Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Of Ships and The Sea

Interesting. There's an old AD&D 2e "blue book" with that title: Of Ships and the Sea

 

[The White Sorcerer]

This is the kind of UA I like, because I can drop it into my campaign without adding something new to the setting. Because obviously there were ships before, now we just run them a certain way. Stuff like new subclasses is trickier, because I like to create new world lore around them.

 

[MarkB]

This article says airships travel at 9 MPH. In prior editions, the airships moved at between 20 and 24 MPH. 9 MPH is just shy of 80 feet per round - meaning that thy're slower than your average barbarian. I'd prefer the faster speed.

For what it's worth, the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron puts elemental airship speeds at between 20 and 40 mph.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Thinking on how I want ships to have Cannons instead of Ballistas and Mangonels...

I could see a Small Cannon as having roughly the same stats as a Ballista except that it does bludgeoning damage (though it could be argued that it's piercing just like the Ballista)

Big Cannons could roughly have the same stats as the Mangonel except that I don't see it having the restriction on being unable to target within 60'.

 

[DEFCON 1]

What's funny is that I really wouldn't expect FR ships to have cannons especially, but not really ballistae either (at least not fired via taut cord). Instead, I'd expect all ship weaponry to be magically based... the "cannons" are magical items that have beefed up Catapult spells or Fireball spells that fire ship-to-ship.

When you have a world where magical destruction rains down all the time, but gunpowder has barely made any substanitive appearance... why any warship would try and make black powder cannons work as the default method of combat is beyond me.

 

[robus]

What's funny is that I really wouldn't expect FR ships to have cannons especially, but not really ballistae either (at least not fired via taut cord). Instead, I'd expect all ship weaponry to be magically based... the "cannons" are magical items that have beefed up Catapult spells or Fireball spells that fire ship-to-ship.

When you have a world where magical destruction rains down all the time, but gunpowder has barely made any substanitive appearance... why any warship would try and make black powder cannons work as the default method of combat is beyond me.

Yeah it mostly makes sense in a low-magic world.

 

[Remathilis]

I think it is intentional. The Wisdom (Nature) roll involves perception of the natural hazard rather than analysis while the Intelligence (Medicine) roll involves applying medical knowledge instead of treatment.

Probably intentional. We have to remember that Mike & Co. occasionally add things into the playtests that are not "normal"... not because they mess up, but because they want us to think about doing things "abnormally" and whether we're okay with it. By doing this alternate ability score bit, they are asking us to comment whether we like the idea or would rather just stick with the default 5E rule for one score / one skill.

I think people sometimes get way too hung up on wanting everything in a playtest document to be "absolutely correct!" from the get-go so that they can just use these playtest rules as-is without having to "fix" them... which is not what these are for. It the same reason why they release playtest docs wiithout having "the math" necessarily correct... because as they say, fixing the math is the easiest thing to do and what they can do right before they declare the product done. But yet folks on the boards still constantly complain and say stuff along the lines of "How can they release such shoddy work?!? Give the game to a company that cares!"

It's kind of ridiculous that people still don't realize this.

I only ask because it they don't draw attention to it (like they do for trying knots in Xanathar) and I think more than a few PCs will look at their sheet and use Wis/Medicine
and Int/Nature because they are written like that on their sheet.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I also don't think an effective Artificer class can work without basic item crafting rules. So I hope that the crafting rules are forthcoming and the Artificer will build upon those.

Making the Artificer a full caster is a cop-out (at best!) and it seems they are realizing that. The class needs to work and feel differently, and the crafting angle is a huge part of what it requires.

I couldn't possibly disagree more. It should be a full caster, and it should imbue spells into things. The Xanathar's crafting rules are fine, but the Artificer could certainly have some exceptions to those rules in some fairly limited way, like making consumables in the half the normal time, or spending a spell slot to recharge items.

I'd rather a bunch of new spells that hit the mark of how infusions and imbued items worked narratively, than an entirely different system for one class.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What's funny is that I really wouldn't expect FR ships to have cannons especially, but not really ballistae either (at least not fired via taut cord). Instead, I'd expect all ship weaponry to be magically based... the "cannons" are magical items that have beefed up Catapult spells or Fireball spells that fire ship-to-ship.

When you have a world where magical destruction rains down all the time, but gunpowder has barely made any substanitive appearance... why any warship would try and make black powder cannons work as the default method of combat is beyond me.

I think FR still assumes that the vast majority of people can't cast any spells of any kind, ever.

In such a world, the utility of powerful mundane weaponry rises exponentially, compared to the real world.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I couldn't possibly disagree more. It should be a full caster, and it should imbue spells into things. The Xanathar's crafting rules are fine, but the Artificer could certainly have some exceptions to those rules in some fairly limited way, like making consumables in the half the normal time, or spending a spell slot to recharge items.

I'd rather a bunch of new spells that hit the mark of how infusions and imbued items worked narratively, than an entirely different system for one class.

But there you run into the fundamental problem I have with the 5e wizard/subclass setup: for at least one level, the wizard casts spells, just like any other. So with the Artificer, what happens? You cast spells for a level or two then stop being able to because you use the spell slots for something else? That's doesn't feel right to me.

And it's part of why wizards in general don't feel right to me in 5e: they're too much of all the same. A "speciality" that's as a much a ribbon ability as anything else notwithstanding.

My opinion carries little to no weight. But I strongly feel that an Artificer simply won't work right by hanging it on the bones of an existing class - particularly the 5e wizard.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But there you run into the fundamental problem I have with the 5e wizard/subclass setup: for at least one level, the wizard casts spells, just like any other. So with the Artificer, what happens? You cast spells for a level or two then stop being able to because you use the spell slots for something else? That's doesn't feel right to me.

And it's part of why wizards in general don't feel right to me in 5e: they're too much of all the same. A "speciality" that's as a much a ribbon ability as anything else notwithstanding.

My opinion carries little to no weight. But I strongly feel that an Artificer simply won't work right by hanging it on the bones of an existing class - particularly the 5e wizard.

A couple things.

1. The artificer can assuming have its subclass come in at level 1.

2. No full caster in the game is a wizard clone, so I’m unsure why you’re worried that an artificer would be.

3. Having other uses of spell slots wouldn’t make the artificer unable to use spells, it would create a choice.