Name Cost Craft DC Effect
Argossean Rigging 18,000 25 Allows for tacking against the wind.
Banks of Oars 3,000 15 Vehicle has a rowed speed, additional banks create higher speeds.
Barracks 5,000 15 Can easily house marines or non-combatants
Boarding Deck 5,000 15 Gains a bonus to initiating and a penalty to resisting boarding manoeuvres.
Cargo Hold 2,000 10 Can hold one cargo.
Castle Deck 4,000 15 Gains a bonus to resisting and a penalty to initiating boarding manoeuvres.
Catapult 4,000 20 Ship has a ranged attack in addition to that granted by any marines or pirates.
Combat Reinforcement 4,000 per size category over Tiny
15 Gains a bonus % to hit points.
Deep Water Hull 2,000 15 Has a keel that allows it to move in deep water with ease, but is less manoeuvrable and more limited in its selection of harbours.
Drums 700 10 Can gain a temporary bonus to rowing speed.
Fishing Hold 1,000 10 Has a wide array of nets and a hold designed for fish storage.
Hardwood 2,000 per
size category
15 Hull becomes harder to damage. May be layered with hull cladding.
Hull cladding 2,000 per
size over Medium
15 Hull becomes harder to damage. May be layered with hardened wood.
Merchant Rigging 3,000 10 Adds slightly to base speed.
Moorings 4,000 15 Can carry one or more smaller boats on board.
Passenger Rooms 10,000 20 Can carry up to four people in comfort.
Ramming Prow 1,000 10 Ship does additional damage when ramming a target.
Slave Hold 2,000 10 Ship can carry a cargo of slaves.
Thin lines 5,000 10 Ship can move faster, but is less manoeuvrable.
Turanian Rigging 9,000 20 Ship moves quickly on the wind.
Vitals Storage 2,000 10 Ship can go for longer periods of time without contact with the land.
Zingaran Rigging 18,000 20 More speed but less manoeuvrable.
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A character can recognise Argossean rigging on any ship in line of sight by making a Profession (sailor) skill check (DC 15).
Banks of Oars: Ships with banks of oars have the ability to move themselves at their ‘base’ speed. By adding a second bank of oars the ship can double its base speed; a third bank of oars will triple it. A ship with two banks of oars is called a bireme and one with three banks a trireme.
A ship of medium or larger hull size that can move under oar power is called a galley.
Most galleys use freemen or pressed crews to man their oars rather than slaves. These men can expect to be paid as normal crewmen. Each ore requires one rower; each bank of oars has one oar per five feet of the ships length.
Galleys of all kinds generally use their sails for strategic movement, and then ship oars when engaging in ship-to-ship combat.
Barracks: Ships with a barracks have bunks, a storage locker and equipment for maintaining a ready compliment of marines at sea. Each barracks can hold up to 50 marines if they live in very close quarters.
Boarding Deck: A boarding deck is relatively flat and low from stem to stern, with a small rail and readily available boarding lines. There are planks, hooked pools, and other tools used for grappling another ship within easy reach of any point. Boarding decks give the crew a +1 bonus to
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initiating any boarding manoeuvre and a –1 penalty to resisting a similar manoeuvre executed by a hostile vessel.
Cargo Hold: A cargo hold is more than just a placeholder;
it contains a wide variety of fixings with which to fasten cargo in place along with special reinforcing and waterproofing to help preserver cargoes. Each cargo hold on a ship can hold one ‘cargo’ as described in the Foreign Shores chapter (pg. 21). A cargo hold can carry up to 100 men but not in a combat ready state.
Castle Deck: A castle deck has elaborate defences against board including raised fore and aft castles, a high railing and various modifications to the deck in order to prevent long-term grappling. These modifications give the defenders a +1 bonus to rolls to resist boarding manoeuvres, but a –1 penalty to any roll required to initiate one.
Catapult: Although dangerous, some ships carry catapults to throw balls of flaming pitch at their targets. This modification includes not only the catapult, but also the carefully constructed pitch warming and storing sections of the ship as well. The catapult inflicts little physical damage on its target, but it does have a chance of setting the opposing vessel ablaze. See the Seas of Steel chapter (pg. 58) for more details.
Combat Reinforcement: The hull has an exceptional amount of cross bracing and additional support built into it. This increases the hull’s absolute hit points by 20%. The total number of hit points a ship has not only keeps it afloat longer, but also protects the crew and cargo from incidental damage inflicted during the average pirate attack.
Deep Water Hull: The hull has a number of modifications for deep water travel, including a long keel, altered ballast’s, a larger food store and some crude means of water purification. These ships can go for months without seeing another ship or land, although they generally try to return to somewhere with food and water before starvation sets in.
