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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Set" data-source="post: 4417433" data-attributes="member: 41584">Ideally, a pirate haven should be in some sort of secluded harbor, with some sort of terrain that hinders that sort of thing. (Perhaps, like Green Ronin's Freeport, it has treacherous reefs and sandbars, and no vessel not piloted by one of the city's pilots is likely to be able to safely reach fireball range of the docks. Or it could use a more far-out solution, like the Realm's Skullport, where only approved ships are gated into a sheltered underground harbor.)   I'd use Alchemy for a lower-magic solution. In a game-world where mages (and priests) can fling lightning and fire around with abandon, wooden sailing vessels might be regularly treated with a cheap alchemical 'paint' or 'shellac' that makes the wood much more resistant to flames. Alchemical means of quickly extinguishing fires, such as 'Smotherblend' (from either the Kalamar Player's Guide or the Dragon Compendium, I forget which), a substance that can be shaken up and thrown onto a fire where it expands into a smothering foam that puts out a 5' or 10' square of fire, might also be a good idea. Stonecloth is also from one of those sources, an alchemically treated cloth that is fire-resistant, and would likely make suitable sails for ships that must operate in a world where explosive fireballs are only a pinch of bat guano away. Some lower level spells might be specially researched as well, perhaps even a Metamagic feat that allows a spellcaster to expand a personal or touch range protective spell to his 'bonded ship,' allowing him to cast some form of low-level protection vs. fire spell and have it affect the structure of the ship itself, not merely his own body.  It might be possible to have crewmen run to man the ballistae and catapults when an unidentified ship pulls within spell-flinging range. The artillerists could then be ordered to hold their action, using spyglasses to cover different individuals on deck of the other ship. If one of them starts waggling his hands and pulling out the spell components, he might find himself needing to make a Concentration check, as a ballista bolt interrupts his casting. The difficulties of hitting a single target at that range might make this problematic, so instead, some form of 'scattershot' might be used, that peppers an area with shot that does much less damage, but is far more likely to hit a spellcaster (and everyone else within it's 10' radius target area), and might include a weaker version of the Thunderstone item as ammunition, creating loud distracting noises as the projectiles strike, to add another Concentration check (or just a penalty to the damage-based one) to the difficulty.  Not much. Same 'defenses' that the average pirate ship had against cannon, actually, which was, 'try not to get hit too much...' The ship, or at least it's sails, might be treated to be resistant to fire, but the best 'defense' would be a strong offense. Don't let enemy spellcasters get their spells off, pepper them with thunderstones, arrows, ballista bolts, alchemical fire, smokesticks, etc. Use a catapult to sling a bunch of caltrops over there (use moldy potatoes with nails jammed through them, save some money!), to make it difficult for the enemy crew to run around and deal with stuff. Pots of burning pitch might not set the enemy ship on fire, but they might raise clouds of smoke that irritate the eyes and / or block line of sight, which would hamper the use of some spells. A really effective magical item choice might be something that can harry a potential enemy spellcaster, such as an arrow that turns into an eagle and swoops around interrupting his spellcasting for a minute (or until slain). A Wand of Magic Missiles could be ideal, since even a single magic missile could interrupt a much more potent spell, and they have great range. Even if it only has a few charges, the captain hopefully won't *need* fifty magic missiles to interrupt an enemy caster! A Wand of Obscuring Mist could be saved for emergency getaways, providing concealment and immunity to spells that require line of sight, giving the pirate vessel a chance to get out of range. A Ranger, Druid, Adept or Arcanist with a Companion or Familiar would make it easier, but even an Expert can Handle Animal and train a seahawk or osprey to target people for harrying, creating a cheap technique for pirates to send their brightly-colored squawking parrots over to harass and interrupt enemy casters! If that bird is trained to drop a Thunderstone or Tanglefoot Bag or flask of Alchemical Fire or Smokestick, so much the better, as it becomes mobile artillery, without the massive range penalties that would accrue from trying to fling that stuff at Fireball ranges with a catapult. Catapult-sized 'shot' to generate smoke, etc. are available, IIRC, in the Heroes of Battle book, and might be useful to check out.  Until the ships are abreast, something like Wind Wall is going to be a powerful defense. But even Obscuring Mist might prove to be great at eliminating Line of Sight. If a Wall of Fire can be created on an enemy ship, the combat's done. If anybody can Control Weather, again, game over. The right summoning, such as a Thoqqua, will wreck any ship that isn't completely fireproof, as the creature can burn through rock, let alone wood, and can destroy a huge chunk of ship during each round of it's existence. Edit to add;I'm pretty sure that Green Ronin's Advanced Player's Guide has a few OGL spells that are well-suited to the whole 'putting out fires' thing, rewrites of 2e spells like Cloudburst and Precipitation, for instance.</blockquote>

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