Ships

Ships in wildspace are collectively referred to as spelljammers; named after the largest and oldest ship to sail the universe, The Spelljammer. Due to their size and air envelope, spelljammers are the preferred method of travel through wildspace. These ships have a number of attributes and statistics to describe their performance and capabilities. There are dozens of ship types that sail through the spelljamming universe and new versions every day. To some capacity, they all have the following attributes.
Hull The hull of a ship is measured in tonnage and represents the size of the ship and how much volume it displaces. The hull size is also indicative of how much damage a ship can sustain before breaking up, how much damage it can resist and how maneuverable it is.
Tonnage: In general terms, one ton equals 100 square yards of space to be filled with crew, weapons, and cargo. The health of a ship and its threshold for damage is directly proportional to how much tonnage it has.
Ship Health: The ship’s health is equal to the tonnage times 10.
Damage Threshold: This represents a ship’s damage tolerance and is derived from the ship’s maximum health. Any total damage from a single attack or effect amount less than the damage threshold, unless otherwise stated, is ignored. Damage that meets or exceeds the threshold is applied. For example, a ship is hit with a ballista bolt for 11 points of damage. If this ship has a maximum health less than or equal to 300, it takes 11 points of damage as 11 is higher than the 0 and 10 thresholds. Ships with a health of 300 or greater are unaffected by the hit; being too large for this puny bolt to harm them. Ship Health Range Damage Threshold
Ship Health Range Damage Threshold 1 – 99 0 100 – 299 10 300 – 499 15 500 – 999 20 1000 – 1499 25 1500 + 30

Ship Health	Damage Threshold
1 – 99	0
100 – 299	10
300 – 499	15
500 – 999	20
1000 – 1499	25
1500 +	30

Material Ships have to be made of something. What makes up a ship is important as this determines the base Armor Class of the vessel. A ship made of metal is inherently more resistant to attacks than a ship made of crystal. Common ship materials are as follows:
Material AC Cloth 11 Leather 12 Crystal 13 Ceramic 13 Thin Wood 14 Thick Wood 15 Bone 15 Stone 17 Metal 19
Saving Throws Ships are large and do not behave as normal creatures. Ships automatically succeed Strength and Constitution saving throws given their size and power. Dexterity saving throws are made using the ship’s Reaction Modifier. Since they have no consciousness, ships automatically fail any Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma saving throws. Finally, they are immune to both Poison and Psychic damage as well as the following effects: blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, incapacitated, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, stunned, and unconscious.
Cargo Pirate, merchant, or otherwise, all ships need space to hold their goods, ammo, and crew. Cargo space is quite literally the empty space on a ship that can be filled with goods, additional weapons, backup weapons, or special rooms. Generally, all ships have cargo space equal to their tonnage. Weapons and Modifications added to the ship may take up some of this space. Any tonnage not occupied by something on the ship may be considered cargo space and therefore filled.
Movement Spelljamming ships have a number of movement methods whether they are locked in combat or cruising the Phlogiston. Overall, movement is controlled by the ship’s helm. Without a helm and an operator to power it, a spelljamming ship is dead in the void.
The Helm The spelljamming helm is arguably the most important part of a ship and what separates as spelljammer from a groundling ship. Most helms are created in secret Arcane shops, sold by the strange blue beings, and powered by mages. The Minor and Major helms are the industry standard for helms but immense Dwarven foundries, helms that draw power from life force, and Gnomish pedals also exist. Each helm provides power in different ways but all helms provide a speed value. This number represents how many 100 foot increments (hex spaces) a ship can move or how many turns a ship can execute each round. In general, a helm provides a speed from 1 to 9. Each speed point can be used to move the ship forward, backwards, or execute a turn.
Two helms cannot be active on the same ship. In most cases, neither helm functions until the other turns off. In the worse cases, the two helms immediately pull the ship apart into pieces. When operating a helm, the operator may choose to expand their awareness above and behind the ship. This allows them to see the outside of the ship as a whole to properly command and navigate it. When doing so, the operator is blind and deafened from their own bodily senses.
Minor Helm: A static chair and helmet built into the hull. Supports up to 50 tons of ship. Speed is equal to 2/3 the level of the operator’s highest unspent spellslot, rounded down, to a minimum of 1. A creature must have at least one unspent spellslot to operate the helm. Casting spells, aside from cantrips, is not allowed while operating. 
Major Helm: A static chair and helmet built into the hull. Supports up to 100 tons of ship. Speed is equal to the level of the operator’s highest unspent spellslot. A creature must have at least one unspent spellslot to operate the helm. Casting spells, aside from cantrips, is not allowed while operating.
