The Pirate Ship of the Hobgoblins of Have-Seen-It-All

[Dr TPK]

I have four PCs in my campaign: warmage 6, battle sorcerer 8/fighter 1, paladin 7, ranger 7/vassal of Bahamut 1. All are humans.
The sorcerer and the warmage do almost nothing but blast with fireballs, especially if there's any distance. I'm getting tired of this, irritated, I would say. I want these hobgoblins to pose a real danger to the casters and, thus, give more spotlight to the melee guys. The fireball spamming must not work in this encounter.

Imagine a hobgoblin race of supreme tacticians who live as pirates in dangerous seas that are filled with powerful monsters and magic. Yet, they have survived and amassed a great weath over the past century. The youngest of hobgoblins finally manage to put together a respectable crew and sail off to the seas. The hobgoblins have a crew of 50 + fighting force of 20 and two 4th or 5th level hobgoblins as leaders.

How do they survive and how do they operate? Please comment!

ECL 10 crew.
The captain is a fighter 2/rogue 2.
The first mate is a wizard 5.
The fifty basic crewmembers are all 1st-level experts, who do not actively fight and are not included in the ECL. The actual fighting is done by 20 2nd-level warriors.
Two warriors operate a ballista.

TACTICS
There's a diving bell with a peephole on it on the deck. When another ship is spotted, the captain and the first mate will make a quick estimation on how fast will they catch up the enemy vessel. Then first mate enters the bell and keeps the peephole shut with the tip of his (or her) quarterstaff. At 1200 ft. the ballista starts to fire and targets anyone who presents any threat to the ship (The captain will advise who to fire upon). In addition, half a dozen men fire flaming bolts at the ship's deck and then continue firing normally on the crew.
At 1100 ft. the captain will ready an action to fire anyone casting a spell (he has a magical bow). The ballista will ready an action to fire at anyone who the captains is firing at.

When there's clearly less than 5 minutes to reach the ship (the captain might advise on this), the first mate will cast invisibility on the diving bell. It's light enough for this purpose, and it has a lead lining to prevent divinations. Through the peephole, the wizard will...
...at 600 ft. the wizard will cast a major image to create nine "imps" that will try to "untie or gnaw off" the ropes of the sails. If any of the imps is successfully attacked (being small helps), the imp "dies". Otherwise, they will continue their completely ineffective gnawing on top of the sails.
...cast a fireball on the deck.
...cast pyrotechnics on the successfully landed fire bolts (see above) to create smoke cloud. If no bolt has landed, the fire caused by the fireball will be sufficient.
...cast dispel magic on their own deck if anything "bad" appears there.
...cast blindness on the most dangerous opponent at medium range. Should I just go with glitterdust?
...at close range, cast summon monster II to create a handful of fiendish dire rats (summon monster I) close to enemy archers. In melee, the captain will appreciate the flanking he gets from these rats, since he's a rogue.
...cast enlarge person on the captain or on some other big hobgoblin, who will then proceed to put a large wooden bridge between the two ships. Anyone trying take the bridge from his hands will have hard time doing so, since he's large.

If anyone of the opponents seem an excellent archer, the captain will fire a poisoned arrow at him or her. Poison in this case will be giant wasp poison. He will fire that arrow any way, at 110 ft., on any lightly armored/unarmored opponent who looks dangerous.

Using grappling hooks or the gigantic captain's bridge, the hobgoblins will proceed to take over the ship. The captain will come last as he wants to assess the melee capabilities of the opponents first.

NOTE: No suggestions that might lead to an even greater silliness in the future if the PCs win the fight, please!

[nedz]

Fireball is the go to spell for ship-to-ship combat because of it's range and the chance of setting the vessel on fire: So even without your player's proclivities for using this spell the vessel needs some defence against it.

Also whilst the encounter calculator may tell you that this is an ECL 10 encounter it does tend to over-rate the effectiveness of hordes so this encounter will be very easy as currently written — unless your players are very poor at playing the game.

Basically you have designed an encounter which is best solved by fireballs.

Consider adding some pet monsters in cages which can be released part way into the fight.

Consider adding a sea monster of some kind which can fight independently of the ship, and being underwater somewhat resistant to fireballs.

