A dwarf perusing weapons at a local market.
Adventuring In Space
Officer Positions
A spelljamming ship has a number of staff positions onboard. These vary from place to place and from race to race, but usually include the following:
- Owner: The one who owns the ship and signs documents in the ship's name. Usually, but not always, the captain.
- Captain: Ultimate authority on the ship when it is under sail. May or may not be the owner as well.
- First Officer: Captain's second-in-command. Serves if the captain is not present or is incapacitated. Often responsible for boarding parties.
- Helmsman: The spellcaster or manifester currently linked into the helm, whose abilities determine the speed and movement of the craft. There may be several helmsmen aboard a ship, with different levels of ability and additional duties as well.
- Ship's Mage: Highest level arcane spellcaster or manifester not currently involved in spelljamming.
- Ship's Cleric: Highest level priest not currently involved in spelljamming.
- Ship's Spellmaster: Usually, the most powerful mage or cleric onboard, regardless of class or whether spelljamming or not.
- Navigator: Responsible for long-distance movement and tactics, keeps star charts.
- Quartermaster (QM): Is responsible for supplies, including food, air, and weapons. A boring job until the ship runs out of something.
All of the above are considered “The Officers” and may hold duplicate titles or share multiple responsibilities. The helmsman, spelljammer, and chief mage may all be the same individual. Similarly, there may be additional titles onboard. A ship that makes boarding its primary way of saying “Howdy” might have a battlemaster, or one that carries archery troops, a chief bowman. Similarly, non-human races vary in their positions, from the elves, who add a battlepoet to their officers, to the mind flayers, who keep a “faith officer,” to the beholders, who lack any real organization save for that based on subspecies.
Below the officers are the crew—often called the expendables (but never by a wise captain within earshot of them). The crew may be broken up into various tasks (maintenance, weapons, boarding, etc.) or handled in a random fashion. ("Hey, we need someone to scrape off the barnacles!")
The crew is usually (but not always) non-player characters, brought along for the ride or hired for a particular voyage. A ship’s crew has a morale of 11 in most situations. As an option, the DM may assign higher or lower initial values depending on the situation, for example:
| Crew Is… | Morale Value |
|---|---|
| Complete novices in space | 9 |
| Above, but military or mercenaries | 10 |
| Have been in space before | 12 |
| Above, but military or mercenaries | 13 |
| Elite space veterans | 14 |
| Mainly pirates | 11 |
Crew
Because so much of the glossy and important work of a spelljamming ship rests with the captain and helmsman, the place of the normal crew is often glossed over. However, the careful captain who trains his men well and treats them as more than dragon fodder will be rewarded with a ship that can handle itself well in tactical situations. While the gross motive power of the ship is determined by the helmsman, its tacking, heeling, and spinning is controlled by the men who man the rigging and the oars.
Crews are divided into four classifications: green, average, trained, and crack. Their costs per man are below:
- Green: 2 gp per standard month
- Average: 4 gp per standard month
- Trained: 6 gp per standard month
- Crack: 6 gp per standard month Payment is usually in advance for the first two months, with any extra money accrued payable on landfall. In addition, crews which are going into hazardous situations (such as when hiring privateers or adventurers) may demand a crew's cut of plunder—a share equal to that of the leaders, to be distributed among the surviving crew. Such a crew's cut will not improve their sailing ability but will affect their morale in combat situations.
Green sailors are those that can be picked up anywhere—everyone from groundlings eager to get into space to ex-mercenaries drowning their troubles in the bars. They barely know the difference between a hawser and a ballista. They are warm bodies to fill the ranks, but little more.
Average sailors are usually found around space citadels, asteroids, and other pockets of civilization. They have had sailing experience before in space and are competent to run a ship fairly well. In any city of respectable size (such as the Rock), they can be found in sufficient numbers to crew a vessel.
Trained sailors are the veterans of many voyages, often on a number of ships. They are numerous, but that does not mean they are easy to find. In any large city area in space, about 3d10 trained sailors can be found for hire. Of course, arrivals of new ships, ship crews mutinying or abandoning people may change that number.
