance between the two. On its turn, a ship can be turned and reoriented so that all its weapons can aim and fire at any target within range, regardless of where they’re situated on the deck. Boarding When one ship moves to within 5 feet of another ship, the spelljammer or pilot of the moving ship can maneuver it alongside the other ship, enabling creatures to move safely from one ship’s deck to the other ship’s deck until one of the ships pulls away from the other. A ship that has enough movement can pull alongside another vessel, deploy a boarding party, and then move away, provided the members of the boarding party took the Ready action to position themselves so they can move onto the other vessel when it’s close enough.[/SPOILER] There's a lot that's not covered by this. The above "system" is non-existent by D&D standards. And I say that as someone who's more than comfortable playing games where the [I]entire[/I] game system fits on one side of a 3x5 card. You could take a page from Classic Traveller and port in one of their battle systems. [SPOILER="Classic Traveller..."]THE FREE-FORM SYSTEM The free-form system of mission resolution is best used to resolve larger conflicts involving player characters. No precise rules can, or should, be given here, as much of the realism of the system derives from the on-the-spot interaction between the referee and the players.[/SPOILER] [/QUOTE]
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