A deep-water ship gives its crew a +2 bonus to any skill check required to resist a weather based effect.
Drums: An important part of any galley is the great drums that sets the rowing rhythm. When properly used these drums can add +1 knot to the galley’s maximum speed. Sounding the drum requires a Perform (percussion) skill
check (DC 15).
A sailor can recognise the sound of a galley drum by making a Profession (sailor) skill check (DC 10).
Fishing Hold: The ship has a wide array of nets, lines and traps designed to catch fish and other sea creatures. The cargo hold is modified to store fish for a long period of time. Traditionally this means that the ship holds a good bit of water, more than would ordinarily be safe. The ship counts as a vessel one size larger for the purpose of determining the damage it can do with a ram, but loses half a knot from its maximum speed. The crew may choose to bail out the water in order to regain their speed, but doing so loses the ramming advantage as well.
Hardwood: The ship is made of a particularly hard wood like oak. Increase its base hardness by 2.
Hull Cladding: The ship has a lining of lead, copper or bronze over its lower hull. This protects the ship from ramming attacks: add +2 to the ships hardness against prow rams.
Merchant Rigging: The ship is rigged to run with both sails and oars. This somewhat clumsy arrangement is easy to make, but only adds half a knot to the ships base speed (under sail or oar). Merchant rigging does not add any movement points during closing turns. Ships may only have one kind of rigging (i.e. a ship may not have both merchant and turan rigging)
A character can recognise Merchant rigging on any ship in line of sight by making a Profession (sailor) skill check (DC 15).
Moorings: The ship has sufficient rigs to carry and deploy several smaller boats. This component can only be built into a medium or larger ship. Medium ships can moor up to two Tiny hulls. Large ships can moor up to two Small ships or four Tiny hulls. Gargantuan ship hulls may more up to four Small hulls. These ships may be used for ship-to-shore commerce or ship-to-ship combat.
Passenger Rooms: The ship has two well-appointed cabins, along with a store of luxury foods and fine wines for noble passengers enjoyment. These passenger rooms allow the ship to charge 4 sp/day for passage rather than 1 sp/day.
Ramming Prow: The ship has a curved metal ram attached to the prow. This enables it to do considerable damage when ramming a target. Increase the damage done by the ship’s ramming attack by one size increment and increase the critical hit modifier to x3.
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Slave Hold: The ship is capable of hauling a cargo of slaves for a significant distance (over 100 miles) without having the majority of the cargo die due to poor conditions. The conditions within a slave hold are little better than those for animal cargoes, but they are survivable.
Thin Lines: The ship has a very narrow profile and is low to the water, allowing it to race forward. The ship can add +1 knot to its base speed. A thin lined ship gives its captain a –2 penalty on his attack roll to resist boarding.
Turanian Rigging: The ship is well rigged to take advantage of the wind. It gains +1 knot to overland movement and +1 movement point in during closing turns when the wind favours the ship. Ships may only have one kind of rigging (i.e. a ship may not have both merchant and turan rigging).
A character can recognise Turainian rigging on any ship in line of sight by making a Profession (sailor) skill check (DC 10).
Vitals Store: The ship has sufficient resources to supply its crew and marines with food and water for 120 days.
Zingaran Rigging: The ship is rigged in the Zingaran fashion, allowing it to run fast and hard with the wind but making it less likely to be able to use any wind to its own advantage. In closing turns they gain +1 movement point when the wind favours them. In strategic/overland movement they gain +3 knots from most wind conditions
except for a contrary wind or bestilled. A ship may only have one kind of rigging.
A character can recognise Zingaran rigging on any ship in line of sight by making a Profession (sailor) skill check (DC 15).
Maintenance
Ships unfortunately consume resources much like a barbarian guzzles wine. Not only does the owner have to pay his crews; he must also keep the ship itself in working order. This requires time, energy and no small amount of silver.
All ship hulls require monthly maintenance. This activity is assumed to take place during the ships normal travels.
If this maintenance fails then the ship sustains damage, which must be repaired normally. Repairing damage is described in the Seas of Steel chapter (pg. 58).
The captain may make the Profession (sailor) skill check to manage the ship maintenance himself, or he may delegate this task to one of his loyal retainers. Whoever makes the skill check may gain assistance (from the aid another action) from a number of other crewmen equal to his Wisdom modifier. Additionally, a skilled crew provides its bonus to the skill check.
The first time the crew fails to maintain the ship deal the damage from the 1st failure column. If they do not repair this damage failure deals the damage described in the 2nd
failure column. If they continue to ignore the decay of their ship and fail again deal the damage from the 3rd failure column.
When repairing m a i n t e n a n c e damage the crew must fix the effects in reverse order.
For example, the crew must fix the d a m a g e