Crack sailors are not so much rare as very specialized. They are the best at what they do for a particular captain and aboard a particular ship. Taking a crack crew from a nautiloid and putting it on a squid ship reduces it to trained status. The "crack" crew designation gives greater benefits than a trained crew.
Initial Crew Status
Initially, a crew has the rating of the majority of its members. A crew of 10 with one trained, six average, and three green recruits is considered average, while one with two trained and eight green members will be considered green. This is for determining the initial crew rating only when a ship is just starting out in play.
Increasing Crew Status
- A green crew becomes average after one month of travel. This reflects one month of total travel, so that two days of travel, a week of hanging around in a dock, and two more days of travel add up to only four days of travel. Thirty standard days are needed to break in a green crew.
- An average crew becomes trained after two more months of travel, including at least one trip into the phlogiston. For unindoctrinated crews, the Flow is a spook-house filled with nasty creatures, a belief which is too easily confirmed by beasts such as the ephemerals.
- A trained crew becomes crack after three more months, including at least one trip into the phlogiston and one battle with another ship (known as "blooding the crew"). If during all three of these months, the crew served under one captain, on the same ship, they attain crack status.
Decreasing Crew Status
Crew members will be lost through the normal wear and tear of combat and travel in space. As long as at least 20% of the original crew is still on board, the ship's crew status stays the same. For example, if a ship with a trained crew of 10 men loses eight to a kraken and then hires eight green replacements at the next stop, the ship still has a trained crew. The old-timers teach the ropes to the newcomers.
The exception to this is crack status. If a crack crew loses more than 50% of its members, it slips to trained status until the new crew passes through the three-month process to regain its status.
Crews, regardless of their status, can man large weapons. The status of green, average, trained, or crack does not affect combat ability.
Effects of Crew Status
A crew that works together smoothly can increase the speed at which a ship reacts to enemy maneuvers, or other events taking place on the ship. This has no effect on the ship's maneuver rating, but does affect a few other things. Firstly, it increases the initiative modifier of the ship and its crew; secondly, it provides a bonus to morale checks made on behalf of the crew; thirdly, it adds a bonus to the pilot's Helm Pilot checks.
| Crew Status | Initiative Bonus | Morale Bonus | Helm Pilot Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | −1 | 0 | −2 |
| Average | 0 | +1 | 0 |
| Trained | +1 | +2 | +4 |
| Crack | +2 | +4 | +8 |
Weapon Teams
Any crewman or character can operate a large weapon such as a catapult, ballista, or jettison. There are specialists who have been trained in their use, however, and they tend to be more valuable in combat. If player characters wish to invest, they may be able to get special hirelings for these shipboard positions.
Any good-sized city will have a few large-weapon specialists available for hire. One to 10 will be available in any standard month, and their hiring rates are usually 6 gp per month per specialist.
A single specialist will affect the firing of one large weapon onboard ship. Multiple specialists are needed to maintain many weapons. A weapon specialist can help in the repair and operation of any of the large weapon types that he is versed in but can only give his bonuses to one weapon at a time.
The large weapon assigned to the weapon specialist has a +1 insight bonus to hit as long as the weapon specialist is able to communicate with the other crewmen on the weapon team. Further, the weapon team may suffer the loss of one member (who is not the specialist) and continue to operate with no ill effect on its rate of fire.
A weapons specialist is usually versed in one type of weapon: catapult, ballista, bombard (where available), greek fire projector, or jettison. Five percent of those encountered will be knowledgeable in two weapons, and five percent of those will be versed in three.
A character with proficiencies in any of these weapons can hire on as a weapon specialist or use his proficiency to provide a bonus to hit from a single turret. A character doing this cannot be engaged in another position on the ship (such as captain, navigator, or helmsman) or leave his position, or the benefit is lost.
Common Ship Commands
(Or, things the captain bellows and expects everyone else to understand.)
- Steady: Maintain heading and speed.
