Flame of Anor
2013-09-18, 01:11 PM
So here's the situation: our party is stealing a battleship. We're in the middle of a raid on the enemy dockyards where the ship is near completion. Our submerge ship spell will take effect in another few rounds, so, assuming we survive for that long, we can make like a treant and leave.
If this sounds very, very familiar, I'd appreciate it if you didn't read further.
But we won't be out of the woods at that point. The dockyard is on a river, and to get to our home base we will have to get the ship past a stretch of river which is controlled by the enemy. The Mudslinger-class vessel which we are commandeering is the third of its class, and the other two are between us and our own front lines. Not to mention, you know, the orc army.
Our assets list is pretty good, though. We have a large party with multiple primary casters leveled 11-13 and some quite competent melee and archery types.
So here are my thoughts on tactics; PEACH:
Scout the area, and in particular the depth of the channel, with prying eyes. If we can slip under their ships, so much the better.
Cast submerge ship once in the evening, just before sleeping, and another time just after waking up. Attempt to run the blockade at this point when both will be active (1 hr/lvl duration). If one is dispelled, we can make it through on the other one.
Maybe send a flying, invisible scout with arcane sight to the blockade to identify casters; when making the run, attack and counterspell them.
Have casters with battlemagic perception active for some more chances to counterspell.
If the river is physically blocked, then have everyone who can cast disintegrate in the bow with readied actions to cast. The ship's pilot takes a single (60') move into Medium range; readied disintegrates go off; the ship's pilot takes another move back out of Medium range. Their casters won't be in range for a dispel unless they, too, have readied actions.
Get some lower-level casters with silent image to create an illusory ship on the surface while we hide below the surface--it won't draw their fire for long, but if they waste even one round on it that should be worth the effort.
If the opportunity presents itself, sail under the other battleships and disintegrate large holes in their keels.
As you can see, the tactics are mostly concentrated on counteracting any way the enemy could stop us, since the plan is just to get through ASAP. And the ways of stopping us I've focused on are dispel magic and physical barriers (e.g. ships lined up across the channel).
So can you think of: any other ways they could stop us? any other ways to stop them from stopping us? any flaws in my current plans?
If this sounds very, very familiar, I'd appreciate it if you didn't read further.
But we won't be out of the woods at that point. The dockyard is on a river, and to get to our home base we will have to get the ship past a stretch of river which is controlled by the enemy. The Mudslinger-class vessel which we are commandeering is the third of its class, and the other two are between us and our own front lines. Not to mention, you know, the orc army.
Our assets list is pretty good, though. We have a large party with multiple primary casters leveled 11-13 and some quite competent melee and archery types.
So here are my thoughts on tactics; PEACH:
Scout the area, and in particular the depth of the channel, with prying eyes. If we can slip under their ships, so much the better.
Cast submerge ship once in the evening, just before sleeping, and another time just after waking up. Attempt to run the blockade at this point when both will be active (1 hr/lvl duration). If one is dispelled, we can make it through on the other one.
Maybe send a flying, invisible scout with arcane sight to the blockade to identify casters; when making the run, attack and counterspell them.
Have casters with battlemagic perception active for some more chances to counterspell.
If the river is physically blocked, then have everyone who can cast disintegrate in the bow with readied actions to cast. The ship's pilot takes a single (60') move into Medium range; readied disintegrates go off; the ship's pilot takes another move back out of Medium range. Their casters won't be in range for a dispel unless they, too, have readied actions.
Get some lower-level casters with silent image to create an illusory ship on the surface while we hide below the surface--it won't draw their fire for long, but if they waste even one round on it that should be worth the effort.
If the opportunity presents itself, sail under the other battleships and disintegrate large holes in their keels.
As you can see, the tactics are mostly concentrated on counteracting any way the enemy could stop us, since the plan is just to get through ASAP. And the ways of stopping us I've focused on are dispel magic and physical barriers (e.g. ships lined up across the channel).
So can you think of: any other ways they could stop us? any other ways to stop them from stopping us? any flaws in my current plans?