Practical Spelljamming for modern spacefarers

Introduction
This small document should be the most basic information that you need to get started
playing on the spelljammer setting in D&D 5e. All the information here is based off the
2e collection “Adventures in Space Boxset”, which you may get here:
(https://thetrove.net/Books/Dungeons%20&%20Dragons/AD&D%202nd%20Edition/S
pelljammer/Adventures%20in%20Space%20Boxset.pdf).

There are some new terms that I’ll be introducing, which will be color coded green.

The first part of this document will be dedicated to explaining the basic mechanics of
the universe and spelljamming, such as gravity, air, travel speed, etc.

The second part will be dedicated to exact numbers, scores and tables; the mechanics
of how to calculate stuff. Here I also will explain a little on how and why I changed
certain mechanics.

During parts of the text I will also include references to the Adventures in Space Boxset
PDF, not the original book. The Boxset is actually made of several books, so when I
include a page in parenthesis like this: (p. 110) the page the number is referring to is
the page number in the PDF, not in the book.

Lastly, when reading 2e books, you have to keep in mind that “rounds” and “turns” are
not the same as in 5e: a round represents 1 minute, and a turn represents 10 rounds
or 10 minutes.
Part 1: The mechanics and structure of the universe
Most of the space within the D&D universe is occupied by a mysterious substance
called phlogiston (p. 110). Inside that phlogiston float the “crystal spheres”; big
spherical shells in which the worlds of D&D are contained (p. 109). Inside those crystal
shells there is vacuum (also called wildspace, p.107), and the different types of
celestial bodies, such as earth bodies, “living worlds”, air bodies, water bodies, and fire
bodies (p. 138, 140). These bodies can vary wildly in size: from an unfathomably big
sun to the size of an asteroid. They are divided in function of their size, like this:

Body Class Diameter

Size A 10 miles or less
Size B 10-100 miles
Size C 100-1k miles
Size D 1k-4k miles
Size E 4k-10k miles
Size F 10k-40k miles
Size G 40k-100k miles
Size H 100k-1000k (1M) miles
Size I 1M-10M miles
Size J 10M or more miles across

Earth, and most earth-like fantasy campaigns are size E.

Not all systems inside the crystal spheres are organized the same: in the Realmspace,
the crystal sphere in which the planet of Toril and the Forgotten Realms setting is
contained, the different planets orbit Sol, the sphere of fire at the center of the crystal
sphere. In the Greyspace, the crystal sphere in which Oerth and the Greyhawk setting
exist, all of the other worlds, including Liga, the sphere’s local fire body, orbit around
Oerth, which is at the center of the crystal sphere.

Travel between these points is much easier and faster with spelljamming ships than it
would be in real life with real physics and rocket engines. While a spelljamming ship
travels through wildspace in a straight line, it can attain an incredibly high speed really
quickly, of about 4 million miles per hour. This speed is known as “spelljamming
speed”, and it is a constant for all spacejamming vessels. However, when the ship
makes a turn or gets about one mile close to a large object –a large object being
anything with a mass of 10 tons or higher, or 100 cubic yards in volume (p. 152)– it
slows down to a “tactical speed”, which depends on the SR (Ship’s Rating) of the ship
(how you determine the SR of a ship depends on the spelljamming helm that is being
used, and will be explained in Part 2 of this guide). The maximum tactical speed of a
spelljamming ship equals 25 feet per second –and thus a flying speed of 150 ft– per
every SR point the ship has. 25 feet per second equals 17 miles per hour, or 400 miles
per day, which is an amazing speed compared to the most basic means of travel that
the groundlings use.
The size radius of a crystal sphere generally equals to double the distance from the
center of the sphere to the farthest orbiting world in the system. So for example, in the
Realmspace, the body farthest from the center is the water world of H’catha, which is
16 million miles or 16 days travel away from Sol, the central body of the sphere.
Therefore, the radius of the crystal sphere is 32 million miles long.

The crystal shells themselves are incredibly big spheres made out of an unknown
material. They can vary in size and “texture”, but they are all invariably massive and
unbreakable. There are ways to cross them, however:

1) Spells like Teleport or Dimension Door can take the user from one side to the
other of the shell without actually crossing it. It’s worth mentioning, though, that
these two spells can’t probably bring your spelljamming ship along with you.
2) A Create Portal spell (p. 119, also you can find it on the Spells.docx file) or a
magical device that duplicates that spell (the Passage Device, p. 147) can
magically create an opening in the crystal shell which will allow your ship to pass
through.
3) Naturally occurring portals pierce the crystal spheres at random intervals.
Looking for these without magic is a possible but time-consuming task.
4) Some stars are portals that open into The Flow. Some others are portals to the
plane of radiance or the plane of fire. These are lethal, needless to say.

Once you cross the portal on the surface inside of the crystal sphere, you will find
yourself on the Phlogiston, also called The Flow and The Rainbow Ocean (p. 110). The
Phlogiston is a multicolor ocean in which the crystal spheres float, and it is filled with
the substance of the same name. The phlogiston (substance) is a highly flammable
ether; it mixes with air to become dangerously explosive. Any exposed flame in the mix
explodes immediately, and deals 3 times the normal damage. A fireball cast in the air
mixed with phlogiston explodes in the same space as the caster, its radius expands 3
times and its damage triples as well. For that reason, candles and lanterns on a
spelljamming ship have to be put out before they enter the phlogiston, and weapons
that rely on fire like guns, bombs and fire bolts are not used in the phlogiston. Cold,
magical lights like those created by a Continual Flame spell don’t cause such
explosions.

The reason why the crystal spheres don’t collide with each another is because when
they get close, the concentration of phlogiston between them increases and pushes
them away, so they are constantly moving in a type of Brownian motion. These high
concentrations of phlogiston are also called “rivers” of phlogiston. The distance
between the crystal spheres is unfathomably long, but the rivers of phlogiston
accelerate the travel between them. When a spelljamming vessel “sails” on a
phlogiston river, it takes it from 10 to 100 days to reach its destination.
There are few constants in the Phlogiston, and the rivers are not one of them. As the
crystal spheres drift close and away from each other, the rivers appear and disappear.
That’s why most phlogiston rivers are unreliable, although there are just a few crystal
spheres that are always close to each other, like the trio of the Krynnspace, the
Realmspace and the Grayspace.

Gravity in the worlds of D&D works in a radically different way than it does in real life.
Every body in space has its own gravity, though whether you can stand on it or not is an
all or nothing situation: any body with a sufficient length (25 feet in one axis) has a
plane of gravity with a strength equal of that on earth. A person could walk along the
back of a 25 feet tall giant as if it was the surface of a planet (p. 113). However, even
bodies without a plane of gravity will attract a pocket of air, but no solid objects. How
long that pocket of air lasts will be discussed in Part 2 of this document.

The direction of the gravity depends on the shape of the object: while an asteroid or a
planet will have gravity field that is directed towards the center of the body, a long body
like a ship will have a field of gravity that is directed towards a flat, two dimensional
plane that runs along the long axis of the body.

The extent of a body’s gravity field and its pocket of air depend on its dimensions: its
length on any given dimension is three times as long as the dimension on the ship, so
that a ship that is 40 feet long and 20 feet wide will have a gravity field that is 120 feet
long and 60 feet wide.