Consider replacing the Wizard with a Druid, and bump their level a little. There are lots of spells which offer a significant threat to other vessels.

Do add some fire protection to the ship — and the crew somehow.

Also, unless it's a galley, you don't need 50 sailors: 15-20 should suffice.

[Dr TPK]

Fireball is the go to spell for ship-to-ship combat because of it's range and the chance of setting the vessel on fire: So even without your player's proclivities for using this spell the vessel needs some defence against it.

Also whilst the encounter calculator may tell you that this is an ECL 10 encounter it does tend to over-rate the effectiveness of hordes so this encounter will be very easy as currently written — unless your players are very poor at playing the game.

Basically you have designed an encounter which is best solved by fireballs.

Consider adding some pet monsters in cages which can be released part way into the fight.

Consider adding a sea monster of some kind which can fight independently of the ship, and being underwater somewhat resistant to fireballs.

Consider replacing the Wizard with a Druid, and bump their level a little. There are lots of spells which offer a significant threat to other vessels.

Do add some fire protection to the ship — and the crew somehow.

Also, unless it's a galley, you don't need 50 sailors: 15-20 should suffice.

I have no idea how to protect the ship from fire. Anyone?

I forgot to mention what kind of ship this is. It's a longship, and yes, it requites 50 sailors "This 75-foot-long ship with forty oars requires a total crew of 50. " So the 20 hobgoblins are mostly for fighting and replacements for the sailors.

Druid? Are you sure about this? I'm afraid I don't see eye to eye with you :-)

The sea monsters come later. Let's try to keep this as a pure pirate attack, not sea monster attack. Caged pet monsters could work. Why didn't the real life pirates set attack dogs on other ships?

[Andezzar]

Another option is to fight fire with fire. Give the hobgoblin wizard a lesser rod of enlarge spell. Then he can burn the PCs' ship before they can. For both sides however impose spot checks. If they can't see the ship they can't launch the fireballs.

[Dr TPK]

Another option is to fight fire with fire. Give the hobgoblin wizard a lesser rod of enlarge spell. Then he can burn the PCs' ship before they can. For both sides however impose spot checks. If they can't see the ship they can't launch the fireballs.

I like what your saying, I really do, but... What happens to me and my mental health with fireball spamming PCs if they get a hold of the lesser rod of enlarge spell? I've edited the OP just to point this out.

[Dr TPK]

I think a Silenced Web is a must in case of enemy clerics and bards. Silencing the wizard will be bad, but responding with a web will cause a sort of stalemate between casters.

[ApologyFestival]

As nedz has mentioned, this is an encounter that favours the use of fireball by design. Even if the ship were protected from being set alight, fireballs are very good at killing large numbers of crew members from a distance.

I would recommend having this encounter take place during a thunderstorm. Visibility ranges are reduced by three quarters, and all characters suffer a -8 penalty on Spot, Search, and Listen checks. Ranged weapon attacks are impossible, except for those made using siege weaponry (i.e. the ship's ballista). Open flames are automatically extinguished, so the ships are at no risk of being set on fire.

Fireball is not a ranged weapon attack, and as such is still usable. However, the reduced visibility alone should be enough to prevent the fireballs from flying. Have the hobgoblins take advantage of the reduced visibility and send a boarding party to assault the heroes' ship. The heroes should defeat the boarding party (and your mundane characters should shine in the melee), then return the favour in kind. If they can safely get on board the hobgoblin ship, they can then fight the hobgoblin captain and his first mate.

[Andezzar]

I like what your saying, I really do, but... What happens to me and my mental health with fireball spamming PCs if they get a hold of the lesser rod of enlarge spell? I've edited the OP just to point this out.I didn't want to change the NPCs, but a higher level wizard with enlarge spell or sudden enlarge would also work.

Readied LoE blockers are also good against fireballs, especially if they cause the fireball to explode on the enemy ship.

[Dr TPK]

As nedz has mentioned, this is an encounter that favours the use of fireball by design. Even if the ship were protected from being set alight, fireballs are very good at killing large numbers of crew members from a distance.

I would recommend having this encounter take place during a thunderstorm. Visibility ranges are reduced by three quarters, and all characters suffer a -8 penalty on Spot, Search, and Listen checks. Ranged weapon attacks are impossible, except for those made using siege weaponry (i.e. the ship's ballista). Open flames are automatically extinguished, so the ships are at no risk of being set on fire.

