Vehicle Combat

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Ship Combat

These rules are intended to provide a fun, interesting means of simulating ship-to-ship combat, or any vehicular combat which is subject to wind or some other external force which affects movement (e.g. Aether, if you're running a steampunk space combat, etc.) These rules are optional, since some campaign settings will have no use for them.

The primary concept is that the ship itself is run like a character, where each of its primary attributes are modified by the individual actions of the player characters. For example, the speed of a medium-sized ship, when traveling in the same direction as the wind, might be 6, but a competent rigging crew can modify this each round with their skill checks (similarly, they can hinder this if they are unskilled).

These rules are focused only on the combat roles of a group of player-characters during combat. Outside of combat, ships should be fairly easy to handle, with only the occasional skill check to see if the ship remains on course and how quickly it can arrive at its destination.

Combat is performed on a square-based grid, just like standard Epic Path melee combat. Similarly, diagonals do not cost any more movement than cardinal directions. This results in eight possible directions from each square, which lines up nicely with compass directions. Granted, in 'real' ship movements, the compass is divided up in 16 directions (featuring directions like East-south-east), but these rules aren't intended to be accurate depictions of naval warfare, just a fun simulation. Over several turns, it is very possible to achieve nuanced directions like east-south-east, but it requires multiple squares of movement to depict.

Combat Rounds

Like standard combat, ship combat begins with an initiative roll. (Surprise rounds are also possible, though sneaking up on a ship at sea can be pretty difficult.) Once initiative has been rolled, each ship gets the following actions each round:

• Move phase - Where the ship's actual movement occurs. This can differ from the desired course, if the rigging crew and/or helmsman crews fail to achieve the needed results for complex maneuvers.
• Attack phase - Where attack rolls and defense rolls are made by the Gunner crew and Spotter crew respectively.
• Damage phase - Where damage is applied and Fire Crews attempt to mitigate the incoming damage, or prepare for future damage.

Each of these phases is completed by all ships in the combat before the next phase occurs. Details on how the phases play out are given below in the Phases of Combat section.

Ship Attributes

A ship has several key attributes, each of which changes each round, depending on its circumstances, the skill of its assigned officer, and the base attribute of the ship itself. These attributes are:

• Speed - the number of squares the ship can move, in total, each round
• Maneuverability - the number of squares off of a straight line that the ship can move in a given round.
• Defense - the target DC an enemy must achieve to hit this ship in combat
• Accuracy - the to-hit number for firing the ship's offensive weapons
• Repairs - the amount of damage that a ship can recover each round

Each of these attributes can have an officer and crew assigned to it to make that attribute perform better in combat. If no officer or crew is assigned to a particular station, that station uses the base attribute of the ship. In general, there should always be someone assigned to each station.

Officers

The primary officer roles of a ship are:

• Rigging - responsible for the ship's speed
• Helmsman - responsible for the ship's maneuverability
• Spotter - responsible for the ship's defense (AC)
• Gunner - responsible for the ship's accuracy
• Fire Crew - responsible for making emergency repairs to a ship during combat

Small, Medium and Large Ships

There are obvious reasons to want a larger ship -- more cargo space, more offensive capabilities, and greater hull strength for defense. However, larger ships are not agile, and this lack of agility is reflected in the way that orders to maneuver them are implemented.

A small ship can move through its environment with relative ease. It can turn twice as quickly as a medium ship and in far less space. Furthermore, small ships tend to have the highest base speed (assuming they are sailing ships, and not rowed) of the various ship classes. However, small ships are more fragile and carry fewer weapons and less cargo.

Medium ships are slower than small ships, and have limited maneuverability each round. Without a skilled helmsman, turns are complex affairs which usually take more than one round to complete. However, medium ships can carry a decent arsenal of offensive weapons, or they can haul significant quantities of cargo.

Large ships are very slow, but they are also very tough to disable or sink. They can carry an absurd amount of weaponry and still carry large amounts of cargo. Large ships have terrible maneuverability, though, and orders to change their direction are delayed by a full round. That is, if an order is given to turn 90 degrees to port, the ship doesn't even begin that turn until the round after the order has been given. Once it begins the turn, the turn will likely take two or even three rounds to complete, and a great deal of space is required to accomplish it. Maneuvering a large ship takes a great deal of advance planning and a comfortable knowledge of the nearby obstacles (reefs, shoals, etc.), as a large ship has a much harder time avoiding these things.

Ship Attributes

This section describes the base attributes of ships. These base attributes describe how a ship would perform if a crew of NPC's is operating the ship. Once PC's are assigned as officers to the various roles of the ship, the ship's performance can be improved by the efforts and skill of the PC's. For details on how PC's affect a ship's base attributes, see the Crewing a Ship section, below.

Wind

The direction of the wind is determined by the GM at the beginning of the encounter. While this direction can be anything the GM wants, it is important to remember that simple is better. As a result, the wind's direction should always be one of the cardinal directions (north, south, east or west). While this isn't realistic, it makes descriptions of the combat much simpler.

Another break from realism is the fact that these rules do not care how fast the wind is blowing, nor does the direction of the wind shift over the course of a battle.

For the purposes of these rules, all examples will pretend that the wind is traveling from the South to the North. As a result, ships moving North are considered to be moving with the wind.

Speed

A ship's speed is determined at the start of each round, and is based on the bearing it has in relation to the wind (or Aether, or whatever other external locomotive force is being used). This speed does not change until the beginning of the next round, regardless of the turns into or out of the wind the ship makes during the round. Only its final bearing matters for its speed the following round. This is to simulate the effects of the ship's momentum gained from its initial bearing. (As a result, these rules break from normal Epic Path rules in that ships have 'facing'. The direction the front of the ship is pointed is always the direction it must move for its next square of movement. See Maneuverability, below.)

