Attacks
Ships typically don’t have attacks and do not threaten any area around them, though some ships can be fitted with rams (see Rams). Some ships also carry siege engines (see Seige Engines). Provided that the ship has enough additional crew to operate them, these siege engines can make attacks. While individuals aboard a ship generally don’t play a significant role in ship-to-ship combat, important characters such as PCs might still become involved if they wish to fire siege engines or if an enemy ship is in range of their ranged attacks or spells. When attacking a ship, you can attack the ship’s:
1. structure
2. occupants
3. propulsion
4. control device
5. seige engines
You can also attempt to grapple and board a ship. In addition, a ship can make a ramming maneuver or shearing maneuver as part of its movement.
• Attacking the Structure: This is an attack against the ship itself. If the attack is successful, the ship takes damage normally.
• Attacking an Occupant: This is a normal attack against a ship’s occupant—any creature that is a passenger, pilot, crew, or providing propulsion on a ship. Occupants get partial cover (+2 to AC and +1 on Ref lex saving throws) or greater against attacks coming from outside of the ship. Occupants in a forecastle or sterncastle have cover (+4 to AC and +2 on Ref lex saving throws), while those inside a port or hatch have improved cover (+8 to AC and +4 on Ref lex saving throws). In general, once combat begins among the occupants of two ships (such as when boarding), ship-toship combat should be replaced with shipboard combat.
• Attacking Propulsion: A ship’s means of propulsion usually has its own set of statistics (see sidebar on page 11), while creatures propelling a ship use their own statistics. See Attacking an Occupant above if crew members providing propulsion are attacked. Individual ship stat blocks detail their means of propulsion.
• Attacking the Control Device: A ship’s control device is an object with its own statistics (see Control Devices). When a control device is destroyed, the ship can no longer be piloted.
• Attacking a Siege Engine: Siege engines mounted on a ship have their own statistics (see Seige Engines). Siege engines benefit from cover as occupants on a ship.
Broadsides: Some ships can carry a large number of siege engines. Rather than bog down ship-to-ship combat with numerous individual attack rolls, siege engines can be fired in “broadsides.” All siege engines of the same type on a single side of the ship can fire at once. Broadside attacks can only be used to attack the structure of a ship or propulsion. Make a single attack roll for all of the siege engines in the broadside. If the attack roll is successful, all of the weapons hit their target. If the attack roll fails, all of the weapons miss. On a successful attack roll, take the average damage of a single weapon and multiply it by the number of weapons in the broadside to determine the total damage dealt.
For example: a sailing ship with a bank of 10 light ballistae on its port side fires a broadside attack. A single light ballista deals 3d8 points of damage, for an average of 13.5 points of damage. If the attack hits, the broadside deals 13.5 × 10, or 135 points of damage.
1. structure
2. occupants
3. propulsion
4. control device
5. seige engines
You can also attempt to grapple and board a ship. In addition, a ship can make a ramming maneuver or shearing maneuver as part of its movement.
• Attacking the Structure: This is an attack against the ship itself. If the attack is successful, the ship takes damage normally.
• Attacking an Occupant: This is a normal attack against a ship’s occupant—any creature that is a passenger, pilot, crew, or providing propulsion on a ship. Occupants get partial cover (+2 to AC and +1 on Ref lex saving throws) or greater against attacks coming from outside of the ship. Occupants in a forecastle or sterncastle have cover (+4 to AC and +2 on Ref lex saving throws), while those inside a port or hatch have improved cover (+8 to AC and +4 on Ref lex saving throws). In general, once combat begins among the occupants of two ships (such as when boarding), ship-toship combat should be replaced with shipboard combat.
• Attacking Propulsion: A ship’s means of propulsion usually has its own set of statistics (see sidebar on page 11), while creatures propelling a ship use their own statistics. See Attacking an Occupant above if crew members providing propulsion are attacked. Individual ship stat blocks detail their means of propulsion.
• Attacking the Control Device: A ship’s control device is an object with its own statistics (see Control Devices). When a control device is destroyed, the ship can no longer be piloted.
• Attacking a Siege Engine: Siege engines mounted on a ship have their own statistics (see Seige Engines). Siege engines benefit from cover as occupants on a ship.
Broadsides: Some ships can carry a large number of siege engines. Rather than bog down ship-to-ship combat with numerous individual attack rolls, siege engines can be fired in “broadsides.” All siege engines of the same type on a single side of the ship can fire at once. Broadside attacks can only be used to attack the structure of a ship or propulsion. Make a single attack roll for all of the siege engines in the broadside. If the attack roll is successful, all of the weapons hit their target. If the attack roll fails, all of the weapons miss. On a successful attack roll, take the average damage of a single weapon and multiply it by the number of weapons in the broadside to determine the total damage dealt.
For example: a sailing ship with a bank of 10 light ballistae on its port side fires a broadside attack. A single light ballista deals 3d8 points of damage, for an average of 13.5 points of damage. If the attack hits, the broadside deals 13.5 × 10, or 135 points of damage.