Ghosts of Saltmarsh has rules for issues at sea and dealing with them as a ship, but they don't work quite as well for an all PC crew. Intimidation rolls and what not can be somewhat moot between PCs.

So, below I've adjusted the types of rolls made and who can make them. I've made as few adjustments as possible, and have tried to keep rolls as in-line with the NPC crew roles as possible, but, again, some just don't apply. This means few rolls for some Hazards, and an easier time achieving both Total Success and Total Failure.

Also, Ships' Officers will vary a bit, given the small crew. I'll cover that in the next post, then move on to Hazard adjustments.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:54, Thu 29 Oct 2020.

The ship will need 3 people that can handle water vehicles (one for each shift) plus a navigator. It will also need a Captain.

It may also have: A bosun, a cook, a weather witch/wizard, a navigator, and/or a ships cleric.

Crew: 3 required: May not also take one of the other positions. They will be working full time already. This does not preclude them from having the skills for one of the other professions, of course. All must have Water Vehicle training.

Captain: Required: Water vehicles. Should also have Navigation, and may or may not also be the Bosun, Mage, or Cleric. May not be the cook, and Bosun is unlikely.

First Mate: there won't be one for such a small crew. A Bosun or Bard may take over some functions, however.

Bosun: Required: Athletics and Carpentry. Will likely be the equivalent to the 1st Mate if present. You know... Saltmarsh doesn't have Sailmasters. A bit of Weaving on the Bosun might be good, too. On a ship this small, he'd have both jobs, anyhow.

Quartermaster/Navigator: required: Nature and Navigation. May be Captain, Ship's Mage, or Ship's Cleric as well.

Surgeon: Requires Medicine and Herbalism. may be the Ship's cleric. May be considered unneeded if a cleric is on board. Clerics may not make Surgeon Hazard rolls without the skills, however.

Cook: Requires Cooking and Brewing. However, a Cleric can make the Brewing mostly moot.

Ships Mage: A weather Wizard/Sorcerer with wind spells and water spells. They need to have some ability to keep the ships safe in rough weather, and moving in dead winds. Storm Sorcerers are ideal, but hardly the only choice. Also, the Mage should have Mending.

Ship's Cleric: In addition to the usual healing, wanted for Create Water, Purify Food and Drink, and, eventually, Create Food and Water.

Ship's Fisherman: He spends all day on the fantail fishing for fresh meat for the crew. Needs Survival. Fishing tackle will be provided. Should also be able to step in as an emergency crewman so Water Vehicles is wise, as well.

Note: a Bard may use Jack of All Trades to fake the TOOL requirements, but will have some gaps due to lack of training. Probably not enough to matter. They are still required to have any required SKILL training. A Bardic Captain will require both skill and tool training, not just JoAT. This is just to take a spot as a ships officer for Hazard Rolls.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:30, Thu 22 Oct 2020.

Only the Captain and Bosun have special actions, as there is no 1st Mate.

Basically, one does Take Aim

If you have a Bard he may take a variation on the Full Speed Ahead action: He may spend an Inspiration die on the crew, and the die is multiplied by 5 and added to speed for a round, as normal. Again, this is a PC crew variation: PCs are mostly immune to Charisma skills and Bardic Inspiration, however, is designed to work on them. Unlike a Captain yelling at a group of NPC crewman, this works on a single crewman only, and only a limited number of times.

The rest of combat is pretty standard. However, it's a small ship: One fireball can take out everything.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:01, Wed 06 Jan 2021.

The On Duty crewman is restricted to Noticing Threats. And, in fact, is the default person for such a roll.

Draw a Map: Usually the Captain's job. The Navigator is probably busy navigating. If the Captain is both, this may have to be forgone.

Forage: There may be a dedicated crewman for this. If not, it's not likely to be done unless the Mage or Cleric get bored.

Raise Morale: If the ship has a Bard, spending one Influence per person can do this easily. It won't often be necessary, however, on a PC only ship.

Navigate: This is what the Navigator does. However, it's not necessary when shore is kept in sight.

Repair: This is what the Bosun does. However, if everything on a ship is working properly he may take up fishing.

Stealth: Standard Saltmarsh rules apply. However, if you're in a fog bank, other issues might come up.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:00, Fri 25 Sept 2020.

No much needed here, because it's not going to happen (conflict here would be  PVP), and, if it does, I'll step in myself.

That being said, on the off chance something allowable happens in this area (which would likely be magically induced):

Intimidation probably won't work, but, if it does the Captain may make his roll.

The Ship's Bard, if any, make spend on Influence die for each affected character. This can burn through Influence die, but hazards are (generally) a weekly thing, so it might seem worth it. The number of affected influenced determine success chance. This could take a few rounds, of course. If the time isn't available, do what you can, but generally such checks replace the daily activity so there should be plenty of time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:32, Thu 22 Oct 2020.

A spell that extinguishes fires might solve the problem, or lower DCs. Otherwise checks are standard, replacing 1st Mate with Bards and influence dice.

Well if we're here, you likely don't have a cleric on the crew, or its' worse than Purify Food can handle.