Fireball is not a ranged weapon attack, and as such is still usable. However, the reduced visibility alone should be enough to prevent the fireballs from flying. Have the hobgoblins take advantage of the reduced visibility and send a boarding party to assault the heroes' ship. The heroes should defeat the boarding party (and your mundane characters should shine in the melee), then return the favour in kind. If they can safely get on board the hobgoblin ship, they can then fight the hobgoblin captain and his first mate.

I think you have just given me a great idea! Thank you!

The hobgoblin pirates patrol the more lucrative sea routes only during the nights. Their darkvision is not much, but the wizard's hawk familiar will keep night watch. It has low-light vision and an amazing spot. As the night passes, the hobgoblin will return back home and use the less popular routes. The hawk should indicate a certain level of (fake) fear when seeing members of the races that have low-light vision, so that the hobgoblins can avoid such ships. The empathic link is strong and quiet, so they don't have to talk.

How is this not pure win?

[ExLibrisMortis]

There is a pretty obscure prestige class, the Sea Mage, in Towers of High Sorcery, a Dragonlance book (licenced, but not published by WOTC).

The requirements are a bit of a pain - +3 reflex save, 8 ranks in profession (sailor), 4 ranks balance and swim. You get two bonus feats in return, and up to +3 on save DCs of spells you cast at sea (you don't even have to be on a ship, swimming is fine). However, the coolest ability is this:

Imbue Boat (Su): At 2nd level, the sea mage learns to instill a portion of his magical power in a sailboat or other sea-going vessel of up to 75 feet in length (including rowboats, keelboats, or longships). Once per day, when the sea mage is preparing his spells, he may imbue a number of spells equal to his sea mage level into the boat itself. The maximum level of any spell to be imbued is one less than the highest level spell the sea mage can cast, and imbued spells use up spell slots like other prepared spells. The sea mage casts an imbued spell as normal (including requiring all verbal, somatic, and material components), but, so long as he is in contact with the boat at the time, he and the boat are considered to be one for the purposes of determining the spell’s range. Specifically, touch spells can be directed to any target in contact with the boat, and any point in or on the boat can serve as a spell’s point of origin.

At 4th level, the ability also works for ships larger than 75'. You can use this to place BFC or summons right where you need them, or to deliver high-power touch spells at a distance.

If you animate the ship, you can buff it with evasion, miss chances and fire immunity. As part of fighting in a storm, you can try giving the ship some air elemental traits (most importantly, Air Mastery), and then conjuring a tornado to smash the enemy ship (which Air Mastery makes you immune to).

[Dr TPK]

There is a pretty obscure prestige class, the Sea Mage, in Towers of High Sorcery, a Dragonlance book (licenced, but not published by WOTC).

The requirements are a bit of a pain - +3 reflex save, 8 ranks in profession (sailor), 4 ranks balance and swim. You get two bonus feats in return, and up to +3 on save DCs of spells you cast at sea (you don't even have to be on a ship, swimming is fine). However, the coolest ability is this:


At 4th level, the ability also works for ships larger than 75'. You can use this to place BFC or summons right where you need them, or to deliver high-power touch spells at a distance.

If you animate the ship, you can buff it with evasion, miss chances and fire immunity. As part of fighting in a storm, you can try giving the ship some air elemental traits (most importantly, Air Mastery), and then conjuring a tornado to smash the enemy ship (which Air Mastery makes you immune to).

Please accept my humblest appreciations. I always knew that making this thread would eventually lead up to a good reply or two.

[nedz]

So Wizard 5 / Sea Mage 4 then ?

The idea behind switching to Druid is that they have a number of environmental spells which would be useful. Control Winds is kind of obvious, but there are a number of others.

If you are staying with Wizard then you should look at Siren's Call (level 4 Enchantment from Stormwrack) which can cause people to leap overboard from a ship.

As things stand though, even with the storm, you're players are just going to fireball the crew albeit at slightly closer range. You probably have to discard the encounter, or accept that this will happen, after all the reason your players fireball everything is because they have learned that this is the easiest way of destroying your encounters. They are probably beyond the level where a long ship full of low level foes is a series threat.