As shown in the picture, this gravity plane works in both ways. If an object or a person
is to fall overboard, they will fall once through the plane of gravity, at which point
“down” will become “up”, and they will fall upwards again. This bobbing will continue
until the object hits a solid surface, decelerates because of the air resistance, or drifts
out of the gravity field into the vacuum of wildspace.
This two-directional plane of gravity actually makes it possible for objects and people to
stand on the underside of a ship. In fact, some ships, like the lizardfolk Wasp, have
weapon platforms on both sides of the ship. The reason why not every ship has two
decks is because most ships expect to eventually encounter a ship more massive than
their own. When a ship enters the gravity field of a body twice its tonnage or more, the
biggest body’s gravity field “overrides” the other. When the gravity fields of two bodies
with roughly equal weight intersect, the objects in them are affected by the gravity field
of whichever body is closer. That way, it is possible for a fighter to jump from a ship to
another by crossing the mid-point between them.
Part 2: New rules in space
// For this part I’m basing on some other documents. First of all, The Worst DM’s 5e
Spelljammer conversion (http://theworstdm.com/spelljammer-5e/); some parts, for
example the Hull Points to Hit Points conversion and the Damage Threshold are exactly
the same, and so is the Magic in the Phlogiston part. The others are “Of Ships and the
Sea” Unearthed Arcana PDF, in which I mainly based to make the ship stat blocks and
crew mechanics, and the “Skulls & Shackles player’s guide” from Pathfinder, which I
took some inspiration from. Lastly, the original “Adventures in Space Boxset”, of
course, which are the original rules that I’m trying to adapt. Some of the changes I
made myself, mainly the adapting the old numbers to 5e’s action economy.

Ship to Ship Combat

In this conversion, ship to ship combat is meant to be a team experience. Unless the
players decide to assign roles to each one of their PC’s, such as “you will manage the
weapons", you will manage direction, you will control the acceleration, etc.”, the ship
that the party commands is controlled by everyone at the same time. During their turn
they will decide what actions the members of the crew make, how they will move, how
to attack, etc. Each ship will get an initiative, and that’s when the players will decide
how to proceed. Do mind that the player’s own PC’s are also part of the crew, and they
take turns like all of the NPC’s in the ship. A single PC may man one of the weapons by
themselves, or cast spells at the enemy ship or shoot arrows or crossbow bolts at the
at the enemy crew. In that sense the players still have some individual control, but it is
not total, as they still are controlling the NPC crew of the ship together. This will last
until boarding starts, when the game turns to regular combat and everyone rolls
initiative as normal. Sometimes the text will say that “the ship” does something. This is
accurate in game terms, but do mind that most ships can’t do anything on their own:
when a ship makes a DEX check, you roll with the ship’s DEX, but it is the crew acting.

Ship Stat Blocks

The ships that you will encounter in the Spelljammer setting each have different
statistics to reflect their capabilities. The elements of those stat blocks will be
described next:

Size
The size of a ship is determined by the length of its longest side, according to the size
that a creature of that given size occupies in combat. You will notice that this means
that most ships, including some of the smallest ones, like the 20 feet long and 5 feet
wide elven Flitter are Gargantuan in size. Only very small ships, like lifeboats and the
like, are Large or Huge in size. This is normal, and it ensures that there are no
ridiculous situations like a human grappling with a ship with people inside.
Space
Unlike creatures, ships don’t necessarily occupy a square space. What exactly are their
dimensions is specified in their Keel Lengths and Beam Lengths.

Keel Length & Beam Length

For you landlubbers back home, Keel means length and Beam means Width. It is
written in feet.

Crew & Capacity

The number before the slash is the minimum number of crew members necessary to
operate the ship at an optimum performance. If a ship has less crew than minimal, it
will lose MR, as seen in the next table. This number doesn’t include the weapon’s crew.

Crew Loss MC loss

Under minimum but over ½ -1
½ or less but greater than ¼ -2
¼ or less -3
No crew left MC G

The number after the slash is the amount of breathing creatures that the ship can
accommodate, including the crew, so that the ship’s fresh air supply lasts for 4 months
(See Air Pockets, Quality, and Duration); it is equal to the ship’s tonnage, and not based
around the living space available in the ship, though ship designers do make the living
quarters of a ship with its tonnage and air supply in mind.

Optional Rule: Crew Morale & Loyalty

You can use the Crew Quality and Mutiny rules from the Of Ships and the Sea
Unearthed Arcana article on a Spelljammer game. Do note that the complications that
may arise in Wildspace are not the same than may arise in the sea, so it would be
awkward to use the same table from article. You could use the Crew Quality modifier to
modify certain rolls, such as initiative. Personally, I prefer to just roleplay the
relationship between the PC’s and the crew, and I can’t come up with many ideas on
how to use the Crew Quality modifier, but you may find a place for it in your game.

As it is also suggested in the UA article, you could use the Loyalty optional rule from the
Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG, pg. 93) to keep track of the loyalty of individual crew
members in a ship.

Tonnage
This number represents the size of the ship. A ton is defined as 100 cubic yards, which
is equal to a cube 15 feet on a side, or 27 cubes 5 feet on a side. This is a key number
for every ship, as it will define the amount of air that it carries its Hit Points, STR score,
the damage of ramming attacks, and some other things.
Cargo
Amount of space available for cargo, passengers, etc., once the space for crew,
weapons, and the helm are taken. This space can be used for transporting cargo or for
other purposes, such as carrying more weapons.

Helm Type
The spelljamming helm is the device that allows the ship to travel in space. It is
powered by the magic of the user, like that of a wizard or a cleric. The type of helm that
is being used and the level of the user will define the ship’s SR, as shown in the Minor
Helm and Major Helm tables.

Minor Helm Major Helm

Caster Level SR Caster Level SR
1 1 1 1
2 1 2 1
3 1 3 2
4 1 4 2
5 2 5 3
6 2 6 3
7 2 7 4
8 2 8 4
9 3 9 5
10 3 10 5
11 3 11 6
12 3 12 6
13 4 13 7
14 4 14 7
15 4 15 8
16 4 16 8
17 5 17 9
18 5 18 9
19 5 19 10
20 5 20 10

Using a Minor or Major Helm will drain the user of spell slots, and the SR for that day
will be reduced by 1 per every spell that they had expended at the moment of sitting.
An individual user can power a Spelljammer Helm for 12 hours normally. The SR of the
ship will be reduced by 1 for every hour the helmsman keeps spelljamming after 12
hours, up to a minimum of 1. If they keep that up for 24 hours total, the helmsman will
pass out and fall asleep, and won’t be able to spelljam until they get a long rest and
recover their Spell Slots.

//Author’s note: I’m not really a fan of this rule. The Worst DM made an alternate rule
for helm operation on their Spelljammer 5e conversion
(http://theworstdm.com/spelljammer-5e/) in which you just cast a concentration spell
with a duration of 12 hours in order to be able to control the spelljamming helm.

