Waterborne Environments

In due course your players will evince a desire to travel by water. Rivers, lakes and the seas have always provided mankind with a means of transportation and livelihood as well. From the first raft and reed boat, ambatche and catamaran, the waters have beckoned men to come and explore. 

This form of adventure certainly awaits the participants of an [1.25] campaign—with a vengeance! Encounters are dealt with in Appendix C - Random Encounters, Waterborne Encounters, this being subdivided into fresh and salt water encounters. Information regarding ships, their armament, and crews, is detailed here.

The rules are general in nature to allow playing at any scale or upon any playing surface desired (hex or square grid, floor, etc .).

General Classes of Vessels

Rowboat: Small boats, with or without a sail, which are rowed by oars or paddled, fall into this category. A ship's longboats, dugout canoes, skiffs and punts are likewise considered rowboats. A normal crew for a rowboat can be from one to ten or more men depending on its size. Rowboats do not come equipped with armament and don' t function well in breezes above 19 miles per hour.

Barges/Rahs: These are long, somewhat rectangular craft designed primarily for river transportation. A few larger and sturdier types are used for lake and coastal duties. Barges generally have a shallow draft, as do rafts - the former having a bow and side freeboard, with the latter having neither. The Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut's obelisk barge is a prime example of a working barge. Crafts constructed of fagots bound together, or made of stretched hides, such as the umiak, are considered barges in most cases. The same is true of sampans and jangadas. Normal crew for a barge varies between 20 and 100 or more men, depending on the size of the ship and its purpose. If the barge is a working vessel, such as Queen Hatshepsut's, it is conceivable that it could require as many as 100 men, if not more, to man such a mammoth barge. Sampans and jangadas, on the other hand, do not require a great crew to man them. Sampans need only three to ten men while jangadas require as few as one. Barges and rafts don't usually come with armament, but can be so equipped if desired. These types of vessels do not function well in winds above moderate breezes.

Galleys: These are long, slim oared ships. Some of the earlier types of galleys are the Greek and Roman biremes, triremes, and quadriremes. These galleys have 2, 3, and 4 banks of oars. The type most commonly used in AD&D is the drakkor, the Viking Dragon Ship. This is a square-sailed, oared ship having a single mast that can be unstepped. She is the easiest to maneuver in choppy waters because the planks are overlapped and riveted together (clinker built). This gives her the ability to move with the waves instead of forcing her hull through them. Crew for galleys depend on their size. Some can have as few as 30 men manning the oars while others have been known to have 200 or more. Most galleys, because of the need of space for the men at the oars, do not venture for from land. The general construction is such that even though she is seaworthy it is more comfortable to be near land or sail the rivers and make camp on the shore. Armament on galleys ranges from a ram to ballistae. Some of the larger ones may even sport a catapult.

Merchant Ships: This type of ship is most commonly a small, wide-hulled vessel having a single mast and a lateen sail. She is not only favored by merchants, but pirates as well. She can be moved by sweeps at rowboat speed. Cogs, corracks and caravels of the 13th and 14th centuries are considered to be excellent merchant ships because of their sturdiness and the few sailors required to man them. Most ships of this type can feasibly carry a hundred or more men, but because of on-board conditions and money, ships are manned by a minimal crew of at least 10 men, including the officers. Pirates are the exception when manning ships. They will fill the ship with men, sailing up and down the coast for about a week, plunder if they can, and then put into port. Typical armament for this kind of ship includes ballistae and perhaps a catapult.

Warships: These vessels tend to be fast, but at most times not very seaworthy, particularly the earlier ones. The ultimate warship for the purpose of AD&D is the nao. She is square-sailed like the cog, but features two or more masts and is of caravel construction . She also has a distinctive overhanging forecastle and a rounded stern. The crew of a warship generally consists of two or three men to work each ballista, three or four men to handle the catapult and the rest to man the sails. It is possible to have 100 or more men on board, but because of the shortage of space for food and fresh water, the number is usually considerably less.

Hull Values

The hull value or the defensive point value is how much damage the ship can sustain before sinking (any time that damage reaches one-third or more of this value, repairs must be made). 

For damage done to a ship by various attack forms, see Siege Attack Values under Construction and Siege.

To determine the number of points each ship can have, see the table below and roll accordingly.

Repairing Hull Damage

Any time damage reaches one third to one half of a ship's hull value, repairs can be made at sea. If the damage is more than one half, the ship must put into port for repairs. The amount of time and repairs needed as well as the cost involved will be at the DM's option.