[Andezzar]

Make it so that destroying the ship is not a (good) option. In RL naval warfare, capturing the ship was nearly always preferable to sinking it.

I wonder if there is a more low level way to make the ship into a creature than the level 6 spell animate objects. If so, you could cast protection from energy on it.

Submerge ship unfortunately also isn't an option at that level.

As others have already pointed out open spaces are the optimal surroundings for artillery (or fireballs). If you design your encounters that way, there is no wonder that the PCs resort to that tool. Zigzagging dungeon corridors or similar LoS and LoE blockers however are rarely found at sea.

A (heightened) deeper darkness spell cast on an object that a sea creature without need for sight brings to the enemy ship could also be a nasty trick.

[Dr TPK]

I want to believe that a ship in D&D can sail at open sea and perform acts of piracy even with high-level casters and all.

[BWR]

2e had at least two spells that would help. Daltim's Protection from Fire and Proof Against Combustion, both of which render an object permanently immune to fire damage. Update one of them and have the pirates spring for a casting.

[ZamielVanWeber]

In general a great way to stop offensive spell spam is a single large enemy, or two fairly strong enemies, with energy resistance. The warmage has a plethora of spells available so is unlikely to be dissuaded (just switch to Lightning Bolt for example) but the sorcerer may find himself having to rely on other options.

In this particular instance you may want to look at alternate materials to build the boat. Wood is useful because it cheap and buoyant but with sufficient engineering knowhow a wide variety of materials can be used.

[jiriku]

I want to believe that a ship in D&D can sail at open sea and perform acts of piracy even with high-level casters and all.

Unfortunately, this isn't the case unless you put in significant work. Ships are slow-moving, unattended, wooden objects, and there are frankly an overwhelming number of spells that just absolutely wreck unattended wooden objects. A basic, unimproved naval vessel is doomed. However, let's apply some op-fu and see what we can do.

Making the ship resistant to harm:

hardening, Spell Compendium p.109, sorcerer/wizard 6, permanently increases the hardness of an object by 1/2 caster levels.
augment object, Stronghold Builder's Guidebook p.41, cleric/druid/sorcerer/wizard 3, duration 1/day level, doubles an object's hardness and hit points, affects an object of 200 cubic ft/level.
magically treated materials, Dungeon Master's Guide p.59, doubles hardness and hit points, costs +1,500 gp per 10-ft section. Impractically expensive.
Iron/steel plating, hardness 10 and hit points 30 per inch (compared to hardness 5 and 10 hit points per inch for wood). Cheap. Not flammable.
Elukian clay plating, Arms and Equipment Guide p.20. Hardness and hit points as steel, but has neutral bouyancy and so more practical for ships. 200 gp per pound so very expensive, but may be practical as a thin plate over wood.

Consider a ship with one inch of elukian clay plating treated with hardening from an 11th level caster when the ship was constructed, buffed with augment object. Its plating has a hardness of 30 and 60 hit points, and does not tend to catch fire. The ship's rigging may be more vulnerable, but the ship itself will barely be scratched by a fireball. The plating does not impair the ship's speed, maneuverability, or cargo capacity in any way.

Making the ship faster so you can close to boarding range without being subject to so many fireballs:
Option 1: Use a faster ship. Caravels, dromonds, elf wingships, and theurgemes have +50% to +100% base speed compared to a longship. The caravel also has the same base price and a much lower crew requirement.
Option 2: Build a better ship. A ship made from soarwood has +25% speed (Eberron Campaign Setting p.127), but costs x4.
Option 3: Use magic. Favorable wind, Stormwrack p.116, druid/sorcerer/wizard 3, provides wind to fill a ship's sails. On a windless day, this could enable a pirate sailing vessel to quickly swoop in to attack merchant sailing vessels that are becalmed. Control currents, Stormwrack p.114, druid 4, can move a ship by 10 ft per 3 caster levels per round.
Option 4: All of the above. In a best case example, a soarwood wingship with a 9th level druid onboard casting favorable wind and control currents moves 180 ft per round. Compare this to a basic longship with no enhancement, which moves 20 ft per round under oars.

