D&D 3.5 Naval Combat #1 Cheat Sheet by Cheater_Dice66

—The commander with advantage does not spend a standard action to actively command his vessel.

—The vessel with the advantage has a rigging section destroyed.

—The vessel with the advantage fails on an attempt to perform the grapple, ram, or shear special maneuver.

Your ship’s position relative to the enemy vessel has only five signif­icant compon­ents: the range between your ships, your heading, your speed, the enemy’s heading, and the enemy’s speed.

Heading: There are three directions a ship can be facing relative to the enemy vessel: closing, holding, or opening. CLOSING: The ship is generally pointed at the enemy and is trying to get closer. Weapons that bear forward can be fired at the enemy. Enemy attacks target the bow of the ship. HOLDING: The ship is mainta­ining its position. It your bow, stern, pmight be drifting in the water or sailing along some course that doesn’t really close or open the range, simply maneuv­ering at a relatively constant distance from the enemy ship. You can choose whether ort side, or starboard side faces the other vessel. Weapons that bear in that direction can fire at the enemy, and enemy attacks target that part of your ship. OPENING: The ship is pointed away from the enemy and is trying to open the range between the two vessels. Weapons that bear aft can fire at the enemy. Enemy attacks target your ship’s stern.

SPEED: You can set your ship’s speed at any value up to your ship’s maximum speed based on the current condit­ions. Oared vessels can assume any speed they like from round to round, limited only by their maximum speed, provided there are sufficient rowers to move the vessel. Sailing ships do not accelerate or decelerate with the same ease. A sailing vessel can only change its speed by 10 feet per turn (up to its maximum current speed based on the wind and current). It must have a sufficient number of sailors on watch who use actions to help adjust rigging, raise or furl sails, and attend to other such tasks. A sailing ship’s maximum speed is based on its movement rate and the strength of the wind and current. Sprinting: The rowers of an oared vessel can pick up the pace for a quick sprint but risk exhaustion soon afterward. An oared vessel can add +50% to its speed for up to 10 rounds, but after such a sprint the rowers are fatigued and the ship reduced to half speed for as long as the rowers are fatigued.

You can order your ship to attempt a special maneuver in the movement step. You can attempt to come about, grapple, escape a grapple, ram, or shear. A ship can attempt only one special maneuver per round.

Grapple: If you have the advantage and close to within 20 feet of your adversary (or have actually gone past your adversary but are still within 20 feet) you can attempt to grapple. If the opposing captain accepts the grapple, the attempt is automa­tically succes­sful. If the opposing captain does not want to be grappled, you make an opposed Profession (sailor) check modified by your ship’s shipha­ndling bonus. If you equal or beat your opponent’s check, the two ships are grappled. Grappled ships fall to zero speed. During the next movement step, your ships will be adjacent to each other (enthu­siastic boarders can try to swing, swim, or jump the gap between the vessels in the round before the ships are adjacent)