Ship Crew

Page for anything crew related

Crew Morale
Over the course of the adventure the morale of the crew changes with possible ramifications especially in combat where they receive a bonus or negative to their mass combat. Morale increases with victories, decreases cause of defeat. Good omens or bad weather may also affect morale. Morale is a persistent stat that is tracked per ship.

Crew Recruitment
At some point, the PCs will no doubt be interested in acquiring more sailors for their crew. They may do so at any port or settlement, or upon the successful capture of  another ship, by making a Persuasion DC 14 (to convince people to join the crew), Performance DC 15 (to spur them to adventure) Intimidate DC 17 (to press-gang new crew) check. Bluff  DC 20  (to trick sailors onboard),

Each such check takes 1 full day, and a successful check results in 1d4+2 new crew members for the PCs’ ship. Surpassing the check equals 1 crewman for every 2 that you surpass the check.

Spending a point of plunder or 500gp to impress the locals will add +4 to the check.

Mass Combat
At points throughout the adventure the parties of the crew and another large force may clash. Such as when assaulting a fort/town or boarding an enemy ship. During these events boarding action mechanics are applied to streamline the combat so there are not hundreds of tokens to micromanage.

Boarding Combat is primarily an Officer battle with some grunts thrown in while the crew battle happens in the background. However the Crew battle can have ramifications throughout the fight that affects the PCs. This quick and dirty simulation for the crew's part in boarding actions is done on their own initiative turn in combat. This system offers some way to determine how well your crew performs and also provides ways for players to influence it by preparing or motivating their crew. The ultimate victory/defeat is still based on whether the players win their fight against the officers, but this offers a way to simulate what else went on during that time and have possible influences mid fight because of it.

Crews will clash in a contest of Effectiveness. Effectiveness is a combination of Level, Numbers advantage, Morale Bonus, Equipment. Effectiveness is calculated before the start of combat and every crew turn thereafter.

This number can change throughout the combat allowing the winning side to have an advantage as combat momentum occurs.

Effectiveness = Prf + #ad + Mor + Equip + Misc

Prf: Equivalent Proficiency bonus for the crews

# ad: Numbers advantage, Difference in crews divided by 2 ( C1-C2)/2

Mor: Morale

Equip: Equipment Bonus

Misc: Miscellaneous bonus, situational and GM favoritism

In subsequent Rounds There will be a roll off between both crews of 1d20 + Effectiveness. The Victor of the roll off deals 1d4 casualties to the other crew. If the difference in rolls is larger than 10 a combatant with appropriate gear level enters the Officer battle for the winner of the roll as a consequence of the crew's advantage.

Free Combatants
In the Initial Round of setup The Effectiveness score is used to determine the number of free opponents not tied up with your crew. The Starting Free opponents will be a set amount for the ship they are assaulting minus effectiveness.

Free Opponents = Base Enemy - Effectiveness

This applies to the party's crew as well. Base Crew will fluctuate based on crew size.

Crew Victory
If during the course of the combat the entirety of a crew gets destroyed treat every crew action phase as a victory for that side with all those ramifications. Not all the crew will go to the battle map immediately for they are recovering from the chaos, killing/capturing survivors or tending to wounded.

Crew Growth
The crews of the ships led by party members improve as the player characters improve as a reflection of their own growing experience under their leadership. At the beginning of the adventure they all start as mere bandits, but as the party levels up so does the pirates.

As a base the general pirates at a minimum have half the Hit die and half the Proficiency bonus as the player characters. Rounding Down.

At certain HD thresholds they gain abilities and increased proficiency (as they near the HD of MM Thugs and ect.

The party may recruit and train pirates to a higher quality that grants them a higher stat block. This may require the use of ship modules or hiring them at cost from a port.

Current Party: 5

Pirate Hit die:5  -->    5d8

Stat Block
Pirate

Medium humanoid (any race), any non-lawful alignment

Prof: +2

Armor Class 12 (leather armor)

Hit Points 11 (2d8+2)

Speed 30 ft.

Languages any one language (usually Common)

Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)

Actions

Short Sword. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) Piercing damage.

Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 80 ft./320 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) piercing damage.