Reducing line of sight:
Darkness, fog, and heavy rain all dramatically reduce encounter distances. Note that a druid of 9th level or higher can create many of these conditions with control weather.


EDIT:
Additional category: get a boarding team onboard while the ships are far apart.

The wizard could use dimension door to get himself and 3-4 shock troops onboard from Long range. Drop them right on top of those fireball-tossing wizards and you'll give them something more urgent to worry about for several rounds while the pirate ship closes to boarding range. With several dimension door spells prepared (or a wand of dimension door), he could ferry 3-4 hobgoblins aboard the enemy vessel every other round. Alternately, he could remain on the PC ship and spam summon monster spells to reinforce the boarding team.
A necromancer wizard could use animate dead to control a number of sahaguin skeletons. They can use the run action while swimming to move 240 ft per round in a straight line -- that's fast enough to close very quickly with most ships and serve as an early boarding party that can give PCs an immediate threat to deal with while the pirates close range. With Destruction Retribution they'll even serve as little negative energy bombs once onboard, killing defenders without damaging the ship or its goods. Shark-riding aquatic hobgoblins could do something similar.
Fast flying monsters fill a similar role, although they are less stealthy. Air mephits, hobgoblin hippogriff cavalry, harpy archers, you name it.

Essentially, lairing flyers, fast swimmers, or teleporters onboard the pirate vessel allows you to treat it more like an aircraft carrier, enabling you to use modern naval warfare tactics to take the battle to the enemy while the pirate vessel is still beyond the PCs effective attack range. You can develop very sophisticated tactics by embellishing this idea.


Consider replacing the Wizard with a Druid, and bump their level a little. There are lots of spells which offer a significant threat to other vessels.

I would second this. A 9th level druid with the right spell selection absolutely dominates the seas, far more so than a wizard of equivalent level (although the wizard is certainly no slouch). The druid can double the speed of his ship, control the winds and currents, becalm an enemy ship from miles away, track vessels across the open seas, approach an enemy ship underwater via a wildshape form and sink it using warp wood or wood shape, and so much more.

[ExLibrisMortis]

You could also add a dedicated counterspeller to the crew.

Cloistered Cleric 4/Church Inquisitor 1/Paragnostic Apostle 1
Spontaneous domain casting (Magic domain)
Abilities: 13+ wisdom (to cast dispel magic), 14+ charisma (to have 5 turn attempts)
Domains: Inquisition (bonus, from Church Inquisitor), Knowledge, Magic, Purification
Feats: Divine Defiance, Domain Focus (Magic), Versatile Spellcaster
Items: dispelling cord (1000 gp)
Caster level 6, +1 for abjurations (Purification domain), +1 for Magic domain spells (Domain Focus)
+5 on dispel checks (+4 Inquisition domain, +1 Penetrating Insight, from Paragnostic Apostle)
+2 on dispel checks 5/day from dispelling cord

With one turn undead use, you can counterspell as an immediate action, burning any prepared spell(s) to spontaneously cast dispel magic. With Versatile Spellcaster, you have at least 5 third-level spells per day. Your bonus on dispel checks is +15, 5/day, and +13 after that (but you're out of spells anyway). At level 6, nothing magical is going to get past you for a long time.
If this cleric readies an action to counterspell and uses Divine Defiance every turn as well, they can fairly reliably stop two fireballs per round, though only for two or three rounds. That's not really enough to close - those fireballs will have a range of 600-800' depending on CL boosts - but it buys you some time. A few CR 6 counterspellers don't add too many levels to a level 10 encounter.

Hobgoblins are 'usually lawful evil', so they could very well have inquisitors, though the class technically requires LG/LN. You can make these pirates privateers, with official permission to capture ships owned by the hobgoblins' enemies. Leave some letters of marque in the captain's cabin for the PCs to find.

[nedz]

We still have the problem of the low level crew being packed into a small space with no cover. If the ship the players are on sails directly away then, even if it's slower, it would reduce the closing speed giving ample time for the artillery to do it's job.

Fog could help, but then how do the pirates find their target ?

The best approach is deception. For this to work you have to find some means of persuading the players that the vessel is harmless whilst it closes — until it's too late and the pirates are boarding. There are plenty of mundane, as well as magical, tricks here but the details really depend upon your setting.