These are just the Helms that normal PC’s are most likely to use, though. There are
other types of Helms that other races use and that have different ways to calculate CR:
the Beholders use Orbi, the Mind Flayers use Series Helms, the Neogi use Lifejammers,
etc. But I won’t go into describing those here: there’s not actually much to adapt from
them, you can just take them as they are in 2e. For more Helm types, you should look
them up in the pages 66 and 67 of the War Captain’s Companion: Book 1, the first
book in the War Captain’s Companion Boxset
(https://thetrove.net/Books/Dungeons%20and%20Dragons/AD&D%202nd%20Edition
/Spelljammer/War%20Captain%27s%20Companion%20Boxset.pdf).
Ship’s Rating (SR)
As explained above, this number is determined by the type of Helm being used and the
level of the user. The SR represents the ship’s speed while in tactical speed: for each
point of SR, a ship can move at a maximum speed of 25 feet per second, or 150 feet
per turn. A ship can’t just move freely like a flying creature, though, and it has to
accelerate and decelerate. How that happens will be explained on the movement
section.

Ability Scores
A ship has the six ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom,
and Charisma) and corresponding modifiers. A ship’s Strength represents its size and
weight. Dexterity represents a ship’s ease of handling. A ship’s Constitution covers its
durability and the quality of its construction. Ships usually have a score of 0 in
Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. If a ship has a 0 in a score, it automatically fails
any ability check or saving throw that uses that score. Do note, however, that most
spells that provoke such Saving Throws target only creatures, which ships are not.

How to get a ship’s ability scores is explained and discussed in the “Converting
Spelljammer Ships to 5e.docx” file.

Vulnerabilities, Resistances and Immunities

All ships are immune to Poison and Psychic damage. Ships that aren’t made of plant
matter are also immune to Necrotic damage. There is at least one ship that is made
out of especially delicate living material, and thus is Vulnerable to Necrotic damage.

Also, all ships are immune to the usual conditions: blinded, charmed, deafened,
exhaustion, frightened, incapacitated, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, stunned,
and unconscious.

Hull
Under this section is written the Ship’s AC, its material, Hit Points, Damage Threshold,
Maneuverability class, and its ability to land.

Armor Class
It works like in any other object.

Hit Points
These are Hit Points of the ship. When they reach 0, the ship breaks down. When a
ship breaks down, you can roll a 1d6 per every ton on the ship to determine how many
large pieces (with their own air pocket) of debris the ship breaks into, or you can decide
what happens with the destroyed ship by using common sense.
Maneuverability rating (MR)
This is meant to represent a ship’s ease of handling. It goes from G to A (though G can
only be achieved by taking damage), G being the worst and A being the best. The better
a ship’s MR, the tighter it can turn and the fastest it can accelerate or decelerate. MR
is directly related to a ship’s strength DEX score. Anything that affects MR also affects
the ship’s DEX, so that they match as in the next table:

MR DEX Score
A 20
B 18
C 16
D 14
E 12
F 10
G 8

For example, if a ship whose MR is C and whose DEX score is normally 16 is missing
some crew so that its MR is degraded to D, its DEX score will change accordingly to 14.

Landing
This explains whether a ship can safely land on water or on land. If ship that can’t land
safely attempts to, the crew will have to save against a crash. See Crashes.

Armament
These are the weapons on the ship that can be used in battle. The letters beside them
describe the weapon’s firing arc: they can’t shoot outside of their respective areas.

Actions
A ship doesn’t spend actions. Rather, the crew spends their actions working on the
ship: the Helmsman uses their actions to power the ship, and to accelerate and
decelerate. The ship’s crew spends their actions trimming the sails, effectively giving
the ship its Maneuverability Class and directing it. The weapon’s crew spends their
actions loading, aiming and firing the weapons that they operate.

Combat in Space
Combat between Two Spelljamming ships begins with initiative. On every turn of
initiative, the crew of a ship takes their actions. When the combat starts, either the two
ships will approach each another to attack or one of the ships will try to get away while
the other pursues it. Combat ends usually when one side of the fight escapes, is
destroyed or surrenders. After that the winning side will usually plunder or take the
other ship, and kill the crew, take them as prisoners or abandon them.
Initiative in Ship to Ship Combat
When Ship to Ship combat starts, it is the ships that roll initiative, not the crew. It works
more or less like Side Initiative variant in the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG, p. 270).
All of the people on the ship use their actions during their ship’s turn (though they can
still prepare actions), until boarding starts, when they all roll initiative as normal.

A Turn in Combat
At the beginning of the turn, the ship will be able to change their speed according to
their MR (see Speed Change on the table below). Before moving, a ship may declare
that they are trying to perform a ramming or shearing attack. At any time during
movement, the members of the crew may spend their actions, which means that they
can man the weaponry on the ship or otherwise attack or cast spells.
Movement in Combat
The Battle Grounds
This set of rules for Spelljammer combat is meant to be played on a hex grid. Each one
of the hexes is 150 long.

Facing
In the hex grid, the front part of the ships will have to face a side of the hex they are in,
not an angle.

Speed
A ship will have a given speed at the beginning of combat. When combat starts as a
result of two ships encountering each other at a spelljamming speed, assume that the
ships come to a full stop. At the beginning of a ship’s turn, the ship will be able to
accelerate or decelerate according to their MR, up to their SR, according to the next
table. That means a ship can’t have a speed greater than its SR. An MR A ship with an
SR of 5 may decelerate to 0 from an starting speed of 3, but cannot accelerate past 5.

MR Speed change Hex Face Change (turning)

A 3 May change at will
B 3 2
C 3 2
D 2 1
E 2 1
F 1 1 after moving one hex
G 1 0

So if an MC B ship begins its turn at a speed of 0, it may accelerate to a speed of 3

before it starts moving.

Optional rule: Hovering Vulnerability Attacks directed at a ship with a speed of 0

are done with advantage.
Moving and Turning
After having set their speed for the turn, a ship may move. Each point of speed allows a
ship to move 150 feet forward or to turn once. A ship MUST move or turn an amount of
times equal to their speed for the turn, even if that means crashing. A ship with a
speed of 3 can move 450 feet forward, or move 150 feet forward, turn once, and then
move another 150 feet.

How often and how much a ship can turn depends on the ship’s MR. A ship with an MR
of A may turn at will without expending any speed. A ship with an MR of B or C may turn
2 faces of a hex by spending 1 point of speed, and then they have to move forwards a
hex at least once before turning again. A ship with an MR of D or E may turn only one
hex face, spending one point of speed, before having to move forwards a hex to turn
again. A ship with an MR of F may turn only one hex face by spending a speed turn and
only after having advanced one hex. A ship with an MR of G can’t turn during its
movement.

A ship can always change its facing by one hex side at the end of its movement for free.

Moving backwards
A ship that begins its turn at a speed of 0 may accelerate backwards. It is more or less
the same as moving forwards, but they can only accelerate to a speed up to half their
SR rounded up.

Optional Rule: Dodging

Some Ships are small and nimble enough to dodge out of the way of missiles.
With this optional rule, any ship of 60 tons or less and with an MR of C or better may
attempt to dodge. Dodging is declared at the beginning of a ship’s turn. The ship
dodges up until the beginning of the ship’s next turn. A dodging ship quickly turns and
spins to try to avoid getting hit. While a ship is dodging, attacks are done against it at
disadvantage. Also, because of all the movement, it is impossible to aim and fire a
weapon that is mounted on a dodging ship.
Long Range Combat
Long Range Siege Weapons
The weapons that ships use in Wildspace are groundling weapons slightly modified to
work better in space. The lack of gravity makes the projectiles behave differently, as
they don’t arc down and don’t lose speed because of the air’s resistance (outside of
that they face in the two ship’s air pockets, which is minimal). For that reason,
projectiles in space, even catapult stones, travel in a straight line and have a greater
range than they would have in an Earth-like atmosphere. Because of the different
natures of the different siege weapons, there is no common rule on exactly how much
their ranges increase, but keep in mind that their range increase is related to their
precision, not on how far their projectiles go.

