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<blockquote data-quote="Warmaster Horus" data-source="post: 7078686" data-attributes="member: 6785438">Crewing a ship competently and keeping that crew is one of the most important things a captain can do.&nbsp; Not only would they NOT want to discharge their crew when they returned to port but they would try hard to not lose them to jails, pressing or injury.I'd structure it something like staffing 2 watches for basic ship tasks and assigning a minimum number of crew to each task/watch.&nbsp; Let's say you want your ship tasks to be Navigation (1 officer and 2 NCOs), Ship Handling (1 officer, 2 NCOs, 12 crewmen) and Weapons Crew (1 NCO, 3 crewmen per weapon), Watch (1 NCO, 4 crewmen).&nbsp; So per watch on a ship with 4 weapons that's 2 officers, 8 NCOs and 24 crewmen per watch or a total of 68 crew (4 officers, 16 NCOs and 48 crew).So now you need to staff your ship.&nbsp; You can use the standard of Elite (+8/check), Good (+6/check), Competent (+4/check) and Poor (+2/check) skilled crew.&nbsp; To keep things simple keep your entire crew of the same quality.&nbsp; Set standard pay at Officers (2gp/day), NCOs (1gp/day) and Crewmen (5sp/day).&nbsp; That's a total of about 48gp/day in base wages for the ship's company above.&nbsp; You attract and retain crew by offering shares in the ship's profits.&nbsp; So just as you share out treasure between players, now the crew is included.&nbsp; Say an Elite Crew gets 2 shares, a Good Crew 1 share, a Competent Crew 0.5 share and a Poor Crew just works for wages.&nbsp; The crew then divides that one total treasure share up into further shares (Officers = 20, Noncoms=5, Crewmen = 1).&nbsp; &nbsp; Example: If the ship above nets a total of 24,000 gp in treasure for a party of 5 and a Good crew, the treasure is split 6 ways.&nbsp; 4,000gp goes to the crew for a total of 208 shares between 4 officers (384gp each), 16 NCOs (96gp each) and 48 crewmen (19gp each).Sounds expensive?&nbsp; Well compare that to paying a crew for a 5 month (150 day) journey at 2gp per day.&nbsp; On our ship of 68 crew that's a total 20,400 gp.&nbsp; Compare that to 11,200gp using the system above AND that's sliding based on the profit you make.&nbsp; Base pay is still 48gp/day.&nbsp; You can say that a dead crewman's wage is forfeit but their share goes to a beneficiary.Of course bonuses, fair treatment and good bounties means it's easier to attract and retain better crew.&nbsp; Recruiting crew is highly world-dependent so that is more in the DM's purview.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Warmaster Horus, post: 7078686, member: 6785438"] Crewing a ship competently and keeping that crew is one of the most important things a captain can do. Not only would they NOT want to discharge their crew when they returned to port but they would try hard to not lose them to jails, pressing or injury. I'd structure it something like staffing 2 watches for basic ship tasks and assigning a minimum number of crew to each task/watch. Let's say you want your ship tasks to be Navigation (1 officer and 2 NCOs), Ship Handling (1 officer, 2 NCOs, 12 crewmen) and Weapons Crew (1 NCO, 3 crewmen per weapon), Watch (1 NCO, 4 crewmen). So per watch on a ship with 4 weapons that's 2 officers, 8 NCOs and 24 crewmen per watch or a total of 68 crew (4 officers, 16 NCOs and 48 crew). So now you need to staff your ship. You can use the standard of Elite (+8/check), Good (+6/check), Competent (+4/check) and Poor (+2/check) skilled crew. To keep things simple keep your entire crew of the same quality. Set standard pay at Officers (2gp/day), NCOs (1gp/day) and Crewmen (5sp/day). That's a total of about 48gp/day in base wages for the ship's company above. You attract and retain crew by offering shares in the ship's profits. So just as you share out treasure between players, now the crew is included. Say an Elite Crew gets 2 shares, a Good Crew 1 share, a Competent Crew 0.5 share and a Poor Crew just works for wages. The crew then divides that one total treasure share up into further shares (Officers = 20, Noncoms=5, Crewmen = 1). Example: If the ship above nets a total of 24,000 gp in treasure for a party of 5 and a Good crew, the treasure is split 6 ways. 4,000gp goes to the crew for a total of 208 shares between 4 officers (384gp each), 16 NCOs (96gp each) and 48 crewmen (19gp each). Sounds expensive? Well compare that to paying a crew for a 5 month (150 day) journey at 2gp per day. On our ship of 68 crew that's a total 20,400 gp. Compare that to 11,200gp using the system above AND that's sliding based on the profit you make. Base pay is still 48gp/day. You can say that a dead crewman's wage is forfeit but their share goes to a beneficiary. Of course bonuses, fair treatment and good bounties means it's easier to attract and retain better crew. Recruiting crew is highly world-dependent so that is more in the DM's purview. [/QUOTE]

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