[jiriku]

For that matter, if the attacking ship is so vulnerable, consider shipless pirates. A group of attackers riding flying or aquatic mounts could set out from an island base riding their mounts, attack and seize ships upon the high seas, then the attackers could crew the ship and sail it back to their pirate port with their mounts onboard or swimming alongside.

An exotic ship could also make for an interesting choice.

Suppose the ship is actually a high-level mind-switched psion. It could then manifest powers to defend itself.
Maybe it is a ghost ship: An undead haunting presence with 10+ HD and Cha 17+ can animate the entire ship as an animated object (Libris Mortis p.6). The animated object is now a creature and can easily receive a variety of buff spells to protect it from attack, and can be repaired quickly in combat with repair damage spells.
Perhaps the ship is a literal ghost ship, an ethereal ghost with a crew of ghost sailors. It sails the border ethereal, with the entire ship and crew manifesting abruptly at whatever range her captain pleases (even conjoined with the enemy ship). As a manifested incorporeal creature, the ship would be immune to nonmagical attacks and receive a 50% miss chance against most magic attacks, plus the ability to manifest or de-manifest allows the attackers almost unilateral control of the range and duration of the engagement.
The ship could be a golem, which would render it entirely immune to magic.
The ship could be a gigantic mimic, allied with its crew.



We still have the problem of the low level crew being packed into a small space with no cover. If the ship the players are on sails directly away then, even if it's slower, it would reduce the closing speed giving ample time for the artillery to do it's job.

Fog could help, but then how do the pirates find their target ?

These are problems, to be sure, but they can be solved. The twenty 2nd level warriors could be replaced with ten 4th level warriors without changing Encounter Level, and with fewer gobbos in the AoE, the fireballs do less damage, the monsters are more likely to survive the first blast, and with fewer allies to target it's easier for a hobgoblin wizard to protect all of them with buff spells like resist energy. They can hide behind movable covers on-deck (effectively tower shields) to get +2 or +4 on Reflex saves against those fireballs (and a considerable AC bonus against PC archery).

Sailing away can be hard-stopped with control winds or control weather. Tracking in fog is easy with wake trailing, the Track feat, and a maxed out Survival skill. You could also use a picket of flying or swimming scouts to locate targets at a distance from your ship.


EDIT:
Just found this. A ship can be equipped with a living dragon figurehead (Stormwrack p.132). When the figurehead is animated, the ship gains immunity to the energy type of the dragon's breath weapon. A brass dragon figurehead costs 44,000 gp and grants the ship total immunity to fire while animated, and I think a DM could reasonably rule that the figurehead was built into the ship in such a way that it couldn't be looted and grafted onto the PC's ship. Plus, you know, firebreathing pirate ship.

[Andezzar]

Very interesting ideas jiriku. I relly like the shipless pirates and the ghost ship.

Golems are not immune to all magic (except for some epic ones IIRC), they only have infinitely high SR, but if the golem ship counts as an iron golem you would have interesting interaction with the fireball spell.

[jiriku]

Very interesting ideas jiriku. I relly like the shipless pirates and the ghost ship.

Golems are not immune to all magic (except for some epic ones IIRC), they only have infinitely high SR, but if the golem ship counts as an iron golem you would have interesting interaction with the fireball spell.

Lol I can see it now. "Your catapults deal some minor damage to the ship. Then your wizard casts fireball. The catapult damage heals."

[Dr TPK]

Incredible, jiriku! Even if don't use (all) your ideas, your post was very inspiring in its creativitiness.

[Jack_Simth]

I didn't want to change the NPCs, but a higher level wizard with enlarge spell or sudden enlarge would also work.

Readied LoE blockers are also good against fireballs, especially if they cause the fireball to explode on the enemy ship.
Doesn't even have to block line-of-effect... just hit a very small, brightly glowing, fast-moving bead. These guys are expert tacticians? OK. They've looked up the people they're targeting. They've got a couple of snipers on board who are readying actions to shoot the beads when the casting is done.