Name Size AC HP To hit mod Range Damage Crew Notes

Can't hit targets
Light 4d10
Medium 15 90 +5 750 ft. 3 within 120 ft.
Catapult Bludgeoning Comes with a turret.
Medium 6d10 Can't hit targets
Large 15 120 +5 600 ft. 4
Catapult Bludgeoning within 90 ft.
Heavy
8d10 Can't hit targets
Catapult/ Huge 15 150 +5 450 ft. 5
Bludgeoning within 60 ft.
Trebuchet
Light 1d10
Medium 15 30 +6 900 ft. 2 Comes with a turret.
Ballista Piercing
Medium 3d10
Large 15 50 +6 600 ft. 3
Ballista Piercing
Heavy 5d10
Huge 15 70 +6 300 ft. 4
Ballista Piercing
8d10
Cannon Large 19 75 +6 300 ft. 3
Bludgeoning
Targets a 5 ft. radius
Light 1d6
Medium 15 90 +5 450 ft. 2 or 1 creature.
Jettison Bludgeoning Comes with a turret.
Medium 2d6 Targets a 10 ft.
Large 15 120 +5 300 ft. 3
Jettison Bludgeoning radius or 2 creatures.
Heavy 3d6 Targets a 15 ft.
Huge 15 150 +5 150 ft. 4
Jettison Bludgeoning radius or 3 creatures.
Greek fire 3d6 Starts fires. Can’t fire
Large 19 80 +6 30 ft. 4
projector Fire through void.

Catapults are devices that hurl stones or other heavy ammunition in a high arc. In
Wildspace, projectiles don’t arc, so once they get out of an air envelope, they travel on
a straight line. That’s why catapults in Wildspace are calibrated to fire in lower arcs.
Regardless, the nature of the projectile throwing motion makes catapults useless in
boarding combat.
Ballistae are large crossbows that fire huge bolts, javelins or spears with exceptional
force. These armaments do less damage than catapults, but they have greater range
and are able to directly attack any target in front of them. They also require smaller
crews than catapults.

Cannons are one of the most powerful weapons in the known spheres. They do the
same amount of damage as a trebuchet, but require a much smaller weapons crew to
operate. It takes one action to load a cannon, one to aim it and one to fire it. Cannons
require gunpowder to operate. A critical hit against a ship has a chance of igniting
gunpowder stores (See Mishaps). This makes the storage of large amounts of
gunpowder an extremely risky proposition for a Spelljamming crew.

Jettisons are a series of small catapults that hurl large amounts of trash, stones, wood,
etc. at enemy ships to clear their decks of personnel.

Greek fire projectors are useful when two ships come into close contact with each
other. The weapons spews forth a stream of liquid that bursts into flame when it hits an
object. The liquid lands in a 5 ft. (1.5 m) radius area, but the fire will continue to spread
and do damage after the initial attack. Greek fire projectors are extremely dangerous to
use in the Phlogiston and only the most desperate of crews would attempt it.

Ammo
Every time a siege weapon fires it will consume a piece of ammunition. Just like with
arrows, you can spend time after combat recovering used ammunition, 50% of what
was used. You may also buy ammunition with the Arcane, or from a settlement.

Ballista Bolts: Costs 5 sp and weights 4 lbs per unit, a Ballista Bolt is a large arrow that
will fit any ballista size (the difference in damage is caused by the different
mechanisms). It can be used as a spear in melee combat, without the thrown pr
versatile properties.

Catapult Stones: Cost 3 sp and weight 3, 5, or 10 lbs. They are stones that are loaded
into a catapult of the proper size to be launched. Some captains don’t bother paying for
stones, and just collect them from planets or from asteroid fields.

Jettison Shot: Costs 2 sp per load and weights 5, 10, or 20 lbs. per load. They are
stones bundled together in sacks so that they may be launched by a jettison and burst
on impact. Though, the most common use for jettisons is to launch waste such as
gravel and splinters to the enemy, so not many people bother paying for ammunition.

Greek Fire: A load for a Greek Fire projector is stored in a ceramic jug, it costs 100 gp
and weights 4 lbs. Greek fire is corrosive and highly flammable, if any fire damage
affects a Greek Fire load, it will explode, dealing 3d10 fire damage on a 15 feet radius,
with a DC 12 DEX save to halve the damage.
Cannon Balls and Gunpowder: A cannon ball is a big ball of lead that is loaded into a
cannon to be fired as a projectile. It weights 6 lbs and costs 2 gp each. Much more
important, in order to fire a cannon ball, you will need 2 lbs. of gunpowder. The Arcane
will sell 2 lbs. gunpowder horns for 3,000 gp each, and may throw some 2 to 5 of them
if they want to seal a deal to anyone buying a bombard from them. However, the price
of gunpowder swings wildly in the different markets through the crystal spheres, and
you may find someone willing to sell you gunpowder for a more reasonable price.

Firing arcs
Depending on their position on a ship, weapons have different firing arcs. Weapons can
only fire to targets within their ranges. There are ways to increase a weapon’s arc: if
you install the weapon on a turret (see Improvements), it will be able to quickly face
any direction. Keep in mind though: the fact that the weapon can turn to any direction
does not necessarily mean that the weapon can fire in all directions. You should check
your ship’s deck plan and see to what arcs your ship has line of sight outside to, which
may or may not be all of them. If you have, for example, a canon that fires from a
porthole like those in old warships, it wouldn’t gain any benefit from being mounted on
a turret. The DM has the final say on how firing arcs work in the game.

Regular Weapons
Because of the nature of Wildspace, the ranges of ranged weapons are extended. The
Long Range of any personal ranged weapon turns into the weapon’s Short Range, and
the new Long Range equals to double the original one. This rule applies only when
there is void between you and your target.
Attacking with a Siege Weapon
Every weapon requires a certain amount of actions in order to fire, equal to the number
of crew listed necessary to effectively operate the weapon. The first actions are to load
and set up the weapon, while the last action is to aim and fire the weapon. If a weapon
has the optimal amount of crew necessary to operate it, it should be able to fire once
per turn. The person making the last action is the one that decides what to target on
the enemy ship, and they can prepare their action to fire on a condition (when the
enemy ship comes into my range).

Optional Rule: Firing Rates

There’s been some discussion about the original siege weapons on the DMG,
about how it doesn’t make sense that you can use two different people’s actions to aim
and fire in the same turn. If you prefer to have more realistic firing rates, so that a
trebuchet can’t hurl one stone every 6 seconds, you can rule it like this:

In The Worst DM’s Spelljammer 5e conversion (http://theworstdm.com/spelljammer-

5e/) he lists what the different actions in the weapons are for. You can make it so that
every aiming and firing step has to be performed in different turns. That way, since a
trebuchet needs 3 actions to aim and fire (load, load, aim, aim, fire) the trebuchet
should only be able to fire once every 3 turns. If you want to use this rule, do mind that
the damage numbers in the armament table are balanced so that the weapons fire
once per turn. To make it more balanced if you are using this rule, you should probably
scale up the damage of the weapons with slower firing rates.

