Naval Combat

The Paradox Official DnD possesses functional mechanics for both naval combat and the purchase, design and modification of warships.

While the technology in the game's setting is that of the renaissance era, the separate design philosophies of different races and the presence of advanced magic mean that naval combat can sometimes differ wildly from what would be expected of renaissance-era warfare.

Spells are applicable in both attack and defence during naval combat, and some spells can only reach their full potential when unleashed upon the high seas.

Movement
Ships all have a stat for "Movement" and a stat for "Turn".

Movement is the number of tiles a ship can move in one turn of naval combat.

Turn is how much the ship can turn for each tile it moves. For example, a ship with a turn of 1 that starts its turn facing northeast can change direction to north or east after moving one tile, then change direction to northwest, northeast or southeast after moving another tile and so on. A ship can always continue facing the same direction.

Special Maneuvers
Human ships have an additional factor affecting their movement: wind. The direction of wind can be randomly determined or already specified depending on the map, and may change over the course of a combat. A human ship can move at full speed in the direction of the wind or in an adjacent direction (eg northeast, east or southeast in a wind blowing to the east) and half speed across the wind or adjacent (north, northwest, south or southwest in a wind blowing east). A human ship can also rotate to face the direction of the wind at the start of its turn at no cost.

A ship also has the option to postpone its movement until the attack phase in order to board or ram an enemy ship. This decision must be made at the start of the movement phase, and prevents any weapons other than a ram being used in the attack phase.

Some ships have the ability to submerge. While submerged, a ship moves at half speed (rounded down). Only weapons specified as being able to affect submerged ships can affect submerged ships, and submerged ships can only ram or be rammed by other submerged ships. It is impossible to board a ship while it is submerged.

Attacking
Once all ships in a combat have moved, the attack phase begins. Weapons on ships can be used on other ships provided that the target is within both the range and the firing arc of the weapon (if no arc is specified, any location is considered to be within the firing arc). An accuracy roll is then made using the weapon's attack modifier against the target ship's evasion stat. A successful hit allows the damage specified by the weapon to be dealt to the target ship. A roll of 20 is a critical hit, dealing double damage and causing damage to an essential part of the target such as its propulsion or weapons.

The crew of a ship can also attack during the attack phase. Any weapon or spell that with a range of 3 or more can be used on an enemy ship in an adjacent tile in naval combat. Such weapons and spells deal one quarter of their normal damage (rounded down) to the enemy ship's hull points, except for fire spells which instead deal half damage against wooden ships and no damage otherwise, starting a fire on a critical hit against a wooden ship.

Boarding or Ramming
If a ship chose to postpone its movement in the movement phase, it now moves in the attack phase. If it enters a tile with another ship in, it may choose whether to ram the ship or board it.

Ramming deals damage to the target ship equal to (5% of ramming ship's max hp) + any listed ram damage, and both ships' movements are reduced to 1 for the next turn.

Boarding an unwilling ship requires succeeding an opposed agility roll by the two ships, and if successful allows crew to begin a ground combat on board the opposing ship.

Specific Damage
If a ship is the recipient of a critical hit, or loses more than 10% of its hull points in a single turn, immediately roll 1d6 to determine the part damaged

A roll of 1 or 2 means the propulsion is damaged. The effects of this vary depending on the nature of the propulsion. A ship powered by steam has its movement reduced by 1 and has a 5% chance each turn of catching fire. A ship propelled by animals is not slowed, but has a 50% chance each turn to be unable to move. A ship propelled by oars is unaffected by propulsion damage, as the number of oars makes the loss of a few irrelevant. Any other ship has its movement halved.

A roll of 3, 4 or 5 means one of the ship's weapons has been damaged. That weapon can no longer be used until it is repaired. Against a ship armed only with crew weapons, this indicates that one or more of the crew have been injured or killed. A ship with crew weapons (fortified) is unaffected by this.

A roll of 6 means that the hull of the ship has been heavily damaged. The ship loses 5% of its max hp, and its movement and accuracy are reduced by 1 for a turn.

Fire
A ship can be set on fire in several ways, but the most common are fire magic and damage to steam boilers. When a ship is on fire, it loses 1d6% of its max hull points every turn. A kobold or deep dwarven ship also has a 1% chance each turn it is on fire for the fire to reach the weapons stored inside it and cause a massive explosion resulting in the immediate loss of all the ship's hull points. Fire lasts for 1d4 turns on a non-wooden ship, and lasts 2d6 turns on a wooden ship.

Sinking
If a ship's hull points are reduced to zero, it begins to sink. This takes 2d6 turns +2 turns times the ship's tier (e.g. a tier 8 ship will take 2d6+16 turns to sink). A ship can still move or use its weapons while sinking, but has its movement reduced by half. A sinking ship can be boarded without requiring an agility roll.

Wooden ships take the movement penalty from sinking but do not actually sink, and must be broken apart to remove them from a combat.

A sinking ship can prevent its sinking by attempting to move onto a land tile, causing it to become beached and remain stationary (though it can no longer move). It can then be repaired as usual, and must then be relaunched (an action requiring multiple people with a strength total of (25 x ship tier).

If a ship is damaged an extra 20% of its max hull points beyond zero, it instead breaks apart immediately. A ship that is sinking can still be fired at in order to cause it to break apart to prevent it from firing its own weapons.