F.13 Crew Roles

Ships depend on their crew to function. There are many jobs that are necessary to make large ships function, including sailors, rowers, cooks, pages, and more. Fully defining life on a ship is outside the scope of this brief introduction to ship combat. However, some roles have outsized influence on the ship’s effectiveness, such as the ship’s captain and pilot. These roles provide a way for player characters to meaningfully influence the outcome of ship battles, even if their personal combat talents are irrelevant at those scales.

Each crew role defined here functions like a class archetype, with seven progression ranks. A character can have any number of crew roles, but they can only fulfill one role at a time on a ship. In general, your highest crew role rank should not be significantly higher or lower than your highest rank in a class archetype, but they do not have to be kept exactly in sync. The GM can decide whether your crew role rank increases in lockstep with your class archetype rank, or whether it increases based on other factors. This could include practice and time spent on a ship, or money spent to buy ship improvements necessary to improve your crew role rank.

Crew role ranks are limited by ship quality. Even the best pilot cannot dodge incoming fire with ease on a lifeboat. The maximum crew role rank for all crew on a ship is equal to the ship’s item rank (see Wealth and Item Ranks).

A sufficiently large ship can have more than one member of each crew role. This does not mean that the ship literally has multiple captains or pilots. Instead, the ship would have a hierarchy. It might have a boatswain and boatswain’s mate, or a pilot and pilot’s mate, with both characters able to fully use their crew role abilities. Colossal ships can have two people for each crew role, Galleon ships can have three, and Titan ships can have four.

F.13.1 Boatswain

This role is responsible for coordinating the ship’s crew. It involves tracking everything that is happening on the ship and knowing where and how to intervene.

Rank 1 – Ensure Competence

Whenever a crew member on the ship makes a ship-related check that you are aware of, you can increase your fatigue level by two. If you do, that creature gains the benefit of the desperate exertion ability on that check (see Desperate Exertion). It still cannot apply that ability twice to the same check.

Rank 2 – Specialized Encouragement

Rank 3 – Collective Effort

Each other crew member who can see or hear you gains a +1 bonus to ship-related checks. If you are trained in a skill that a crew member is using to make a check, they gain a +2 bonus from this ability instead of +1.

Rank 4 – Encouraging Presence

The ship gains a +1 bonus to its Willpower.

Rank 5 – Ensure Competence+

When you use this ability to affect a creature other than yourself, you only increase your fatigue level by one.

Rank 6 – Specialized Encouragement+

The bonuses you provide from this ability increase:

• Evasion: The defense bonus increases to +2.
• Travel: The ship’s turning cost is reduced by 10 feet, to a minimum of 10 feet.
• Weapons: The accuracy bonus increases to +2.

Rank 7 – Collective Effort+

The bonus increases to +2, or to +4 for skills that you are trained in.

F.13.2 Fixer

This role is responsible for maintaining the ship’s physical infrastructure. It represents a combination of carpentry, caulking, and similar repair jobs. In order to take this role on a ship, you must have at least one Craft skill relevant to the ship’s construction.

Rank 1 – Quick Patch

As a standard action, you can attempt to patch the ship’s defenses. This requires a Craft check relevant to the ship. The difficulty value is equal to 5 + 5 for each time that you have used that same Craft skill with this ability since the ship’s last short repair. Success means that the ship regains damage resistance equal to three times your rank in this crew role.

Rank 2 – Temporary Seal

You can make a Craft check relevant to the ship to temporarily stop a leak in a ship without expensive materials. The difficulty value is equal to 10 + 10 for each time that you have used that same Craft skill with this ability since the ship’s last vital repair. Success means that the leak is stopped for one hour. This does not remove the vital wound, and you can only use this ability to affect one leak on the ship. Normally, this check requires one minute of work. For every 5 points by which you succeed, the time required is halved.

Rank 3 – Rapid Repair

When you participate in repairing a ship, the repairs take half the normal time. This affects short repairs, long repairs, and vital repairs.

Rank 4 – Sturdy Reinforcement

The ship gains a +1 bonus to its Constitution.

Rank 5 – Quick Patch+

The damage resistance regained increases to four times your rank in this crew role.

Rank 6 – Temporary Seal+

You can use this ability to affect two leaks on the ship, rather than only one.

Rank 7 – Efficient Repair

When you participate in repairing a ship, the cost of that repair is reduced by one item rank. If you are using gold pieces, this roughly translates to a repair cost that is one fifth of the normal price.

F.13.3 Gunner

This role is responsible for aiming and firing ship weaponry. For complex weapons such as ballistas, they also direct the work of other crew members who are physically loading and aiming the weapons.

Rank 1 – Skilled Shot

Ship weapons you fire gain a +1 accuracy bonus.

Rank 2 – Customized Shot

Whenever you fire a ship weapon, you can choose one of the following effects.

• Arcing Shot: The longshot penalty for the attack is reduced by 2.
• Desperate Shot: The attack rolls accuracy twice, and it gains a +2 accuracy bonus. However, the ship’s strain level increases by one.
• Direct Shot: The attack deals double damage. However, the attack suffers a -1 accuracy penalty, and its range limits are halved.
• Overloaded: The attack deals double damage. This can only be used with ship weapons that do not have the Slow Load weapon tag (see Ship Weapon Tags). If the weapon has the Slow Reload weapon tag, it takes twice as long to reload after this attack. Otherwise, it gains Slow Reload (1) until it has been reloaded.

Rank 3 – Weapons Coordination

As a minor action, you can choose one ship weapon whose crew can see or hear you. That weapon gains your benefits from this crew role this round as if you were the one firing it. You cannot apply this ability to a weapon that is already benefiting from another gunner’s effects. This ability has the Swift tag.

