Seafarer Domain

Seafarer Domain characters belong to decks, coasts, and open water (or open sky). They read wind and weather, keep a crew pulling together, fight on a moving deck without losing their footing, and call the volley that sends stones, bolts, arrows, or cannonballs into an enemy hull. A Seafarer might be a longship oarsman, a trireme marine, a navy gunner, a smuggler who knows every hidden cove, a sky-ship deckhand, or a pirate captain with a price on their head.

Seafarer Aspect: Choose Reflex (quick hands, sharp eyes on the horizon) or Endurance (hauling lines through a long storm). Use Presence instead if your Seafarer is more captain than deckhand. This Aspect powers your Seafarer Features.

Aboard or Ashore

• When you have a vessel (yours, a patron’s, or one you crew): your Features shape the voyage and the fight. You make the helm, rigging, and armament calls the captain allows.
• When you are crew or a passenger on someone else’s vessel: offer your skills to whoever commands. Your Crew Call, Hold Fast, Lifeline, and Read the Sky work no matter who owns the ship, and Volley works when the captain lets you direct the armament (most will, in a fight).
• Ashore: Rope Trick, Rigger (on any rigging, scaffold, or rooftop lines), Sailor’s Tales, Port Contacts, and Coastal Scout work on docks, rivers, and coasts. Seafarers make good guides, smugglers, and fixers in any port town.

Ships at a Glance

Seafarer Features talk about vessels. You don’t need full naval rules to use them, just this stat line. A vessel is treated like a very large creature:

• Hull: the vessel’s Hit Points. At 0 Hull it is crippled: dead in the water, listing, and sinking (or falling) within a few minutes unless repaired.
• Evasion: how hard it is to hit (smaller, faster vessels are harder).
• Threshold: the vessel’s Serious Threshold. Its Critical Threshold is twice this, as for a character (see Damage).
• Armament: the damage dice of the vessel’s weapons on one side (or its bow, for a ram or bow catapult) used together in one Volley. What the armament is depends on the era: a ram, a deck of archers, ballistae, catapults or mangonels, cannons, or spell-engines.
• Crew: how many hands it needs to sail and fight well.

Hitting a vessel. Attacks against a vessel work like any attack: roll, subtract its Evasion, and compare the rest to its Threshold to see how much Hull it loses (1, 2, or 3). Ordinary weapons and personal spells barely scratch a hull: they deal half damage to vessels. Rams, ship armament, siege weapons, and monsters deal full damage. Archers are the exception: against vessels they only use Sweep (they hurt crews, not hulls).

Range and reload. Armament ranges by type: a ram must reach the target (move into it), archers and ballistae reach 150 feet (300 with Disadvantage), catapults and cannons 300 feet (600 with Disadvantage). After a Volley, that armament must be reloaded (or the rowers recover): it can’t be used again until the end of the firing character’s next turn. Archers don’t need reloading.

Working one weapon (anyone). Any character beside a loaded engine or gun can aim and fire it: an attack using Ingenuity or Finesse for 2 Action Load, dealing 2d8. Loading or winching it takes a crew member 1 Action Load using Agility or Endurance. Seafarers do it better: see Armament Eye and Volley.

Tier 1 Base Card: Seafarer Initiate

At Tier 1, you are at home anywhere the deck moves. You climb like a deckhand, swim like a seal, and know the weather’s moods.

Core Feature: Sea Legs (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

You never lose your footing on decks, docks, rigging, or wet rocks, and you never take Disadvantage from a rolling deck, rain, spray, or wind. You swim at your full speed and can hold your breath for minutes equal to 1 + your Seafarer Aspect (minimum 1).

Choose two Domain Feature Cards from Tier 1.

Requirements to Advance to Tier 2 (complete 3):

• Sail through a storm (as crew, passenger, or pilot) and help bring the vessel through
• Navigate by the stars, the sun, or the swell when the way was truly in doubt
• Rescue someone from the water (or a fall from a sky-ship)
• Fight on a deck or a dock and turn the footing to your advantage
• Win the trust of an old sailor, pilot, or harbormaster
• Any one Shared Milestone (see Domains)

Tier 1 Feature Cards

Read the Sky (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

You can tell the weather for the next day by the clouds, the wind, and the color of the water. Aboard any vessel, you roll with Advantage to see a weather hazard coming (squall, fog bank, rogue wave, sky-storm) and, if you have the helm or the captain’s ear, to get out of its way.

Rigger (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 1

Climb, swing on a line, run along a yard or an oar bank, or leap a gap up to 15 feet (rail to rail when vessels are alongside), moving up to your speed without provoking reaction attacks. If you end this move higher than an enemy within reach, your next attack against it this turn has Advantage. Works on any rigging, scaffold, or line, ashore or afloat.

Navigator (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

You cannot become lost at sea, along coasts, or on rivers, and you always know your heading and rough position. When you plot the course (for any captain), the party rolls voyage hazards (currents, reefs, short supplies) with Advantage.