Water Craft Length and Width

The average length and width of most ships is given below. It will be up to the DM or the players buying or constructing them to determine exactly how long and wide any ship will be.

Crew

See Ship Master and Ship Crew under Non-Player Characters, Expert Hirelings.

Wind Direction and Force

Wind direction and its force are important in determining if sails, oars, both, or neither can best be used in propelling the ship. Currents, of course, will aid or hinder the ship, but it will be up to the DM to decide what currents, if any, will be in the oceans. Wind force will need to be determined for movement abilities and damage if the force is above Strong Gale.

Any wind of Strong Gale force or better will have a percentage chance to do damage to the ship. There is also a chance for men to be blown overboard. The amount of damage and how many men may be blown overboard will be determined by the DM. Checks are made every six hours, or until winds subside. 

Exhaustion

Exhaustion will occur after the crew has rowed at their normal speed for 8-10 hours or at maximum speed for 30 minutes. This applies only to galleys or any other oared vessel.

Ship Movement

Any oared ship can move forward from a complete standstill in one round. 

Galleys are able to do a pivot only if they are dead still in the water. This action requires a certain amount of skill or else the oars may be damaged. Any ship wanting to turn must let her momentum carry her twice her length before such a procedure may begin.

Speed

The table below indicates how fast ships can sail or be oared at normal and maximum speed.

Lake assumes a large body of water, at least two to three miles broad and several times as long, minimum.

Marsh assumes a shallow body of water overgrown with aquatic vegetation but with considerable open channels; this does not include a bog but does include swamps.

River assumes a body of water at least three times as wide as the vessel afloat upon it is long (that is, the smallest river is at least 40 ft. wide) and navigable to the vessel considered, usually because of familiarity and/or piloting. For current effect, subtract its speed times eight (C x 8) from movement when moving upriver, adding this same factor to movement for downriver traffic unless navigational hazards disallow - in which case adjust to a multiplier of two or four times current accordingly.

Sea (and ocean) movement assumes generally favorable conditions. It is not possible to herein chart ocean currents, prevailing winds, calms, or storms, for these factors are peculiar to each milieu. Currents will move vessels along their route at their speed. Prevailing winds will add or subtract from movement somewhat (10% to 30%) depending on direction of travel as compared to winds. Calms will slow sailed movement to virtually nil. Storms will have a likelihood of destroying vessels according to the strength of the storm and the type and size of the vessel. To simulate these effects during long voyages, reduce the movement rates shown by a variable of 5% to 20% (d4, 1 = 5%, 2 = 10%, etc.).

Stream assumes a body of water under 40 ft. width. The effects of currents are the same as for river movement.

Burn damage of controlled fires

For every 10 flaming arrows, every flaming catapult missile, and every 5-dice fireball and up (i.e., a 10-dice fireball requires a double check) that hits, burn damage will have to be determined. Lightning bolts will have to be checked for burn damage at increments of 8-dice. 

Anything below that only does structural damage (see Siege Attack Values under Construction and Siege). [11:7]

When a lightning bolt does burn damage, subtract 3 from the roll for the kind of damage that is done (for example, a 15 is rolled, 15-3=12; twelve is the number on the table to determine damage).

Light damage: Almost no damage. Requires no immediate attention. When a ship has sustained more than 3 light damages, consider it to be light to moderate damage.

Light to moderate damage: Minor damage done. No immediate repairs needed. When a ship has sustained 2 light damages and 1 light to moderate damage or 2 light to moderate damages, consider it to be moderate damage.

Moderate damage: A few minor repairs needed before the ship can get underway. When a ship has sustained 2 moderate damages, consider it to be moderate to heavy damage.

Moderate to heavy damage: Many minor repairs needed or several major ones needed before the ship may sail. When a ship has sustained 2 moderate to heavy damages, consider it to be heavy damage.

Heavy damage: Extensive repairs needed to ship's sails and mast. Rigging burned badly.

The DM will have to decide what part of the ship took damage. The amount will be determined by what did the damage to the ship. This will have to be subtracted from the ship's hull value.

Ships' burning time of uncontrolled fires

Damage done to a ship by fire that equals or surpasses the hull value is considered a fire that is no longer under control by the men aboard. Also, any fires magically fed and not countered have a 75% chance of spreading out of control due to the time, lack of men or capable magic-user, or other circumstances.

Ramming

Before any battle in which ramming is intended, the mast must be unstepped and secured on deck. Ramming (which can only be done by galleys) must be done head-on at full speed, with the galley striking the target ship at a 60-90° angle. After striking, the ramming ship must backwater immediately or risk sinking with the ship it rammed or being boarded by her crew if the hole is above the water line.