Checks are standard, replacing 1st Mate with Bard as above.

Eventually it's going to get nautical out there.

And still: Rolls are standard, with the Bard substitution for 1st Mate.

I'll add Ship Combat here to the Saltmarsh thread, as that's where much of it comes from. However, two sections of the DMG are relevant:

Siege weapons can be found on page 255 of the DMG. The stats include an Attack modifier for NC crews. When a PC is doing the shooting use the PC's Dex mod, Proficiency bonus, and any Fighting Style or Missile combat abilities.

Travel Pace can be found on age 242 of the DMG I will be using a 5 minute turn for Ship Encounters at a rage beyond about 1000' (just outside extreme Mangonel range). Actual range when switching to rounds may vary but shouldn't be closer than 750' (within range of a  Mangonel).

This is still short term ship too ship, so headwinds and tail winds still affect speeds:

Galley:
Sails: into the wind: 750'/turn, normal: 1750'/turn,  with the wind: 2500'/turn
Oars: 1500'/turn

Keelboat:
Sails: into the wind: 750'/turn, normal: 1250'/turn,  with the wind: 1750'/turn
Oars: 1000'/turn

Longship:
Sails: into the wind: 750'/turn, normal: 2250'/turn,  with the wind: 3000'/turn
Oars: 1000'/turn

Rowboat
Oars: 750'

Sailing Ship:
Sails: into the wind: 750'/turn, normal: 2250'/turn,  with the wind: 3000'/turn

Warship:
Sails: into the wind: 750'/turn, normal: 1750'/turn,  with the wind: 2500'/turn
Oars: 1000'/turn

Most armed ships have 2 actions, some may have more.

Movement requires one of those actions, and sufficient crew dedicated to that form of movement.

An Attack action is the other action armed ships have (and it may be Fire Ballista or Fire Mangonel, rather than a generic Attack option), but loading and aiming the weapons each takes one or two actions, depending on weapon, for a fire rate of 1/3 rounds for Ballista, and 1/5 rounds for Mangonel. Even assuming a weapon is kept loaded, that's still 2nd or 3rd round of combat for the first shot to be fired. It can only be aimed once the target is in range.

If a ship has extra actions (or is dead in the water) loading and aiming may well proceed at a faster per round pace.

You will almost always be at long range for your weapona nd firing at Disadvantage. The Bosun may spend his Action ont he Firing round to negate this (or give advantage if close enough). If you ahve more than one weapon and they fire at different rounds, he can run around and do this to all, but only one per round.

Any individuals not manning a weapon or using a Bosun or Captain action may take a persona action. Spells, missile weapons, healing, Mending spells, etc.

Hulls, and possibly other Ship components on some ships, have a damage Threshold. If your damage does not exceed this threshold no damage is done. If it does, full damage is done. Personal weapons should probably be fired at anything EXCEPT the hull unless it's a REALLY nasty damage dealer (Thresholds can be as high as 20, enough to resist ballista bolts).

Bosun Action: Take Aim: this gives a siege weapon Advantage if fired the same round This is a Ship action, and is independent of individual Initiative. IE: Even if the Gunner goes first he benefits

Captain's Action: Another Ship Action (for initiative), and goes off with the Move: Full Speed Ahead. This adds 1d6x5' to the ship's move. OF course, the other ship is probably also using it.

Ship Initiative: Ships have their own Dex. The On-Duty Crewman will roll for Ship's initiative along with his or her own (that way I know someone is actually there to do so, not waiting to be woken up).

The following happen at the Ship's Initiative:
Movement: The Crewman's Action (turning is also done here)
Weapon Firing: The Gunner's Action
This Incudes Bosun and Captain's actions.

Everyone else goes off on Individual initiates, as does any potential Bonus Action from the Gunner, Bosun, Crewman, Captain. Ready actions to delay an action are perfectly acceptable.

There are some obvious ones, and at least one that needs some adjudication.

Mending: How many item hit points it heal? Well, Tasha's tells us (sort of). Artificers can use it to heal/repair a homonuculus or Iron Defender for 2d6 hits. That seems reasonable for Ships with hit points, as well. Remember, howver, that holes larger than 1' are unrepairable by this method.


Gust of Wind: This can produce a tailwind while it last, if there is little to no wind conflicting with the desired direction. It can NOT negate a head wind as it won't cover enough area, and will just overstrain the mast.

Control Wind or Weather can affect the local situation as well for good or ill. And sometimes for more than just a favorable tailwind or unfavorable headwind.

That is what occurs to me off hand and is within the current range of player spells. At least potentially.

Ballista crews are one or two men. If two men the second is Bosun or Captain, and your captain is the Weather Witch, so...Bosun.

It takes one action to load a ballista, one action to aim the ballista, and a 3rd to fire the ballista. The Bosun uses his Officer Action on the Fire action to give Advantage (or negate Disadvantage).

These are Ship Actions with an NPC crew. Each weapon gets one, so it's one ballista shot every 3rd round. HOWEVER...we have an all PC crew:
Round 1: Gunner loads, Officer Aims
Round 2: Gunner Fires, Officer Aims.

1 Shot very 2 rounds.