Targeting
When you attack a ship that is 150 feet away or more in the Wildspace, you can’t target
exact targets, you can only aim either for the Hull or the Crew. Aiming at the Hull means
aiming at the Ship’s center of mass, and aiming at the crew usually means aiming at
the edges of the ship’s shape. When an attacker targets the hull, the attack is made
against the Ship’s AC and HP. When you target the crew, the attack is done against a
random exposed crew member in the ship. Do note that a crew member might get half
cover or three-quarters cover from the ship, the DM has the say in that. If you miss the
attack against the crew member, the attack is done against the Ship’s hull with
Disadvantage.

Critical Hits
Like with a normal weapon, when a siege weapon rolls a 20 on their attack roll, it
scores a critical hit. In addition to the usual effects of a critical hit (roll twice the
damage dice) a siege weapon scoring a critical hit on a ship’s hull will also provoke a
random mishap (see Mishaps).
Areas of Effect in Long Range Combat
Sometimes a ship will be attacked by something that deals damage on an area of
effect, such as with a Fireball or a Jettison. A Jettison, for example, is meant to hurt the
crew on deck, and each size of jettison deals damage through a different area of effect.
You can resolve this on two different ways: You can randomly place the area of effect
somewhere on deck, or, the option which I think is better, you can use the rules for
Adjudicating Areas of Effect from the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG, p. 245). That way,
an attack that hits from a Heavy Jettison would hurt three random members of the
crew on deck, or if a ship fails a Saving Throw against a Fireball, the Fireball 4 random
members of the crew on deck would have to save against the Fireball, too.

Generally, when an AoE spell that requires a Saving Throw is cast on a ship, like a
Fireball, the ship will have to make the Saving Throw first. If the ship succeeds, it takes
the effects from having succeeded on the Saving Throw and the crew is not affected. If
the ship fails, it takes the effects from having failed on the save, and the members of
the crew on the area also have to make the save. Use your judgment when adjudicating
who is affected by the spell: most Mind Flayer ships, for example, offer total cover to
the crew inside, so that a Fireball wouldn’t be able to hit as many crewmen as usual.
Short Range Combat
Short Range Combat occurs when two enemy ships are less than 150 feet away from
each other: that is, both within the same hex. When the two ships are within the Short
Range Combat range, ranged attackers may aim for individual weapons and crew
members as normal. The crew may also attempt to ram or grapple the opposed ship,
as it is explained next.

Rams and Ramming

Ramming is a common way to attack in space. It can cause serious damage, and it gets
the two ships close together. The effects of a ramming attack depend on the type of
ram that is being used. Generally, a ship will try to ram another, and that will cause
both ships to make opposed DEX checks. The intention to ram is declared at the
beginning of the ramming ship’s turn, after they accelerate or decelerate. A ship cannot
attempt to ram a ship if they begin their turn in the same hex, unless the ship leaves
and reenters the hex in the same turn. They also cannot attempt to ram a ship they are
grappling. The Ramming attempt occurs when the ramming ship first enters the
rammed ship’s space during its turn. If the ramming ship wins the DEX save, the
ramming attack will continue as described in the ram type. If the contest ends on a tie
or the rammed ship wins the contest, then the rammed ship successfully evades the
ram, and the ramming ship will have to go past and expend the rest of their movement.
If the ramming attempt fails, the crew on the rammed ship may try to grapple the other
ship, or if the two ships are facing in the same direction, the crew in the rammed ship
may try to ram back on the other ship. A ship can’t effectively ram a ship 10% its own
tonnage or less, nor a ship 300% its tonnage or more. If a ship tries to ram a ship 10%
its own tonnage, the smaller ship must save against a crash (see Crashes), and if a
ship attempts to ram a ship 300% its own tonnage, the smaller ship just crashes into
the biggest one.

Blunt Ram: When a ship with a Blunt Ram succeeds at ramming the other ship, the
ramming ships speed becomes 0, and the two ships will have to roll another contest:
an STR check from the ramming ship and a CON check from the rammed ship. If the
ramming ship wins the contest, the opposed ship is shaken (look at Mishaps), a
random Mishap happens, and the rammed ship takes Bludgeoning damage equal to
the ramming ship’s tonnage multiplied by the ship’s Speed at the time of ramming. If
the contest is a tie or the Rammed ship wins, the ship is not shaken, there are no
mishaps, and the ship only takes half as much damage.

Piercing Ram: Similar to the Blunt Ram. The ramming ships speed becomes 0, and the
two ships make STR vs CON contest, if the ramming ship wins the contest, the opposed
ship is shaken, its hull is holed, and the rammed ship takes Piercing damage equal to
the ramming ship’s tonnage multiplied by the ship’s Speed at the time of ramming.
Also, there’s a chance of 1% per ton in the rammed ship that the two ships are locked
together. When this happens, both ships are considered to be Grappled by each other.

Grappling Ram: The ramming ship Grapples the rammed ship. This type of ram does
not provoke any damage. The ramming ship may end the grapple without making any
checks at any point during its turn.

Optional Rule: Relative Velocities

A better way to calculate a ramming attack’s damage is by using the relative
speed and angle between the two ships as the effective speed, rather than just the
attacking ship’s speed.

Head on: The adjusted speed is the target's speed added to the attacker’s. The
attacker receives half the ram damage inflicted on the defender.

Forward Angle: The adjusted speed is half the target's speed added to the attacker's.
The attacker receives one fourth the damage inflicted on the target.

Aft Angle: The adjusted speed is half the target's speed subtracted from the attacker’s.
If this less than one, the ram attempt fails. The attacker receives no damage from the
ram.

Aft on: The adjusted speed is the target's full speed subtracted from the attacker's. If
this is less than one, the ram fails. The attacker receives no damage from the ram. A
target with a rear ram can attempt a counter-ram if the attack fails (a hit means the
attacker impaled himself on the target’s ram). Use the difference in speed and the
target’s tonnage to determine any damage the attacker may take.

Crashes
Sometimes, a ship will have to save against a crash. The crashing ship makes a DC 12
DEX saving throw to avoid the crash. On a success, the ship can either land on the
surface it was crashing on or continue on with its course. On a failed save, the ship
takes damage equal to half its maximum Hit Points (rounded down). If the ship
survives, it is Shaken by the impact. If that damage reduces the ship's Hit Points to 0,
all of the people aboard must make a CON Saving Throw, DC 15, or take 10d6
bludgeoning damage, half on a success. If a ship crashes into another ship, the ship
that is being crashed into takes damage equal to the Hit Points the crashed ship had at
the moment of the impact, and must make an STR saving throw with a DC equal to the
crashing ship’s STR score or be Shaken by the impact.

If a Flitter with 11 out of 25 Hit Points crashes into a Mammoth, the Flitter takes 12
points of damage from the crash and is destroyed in the process, while the Mammoth
takes 11 points of Bludgeoning damage, since that was the HP of the Flitter at the
moment of the crash. The Mammoth must then make a DC 8 CON Saving Throw, or be
Shaken by the impact.