[nedz]

These are problems, to be sure, but they can be solved. The twenty 2nd level warriors could be replaced with ten 4th level warriors without changing Encounter Level, and with fewer gobbos in the AoE, the fireballs do less damage, the monsters are more likely to survive the first blast, and with fewer allies to target it's easier for a hobgoblin wizard to protect all of them with buff spells like resist energy. They can hide behind movable covers on-deck (effectively tower shields) to get +2 or +4 on Reflex saves against those fireballs (and a considerable AC bonus against PC archery).
Rogue 2 for Evasion would suffice. Warrior 2 / Rogue 2 perhaps ?

Just found this. A ship can be equipped with a living dragon figurehead (Stormwrack p.132). When the figurehead is animated, the ship gains immunity to the energy type of the dragon's breath weapon. A brass dragon figurehead costs 44,000 gp and grants the ship total immunity to fire while animated, and I think a DM could reasonably rule that the figurehead was built into the ship in such a way that it couldn't be looted and grafted onto the PC's ship. Plus, you know, firebreathing pirate ship.
Viking Longships were known as Dragon-ships — at least the ones configured for war.

[jiriku]

For that matter, a sniper with the Far Shot feat firing a heavy crossbow of distance equipped with a gnomish crossbow sight (Arms and Equipment p.36) can fire out to 900 ft with no penalty. That is much further than fireball range, so the sniper can easily use the old standby of "ready an action to interrupt/shoot anyone casting a spell".

[Andezzar]

Doesn't even have to block line-of-effect... just hit a very small, brightly glowing, fast-moving bead. These guys are expert tacticians? OK. They've looked up the people they're targeting. They've got a couple of snipers on board who are readying actions to shoot the beads when the casting is done.
I don't think the rules for hitting the bead are defined.


For that matter, a sniper with the Far Shot feat firing a heavy crossbow of distance equipped with a gnomish crossbow sight (Arms and Equipment p.36) can fire out to 900 ft with no penalty. That is much further than fireball range, so the sniper can easily use the old standby of "ready an action to interrupt/shoot anyone casting a spell".Distracting the spellcaster can at best cause him to lose the spell. Putting up an LoE blocker right in front of him will cause the fireball to explode on the LoE blocker.

[JustIgnoreMe]

I'm sure I remember reading somewhere about a D&D ship made from living, lighter-than-air wood... maybe with an Awakened mast or a Treant or something. Living wood being much harder to burn.

Was that on giantitp or somewhere else?

[nedz]

I'm sure I remember reading somewhere about a D&D ship made from living, lighter-than-air wood... maybe with an Awakened mast or a Treant or something. Living wood being much harder to burn.

Was that on giantitp or somewhere else?

Current story arc of OotS, also Eberron.

[Jack_Simth]

I don't think the rules for hitting the bead are defined.They're not. Which means you get to make up something reasonable for your table, as with the way the spell is described, it's something quite reasonable for a person to try.

[jiriku]

I'm sure I remember reading somewhere about a D&D ship made from living, lighter-than-air wood... maybe with an Awakened mast or a Treant or something. Living wood being much harder to burn.

Was that on giantitp or somewhere else?

You might be remembering the Pimp My Druid Ship (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?405513-Pimp-my-Druid-Pirate-Ship&p=19011212&viewfull=1) thread.

[Dr TPK]

For that matter, a sniper with the Far Shot feat firing a heavy crossbow of distance equipped with a gnomish crossbow sight (Arms and Equipment p.36) can fire out to 900 ft with no penalty. That is much further than fireball range, so the sniper can easily use the old standby of "ready an action to interrupt/shoot anyone casting a spell".

Oh my, you have given me a fabolous idea... Two of the 2nd-level hobgoblin warriors, the Gunner and the Assistant Gunner, have taken the point blank shot and the far shot feats. They also have the noncombatant flaw to represent that they are purely gunners and never fight (Such is the dedication of hobgoblins... and it represent computer games too :D In any game, if you melee a siege engine, the operators always suck at fighting and die easily.)

The ballista can now fire at 1800 ft. Put some flaming bolts on it, please, and...
http://i.imgur.com/jh3Zo.gif

[Jay R]

The encounter is misguided from the start.

"I want to minimize the effects of fireballs for the benefit of the melee fighters. So I'm having all the enemies clumped together, far from the party and moving slowly, on a wooden object, on which their life depends."

Having the enemy be on a ship maximizes the effect of fireballs, and minimizes melee.

