spells to protect ships

[Erloas]

So with the obvious danger that fires pose on ships I think most would be protected against fire somehow. In a world where so many people can cast a spell like spark or flaming hands and the like you're not going to have your ship go up in flames easily.

I'm thinking there are two general types of protection available, long lasting things done by high level casters, either during construction or every couple of years, and mid level "active defense" types of things that a ship's wizard would do while on the sea.

Things like permanent energy resist (fire), or maybe something like waterproof, but of course opposite - fireproof. Potentially other things like imbuing the wood and sails with water. Things like that. Even a more mass level waterproof, protect the ship from the sea in a way that wouldn't require the tars and oils that were used in real life.

Active would be lower level, because high level casters aren't common. Bigger version of snuff. Maybe a water spout or rain cloud. I'm thinking some would be lower level because rather than summoning the water, they would have to be cast in close proximity to large bodies of water (such as the ocean). Ways to preemptively mitigate some of the damage of everything from simple fire arrows to bigger things like a fireball, so that huge warships aren't regularly taken down by any 5th level wizard that picked up fireball. They'll still take damage, but not go up in flames.

I had thought I saw a few examples before but I'm not seeing them now when I look again.

[death390]

you could just enchant the (should be) masterwork boat to have continual endure elements, a item or two of gust of wind might be useful for speeding up the boat, control weather works too and keeps the elements away in the first place. ect ect.

heck that isn't even counting the several amazing ideas for how to make a amazing ship experience. a barrel with command word create water spell no need to refill at ports, mordekins magnificent mansion for a amazing hold and rest area, ect ect. make it out of the more durable woods in the first place. artificer infusion to increase the hardness, ect.

[Darth Ultron]

You want the Stronghold Builders Guide for wondrous architecture.

Stormwrack has ship related magic.

Dungeonscape has the Boon Traps.

The spell anti fire Sphere is in Sandstorm.

Ironwood makes a ship not burn.

And you can make a ship out of things other then wood.

[Hiro Quester]

+1 on Stormwrack. We just finished a very nautical-focussed campaign using that book.

A lot of active defense of a ship can be done by hiring a ship's druid. (Control winds, control water, control weather, tsunami, sea-animal --including Kraken-- summoning, elemental resistances and immunities, summoning water, air, and fire elementals, etc.)

Plus a ship's druid would want to grow plants on the deck, etc. Lots of thematic role-playing possibility there.

Planting a tree on board also helps for instant ship-to-shore transportation (teleport via plants, tree stride). Sea birds for communications (animal messenger).

[Hiro Quester]

Stormwrack (p.132) explicitly has a method for fireproofing a ship.

A living figurehead of a dragon. Gives your entire ship energy immunity (plus a breath weapon and some other enhancements).

A red, brass, or gold dragon figurehead grants fire immunity.

(Apologies for double post, but since this info is more directed at your original questions, and different from my previous post, I didn't want it to get lost.)

[Albions_Angel]

Worth noting that what spells set fire to what is largely DM specific. Most spells that catch things on fire either have a size (spark) or specify that the materials must be flammable.

To my way of thinking, large, generally flat bits of wood are not "flammable" in that sense. Certainly not in the short durations the spells take place in.

Ships are wet things. The wood itself is often rather more damp than, say, something in the desert. Even then, its a lot of flat surfaced wood and fire generally catches faster when you have lots of little knobly bits rather than smooth wood.

Hot embers can sit on a table for a long time, and likely burn out before they catch. So a firebolt to a door likely wont set it on fire. Spark wont catch the ship alight, but might work on a pillow, which could then catch the bed (thin timbers, much dryer than the ship hull), and once THAT is going, it might catch the ship. Fireball, to my mind, would set fire to any fabrics, hay, etc, but would just scorch the timbers of the boat. Maybe set flames dancing on a table top or across the beams, but those would quickly go out.

That said, fire on a ship is a HUGE problem. Once they start, you have one hell of a job putting them out, not least because the ships is the only place you can stand while trying to fight the fire. So old ships had lots of fire buckets. These either contained sand to douse small oil fires, or could be quickly lowered into the sea water.

Ultimately, your ship might not need protecting. A caster with spark could start a fire, but so could a rogue with a flint and tinder, or a commoner accidentally knocking over a lamp. The ships should be prepared for that and mundane is cheaper than magical.