Shearing Attacks
A shearing attack is more or less like a ramming attack, though it doesn’t require a ram
to attempt it. Same as ramming attack, it is declared at the beginning of the turn, and
the attempt is made when the shearing ship first enters its target’s space on its turn.
First, the two ships make opposed DEX checks as a contest, and then the attacking
ship makes an STR check contested by the target’s CON check. If the attacker
succeeds on both contests, part of the target’s rigging is damaged and they lose a tier
of MR (B becomes C, E becomes F, etc.). Either way, neither the attacker nor the target
slow down as a result of the shearing attack. A ship’s rigging may be damaged twice in
this way. After that, it can’t go lower. This damage must be repaired later (see Repairs).

Grappling
When the two ships are less than 150 feet away from each other, the crew members
may attempt to grapple the opposite ship. Two ships are considered grappled when
there is a number of grapple lines holding them together equal to the smaller ship’s
tonnage divided by 10 (rounded down). If there is a 50 ton ship attempting to grapple a
30 ton ship, there will need to be at least 3 grapple lines between the two for them to
be grappled. If there are less than the minimum grapple lines holding the two ships
together, any of the ships may just move away from the grapple (free grappling hooks!).
When two ships are grappled, their speeds become 0 (unless one ship is towing the
other) and they close the distance between them in one turn. After they close their
distances, the crew of one ship may attempt to board the other. Boarding is just normal
combat in which the battle ground is the two ship’s decks. What the terms for victory
when boarding are is up to the DM to decide. Each crew member needs 5 feet of a
ship’s space to attempt to throw a grapple line, and thus the maximum number of
grapple lines that a ship can have in one side is equal to the Keel’s Length divided by
5.

Extending a Grapple Line

To extend a grapple line, a crew member must make an Athletics check against the
other ship’s passive dexterity. If they succeed, a grapple line is set. A crew member can
attempt to throw a grappling hook with a chain or with a rope. The difference will be
explained in the Cutting Grapple Lines section.

Struggling Out of a Grapple

The crew of a ship may attempt to force their way out of a grapple. To do this, the
grappled ship must succeed on an opposed STR check against the grappling ship. If
the contest results in a tie or they lose, nothing happens. A crew can attempt to break
out of a grapple in this way while being boarded, but do note that the crew will likely be
more occupied trying to not get killed by the invaders.
Cutting Grapple Lines
The crew on a ship that is being grappled may attempt to cut the grapple lines. To do
that, they just simply have to attack the line. A hempen rope line will have an AC of 11
and 5 Hit Points, while a chain line will have an AC of 16 and 20 Hit Points. There are
other materials that can be used for grapple lines, such as silk, gold and mithril. The
DM will rule what the statistics are for those lines.

Towing
When a ship is grappling another, one of the Helmsmen may try to tow the other ship.
Only the one sitting on the Helm with the greatest SR may attempt to tow the two ships.
The two helmsmen will make an opposed check modified by their SR. If the most
powerful helmsman wins the contest, he will take control of both ships and override the
other’s control. For the purpose of towing, both of the ships become one and their
tonnage is summed. If helmsman is attempting to tow a 30 ton ship with another 30
tow ship, he will fail if he is using a Minor Helm, because the tonnage capacity for a
Minor Helm is 50 tons, and the two ships sum 60 tons, which is outside of the Minor
Helm’s capacity. He will succeed if he is using a Major Helm, though, since the Major
Helm’s capacity is 100 tons. When conducting two towed ships, the effective MR of the
created ship is the worst of the two ships.

Mishaps
Sometimes, something will call for a random Mishap on a ship, or will describe some
effect such as Hull Holed or Ship Shaken. When a random Mishap is called for, roll on
the Mishaps table:

1d8 Effect
1 Ship Shaken
2 Hull Holed
3 Maneuverability Loss
4 Fire!
5 Exterior Crew Hit
6 Interior Crew Hit
7 Weapon Hit
8 Spelljammer Shock!

Ship Shaken: The entire hull rings, and everyone loses their balance. Everyone that is
standing on the hull must make a DC 12 DEX Saving Throw or become Prone and get
the Incapacitated condition for a turn.

Hull Holed: A hole opens in the Hull were previously there wasn’t one. Creatures may be
able to enter the ship through this hole. Where the hole opens is up to the DM, they
can roll randomly, use their common sense or just pick the place that would make it
the more interesting.
Maneuverability Loss: The ship’s rigging or sails are damaged as if a Shearing Attack
had succeeded against the ship. This can be repaired (see Repairs).

Fire!: Fire sparks on a random place the ship, dealing 1d6 damage on its first round. At
initiative count 10, the fire spreads, increasing the damage it deals by 1d6. A crew
member can spend an action to put out the fire, reducing the damage it deals by 1d6.
If this reduces the dice to 0, the fire is completely put out. If it is physically impossible
for fire to start on the ship, nothing happens. If a ship affected by this mishap as result
of a critical hit is carrying gunpowder, there’s a 50% chance that its reserves are
ignited as a result.

Optional rule: Fire Consumes Oxygen

For every point of fire damage that is done against a ship, subtract 1 day of air,
as if a creature was breathing it.

Exterior Crew Hit: In addition to the original hit, a crew member is also damaged by the
attack. Roll the attack again for any random creature exposed in the deck. If this is the
result of a ramming attack, a random crew member falls overboard.

Interior Crew Hit: Same as before, but only the people inside the hull are targets. Count
them as having three-quarters cover. If this is the result of a ramming attack, a random
crew member takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage as they fall and tumble inside the ship.

Weapon Hit: In addition to the original hit, a random weapon on deck is also damaged
by the attack. Roll the attack again for any random weapon exposed in the deck.

Spelljammer Shock!: The shock from the attack sends a big feedback of energy into the
Helmsman’s mind. The helmsman has to make a DC 12 CON Saving Throw, or fall on a
coma for 1d4 days on a fail. The ship is depowered as a result.

Zero Gravity Personal Combat

Combat outside of a large object’s gravity field is very different in nature than combat
on solid ground. First of all, if a character just goes drifting out of gravity without a
means of propulsion, they just move at the speed that they exited the gravity field at in
a uniform, constant rectilinear motion. In order to control their speed, the character
must have a way to move in the void, such as a Fly spell or a jetpack. Non-magical
forms of flight, such as an Aaracokra’s wings, do not work in the void of wildspace.

Ranged attacks done against a drifting creature are done with advantage, since the
creature cannot dodge and its trajectory is extremely predictable. Lastly, all melee
attacks from a drifting creature are done with disadvantage, the only exception is if the
creature is grappling or being grappled by its opponent, in which case attacks done
with Finesse weapons (except whips) are done normally.
Air Pockets, Quality and Duration
The days worth of air that a ship brings with itself depend on the ship’s tonnage. For
each ton, the ship brings 120 days (or 4 months) worth of air. So if a 50 ton ship goes
out into the wildspace, it will have an air capacity equal to 6000 days. Each day, all of
the creatures in the ship consume a quantity of air that depends on their size.

Size Air-Days

Tiny x¼

Small x½

Medium x1

Large X2

Huge X2

Gargantuan X5

Once a creature consumes a day of Fresh Air, that air turns into Foul Air, and it is stored
too on the ship’s pocket of air. So say, if I have a crew of 50 humans on 50 ton ship,
they will consume 50 days worth of fresh air each day. After a week, the ship will have
5650 days worth of Fresh Air and 350 days of Foul air.