Crew Call (Team Action – Active)

Action Load: 1

Bark an order (“Hard to port!” “Heave!” “Down!”). Choose one:

• Up to your Seafarer Aspect allies (minimum 1) who can hear you may each immediately move up to 10 feet without provoking reaction attacks, or
• One ally aboard a vessel rolls their next helm, rigging, oar, loading, or armament roll this round with Advantage.

Sailor’s Tales (Roleplay – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

Sailors, dockhands, and fisherfolk trust you. You roll with Advantage to get help or information from them, and in every port you visit you hear one useful rumor (a ship due in, a wreck sighted, a captain who’s hiring, a passage going cheap).

Rope Trick (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 1

Throw a lasso, bolas, weighted net, or hooked line at a creature within 20 feet. It rolls Agility or Reflex Resistance against your Seafarer Aspect roll. On a failure, it is Restrained until it spends 1 Action Load to break free (same roll) or you let go. Instead, you may snag an object or a willing ally within 20 feet and pull it up to 10 feet toward you.

⚡ Rail Guard (Combat – Reactive)

Action Load: as a normal melee attack

While you are on a deck, dock, gangplank, or similar footing, when a creature within your reach moves away from you, you may make a melee weapon attack against it.

Tier 2 Base Card: Seafarer Adept

At Tier 2, a vessel isn’t just something you ride; it’s something you keep alive.

Core Feature: Ship’s Heart (Team Action – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive; once per round)

Whenever you are aboard a vessel and not Restrained, whoever owns it, once per round, when anyone aboard makes a helm, rigging, oar, loading, armament, or repair roll, or the vessel itself makes a Resistance roll, you may give that roll Advantage.

Choose two Domain Feature Cards from Tier 2.

Requirements to Advance to Tier 3 (complete 4):

• Take the helm or command a vessel (even a small boat) through real danger
• Survive a shipwreck (or a sky-wreck)
• Find a hidden harbor, anchorage, or landing
• Turn the tide of a fight between vessels
• Befriend a sea (or sky) creature
• Bring a damaged vessel home to port
• Any one Shared Milestone (see Domains)

Tier 2 Feature Cards

Boarding Action (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 2

When another vessel or a dock is within 30 feet of the vessel you are on, swing, leap, or vault onto it, moving up to 30 feet without provoking reaction attacks, then make a weapon attack with Advantage against a creature within reach when you land. Up to your Tier allies within 5 feet of you when you start may come with you by each spending 1 Action Load (they don’t attack).

Storm Rider (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

You, and anyone at a helm you are standing beside, ignore Disadvantage from storms, fog, and heavy seas or winds. You roll with Advantage to avoid being swept overboard, and any vessel you are aboard gains +2 Evasion against storm hazards (waves, lightning, flying debris).

Port Contacts (Roleplay – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

You know someone in every port. Once per visit, name a contact with the GM (harbormaster, fence, shipwright, smuggler, tavern-keeper) who will do you one reasonable favor: a safe bed, a berth or passage on an outbound vessel, a quiet word, spare parts, or a fair price.

⚡ Hold Fast (Team Action – Reactive)

Action Load: 1

When an ally within 15 feet would fall overboard, fall from rigging or a ledge, be pushed, or be knocked Prone, you grab them: they don’t move, fall, or fall Prone.

Coastal Scout (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

You spot safe landings, hidden coves, shoals, and reefs. A vessel you are guiding never runs aground by accident, and you roll with Advantage to notice an ambush along a coast or river.

Armament Eye (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 2

Aim and fire a single loaded weapon of any vessel or fortification (ballista, catapult, swivel gun, cannon, spell-engine) yourself, rolling your Seafarer Aspect instead of Ingenuity or Finesse. You ignore the Disadvantage for long range and choose the effect (see Volley: Smash, Cripple, or Sweep).

Tier 3 Base Card: Seafarer Expert

At Tier 3, wind and crew answer to you.

Core Feature: Master of Wind (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

When you command or steer a vessel (as captain, pilot, or helmsman), it travels half again as far each day, and a sailing vessel can beat against the wind (rowed vessels instead keep full speed through a whole day without exhausting the rowers). In a fight between vessels, it gains +1 Evasion, and once per round you may turn it to bring other armament to bear without anyone spending Action Load.

Choose three Domain Feature Cards from Tier 3.

Requirements to Advance to Tier 4 (complete 4):

• Sail to a land no one in your party has seen
• Survive a sea or sky monster
• Earn the respect of a fleet, a navy, or a pirate council
• Chart a stretch of unknown coast, river, or sky
• Defeat pirates (or, if you are the pirates, a navy)
• Lead a crew through a storm without losing a hand
• Any one Shared Milestone (see Domains)

Tier 3 Feature Cards

Volley (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 2

You call the volley: all the armament on one side (or the bow) of the vessel you are aboard strikes at once. You need the captain’s leave, unless you command.

