Storage Hold: This large, forward chamber serves as the primary storage space for the

war-ship. Crates of hardtack, barrels of water, and boxes of general supplies fill this area.

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CHAPTER FIVE: Ship Designs Ships in Service

As warships are usually too expensive to con-struct and crew for anything short of a country to field them in large numbers, most warships are given names according to a particular nation’s customs. Some countries turn to their history for ship names, christening them in honor of national heroes, deities, or other important figures. Some vain monarchs bestow their own name to particularly impressive or expensive ships. Generally speaking, nations make an effort to use at least some sort of nam-ing scheme in order to make their warships eas-ily distinguishable from merchant shipping or independent vessels. Examples include:

Avenger, Indomitable, Pursuer, Royal Savage, Sea Dragon, Sea Flame, Warspite

Variant: Wizard’ s Warship

This version of the warship is designed specif-ically to support a contingent of wizards or sor-cerers. It uses the same deck design as the stan-dard warship, but it converts areas 3, 4, and 13 to extra lodging for the spellcasters aboard the ship. Furthermore, the crow’s nests atop each mast are expanded and armored, giving spell-casters an excellent perch to pour spells and enchantments down upon enemy ships.

Ballistae replace the standard warship’s cata-pults, as the wizards aboard this ship provide it with long range firepower and often order the ship to close with the enemy in order to use their spells to better effect. As ballistae lack a minimum range, they are much better suited to a close assault role.

The wizard’s warship incorporates a magical hull into the basic design that counts as +1 spell resistance (15) armor. As a fleet’s wizards often attract the enemy’s own magical resources, the reinforced hull often marks the difference between victory and defeat. In addi-tion, should the situation aboard a wizard’s warship grow dire, the spellcasters aboard the ship can unleash spells such as fireball and lightning bolt within the ship in hopes that the magic destroys the enemy but leaves the vessel unharmed.

Variant: Holy Warship

This variation on the warship’s basic design serves clerics, paladins, and other holy travel-ers. Equipped with an altar dedicated to the ship’s patron god, holy warships often sail on

crusades or expeditions in the name of a church or other religious organization. Pirates who operate under the blessing of a dark deity often use this ship design to prowl the shipping lanes, extracting tribute from hapless merchants and striking out at heretic vessels. Holy wars on the water often involve the clash of entire fleets dedicated to one god or the other. In these struggles, this version of the warship is a com-mon combatant.

Holy warships dedicated to beneficial gods often seek out and destroy ghosts ships and other undead or demonic threats to shipping.

With their special armament and defenses, these ships make excellent tools for destroying the fell powers on the high seas.

The holy warship uses the same deck plans as the standard warship. Its equipment is slightly different, with the forecastle-mounted light cat-apult replaced with a +3 holy ballista and the heavy catapults replaced with light ones. This weapon serves as the primary tool against demons, devils, and undead. A wooden plat-form built beneath this ballista allows it to rotate in a 360º arc of fire.

Holy warships are often bestowed with a hal-low spell, granting all areas of the ship the ben-efits provided by that spell. In addition, most churches include a secondary bless or aid effect with the hallow spell.

Holy warships produced by evil churches use unholy rather than holy weapons and use a bane effect in place of bless.

Variant: Elf Warship

Elven warships place a premium on speed and close ranged hitting power to overcome their foes. While the sails on an elf ship are light and easier to destroy than the thick, heavy ones found on most other warships, the clever elf mariners are experts at rigging their ships for maximum speed. The elf warship can easily sail circles around most other designs, raking its foes with catapult and ballistae fire while dancing away before the enemy can muster a counter-volley.

Elves make two common modifications to the typical warship design. They change the arma-ments to better fit their fighting style, removing the two heavy catapults, shift-ing the sterncastle light catapults down

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to the main deck, and installing two ballistae where the light catapults once stood. The fore-castle’s light catapult remains in place. More importantly, the elven warship has the Wind Rider ship quality rather than Reinforced Sails.

While the elven ships are easier to cripple, their swift speed makes it difficult for most enemy vessels to hit them.

Variant: Dwarf Warship

While the dwarves rarely take to sea travel, those that do rely on heavily armed and armored warships to protect their gold- and mithral-laden traders. Dwarf battleships use four heavy catapults to deliver a devastating volley of fire to enemy ships. Once the enemy closes, the dwarves rely on their tough, heavily armored marines to repel boarders or claim enemy ships.

The dwarf warship uses the same basic design presented above. However, it lacks the forecas-tle-mounted light catapult and replaces the cat-apults mounted on the sterncastle with heavy versions.

Variant: Orc Warship

Clumsily chopping through the waves, the orc warship is a lumbering, relentless combatant.

Orcs lack the shipbuilding skills necessary to construct warships. In particular, the complex rigging and sail structure necessary to give the warship its speed lies quite beyond the grasp of most orc artisans. Thus, when orcs use war-ships they often employ captured or stolen ves-sels that have been modified for their uses. The first order of business for any self-respecting orc captain is to chop down the warship’s masts, bore holes in the hull, and install rowing benches and oars. To many orcs, relying on the wind rather than strong arms, a stout back, and heavy oars is cowardly and a sign of supreme weakness. Furthermore, most orc captains pre-fer to close with and board their targets, pri-marily merchant vessels. Thus, the orc warship carries a slightly different arsenal. Orc captains remove the forecastle’s catapult and one of the catapults mounted on the sterncastle. In their place, orc engineers mount a massive, iron-headed ram on the warship. Finally, the orcs hammer additional armor plating to the hull, slowing down the warship but slightly boosting its protection.

Orcs prefer to soften up a target with the cata-pults before closing in for the kill with the ram.

Against faster ships, they use their artillery to hammer their target’s sails or oars, hoping to cripple it before closing in for a ramming attack.

Orc warships use the same deckplans outlined above with a few modifications. First, area 14 is converted into a rowing deck with long, wooden benches installed for the orcs or slaves who work the oars. The captain simply takes whatever room strikes his fancy, usually one below deck in order to shield him from the sun.

The crew sleeps in areas 10, 11, 12, and 13, with sailors, officers, and marines sprawled across the floor. Obviously, without masts the orc warship lacks the crow’s nests found on other versions.

Variant: Gnome Warship

As an inventive, curious race, gnomes can’t help but make improvements to ship designs they inherit or adopt from other races. Most gnome captains immediately replace the cata-pults aboard a warship with cannons or other superior weaponry. Gnomes also use their small size to make their warships much more comfortable, placing wooden platforms in the living areas aboard ships to double the floor space available. Thus, gnome warships can carry more marines, helping compensate for the gnome warriors’ small size and lower strength.

The gnome warship removes all five catapults aboard the standard designs and mounts in their place two cannons on the sterncastle and a sin-gle, forward-mounted cannon on the forecastle.

In addition, raised platforms installed in areas 13 and 14 double the floor space available there, allowing the gnome warship to carry a crew 25% larger than that found on other ships.

These extra crewmen are often marines charged with aiding in launching and repulsing boarding actions.

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CHAPTER FIVE: Ship Designs