When no Fresh Air is left on the ship, the creatures inside it will start breathing the Foul
Air. A creature can still survive in Foul Air, but they will be under the Poisoned condition
until they breathe fresh air again.

Similarly to how Fresh Air turns into Foul Air, Foul Air will turn into Deadly Air. When
there is no Fresh Air or Foul Air left to breathe, the creatures aboard the ship will start
breathing the Deadly Air. Creatures breathing Deadly Air have the Poisoned condition,
and will have to make a DC 10 CON Saving Throw each minute or pass out and become
unconscious. Failing the Saving Throw again while unconscious means death.

When a human sized creature comes out of an air envelope, they bring a small air
envelope with them too. This personal air bubble has a capacity for half an hour of
fresh air and the rules for foul and deadly air apply for it, too. You will have half an hour
of fresh air, half an hour of foul air, and deadly air after that.

Merging Air Pockets

When two ships with different amounts of fresh, foul or deadly air come together, their
air pockets mix. Sum all of their days of air together and then distribute those days so
that they have a roughly equal percentage of each.
Usually the risk of running out of air is not really present all the time. If it is too much
work, you shouldn’t keep track of these exact numbers unless it is worthwhile for the
game, such as when the PC’s are travelling a very long distance in which running out of
air is a risk factor, or when the air bubble from their ship mixes with the one from a ship
with deadly air.

Repairs
Repairing Hit Points
On most civilized dry docks (though all docks are dry in wildspace) you can pay for a
ship to be repaired. 1 trained worker can repair 5 Hit Points of your Hull in 1 day for 50
gp, and you can pay for more than one worker to work on your ship.

This can get quite expensive, but luckily, there are other ways to repair a ship: a person
with proficiency with Carpenter’s Tools can help (making planks of the appropriate size)
and guide (giving orders) up to 5 non-proficient crew members to repair the hull,
similarly to how they do it on a dry dock. This assumes the crew has the right tools for
the job, of course (only the carpenter needs a full Carpenter’s Tools kit, the rest of the
crew members only require hammers and nails, and saws if they are gathering and
processing the wood). Doing this requires materials, which you can buy at 10 gp per
every 5 Hit Points being repaired on most places that sell them. You and your crew can
also gather materials by yourselves on any world in which such materials are present,
which costs nothing, but makes the process three times as long.

This rule assumes that the ship is made out of wood. It would be very difficult to
acquire the materials necessary to repair a ship made out of stone or metal in the wild,
so those materials will be have to be purchased on a port, or you will have to repair
your ship on a drydock. The costs are the same relative to HP. The proficiencies
required are pretty intuitive, to repair a metal ship you will need Smith’s Tools
proficiency, and to repair stone you will need Mason’s Tools proficiency.

Most captains will find a calm location to stop and repair their ships before sailing into
the Wildspace again. It is certainly possible to repair a ship while it is travelling on a
straight line at spelljamming speeds, but not only is this dangerous for the crew, it may
leave the ship vulnerable to attacks, as the repairing crew will be unprepared and
exposed to the enemy, or it may leave the ship’s rigging or weapons undermanned.

Repairing a Maneuverability Loss

When your ship has its MR reduced because of a shearing attack or a critical hit, you
can repair it back to normal. To get back one tier of MR, you have to do as if you were
repairing 25 Hit Points of the ship (you can, for example, pay 250 gp on a drydock to
get back a MR tier).
It is not Carpenter’s Tools proficiency that you use to repair a ship in this way, however,
but Water Vehicles proficiency. Also, it is not wood the resource that you use to repair a
ship in this way, but ropes and sailcloth. So unless you have a way to acquire such
materials by yourself (with a Fabricate spell, for example) you will have to buy them on
a port, or have some in store.

Repairing Weapons and Turrets

Repairing a weapon is somewhat easier than repairing the hull of ship. The rules are
more or less the same; the difference is that with 1 day of work, a skilled worker can
repair 20 Hit Points instead of 5.

A turret can be repaired too; the requirements depend on the size of the turret. A 1 ton
turret would require 1 day of work and 10 gp of materials or 50 gp on a drydock, while
a 3 ton turret would require 3 days of work (1 worker for 3 days or 3 workers for 1 day)
and 30 gp of materials or 150 gp on a drydock.
Modifying a Ship
Weaponry
You can add or remove weapons from spelljamming ships. When you add or remove a
weapon, it takes or leaves cargo space accordingly, as shown in the next table. You
cannot use more than 50% of the ship’s tonnage on weapons. As a hammership, for
example, is 60 tons, it can only dedicate 30 tons of cargo space to weapons. This rule
only applies for installed weapons; you can store weapons as normal if they are just
merchandise. The only exceptions to the 50% rule are most Giff ships, which are
specially made to store as many cannons as physically possible, and can dedicate up
to 75% of their tonnage to weapons.

Weapon Tonnage Cost Crew*

Light Ballista 1 400 gp 1
Medium Ballista 2 600 gp 2
Heavy Ballista 4 800 gp 4
Light Catapult 1 500 gp 1
Medium Catapult 2 700 gp 3
Heavy Catapult 4 1,000 gp 5
Light Jettison 1 400 gp 2
Medium Jettison 2 600 gp 3
Heavy Jettison 4 800 gp 4
Greek Fire Projector 2 1,000 gp 3
Cannon 2 20,000 gp 3
*This is just the crew required to man the guns, it doesn’t add to the crew required to
operate the rigging (the number before the slash)

When installing a weapon on a ship, do note that they are not just numbers on a sheet.
You will have to place them in the map of your ship, somewhere where it makes sense,
and like that determine what its field of fire is. Generally, a weapon will only be able to
fire into one field of fire (Forwards, Port, Starboard or Aft) unless they are mounted on a
turret (the weapons on the ships that have more than one arc are assumed to be so).

A turret will allow a weapon to rotate in any direction quickly. But again, keep in mind
that this does not mean that it will automatically get a 360° field of fire; you should
check where they are placed on a ship to adjudicate its effects.

Turret Size Standard Cost Protected Cost

Light None* 500 gp / 1 ton
Medium 500 gp /1 ton 1,000 gp / 2 tons
Heavy 1,000 gp / 2 tons 2,000 gp / 3 tons
* Light Weapons can already rotate into any direction.

A turret will take Cargo space as it is seen in the table. A protected turret will also offer
the crew operating it a three-quarters cover. If a weapon is destroyed in combat,
there’s a 50% chance the turret is also damaged and needs to be repaired or replaced
(see Repairs).

Selling Weapons
Usually, when you want to swap a weapon for a more powerful one, you will want
to also sell the one you are getting rid of. In most cases, the same people that will sell
you a weapon will also buy you a used weapon for 50% of its price if it is in full
condition, or 25% if it is even slightly damaged.