• Requirements: the armament facing the target is loaded (archers are always ready), and the target is in range (see Ships at a Glance). A ram volley happens when the vessel’s movement takes it into the target. The armament needs hands: at least half the vessel’s normal Crew, or you roll with Disadvantage.
• Who rolls: you roll for the whole armament: your Seafarer Aspect dice (minus your Action Load, plus any Advantage) plus the vessel’s Armament dice.
• Crew help (Team Action): each ally working a weapon on that side may spend 1 Action Load when you fire to add +1d8 to the damage. (NPC crews are already counted in the Armament.)
• Damage: subtract the target’s Evasion and compare the rest to its Threshold to see how much Hull it loses. Against a creature (a monster, or a crowd on a dock) it is a normal attack using the same total.
• Choose the effect before you roll:
  • Smash: hit the hull (rams, stones, round shot, heavy bolts). Normal damage.
  • Cripple: go for oars, sails, or rigging (fire arrows, chain shot, hooked bolts, a ram sweeping the oars). Half damage to Hull, but if the volley would cause at least a Serious hit, the target’s speed is halved and its next helm roll has Disadvantage.
  • Sweep: clear the deck (archers, grapeshot, scattershot stones). No Hull damage. Instead, creatures on a 20-foot-wide stretch of the target’s deck roll Reflex Resistance against your Aspect dice total (not the Armament dice). On a failure they take the Armament dice as damage, or half on a success.
• Reload: afterward, that armament is empty until the end of your next turn (archers excepted).

Sea Lore (Exploration – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

You know the songs, legends, and true stories of the sea. You roll with Advantage to recall lore about sea creatures, wrecks, and cursed waters, and once per voyage you may ask the GM one question about a creature’s weakness or a wreck’s location and get a true (if salty) answer.

Fleet Captain (Roleplay – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

Captains and crews defer to you. In any port you can raise a full crew within a day (for your own vessel, a patron’s, or one you are hired to sail), or sign on yourself and your companions with any outbound vessel as officers. You roll with Advantage to parley, demand surrender, or set terms at sea.

Wave Dancer (Combat – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

You gain +1 Evasion while on a deck, a dock, or in water. Once per round, when an attack misses you there, you may move 5 feet without provoking reaction attacks (no Action Load).

⚡ Lifeline (Team Action – Reactive)

Action Load: 1

Throw a line to an ally within 30 feet: pull them up to 15 feet toward you without provoking reaction attacks. This can pull them out of the water, out of a fall, or out of a monster’s reach. If they are Restrained, they may immediately try to break free with Advantage.

Crew Drill (Team Action – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

Crews you work with learn fast. Armament you direct (with Volley or Armament Eye) is reloaded at the start of your next turn instead of the end, and a vessel you are aboard never suffers Disadvantage for being short-handed as long as it has at least a quarter of its normal Crew.

Tier 4 Base Card: Seafarer Master

At Tier 4, the sea knows your name, and sometimes answers when you call.

Core Feature: Sea’s Chosen (Exploration – Active)

Action Load: 2 (once per adventure)

Calm a storm or call a wind. For one scene, enemy vessels (and creatures that swim or fly against you) roll movement and helm rolls with Disadvantage, and the vessel you are aboard rolls them with Advantage. Out of combat, the weather obeys you for a day: a voyage ends safely, or a pursuer is left becalmed.

Choose three Domain Feature Cards from Tier 4.

Tier 4 Feature Cards

Legendary Voyage (Exploration – Active)

Action Load: — (out of combat; takes minutes to hours of planning)

Any voyage you help sail takes half the time, and all voyage hazards on the way are rolled with Advantage.

Commodore (Roleplay – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

Captains follow your lead. When you sail with other vessels (a merchant convoy, a navy squadron, a pirate council’s fleet, or allies’ ships), up to your Seafarer Aspect of them (minimum 2) will take your signals. Once per round in a fight between vessels, one of those vessels may fire a Volley that you call (you pay its Action Load and roll for it). Over a long campaign, you can build or win a squadron of your own.

Sea Beast Ally (Team Action – Active)

Action Load: 2 (once per adventure)

Call a sea or sky creature: a dolphin pod, a whale, a turtle the size of an island, a friendly serpent, a flight of great birds. For one scene, choose its job:

• Tow: the vessel you are aboard moves at double speed.
• Ram: it attacks a vessel or monster using your Seafarer Aspect plus 3d8 (full damage to vessels).
• Rescue: it carries everyone in the water to safety.
• Guard: the vessel you are aboard gains +2 Evasion.

Kraken’s Grip (Combat – Active)

Action Load: 2

Call the deep, a coil of rope, or your own grip to drag a creature under. A creature within 10 feet that is in or beside water rolls Agility or Fortitude Resistance against your Seafarer Aspect roll. On a failure, it is pulled under: Restrained, unable to breathe, and at the start of each of its turns it takes 1d8 Bludgeoning damage and marks 1 Stress. It escapes by spending 1 Action Load to break free (same roll).

Never Founder (Team Action – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

While you are alive and aboard, the vessel cannot sink (or fall): at 0 Hull it is crippled but stays afloat. Once per voyage, during a Quick Rest, you and the crew may patch it to restore Hull equal to your Seafarer Aspect (minimum 1).

Thunder of Arms (Combat – Passive)

Action Load: — (Passive)

When you call a Volley, you may pay 1 more Action Load to fire both sides (or bow and one side) at once, at two different targets (roll separately). Once per scene, a Volley you call doesn’t need reloading.

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