- Full ahead (number): Maintain heading, increase speed to given number.
- Bear port: Turn one hex side to the left.
- Hard port: Turn two hex sides to the left as soon as possible.
- Bear starboard: Turn one hex side to the right.
- Hard starboard: Turn two hex sides to the right as soon as possible.
- Full astern: Back up as fast as possible.
- All stop: Stop.
- Hull strikes: Fire at enemy hull.
- Crew strikes: Fire at enemy crew.
- All strikes: Fire as all individuals see fit (also used to cover specific pre-planned fire patterns, such as “Everybody fire at the wizard”).
- Hold fire: Stop firing.
- Prepare to ram: Ship is ramming this turn if it can.
- Prepare to board: Ship is grappling and boarding this turn if it can.
- Prepare to repel boarders: Ship is about to be grappled or rammed; be ready for it.
- Helm down: We’ve lost the spelljamming mage, either to death or system failure. Someone else get down there right away!
- Fire in the hold: General term for ugliness below decks; includes fire, being holed, being boarded through a hole, or damage to a nasty section of the ship.
- Strike the colors: Surrender.
- Hail: No hostile moves; we’re opening communications.
- Full evasion: Let’s run away from these guys.
- Battle evasion or Evasive maneuvers: Spin the ship along its long axis. This maneuver grants the ship a -1 penalty to attack rolls, but a +1 bonus to AC, with a bonus of +4 AC against specific strikes. This effect lasts for a single round and can be done as part of the ship's move action.
- Jettison away: Fire the jettison (or all jettisons).
- Catapult away: Fire the catapult (or all catapults).
- Ballista away: Fire the ballista (or all ballistae).
- &%#$: Standard reaction to combat results.
Weapons
Grappling Hook
Exotic Two-Handed Thrown Melee
Critical: x2
Type: Piercing
Range Increment: 40 ft
Hardness: 10
| Size | Cost | Damage | Weight | HP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fine | * | — | * | 1 |
| Diminutive | * | 1 | * | 1 |
| Tiny | * | 1d2 | * | 1 |
| Small | 1 gp | 1d3 | 1 lb. | 1 |
| Medium | 1 gp | 1d4 | 2 lb. | 2 |
| Large | 2 gp | 1d6 | 4 lb. | 4 |
| Huge | * | 1d8 | * | 8 |
| Gargantuan | * | 2d6 | * | 16 |
| Colossal | * | 3d6 | * | 32 |
* For values marked with an asterisk, the SRD gives neither this value directly nor a means to determine it. | ||||
These are the grappling hooks described in the SRD with slight modifications to be used as weapons and have a slightly increased range, making them more useful for boarding ships. A grappling hook has reach, so you can strike opponents 10 ft away with it. In addition, unlike most other weapons with reach, it can be used against an adjacent foe.
You can make trip attacks with the hook. If you are tripped during your own trip attempt, you can drop the hook to avoid being tripped.
When using a grappling hook, you get a +2 bonus on opposed attack rolls made to disarm an opponent (including the roll to avoid being disarmed if such an attempt fails).
You can use the Weapon Finesse feat to apply your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with a grappling hook sized for you, even though it isn’t a light weapon for you.
Boarding Pike
Martial Two-Handed Melee
Critical: x3
Type: Piercing
Range Increment: -
Hardness: 10
| Size | Cost | Damage | Weight | HP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fine | * | 1d2 | * | 1 |
| Diminutive | * | 1d3 | * | 1 |
| Tiny | * | 1d4 | * | 2 |
| Small | 5 gp | 1d6 | 4–½ lb. | 5 |
| Medium | 5 gp | 1d8 | 9 lb. | 10 |
| Large | 10 gp | 2d6 | 18 lb. | 20 |
| Huge | * | 3d6 | * | 40 |
| Gargantuan | * | 4d6 | * | 80 |
| Colossal | * | 6d6 | * | 160 |
* For values marked with an asterisk, the SRD gives neither this value directly nor a means to determine it. | ||||
This is a common hooked polearm used in space, primarily for repelling boarders and cutting grappling lines. It is of very little use when trying to board an enemy ship. Built similarly to a longspear, the boarding pike is almost 15 ft long. You can strike opponents 15 ft away with it, but you can't use it against foes closer than that. If you use a ready action to set an awl pike against a charge, you deal double damage on a successive hit against a charging character.