Rank 4 – Mighty Weaponry

The ship gains a +1 bonus to its Strength.

Rank 5 – Skilled Shot+

The accuracy bonus increases to +2.

Rank 6 – Customized Shot+

The benefits from this ability improve.

• Arcing Shot: The longshot penalty is fully removed.
• Desperate Shot: You roll accuracy three times instead of twice.
• Direct Shot: The accuracy penalty is removed.
• Overloaded: The attack also rolls damage twice, keeping the higher result.

Rank 7 – Weapons Coordination+

When you use this ability, you can choose any number of ship weapons whose crew can see or hear you.

F.13.4 Lookout

This role is responsible for observing and reporting the ship’s surroundings. It includes watching out for hazardous terrain, enemy ships, and similar dangers or opportunities.

Rank 1 – Vantage Point

You gain a +3 bonus to Awareness and Survival checks while in a crow’s nest, or other equivalent location on the ship designed for a lookout.

Rank 2 – Detailed Scouting

If you look at a ship for one minute, you can make an Awareness check. The difficulty value is normally equal to 5, modified as normal for distance and vision conditions. If the ship is specifically designed to conceal its true nature, the difficulty value can increase to 10 or higher, at the GM’s discretion. Success means you learn whether one of the following things is true. For every 5 points by which you succeed, you learn an additional piece of information.

• If the ship’s item rank is greater than your ship’s item rank.
• If the highest item rank among the ship’s weapons is greater than the highest item rank among your ship’s weapons.
• If the ship is elite.
• If the ship is mostly full of cargo.
• If the ship has more than half its maximum crew.
• If the ship has any vital wounds.

Rank 3 – Far-Sighted Weapons

All ship weapons that can see or hear you reduce their longshot penalty by 1.

Rank 4 – Clear Sighted

The ship gains a +1 bonus to its Perception.

Rank 5 – Vantage Point+

The skill bonuses increase to +6.

Rank 6 – Far-Sighted Weapons+

The longshot penalty reduction increases to 2.

Rank 7 – Detailed Scouting+

Using this ability does not take any time. It happens automatically whenever you see a ship. In addition, you automatically learn all pieces of information if the check succeeds, regardless of how much you succeed by.

F.13.5 Pilot

This role is responsible for steering the ship. They generally stay at the ship’s wheel, but they may also direct the cut of sails or the direction of rowing.

Rank 1 – Desperate Sprint

As a standard action, you can increase the ship’s strain level by one. If you do, the ship moves up to its speed during this action phase. Any ship can only be affected by this ability once per round.

Rank 2 – Evasive Maneuvers

As a standard action, you can choose one enemy ship you are aware of. Your ship gains a +1 bonus to its Armor and Reflex defenses against that enemy ship this round. This ability has the Swift tag.

Rank 3 – Hard Turn

The ship’s turning speed is reduced by 10 feet, to a minimum of 10 feet. In addition, whenever the ship moves, you can increase the ship’s strain level by one. If you do, the ship turns up to 90 degrees without spending any movement.

Rank 4 – Agile Pilot

The ship gains a +1 bonus to its Dexterity.

Rank 5 – Evasive Maneuvers+

You can choose a second enemy ship at the same time.

Rank 6 – Hard Turn+

The turning speed reduction increases to 20 feet.

Rank 7 – Desperate Sprint+

When you use this ability, the ship also doubles its movement speed during the next movement phase.

F.13.6 Warder

This role is responsible for directly protecting the ship from danger with magic.

In order to take this role on a ship, you must be able to cast spells. At the GM’s discretion, you may also need to have access to mystic spheres that can plausibly be used to protect the ship. Most mystic spheres which have spells that affect objects can be used to justify this role. However, highly specialized mystic spheres like enchantment or vivimancy may not be sufficient.

Rank 1 – Active Defense

As a standard action, you can give the ship a +2 bonus to all defenses during the current round. This ability has the Swift tag. It has no effect if the ship is already protected by another warder using this ability.

Rank 2 – Specialized Ward

As a standard action, you can activate one of the following effects. This ability has the Sustain (minor) tag.

• Desperate Fortification: Whenever the ship would take damage, that damage is halved. At the end of each round, if the ship took damage in excess of your rank in this crew role that round, it increases its strain level by two.
• Enhance Armor: The ship gains a +1 enhancement bonus to its Armor defense.
• Enhance Resilience: The ship gains a +2 enhancement bonus to its Fortitude defense and vital rolls.
• Mystic Ward: The ship gains a +2 enhancement bonus to all defenses against magical ✨ attacks.

Rank 3 – Ship of Magic

You gain a +1 accuracy with magical ✨ abilities, including magical ship weapons, while on the ship. In addition, whenever you participate in a ritual on the ship, you can increase the ship’s strain level by one. If you do, the fatigue cost required to perform the ritual is reduced by an amount equal to twice your rank in this crew role.

Rank 4 – Permanent Ward

The ship gains a bonus to its damage resistance equal to four times your rank in this crew role.

Rank 5 – Active Defense+

The defense bonus increases to +3.

Rank 6 – Ship of Magic+

The accuracy bonus increases to +2. In addition, the fatigue cost reduction increases to three times your rank in this crew role.

Rank 7 – Specialized Ward

The benefits from this ability improve.

• Desperate Fortification: The threshold for gaining fatigue increases to three times your rank in this crew role.
• Enhance Armor: The bonus increases to +2.
• Enhance Resilience: The bonuses increase to +4.
• Mystic Ward: The bonus increases to +4.