You want the ship attacked from underwater, by creatures that come from all directions, and aren't even seen until they are already on your ship. That way, fireballs will take out the large wooden object on which the party's lives depend.

[Dr TPK]

The encounter is misguided from the start.

"I want to minimize the effects of fireballs for the benefit of the melee fighters. So I'm having all the enemies clumped together, far from the party and moving slowly, on a wooden object, on which their life depends."


Perhaps, but thanks to this thread, I have already, theoretically, achieved what I have wanted.
The hobgoblins will bump into the ship at night and most likely the PCs will be sleeping. With some bad luck, they might ending up facing the hobgoblins in a confined space inside their OWN ship, made from wood and all. I can't see how could this not prove to be a major stumbling block for the fireball spammers?

Btw does anyone have a good blueprint of a sailing ship of any kind?

[JustIgnoreMe]

You might be remembering the Pimp My Druid Ship (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?405513-Pimp-my-Druid-Pirate-Ship&p=19011212&viewfull=1) thread.
Exactly right, thank you.

I still think it's an awesome idea.

[Hiro Quester]

Another option for protecting from fire damage is just to have the Druid or a cleric cast Hallow on the ship. Hallow can be combined with other spells which affect all creatures (of particular alignment, or worshipper of a particular deity) in the hallowed area. Cast hallow with protection from energy and you have a ship that grants immunity to the first x points of fire damage (each day?)

[Andezzar]

In case of Hobgoblins the spell will most likely be Unhallow. While the duration will be a year and a day for Protection from energy when attached to (Un)hallow, the spell does not reset the resisted damage counter. We do not know if the counter is per creature or in total. It is also unclear what happens if creatures exit and enters the area again. Better stick with Resists Energy. While it at best removes 30 points of energy damage, it does not run out.

[Dr TPK]

In case of Hobgoblins the spell will most likely be Unhallow. While the duration will be a year and a day for Protection from energy when attached to (Un)hallow, the spell does not reset the resisted damage counter. We do not know if the counter is per creature or in total. It is also unclear what happens if creatures exit and enters the area again. Better stick with Resists Energy. While it at best removes 30 points of energy damage, it does not run out.

I can see them have a friendly goblin cleric that refuses to participate in piracy (and the pirates can't force her) but agrees to cast Resist Energy Unhallow on the ship. After all, if they can't afford 3000 gp to protect their ship from fire each year, then they shouldn't be alive. The hobgoblins don't even have to pay all that in gold, they can sell them slaves. Any PC prisoner will be sent to the goblin cleric. How cool is that?

[Andezzar]

Why a goblin cleric? Don't Hobgoblins have clerics too?

Do note though that the spell effects can only apply to creatures, not objects. So unless you can make the ship a creature, it is not protected.

[Dr TPK]

Why a goblin cleric? Don't Hobgoblins have clerics too?

Do note though that the spell effects can only apply to creatures, not objects. So unless you can make the ship a creature, it is not protected.

"The spell effect lasts for one year and functions throughout the entire site,"
Am I reading this wrong? If it works throughout the entire site, doesn't that mean the site itself? Please note that I'm genuinely asking this and not being sarcastic!

[Andezzar]

First of all the target of (Unhallow) is not an object but a point in space. The (un)hallowed area is a sphere. So parts of the ship may or may not be in the area.

Secondly the spell effect (from protection from/Resist Energy) is to give creatures not objects the resistance. (Un)hallow only modifies the duration and area of the attached spell. It does not modify the spell effect's target. The text of (Un)hallow gives us an explanation what that choices for targets you have:
You may designate whether the effect applies to all creatures, creatures that share your faith or alignment, or creatures that adhere to another faith or alignment.No objects can be designated.

[Dr TPK]

First of all the target of (Unhallow) is not an object but a point in space. The (un)hallowed area is a sphere. So parts of the ship may or may not be in the area.

Secondly the spell effect (from protection from/Resist Energy) is to give creatures not objects the resistance. (Un)hallow only modifies the duration and area of the attached spell. It does not modify the spell effect's target. The text of (Un)hallow gives us an explanation what that choices for targets you have:No objects can be designated.

Thank you, I stand corrected. I just had problems with the wording, that's all.