Unlike moving around on land, a ship must move its full speed each round, even if it would prefer to move slower (or faster). A rigging crew can slow down or speed up a ship, depending on just how skilled they are. See Crewing a Ship, below, for details. Also unlike land movement, there are no double-moves or 5-foot-steps in ship combat.

A ship's top speed is always the speed it moves when it is going in the same direction as the wind. The top speeds are determined by the size of the ship:

• small ships have a top speed of 8 squares
• medium ships have a top speed of 6 squares
• large ships have a top speed of 4 squares

Once a ship tries to move off of the wind's main direction, its speed is reduced.

A move 45-degrees off the wind (if the wind is blowing North, this would be Northeast or Northwest) results in a speed penalty of -1 square.

• small ships move 45-degrees off the wind at a speed of 7 squares
• medium ships move 45-degrees off the wind at a speed of 5 squares
• large ships move 45-degrees off the wind at a speed of 3 squares

A move 90-degrees off the wind (if the wind is blowing North, this would be East or West) reduces base speed by half.

• small ships move 90-degrees off the wind at a speed of 4 squares
• medium ships move 90-degrees off the wind at a speed of 3 squares
• large ships move 90-degrees off the wind at a speed of 2 squares

A move 135-degrees off the wind (if the wind is blowing North, this would be Southeast or Southwest) reduces base speed as described below:

• small ships move 135-degrees off the wind at a speed of 3 squares
• medium ships move 135-degrees off the wind at a speed of 2 squares
• large ships move 135-degrees off the wind at a speed of 1 squares

A move directly into the wind (180-degrees off the wind; if the wind is blowing North, this would be South) reduces speed to zero. Rowed ships, or ships which do not rely on the wind (or Aether) for propulsion are always treated as having a speed of zero.

Maneuverability

A ship's base maneuverability, like its speed, is dictated by the ship's size. A ship's maneuverability score is a measure of how many 45-degree turns it can take each round, as well as how close together these 45-degree turns can be performed. Ships cannot turn on a dime, though the smaller the ship, the easier it is to turn.

Ship maneuverability is written as a two-number format. For example, a small ship's maneuverability score is listed as "4/1", meaning that the small ship can perform four 45-degree turns each round, and can perform each turn with only 1 square of movement. That is, a small ship can move forward one square on its current bearing, and upon entering the new square, choose a new bearing within 45-degrees of the old bearing. It can then move forward one square on its new bearing, and upon entering the new square, choose another bearing within 45-degrees of its new bearing. It can do this up to four times per round. As a result, a small ship can make a 90-degree turn in two squares of movement, or make a 180-degree turn in four squares of movement.

A medium ship has a maneuverability score of "2/2", meaning it can only make a 45-degree turn after moving forward on its current bearing at least 2 squares, and that it can only perform two such 45-degree turns per round. This means that a medium ship must move forward on its current bearing two squares, can shift its bearing 45 degrees in the second square, then move forward on its new bearing at least two squares, at which point it can make a second 45-degree bearing change. It takes 4 squares of movement for a medium ship to make a 90-degree course change.

A large ship has a maneuverability score of "1/-", meaning that it can make only a single 45-degree turn each round, and it may do so only after it has completed its forward movement for the round.

Special Rule: Turn In Place

Much like the "Move Five Feet Through Difficult Terrain" rule, a ship with a speed of zero may always spend its entire movement phase to make a single 45-degree turn in place. This allows a ship which is set on a bearing directly into the wind to move out of that bearing and regain some speed, at the cost of its movement for the round.

This rule also allows ships to maneuver through very tricky reefs, shoals or other obstacles, if they first slow down their ship to a speed of zero. Note that rigging crews can adjust the speed of a ship, in spite of its bearing, with successful skill checks.

The "One Free Turn" rule can always be used by any ship that is not disabled or sunk, if its speed is zero, even if it has sustained critical damage reducing its maneuverability.

Defense

A ship's defense score works just like a player character's armor class. It is the target DC that enemy ships must match or exceed in order to successfully hit the ship.

However, unlike a PC's armor class, a ship's Defense score changes each round based on its speed. Slower ships are easier to hit, and faster ships are harder to hit. (Additionally, there are range penalties for shooting at ships further away, but that is covered in the Accuracy section, below).

A ship with a speed of zero has a Defense score of 7. For each square of movement performed during the current round's Movement Phase, the ship's Defense score increases by 1. Thus, a small ship which has moved with the wind for 8 squares this round would have a Defense score of 15.

A ship's Spotter crew can affect the ship's Defense score as well, depending on how skillfully they perform their duties. See Crewing a Ship, below, for details.

Accuracy

A ship's base accuracy is zero. This means that a purely-NPC crew of gunners firing against a stationary target will hit on a roll of 7 or better.

A ship's accuracy can be improved by a Gunnery Officer. See Crewing a Ship, below, for details.

Repairs

A ship can mitigate incoming damage with a talented Fire Crew. However, a purely-NPC crew as a base Repairs score of zero.

Hit Points

A ship also has a hit points value, just like a player character. This value is determined by the ship size.

• Small ships have 25 hit points
• Medium ships have 40 hit points
• Large ships have 60 hit points

Ship Upgrades

It is possible to purchase or build upgrades to a ship to improve its base scores above those listed above. These upgrades are constructed similarly to magic items, in that they require weeks of work in a safe port, and cost many thousands of gold pieces to procure. However, in a ship-based campaign, such upgrades can make a huge difference in a ship's overall performance.