Grappling and boarding

Grappling is done when the men of one ship, by means of a grapnel and rope, attempt to secure their craft to another ship (or something else, should it be desired). 

There is a 25% chance that the men aboard the grappled ship will be able to successfully sever the line or remove the grapnel. If the attempt to remove the grapnel fails, the ship may find herself boarded by the men of the other ship. 

If both ships are of the some type, i.e., two galleys, then there are no bonuses for melee. However, if it is the crew of a galley trying to board a merchant ship or warship, the latter will attack with a +1 while the former with a -1. The reason is that the men aboard the merchant or warship have the advantage of height, and are fighting down at the men on the galley. When this happens, the men in the galley usually outnumber the men on the higher ship, by as much as three to one in some cases. This applies to all ships that are built with two or more decks.

Melee

Human-like vs. human-like: On-board combat will be as normal melee combat in a dungeon. Sahuogin, lacedon (ghouls), kopoacinth (gargoyles), koalinth (hobgoblins) and men (buccaneers and pirates) will attempt to board the ship. Other human-like creatures such as nixies, aquatic elves, tritons, sea hags and mermen cannot or will not try to board.

Human-like vs. non-human: The men on a ship will be at a disadvantage fighting monsters in the water. A squid will try to encircle the ship with its tentacles and sink it. Other sea monsters may be just as dangerous. See the MONSTER MANUAL for specifics of each monster.

Sinking a ship

There are several ways to sink a ship. One is to ram her, damaging her hull and thus forcing her to take on water (see Ramming). Depending on the size of the ship and the location and size of the hole, it may take from 1-12 turns before she sinks below the surface of the water (rowboats and small rafts are the only vessels that will sink in less than 1 turn). 

Burning is another way to sink a ship. She will burn to her waterline and everything beneath that will sink (see Burn Damage of Controlled Fires). A rowboat hit directly with a boulder will sink immediately. It will take several direct hits with a boulder before enough damage is done to cause a merchant ship or warship to sink (see Hull Values and Siege Engines). 

The weather is also a factor that can cause a ship to capsize and eventually sink (see Wind Direction and Force). 

Some monsters, such as a Sea Snake or a Dragon Turtle, will also attempt to capsize a ship if they should choose to attack it.

Ship's capture

The capturing of a ship occurs when all the crew aboard one ship have died, surrendered, or are rendered helpless and unable to fight (trapped in the hold, for example). 

To determine if surrender will take place, compare the crews of both sides. If one side is greater by 3-to-1, surrender is inevitable by the side that is outnumbered. The captain of the losing side may refuse to surrender and order his men to continue fighting (a roll of 1 on a d6 indicates that his men will obey). 

Surrender does not apply to player characters. They decide whether or not they want to surrender.

Swimming

Swimming will be impossible in any type of metal armor with the exception of magic armor. Any character wearing magic armor will be encumbered and the only stroke possible will be the dog paddle. 

It is possible to swim in leather and padded armor, but it is awkward and there is a 5% chance of drowning per hour. 

All heavy possessions must be discarded or the chance of drowning increases by 2% for every 5 pounds on the character's person other than his or her leather or padded armor. This includes weapons, purses filled with gold and/or gems, backpacks and hard boots. 

One unsheathed dagger may be carried by the adventurer between his or her teeth. Swimming during winds above 35 miles per hour will be almost impossible, and there is a 75% chance of drowning.

General Naval Terminology

Aft - the rear part of a ship.

Corvice - a bridge with a long spike in its end used by the Romans for grappling and boarding.

Devil - the longest seam on the bottom of a wooden ship.

Devil to pay - chalking the seam of the same name. When this job is assigned, it is given to the ship's goof-off and thus comes the expression "You will have the devil to pay".

Fore - the forward part of a ship.

Fore Castle - a fortified wooden enclosure resembling a castle in the fore of a ship.

Hoist Sails - to raise the sails.

Lower the sails - to let the sails down.

Port - the left side of a ship; also a city or town where ships may take refuge or load and unload cargo.

Shearing off oars - accidentally or intentionally breaking oars of one or more ships when attempting to board or cripple the ship if it did not retract its oars.

Starboard - the right side of a ship.

Step - to put the mast up.

Stern - a section of the aft of a ship.

Stern Castle - the same as a fore castle except that it is in the stern of the ship.

Stroke - the drummer and the beat he sets for the oarsmen on a galley.

Top Castle - a fortified structure on the mast.

Unstep - to take down the mast.

Weigh Anchor - means the anchor is clear of the bottom.