Other Spelljamming Equipment
There are a few other items that may be useful to the star voyager in his travels, some magical, some not.
Passage Device
Price (Item Level): 81,000 gp
Body Slot: —
Caster Level: 9th
Aura: Moderate Transmutation
Activation: —
Weight: 5 lbs
The passage device is a creation of the Mercane, used to create portals through the crystal shell between the phlogiston and wildspace. Upon speaking the command word, the device creates a portal big enough for a spelljamming ship to pass through a crystal shell. This effect functions like the spell Create Portal, except that the portal always closes immediately after the ship passes through.
Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, *create portal
Portal Locator
Price (Item Level): 12,000 gp
Body Slot: —
Caster Level: 3rd
Aura: Faint Divination
Activation: —
Weight: ½ lbs
Another Mercane device which appears as a sort of compass with no cardinal directions marked on it. The device is fairly reliable (90% accurate in pointing a direction to the portal) and is often "thrown in" by Mercane salesmen as a giveaway.
Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, *locate portal
Planetary Locator
Price (Item Level): 15,000 gp
Body Slot: —
Caster Level: 3rd
Aura: Faint Divination
Activation: —
Weight: 25 lbs
An Mercane device often tossed in as a bonus to purchasers of a Mercane hull, this desk-sized device contains a map similar to the System Display included with this product. When a ship carrying a locator enters a crystal shell, the device immediately tracks the major celestial bodies in that sphere and displays them.
The planetary locator will not track planets or celestial bodies smaller than size B, but should these be encountered, the information can be entered manually and displayed thereafter. The planetary locator will also show asteroid bases that choose to be located (in other words, those that bought a device from the Mercane that causes them to appear on locators). Some of these devices have been stolen and are used by Neogi, pirates, and other marauders to trap unwary travelers.
Finally, the planetary locator cannot show accurately those planetary systems which do not align with the central-body-with-other-bodies-moving-around-it type. Chaotic, strange, or other types of systems cause the locator board to turn a single solid color, or go black. The planetary locator will not operate in the phlogiston. The recommended use of the planetary locator is to determine landmarks in a system that can be used to guide the traveler to a civilized area where he can purchase a reliable star chart.
Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, *locate object, silent image
Star Charts
The star charts of a system vary in price according to how well that system is known and visited. Star charts indicate the location and relative position of the various planets in the system, but do not indicate current positions. They are not magical but are very useful for determining things like hostile forces, mean temperature, and spaceborne powers operating in the region.
Cost: typically 100–600 gp
Anchors/Tethers
Anchors are used to moor a ship to a larger body such as an asteroid or tie together two ships. Anchors and tethers are also used at space docks to secure ships and keep them from drifting off in difficult situations. In general, a larger ship will require a greater anchor, but for very large ships, multiple tether/anchors serve the purpose as well as a single large anchor.
Cost: 10 gp per ton of ship
Life Boats
Lifeboats are hard-shelled vehicles designed to bring the occupants relatively safely to the surface of a planet or rescue ship. The lifeboat falls toward the nearest gravity well (using a lifeboat close to a star can have nasty results). The lifeboat descends according to the rules listed for landing but may only land. Once landed, it will never fly again.
A lifeboat takes up as much tonnage as one-half the number of people it can carry. A large lifeboat occupies 10 tons of cargo space (including jettisons for launching). Collapsible versions shrink this requirement to 1 ton of storage, but collapsible lifeboats require 2d4 rounds of setup before they can be launched. Collapsible versions cost three times the listed price.
Cost: Small (2 person): 1,000 gp, Medium (5 person): 5,000 gp, Large (20 person): 10,000 gp