Hull Armor
Increased Thickness: Costs 100 gp per ton of the ship, it increases AC by +1
and reduces cargo space by 20% (to calculate the new cargo space, first add the
tonnage that the weapons take, then multiply it by 0.8, and finally subtract the tonnage
from the weapons again). If there’s no cargo space to thicken the ship’s armor, you
can’t modify the ship in this way.
Plating: Costs 300 gp per ton, plating means covering the ship’s outside with
metal plates or scales. It will increase the AC of the ship by +1, but it will also decrease
its MR by one tier (from B to C, from D to E) and its DEX score respectively.
Netting: Costs 3 gp per ton of the ship, installing netting to cover the deck will
protect the crew from some harm: catapult stones will have to destroy the net before
they can harm the crew (count net as a whole as having an AC of 11 and 20 HP) and
will provide everyone on deck with Half Cover until the netting is destroyed. Also, it
protects against boarders, who will have to open a whole in the netting (a 5 feet square
section has an AC of 11 and 5 HP, and immunity to Piercing and Bludgeoning damage
from melee weapons) before they can reach the crew. A creature can attack someone
on the other side of the net with a weapon that deals Piercing damage.

Netting is kind of expendable, so many captains keep spare nets on their cargo hold
just in case.

Maneuverability
Rigging: Costs 100 gp per ton. Adding extra rigging will improve the ship’s MR by
one class (from B to A, from D to C) but will increase the minimum number of crew
necessary to man it (the number before the slash) by 25%.
Stripping: Costs 100 gp per ton. Stripping the ship’s hull will increase its MR by
one class, but will also reduce its AC by a -1.

Cargo Capacity
Thinning: Costs 100 gp per ton. Thinning a ship’s hull will decrease its AC by a -
1, but will decrease its cargo space by 20% (to calculate the new cargo space, first add
the tonnage that the weapons take, then multiply it by 1.2, and finally subtract the
tonnage from the weapons again).
Gutting: Costs 100 gp per ton. Gutting a ship means sacrificing most bulkheads,
cabins and internal reinforcing for extra cargo space. This decreases the ship’s AC by -
2, but increases its cargo space by 75%.

Encounters
When traveling through Wildspace, you may run into random encounters. Every
different crystal sphere may have different encounter tables, but for a general one, I’d
use the Revised Spelljammer Encounter Tables on the official Spelljammer website
(http://www.spelljammer.org/monsters/misc/revised_enc_tables.html). When a
Spelljamming ship encounters a large object, which often includes other ships, it will
automatically stop down to a halt.

When two ships encounter in Wildspace, it will usually be by accident (though some
pirates might be deliberately wait for ships to pass nearby). To see more on the nature
of the different types of encounters, I recommend you read page 169 of the Adventures
in Space Boxset PDF. If the encounter is hostile or there is any reason why you should
place the ships on the battle map, the two ships start 1d10+10 hexes away, and you
should roll a 1d6 for the facing of each ship. There is no north in space, so the position
on the battle map is completely arbitrary and up to the preference of the players, the
only thing that matters is the relative positions of the ships.

An encounter ends when one side is defeated or when a side escapes (gets more than
25 hexes or 0.7 miles away from the opposing ship).

Pursuit: The ship left behind may wish to begin a pursuit for the escaping ship.
To attempt to pursue a escaping ship, first the pursuing ship must be facing the same
angle that the escaping ship left the battle map at. To attempt to pursue, the two
helmsmen must make opposing checks with their spell attack modifiers. If the pursuer
wins the contests, the next time the escaping ship makes a stop, the pursuing ship will
appear behind it 1d10+10 hexes away, given that they haven’t give up the pursuit.
There’s no way to know without magic whether you succeeded on the contest or not, so
most pursuers will give up the chase if the escaping ship takes too long to stop. If the
contest is a draw or the escaping helmsman wins, the pursuer is off by some degrees
and loses the escaping ship.

Because time is of the essence on such a pursuit, every turn that happens after the
first ship escaped will give the pursuing ship a -1 on its check for the contest. A -5
means that the escaping ship is irrevocably lost.
Long Distance Travel
When you need to calculate the time from point A to point B in space, you should use
the rules found in chapter 4 of the second book in the Adventures in Space Boxset,
Concordance of Arcane Space (p. 151). The rules there are fine and do not need much
adapting, just keep in mind that in 2e a “round” means a minute and a “turn” means
ten minutes.

Celestial Mechanics
The chapter 5 in the second book in the Adventures in Space Boxset, Concordance of
Arcane Space (p. 171) has useful rules for DM’s on how to localize the planets of a
system, how to roll random encounters, how to keep track of the different objects on a
crystal sphere, how to roll random crystal spheres, etc. These rules don’t require much
adapting, and can be used directly from the original book.

Magic in Space
This part is mostly taken from The Worst DM’s Spelljammer 5e conversion
(http://theworstdm.com/spelljammer-5e/).

Arcane magic, that one cast by Wizards, Sorcerers and Bards, works mostly the same
in space and in the phlogiston. You should keep in mind the nature of the void,
however.

First of all, spells that involve gases, such as Fog Cloud or Cloudkill, are dissipated
immediately when cast outside of an air pocket, and can’t travel through the void, since
there is no pressure to keep them together. They can be cast in the phlogiston, but the
currents will quickly sweep them away.

Second, sound also cannot travel through void. A spell that requires the target to listen
to something, such as Power Word Kill, do not work through the void. This also affects
spells that deal thunder damage: if a spell like Shatter is cast in the void, the sound
can’t travel through the point of origin and there is no effect. It works if the point of
origin is located inside a medium that can transmit sound (such as a creature’s air
envelope, or a material), but it cannot extend through void. Sound can travel through
the phlogiston, but it is like trying to speak through water. Thunder spells have half
their area in the phlogiston, and spells like Power Word Kill have half their range if they
have to travel through phlogiston to reach their targets.

Third, the void cannot support combustion. Some spells, like Fire Bolt and Fireball will
still work partially in the void, since they are sudden reactions that do not require
oxygen to be maintained. But they will not light fires, as there is no air to support that
reaction. Fire is dangerous to use in the phlogiston, as explained in the first chapter of
this document.
Fourth and last: it is impossible to realize any kind of planar travel in the phlogiston.
Spells that summon fiends, fey or any extra-planar creatures automatically fail in the
phlogiston, as do any spells and magic items that allow planar travel, such as
Etherealness, Dream or a Bag of Holding (note that items like these will work normally
again as soon as you enter another crystal sphere, and no items will be lost).

Divine magic, like that of Clerics, Druids and Warlocks (most Warlocks actually use
Arcane magic, but they require the connection from their patrons to regenerate spell
slots, so I’m including them here) is a little more complicated. None of them can’t
regenerate second level spell slots outside of their patron’s zone of influence. For most
Clerics their limit is outside of their home Crystal Sphere, and for most Druids the limit
is outside of their planet’s atmosphere!

Luckily, they have some simple alternatives. First of all, clerics and druids have a
second level spell available called Contact Home Power which lasts one week and can
be cast on any other Crystal Sphere (though not the phlogiston) and allows them to
regenerate spell slots outside of their area.

Clerics can find a similar deity to the one they adore in a different Crystal Sphere. If
they have the same alignment and good relations, this one can substitute the power of
the Cleric’s original god while he is in the other Crystal Sphere.

Most druids can’t regenerate those spell slots while in wildspace, but in most planets
with an ecosystem, they will be able to regenerate spell slots from the local spirits of
nature.

Warlocks are the simpler ones: they are just limited on the phlogiston. They will be able
to regenerate spell slots as soon as they enter any other crystal sphere.