Lifejammer: A diabolical-looking Minor Helm that can hold a creature of large or smaller and comes with built-in restraints. Being hooked up to this helm draws 1d8 of health and applies one level of exhaustion for each day attached; either at dawn or the first time the creature is attached to the helm for that day. Health taken and exhaustion added this way can only be restored by non-magical means after one full day not operating the helm. The speed granted by the helm is equal to 1/3 the creature’s level or CR, rounded down, to a minimum of 1.
Space Engine: A propulsion thrust engine built by gnomes and attached to the back of the craft. This object is typically reserved for lifeboats and shuttle-craft. Speed using this engine is 1. This helm cannot achieve spelljamming speeds and cannot liftoff from a celestial body.
Series Helm: These helms link the mind power of multiple living beings to power a ship and can have 1-5 of these helms linked. For each creature operating a helm, the speed increases by 1. Should a helm be destroyed or disabled, the ship loses all speed for 1 turn as the system recalibrates. Afterwards, it resumes with a speed equal to the remaining operated helms.
Maneuverability The helm of a ship provides the raw speed and thrust, but there are many other factors to how a ship moves. The material it is made of, how well the ship is rigged, and the size all play a role in how well the ship handles. This is called the ships maneuverability class and determines the ship’s base reaction modifier and turn allowance; similar to the dexterity bonuses a flexible rogue has.
Maneuverability Class: All ships come with a rating of A to F, with F being the most sluggish. A ship can only have a class G maneuverability from taking damage or modifications. Class F is typically reserved for large flagships or converted groundling ships while fighters and escape craft are labeled as Class A. Ships cannot be changed in any way to exceed the A-G classifications. Each category provides the following benefits:
Class Turn Allowance Reaction Mod A 3* +8 B 2 +6 C 2 +4 D 1 +2 E 1 0 F 1* -2 G 0* -4 * denotes special properties defined below
Turn Allowance: This number represents the number of hex faces a ship can change when executing a turn. A turn can be made once per hex at the cost of one speed point. When a turn is made, the ship can change its facing by a number of hex sides up to its turn allowance.
For instance, a class B ship with 3 speed points could move forward, turn two faces to the right, and then move forward again. Alternatively, it could just move forward 3 hexes or turn at after moving 2 hexes forward. Class A ships do not spend a speed point to turn. Class F ships must move forward one hex before turning. Class G ships spend a speed point to attempt a turn. There is a 30% chance the turn is successful otherwise the point is wasted. All ships may change their facing by one hex side if they moved at least one hex at the end of their movement.
Reaction Modifier: This value represents the ship’s ability to dodge and avoid disasters. This number is used when resolving ramming and shearing checks and is added to the rolled check as described in the sections below. Note that ships that are unpowered, disabled, or otherwise inoperable do not add their reaction modifier. The reaction mod is also used to resolve initiative and functions the same as a player’s initiative.
Combat Speeds When approaching a significant gravity well of 5 tons or greater, a ship will slow to a low speed to prevent a potentially devastating crash. When this occurs, ships enter large, hex-grid field to represent the local area. Movement through this field is resolved via turns with initiative when applicable. At any point during its turn in a round, a ship may decide to leave the area. If there is no object or creature preventing this event within 25 hexes, the ship resumes its spelljamming speeds and course. A failed escape from the area does not end the turn and the individual operating the ship is notified of the failure but not why.
Leaving the area, when hostiles are present, may result in a pursuit. Since spelljamming ships all travel at the same spelljamming speeds, it is not a simple task to run away from pursuers. Given the long distances traveled, a pursuer will need to match their target’s heading exactly or end up miles away. In order to pursue a target, the pursuer must also jump to spelljamming speeds in the same heading soon after. The pursuing ship must make Wisdom (Survival) check to follow their prey. On a success, they match the heading well enough and will catch up to the other ship when it stops. On a failure, the pursuing ship continues on a heading where the two ships will never meet. Neither ship has any idea whether they are being chased or not, unless aided by magical means.
Spelljamming Speeds Outside of combat-like scenarios, all spelljammer helms boost a ship’s speed well beyond what groundling craft can obtain. Depending on the travel path, ships move as follows:
In Atmosphere: Spelljamming ships movement caps at 17 miles per hour or 400 miles per speed point granted by the helm. With a working helm, ships in atmosphere ignore planetary gravity locally and are capable of hovering in place. In Wildspace and Beyond: Without a planet restricting movement, spelljamming ships are able to move at incredible speeds. During this movement, the atmosphere of the ship works like a protective bubble and moves small obstacles out of the way. However, the ship will slow to combat speeds when passing near an object of 5 tons or greater. At this speed, the spelljamming ship is capable of traveling 100 million miles per day (about 4 million an hour). 
