All at Sea - How to Outfit a Greatship?

Just requesting a little bit of help here and a few suggestions.

Essentially, I'm trying to work out how to outfit a Greatship - that is a very large ship - for a campaign I'm planning.

My question relates to:
How many sailors are required to get a greatship moving?
What titles are generally carried aboard a ship - eg Captain, First Mate, Bosun etc.
What is the usual chain of command aboard a greatship? (Of interest here is that I'm using the Book of the Righteous and the God Shalimyr in particular. Suffice to say that there is a Sail Lord on board).
What are some reasonable dimensions for the greatship itself?
What other considerations should I be considering?

Are there any useful threads that you could refer me to or good d20 literature on the subject.

Thanks in advance and Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
 

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Here's some information that was cut from the Morningstar book. Please keep in mind that this ship has not been extensively playtested, since it will be part of an upcoming supplement.


Hauler; Colossal Water Craft (500 ft long)
Universal Human Cargo Vessel
Power: Magic, Wind, Man
Hit Points: 560/560/5
Speed/Change Speed: 30 feet per round tactical, 300 feet per minute local , 3.4 miles per hour overland (3 knots) / 1 ft per round
Maneuverability: clumsy
AC: 2/10/2
Dimensions: 200 ft width, 500 ft length, 100 ft tall
Ram: Yes (“trample” gargantuan or smaller, does not stop). 20d6
Carrying Capacity: 3,000 tons
Crew: 50
Description:
This is the largest ship commonly used in the world. Based on ancient Dwarven arks, it is exceptionally sturdy, and quite powerful. It can even tow other vessels, up to its own size. For huge trading or even military mission, the Hauler is the ideal vessel. The only problem in everyday usage is that few ports can support a vessel of this size. Even if there is a port of sufficient size, the hauler must often set anchor far out to sea, to avoid being set aground during Thraxis’ extreme low tides.
Price: 3,000,000 gp


This is magical craft, so you might need to fiddle with a few numbers, notably the crew, which might be more like a minimum of *550* or so for a nonmagical craft of this size.

Regarding the other questions;


What titles are generally carried aboard a ship - eg Captain, First Mate, Bosun etc.

What follows are from "The Sea-Man's Vade Mecum" which can be found online here:

http://pc-78-120.udac.se:8001/WWW/Nautica/Bibliography/Vademecum(1707).html

Though not technically medieval, this document is good enough for D&D, as far as I'm concerned.

Captain- self-explainatory.

Master-The 'first mate', who delegates authority, inspects provisions, Oversees loading/unloading, oversees the trimming of the sails, ensures that sails and rigging are in working order,and signs off on expenses from the carpenter/sailmaker and botswain. He is the chief navigator, and must keep a log of inventory, and daily events, new shoals or other shoreline features, and serves as a sort of judge while at sea.

Purser(or botswain)- Supervises personnel, making sure that everyone is in their place, doing their duty, on time and in accordance with the needs of the ship. Assigns men to night watch, oversees the cook, etc.

Clerk-Acountant, keeper of inventory, record keeper, scribe for the unlettered sailors, distributes provision, and takes down information regarding deceased or dying crewmen.

Surgeon-In charge of inspecting and maintaining the wellness of all the ship's crew. He may not charge a fee above his wages for any services rendered.

Pilot-The pilot is the navigator, who takes orders from the master, but may overrule him if there is a clear and present danger that the crew agrees upon. He must keep a journal and make maps.

Mate-Makes sure the ship is seaworthy, that the sails, ropes and rigging are in good repair, executes the shipboard orders of the master, oversees docking and takes charge for the master when he is indisposed or dead.

Sailmaker/Carpenter- Ship repairs.

Cook-Self explanatory.

Seamen- The lowest ranking members of the crew. In charge of loading and unloading the ship, and executing other menial tasks. They may not take *any* action without permission or direct order while on the ship. Standing orders notwithstanding.

(Anyone interested, note that Morningstar is not medieval, so these don't apply to the setting.)

What is the usual chain of command aboard a greatship? (Of interest here is that I'm using the Book of the Righteous and the God Shalimyr in particular. Suffice to say that there is a Sail Lord on board).

As listed above.

What other considerations should I be considering?

See the 'flavor text'.

I hope this helps.
 
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This is magical craft, so you might need to fiddle with a few numbers, notably the crew, which might be more like a minimum of *550* or so for a nonmagical craft of this size.


If this IS a nonmagical craft, keep the crew size in mind - I'd expect storing and preserving necessary foodstuffs would be a problem, especially since a ship that size would probably only be able to make long oversea voyages to major ports. Magic would probably be the only practical answer here. Make sure there is a cleric available with access to some kind of food preserving spell (I'm sure there is something available, though I'm drawing a blank).
 

Praeco said:



Make sure there is a cleric available with access to some kind of food preserving spell (I'm sure there is something available, though I'm drawing a blank).

Purify Food and Drink and Create Food and Water. First and Third level cleric spells. Purify Food and Drink is also a 0 lvl Druid spell.
 

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