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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6487047" data-attributes="member: 27160">Or avoid a 'climb' or 'balance' task by throwing the rope accurately?Get someone in danger of being washed overboard to "hang on"? Inspire everyone to use "one hand for yourself, and one for the ship" to keep safe while working?Trips up the mast might involve balance (on a footrope while holding the spar - you have a hold on the spar, but stopping yourself tipping while working can be tricky, I understand)?This depends on how "medieval" you want your ship to be. In a storm a sailing ship of any sort wants to wear a bit of sail, but not too much. None at all will mean you give up all control - without headway you can't steer and are just drifting - but too much will result in damage to the masts, spars, sails and rigging, possibly causing catastrophe.Ships in the (much later) 'Age of Sail' adjusted sail by crew members climbing up to the spars, walking out on footropes while clinging onto the spars with their arms and then leaning over the spar to haul up the sail and (un)tie the reefing lines that were attached to the sail at intervals. As a storm approached, as many "topmen" as possible would work at this to reef in the sails fast.On a medieval ship, on the other hand, the yard had to be turned in line with the ship and lowered to the deck in order to adjust sail - then the yard had to be hauled back up.In the former case, a need for "climb" is easy - get those reefs in quick! In the second case it's a bit more tricky, but a couple of possibilities might be (a) the lookout (in the crow's nest - these were mounted on masts from at least the Roman period on) gets caught before (s)he can get down and needs rescuing, or (b) the halyard used to lower the yard to the deck gets jammed as the crew hurry to adjust sail for the storm. Someone will have to go up and un-jam it (climb and balance both needed - Athletics and Acrobatics, in 4E).As a ship takes on water she gets both slower and more prone to capsize - both bad. Slower is worse than simply not making way; remember that ships cannot steer without some headway! Rudders don't do a damn thing if you're not moving relative to the water you are in.Another, completely different aspect - seasickness. Combatting this and just working through it would be Endurance. The consequences of succumbing can be severe; I have had serious seasickness precisely once in many times at sea, and I was good for essentially nothing (even though I was theoretically working) while I had it. Some have reported literally wishing to die while suffering from it, and my original scepticism evaporated after I "got it bad".What if there were several similar objects - belaying points, for example - and picking which were likely to give way and which not was the required action?Early warning and rigging hold and stair covers, tying stuff down so it doesn't break loose and making sure stuff like fresh water is kept safe?Maybe an enticeing island - complete with sheltering lagoon - is detected by the party mage as an illusion/enchantment and the characters must dissuade the crew from heading straight for such obvious salvation? The "isle" might even have been conjured by the party's enemies...</blockquote>

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