Gary V. Foss
12-28-1998, 09:59 PM
As long as I'm on this BR domain rules/core AD&D rules translation tack,
has anybody else noticed that the costs of BR ships and the ships on p90
of the PHB are out of whack? Here's a list:
Vessel Type PHB Cost BR Cost
Barge 500gp 1GB or 2,000gp
Caravel 10,000gp 6GB or 12,000gp
Coaster 5,000gp 2GB or 4,000gp
Cog 10,000gp 5GB or 10,000gp One matches!
Drakkar 25,000gp 8GB or 16,000gp
Dromond 15,000gp 10GB or 20,000gp
Galleon 50,000gp 15GB or 30,000gp
Great Galley 30,000gp 12GB or 24,000gp
Knarr 3,000gp 6GB or 12,000gp x4 difference!
Longship 10,000gp 3GB or 6,000gp
Now the statistics for each of these kinds of ships are clearly tweaked
by the BR domain rules. The Galleon description in the PHB says the
ship has a cargo capacity of around 500 tons, which would represent
250GB worth of cargo using the 2:1 ratio the BR rules suggest. That's
quite a bit more than the 6GB cargo capacity that the BR version of a
Galleon has. Obviously, this is not what the designers had in mind when
describing ship types. The DMG's seaworthiness (expressed as a
percentage on p170) is also pretty far out of line with the BR
seaworthiness. More examples:
BR Seaworthiness DMG Seaworthiness
Vessel Type w/ DMG equivalent w/ BR equivalent
Caravel 16 or (80%) 70% or (14)
Coaster 15 or (75%) 50% or (10)
Cog 17 or (85%) 65% or (13)
Drakkar 13 or (65%) 50% or (10)
Galleon 15 or (75%) 75% or (15)
Knarr 16 or (80%) 65% or (13)
Longship 14 or (70%) 60% or (12)
Another issue that I have with the use of ships in BR is the amount of
troops they can transport. A galleon can transport 3 units or 600 men
or horses. That is in addition to the unit of irregulars that such a
ship has as "marines" that can be landed to raid provinces (CotS p72).
That's 800+ men on a ship 130' long and 30' wide which seems like a lot
to me even if it has three decks. I have to admit I don't know much
about the possible crew sizes on board older sailing ships so if there
is anybody out there who can tell me if this makes sense or not I'd
appreciate the info.
Now, I've already said I think a GB should be worth 10,000gp instead of
2,000, so I'm pretty sure that change would drastically effect the naval
effect of BR. If I use my 10,000gp method AND the higher PHB cost of a
galleon, for instance, it will still cost only 5GB for such a ship as
opposed to the cost in the published materials of 15GB for such a ship.
Having said that, aren't standard BR ships rather expensive for what you
get? Spending 15GB on a single ship seems like an awful lot when the
same 15GB can get you almost 4 units of cavalry....
I have some thinking to do on how I want to handle this sort of thing in
my campaign. Anybody have some input?
Gary
has anybody else noticed that the costs of BR ships and the ships on p90
of the PHB are out of whack? Here's a list:
Vessel Type PHB Cost BR Cost
Barge 500gp 1GB or 2,000gp
Caravel 10,000gp 6GB or 12,000gp
Coaster 5,000gp 2GB or 4,000gp
Cog 10,000gp 5GB or 10,000gp One matches!
Drakkar 25,000gp 8GB or 16,000gp
Dromond 15,000gp 10GB or 20,000gp
Galleon 50,000gp 15GB or 30,000gp
Great Galley 30,000gp 12GB or 24,000gp
Knarr 3,000gp 6GB or 12,000gp x4 difference!
Longship 10,000gp 3GB or 6,000gp
Now the statistics for each of these kinds of ships are clearly tweaked
by the BR domain rules. The Galleon description in the PHB says the
ship has a cargo capacity of around 500 tons, which would represent
250GB worth of cargo using the 2:1 ratio the BR rules suggest. That's
quite a bit more than the 6GB cargo capacity that the BR version of a
Galleon has. Obviously, this is not what the designers had in mind when
describing ship types. The DMG's seaworthiness (expressed as a
percentage on p170) is also pretty far out of line with the BR
seaworthiness. More examples:
BR Seaworthiness DMG Seaworthiness
Vessel Type w/ DMG equivalent w/ BR equivalent
Caravel 16 or (80%) 70% or (14)
Coaster 15 or (75%) 50% or (10)
Cog 17 or (85%) 65% or (13)
Drakkar 13 or (65%) 50% or (10)
Galleon 15 or (75%) 75% or (15)
Knarr 16 or (80%) 65% or (13)
Longship 14 or (70%) 60% or (12)
Another issue that I have with the use of ships in BR is the amount of
troops they can transport. A galleon can transport 3 units or 600 men
or horses. That is in addition to the unit of irregulars that such a
ship has as "marines" that can be landed to raid provinces (CotS p72).
That's 800+ men on a ship 130' long and 30' wide which seems like a lot
to me even if it has three decks. I have to admit I don't know much
about the possible crew sizes on board older sailing ships so if there
is anybody out there who can tell me if this makes sense or not I'd
appreciate the info.
Now, I've already said I think a GB should be worth 10,000gp instead of
2,000, so I'm pretty sure that change would drastically effect the naval
effect of BR. If I use my 10,000gp method AND the higher PHB cost of a
galleon, for instance, it will still cost only 5GB for such a ship as
opposed to the cost in the published materials of 15GB for such a ship.
Having said that, aren't standard BR ships rather expensive for what you
get? Spending 15GB on a single ship seems like an awful lot when the
same 15GB can get you almost 4 units of cavalry....
I have some thinking to do on how I want to handle this sort of thing in
my campaign. Anybody have some input?
Gary