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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerakSpielman" data-source="post: 1836688" data-attributes="member: 7464">Sailing a ship in a straight line towards a set destination, with no physical landmarks, is an incredibly complicated task, even assuming you know your precise starting position and it's relative position to your destination. I think it is perfectly reasonable to have common sailors need ranks in Profession (sailor) in order to operate a ship. But I also think it makes a great deal of sense to need ranks in Profession (Navigator) to be able to handle complex navigational tasks. The Profession list in the PHB is just a brief list of examples, not the end-all-be-all of all Profession skills available.  I would allow a character to use Survival to keep from getting lost and to know what direction is north, but I wouldn't allow him to set the most effecient course between two points. "Not being lost," in my mind, means always being able to retrace your steps to your starting point. It doesn't mean you have some sort of magical GPS device lodged in your brain. I would expect a sailor to have ranks in Profession (sailor), Balance, Climb, Use Rope, and Survival. I would expect a captain to have ranks in all of those, but also have ranks in Profession (Navigator) and Diplomacy (perhaps other social skills as well, for crew control). A large ship would probably have somebody with Craft (Shipbuilding) to handle maintenance and repairs and somebody with Profession (Cook). Perhaps the 1st mate would have ranks in Intimidate, to motivate the crew. If adventurers suddenly have access to a ship, I see no reason to believe they'd be able to operate it in an efficient manner. But if they have access to a full crew, a well-played adventuring party should be able to strike up a deal of some sort to get them to work for them. I wouldn't expect adventurers to be able to construct a vast temple dome without ranks in Profession (archetect) or find veins of ore without Profession (miner). Why should they be able to sail a ship? People might argue that a sailing ship is an inherently simple device. Wind hits sails, ship moves forward. Turn rudder, ship turns. But it is, in reality, far more complex than that. You can sail West with a strong wind from the North, for instance - it's just slower than if the wind was from the East. It's all in setting the sails and rigging just precicely so. Tie Rope will let you know how to tie a knot, but it won't tell you what kinds of knots are needed exactly where to get the ship to do what you want it to. Survival might tell you which way to go, but not what to do if the prevailing current is going the opposite direction. Knowledge (nature) can identify seaweed and tell you it's edible, but it won't tell you it can get caught by the rudder and slow down the ship. Decipher Script can help you read that old navigational chart but it won't tell you what the hell you're supposed to do with all those lay-lines dotted across it. Saying your average PC could get on a ship and sail it across an ocean it is like saying one of us, without special training, could get in the cockpit of a 747 and fly it from Denver to Hong Kong.</blockquote>

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