Take-off and Landing At some point, a ship might need to land with the intent of taking off some time after. This rule covers landing and taking off from a surface and does not apply to docking at a spaceport (a feat that is easily accomplished with movement so long as the dock is large enough). All ships come with some indication of whether they can handle a water and/or land touchdown. Those that are incapable usually have lifeboats or tow a dingy to handle setting down crew.
Landing: All ships can land; though some do it better. To begin, spelljamming ships slow down as they approach a planet’s gravity well. In doing so, the ship must spend a certain amount of time slowing to approach the planet’s surface. Once it nears, the ship may land on the surface, if it is capable of doing so, in 1 minute. A ship without the proper landing gear for the surface intended makes a Crash Landing.
Take-off: This functions similar to landing in reverse. First, 1d8 is rolled to determine how long takes for the helm to warm up and the ship to prepare for launch. If a quick take-off was anticipated, roll 2d8 and take the lower value. The result is the number of minutes it takes for the ship to be ready to launch. If the helm never stopped operating between landing and take-off, this time is 1 minute. Once ready, the ship takes off and can travel at the In Atmosphere rate until the gravity well of the planetoid is reached.
During warm-up, ships are considered unpowered. The time in/out of the planetoid gravity well is determined by two factors: the object’s size class and current atmospheric weather. There are a large number of possibilities for leaving a planetoid, ranging from 1 minute to 3 days. In some conditions, take-off might not even be possible.
Planet Size Time to Take Off < A 1 Minute A 10 minutes B 20 minutes C 20 minutes D 30 minutes E 40 minutes F 1 hour G 2 hours H 4 hours I 8 hours >= J 16 hours

Planet Size	Time to Take Off
A	1 Minute
B	10 minutes
C	20 minutes
D	20 minutes
E	30 minutes
F	40 minutes
G	1 hour
H	2 hours
I	8 hours
J	16 hours

Weather Condition	Take-off/Landing Modifier
Becalmed	1x Time
Light Breeze	1x Time
Favorable	1x Time
Strong Winds	2x Time
Rain/Snow	2x Time
Storm	4x Time
Gale	4x Time

Standard Armament
Wildspace is dangerous. Pirates wait in the shadows of asteroids and Neogi slavers are not afraid to capture a weakened ship. Beyond that, large creatures call the space between planets home. Most ships therefore come with large weapons and armed crew to keep the ship afloat.
Weapons
Ships have the capability of housing large siege-sized weapons to use against other ships and huge creatures. Most all ships come with the ability to hold one Light or Medium weapon without taking any cargo space. Additional Weapons can be added in exchange for cargo space up to 50% of the ship’s total tonnage. Ship weapons can only target an object of Huge or larger unless otherwise stated.
Fire Arc: Weapons can only be fired across certain arcs. Weapons, like ballista, are typically mounted on a pivot and can fire anywhere in range freely. Others, like catapults and bombards, have a limited firing arcs and are only able to fire over the hex sides they are facing. Any weapon not tagged as Mounted can be rotated on its turn instead of fired.
Range: Range represents the hex count (or number of 100 foot increments) the weapon can fire in naturally. Attacks beyond this range are resolved as Intentional Misses.
Critical: When the d20 is rolled for attacks, some weapons can score critical hits on rolls other than 20. Any roll on the attack die that falls in the critical range invokes a critical hit on the opposing ship. Critical hits against a ship deals normal damage plus a roll on the critical effect chart. Critical hits cannot be scored against crew on a ship but can be landed on unique PCs and NPCs.
Weapon Size: Some weapons come in sizes of light, medium, and heavy. Each has different characteristics but are functionally the same. Heavy weapons take twice the space (2 Standard Armament points and/or cargo) of light or medium weapons.
Anti-Personnel: When attacking with one of these weapons, choose an exposed deck. Any crew on the ship and any characters on the deck are subject to the weapon’s effect. 
Ram: Built in as part of the ship’s hull. These take up cargo and allow the Ramming attack. Rams are always mounted and usually apply a secondary or critical effect.
Volatile: When a ship’s hull is attacked while carrying these weapons, there is a chance the ammo storage for the weapon is hit and ignites. Any attack that does damage to the ship has a -1 to land a critical attack. A level 1d10 fire occurs as in addition to the critical effect.
