Pathfinder - ship at sea with crew

[Scottlang]

Ok, I have a party consisting of a half elf cleric 6, a half elf bard/fighter 7, a half orc ranger 6, a human paladin 7 and a human sorcerer 7, on a ship, they have access to the boat as a boon for saving the captains life from slavery.

When they have combat at sea, some of the players have asked why doesn't the crew get involved in combat... To be honest I'm not sure how to do that, and would like some pointers as they have 6 weeks at sea, and there are a few encounters I have set up.
I'm curious as to how to factor them into combat, with attacks n that... The party took on four water nagas and it was a tough fight, I pulled some punches cos the fight would have gone on a lot longer, as the nagas sprung an ambush on the boat via invisibility, and mirror image cast on themselves. I thought re casting mirror image again during the fight would have made the fight longer (what a player would have done). If I had gotten the crew involved how could I have used them?? Besides just using crossbows (mind you the ship is 75' long by 40' wid) with 20 crew members which are lvl 3 (2expert/2fighter) captain is lvl 5 (2expert/4fighter).

[avr]

Aid Another is a way of using mooks while keeping the focus on the PCs. Also they can help flank.

Otherwise keeping them out of the frontline and spamming missile attacks (crossbows as you mentioned) is fairly simple, concentrates force well, and not ineffective.

[Codenpeg]

They are helping, tell your party that the crew had fought off a couple of additional monsters, or maybe one particularly nasty one, while the PCs were preoccupied.

[Nibbens]

Ok, I have a party consisting of a half elf cleric 6, a half elf bard/fighter 7, a half orc ranger 6, a human paladin 7 and a human sorcerer 7, on a ship, they have access to the boat as a boon for saving the captains life from slavery.

When they have combat at sea, some of the players have asked why doesn't the crew get involved in combat... To be honest I'm not sure how to do that, and would like some pointers as they have 6 weeks at sea, and there are a few encounters I have set up.
I'm curious as to how to factor them into combat, with attacks n that... The party took on four water nagas and it was a tough fight, I pulled some punches cos the fight would have gone on a lot longer, as the nagas sprung an ambush on the boat via invisibility, and mirror image cast on themselves. I thought re casting mirror image again during the fight would have made the fight longer (what a player would have done). If I had gotten the crew involved how could I have used them?? Besides just using crossbows (mind you the ship is 75' long by 40' wid) with 20 crew members which are lvl 3 (2expert/2fighter) captain is lvl 5 (2expert/4fighter).

Personally, I'd just tell my PCs "theres too much stuff on the board, deal with it." However, I'm currently running a game where every player has their own army, so I don't feel bad or cheap when I do that.

However, that doesn't quite address your problem, does it. For simplicitys sake don't place the crew on the board. Instead, I'd find out the average damage that each crew member would do, (if they could pull off a d8+3 then each member could pull off 7 damage)

Then multiply by the number of members 7*20=140

Thirdly, and the tricky part, calculate the % of attacks that would hit each enemy. If the crew gets +8 to hit on their first attack and the enemies have a 23 AC, then 8-23=15. The crew would have to roll a natural 15 to hit, which means that 3/4s of all the attacks made never hit.

So, 140 / 4 = 35 damage per round. Then you further divide this by the number of enemies that the crew can see. So, if there are 3 enemies on the board, then each enemy takes (35/3=) ~12 damage per turn.

Do this damage automatically per turn until the monsters are defeated. You can subtract from the damage rather easily at this point, if you direct crew members to do other things, like fetching water below deck, or steering or what have you.

This method is simple, fast and effective. Your PCs enjoy the added damage ever turn, and you can keep combat focused on the PCs rather than spending 20 minutes once a turn moving 20 figures, rolling 20 attacks, and and then rolling the dice for the ones that hit. Thats also a record keeping nightmare if one of them is hit by a CC effect, but no other ones are.

[Rift_Wolf]

Mooks and frontline Bard. I'd throw things with DR at that combination.

If you have the minis, I'd allow some fights to involve the mooks, like a pirate fight. Giving orders to the crew could be a Charisma check, made harder if more than one person is ordering them and the danger involved. How disciplined is the crew? Would they be able to make coordinated attacks, or would it be a free for all?
To avoid multiple dice rolls by a GM, if a player gives an order and succeeds, makes the dice rolls for the mooks he orders. Youve got a Charisma heavy party, so you could assign each player a team to lower the dice rolls (each team of five given an order uses the same roll, for example).
Remember, however, that the more low level mooks hanging round, the more dangerous certain enemies become. Harpies, for instance, could very easily leave the party stranded if the ships crew fail their Will saves. A breath weapon could drop a dozen mooks easily. Mook death will dishearten the crew, especially if a players order caused it. It'll give a lot of chances for roleplay, with how players deal with giving orders and taking responsibility leading to other encounters (mutiny, as an extreme example; the mooks will know they don't stand a chance in a fair fight... So callous players might wake up to find their equipment stolen, their lifeboats gone and the ship on fire).