Post/Author/DateTime	Post
dragoonspear 03-28-07, 02:18 PM	Hi all, I will be DMing a pirate based adventure soon and I was wondering what the stats of a cannon would be as the DMG only gives pistols & muskets. I was thinking along the lines of: 1000gp 5d6 damage x3critical 200ft range incrediment P damage crew of 2 loading = 2 full round actions Is this too powerful? weak? or am I missing something out? My second question is, what sort of magic can be put on a ship eg. to make it go faster etc. and what would it cost? Thanks in advance for any replies:D
jokey665 03-28-07, 03:02 PM	Stormwrack has various cannons and other things to put on ships. Basically, get Stormwrack if you plan on doing this kind of campaign.
JiCi 03-28-07, 03:03 PM	Stormwrack has light bombards, heavy bombards and firespitter, as well as magical enhancements for ships; the Arms & Equipment Guide has other magic items for ships.
lint trap 03-28-07, 04:27 PM	Unapproachable East also has the Thayan Bombard, a magical version of the cannon. Good if (like me) you're skittish about letting gunpowder into a campaign.
Chimaera2000 03-28-07, 07:13 PM	I might have to take a look at Stormwrack sometime. I was considering picking up the Bind Elemental feat from the Eberron Campaign Setting, which means that I could make an airship if our party so desired. Equipping it with cannons would be a nice touch. Of course, if Star Wars has taught me anything, these cannons will not be able to fire into the deck. (http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/6027/returnofthejedi04lc.jpg)
dragoonspear 03-29-07, 03:40 PM	Hi, I've just had a look at the Stormwrack excerpts and it looks ideal for my campaign, the only problem is that my funds are a bit low at the moment (getting towards the end of my monthly student loan money)so I can't buy it. Oh well. Could anybody give me an overview of what sort of magic you can put on a ship, I noticed that you can get animated figureheads which looks quite cool.
OravennasBrother 03-29-07, 04:37 PM	Cannon posed two major hazards for ships against which they fired. First was the possibility of holing the target ship. A hole below the waterline COULD cause a ship to sink (though more often the crew would manage a patch which would let them reach shore/harbor). Second large splinters killed or maimed crew aboard the target ship. Sure a cannon MIGHT set a fire, or make the magazine explode, and a shot MIGHT strike a crewman, but those events were rare. Finally a ship could lose maneuverability if the Sails/Masts were damaged by cannon, though that typically required the use of chain-shot. Shuch damage did not sink a ship and could generally be repaired from stores on board, but in a fight lost maneuverability often meant defeat.
Sajek 03-29-07, 07:54 PM	Stats of a cannon (or "bombard," from Stormwrack): Light Bombard: Cost 2000, damage 3d10, crit x3, range 150 ft, crew four, light mount, shooter takes -4 on attacks with it. Reload: FRA+DC 10 Prof (siege engineer) check to swab, FRA+DC 15 Prof (SI) to load and wad, FRA+DC10 Str check to put in ball, FRA+DC10 Str check to pack, FRA to aim (1 shot/6 rounds). Heavy Bombard: Cost 8000, damage 6d10, crit x3, range 200 ft, crew 8, heavy mount, shooter takes -4 on attacks. Reload: FRA+DC 10 Prof (SI) to swab, two FRAs+DC 15 to load and wad, two FRAs+DC 10 Str check to load ball, two FRAs+DC 10 Str check to tamp, two FRAs to aim. Miscellaneous ship items: Oars of speed: +10 ft to rowed vehicle speed. Everfull sails: Always have strong wind blowing in. Sails of displacement: 20% miss chance for all attacks vs. the ship. Planar helm: Ship wheel, 2x/day can plane shift the whole ship and all aboard. Second large splinters killed or maimed crew aboard the target ship. You ever seen Mythbusters? They disproved that. The flying splinters did very little damage.
RedRory 03-29-07, 08:38 PM	Like the other replies I would recommend Stormwrack particularly if you are running a whole nautical campaign as it would be well worth it. 1000gp 5d6 damage x3critical 200ft range incrediment P damage crew of 2 loading = 2 full round actions A few quick thoughts. Damage should be dependent on the type of ammunition being used. There's generally two types; cannister and roundshot. Roundshot are the classic black balls of iron used for driving through walls and the hulls of ships. Cannister is anti-personnel a hollow shell loaded with nails and shreds of metal. 5d6 is probably a good damage for cannister (though damage would be piercing/slashing and I'd recommend a 10' radius for area of effect). A roundshot should do considerably more like 6d10 but a smaller radius (say 5' feet). Ammunition would affect the range increment. Roundshot at 200' feet would probably work (It could probably be higher to say 300'). Cannister would have a much shorter range like say 80 feet. Also, the reload time is far too short. With 2 rounds that's 1 shot every 12 seconds. In the Napoleonic period a crack crew would be able to fire a cannon roughly once a minute. I'm sure there were crews that did it in less time but probably not in 12 seconds. Now you may not want to have it be 1 minute between shots for game purposes but I'd say at least 5 rounds reload time. If you wanted to add more detail you could look at having two classes of cannons heavy and light (or 6 pounder, 12 pounder) but that might be getting a bit much. Well hope that helps.
dragoonspear 03-31-07, 01:42 PM	Thanks Sajek, I think I will use the bombard stats you gave. Just one thing, can the skill checks required to load the bombard be done by different crew members? ie for light bombard, each of the 4 crew members do one of the checks so swab, load and wad, put in the ball and pack are done in the first round and aim and fire in the second, or is each of the checks a full round action for all of the crew?