Mounted: These weapons are fixed to the deck and cannot rotate without a turret. Arching Fire: These weapons require large, arching shots. These cannot attack targets within 100 feet (the same hex).
Name Range Fire Arc To Hit Damage Critical Tags
Light Ballista 6 Full +8 2d10 Piercing 20 Medium Ballista 4 Full +6 3d10 Piercing 19+ Heavy Ballista 2 Full +4 4d10 Piercing 18+ Light Catapult 5 Face +/- 1 +6 4d10 Bludgeoning 20 Arching Fire Medium Catapult 4 Face +/- 1 +5 6d10 Bludgeoning 19+ Arching Fire Heavy Catapult 3 Face +/- 1 +4 8d10 Bludgeoning 18+ Arching Fire Light Jettison 3 Face +6 1d6 Bludgeoning 20 Anti-Personnel Medium Jettison 2 Face +5 2d6 Bludgeoning 20 Anti-Personnel Heavy Jettison 1 Face +4 3d6 Bludgeoning 20 Anti-Personnel Greek Fire Projector 1 Face +4 3d10 Fire 18+ Fire, Mounted, Volatile Gnomish Sweeper 3 Full +6 2d6 Slicing 20 Anti-Personnel Cannon 2 Face +3 8d10 Piercing 20 Volatile Blunt Ram 0 Front or Back -- Tonnage*Tiles Moved in Line Always Ram Piercing Ram 0 Front or Back -- Tonnage*Tiles Moved in Line Always Ram Grappling Ram 0 Front or Back -- -- -- Ram
Additional weapons can be bought and stored on a ship for emergency or replacement. Weapons stored so take cargo space equivalent to the last column in the table below. A weapon stored in cargo can be brought out to replace the broken one. No proficiency is needed for this. However, a heavy weapon cannot be placed on a normal Turret. It takes 30 minutes to bring the new weapon up and replace the broken one. The broken weapon can be stowed for repairs or simply thrown off the ship as part of this process.
Name Cost in GP Cargo Space Light Ballista 400 1 Medium Ballista 600 2 Heavy Ballista 800 4 Light Catapult 500 1 Medium Catapult 700 2 Heavy Catapult 1,000 4 Light Jettison 400 1 Medium Jettison 600 2 Heavy Jettison 800 4 Greek Fire Projector 1,000 2 Gnomish Sweeper 800 2 Cannon 20,000 2 Blunt Ram 100 - Piercing Ram 200 - Grappling Ram 100 -
Crew Any spelljamming vessel preparing for combat would do well with a crew. Not only do they keep a ship running, they are directly useful in combat. Whether defending from enemy boarders or launching the attack themselves, you certainly do not want to be alone when ships get grappled together. The number of crew a ship can sustain is directly proportional to the tonnage. This number represents the total crew that can live in the ship’s air for 4 months before fouling it.
A ship with a crew operates at full capacity so long as a minimum number of crew is met. A ship that requires 1/4th the total crew capacity to operate normally. A ship meeting or exceeding this value operates as normal. A ship that operates less than this value functions at one Maneuverability Class less. Any ship that can sustain a crew needs a crew of at least 1 to operate at all; less than that and the ship is dead in space. As an example, a ship with a crew of 8 functions normally with 2 or more crew, at one less Maneuverability Class with 1 crew, and cannot move once the crew is exhausted. Ships without a crew allowance require at least one person to operate at full speed and maneuverability.
Crew Capacity: For ships less than 10 tons, crew size is 0. For ships 10 tons or greater, the crew size becomes 4 at 10 tons and gains an additional 2 for every 10 tons over 10. So, a 30-ton ship could support a crew of size 8. Generally though, a crew of some kind can always be found with enough coin and time in a spaceport. Crew will need to be paid up front with their wages and will require payment every 3 months. Crews are bought with a minimum size of 4 and a maximum of 12. So long as there is room on the ship, additional crew can be recruited; even if parts of the old crew are still on board.
Ships can support up to double the normal crew and take up cargo space proportional to 2 times their size over the standard allotment. For example, a ship that can support a crew of 8 loaded with 12 would lose 8 tons of its available cargo room to crew quarters and supplies. Not to mention the ship’s air would last less. The Amphibious trait applies to low and zero gravity fighting. Furthermore, some additional ancestries can be chosen: Name Attack Power Defense Toughness Morale Traits Giff +1 +1 +2 +2 +1 Martial, Stalwart Hadowzee +2 +1 +0 +0 +1 Amphibious, Frenzy Hurwaeti +0 +0 +2 +0 +2 Eternal, Courageous