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Rigging Mechanic

When a ship is underway and not in combat, it moves at its waterborne speed.  While this happens, various crewmembers perform rigging -- moving the ropes and sails about the ship to optimize the use of the windpower.  It seems that this operation should assist the waterborne speed, so I am proposing this mechanic for that.

  • Rigging only works on sailing ships.  The amount of sails of a ship is measured in squares in Pathfinder, ranging from 5 or 10 for a small boat to 90 for a large sailing ship.  ( I exclude the 240 squares of the massive Treasure Ship, which is out of sorts for this sort of thing).
  • Each ship gets 1 rigger position per 10 square of sails.  Based on that:
    • Galley
      • 90 Squares
      • 9 Riggers
    • Junk
      • 90 Squares
      • 9 Riggers
    • Keelboat
      • 20 Squares
      • 2 Riggers
    • Longship
      • 30 Squares
      • 3 Riggers
    • Raft
      • 0 Squares
      • No riggers
    • Sailing Ship
      • 90 Squares
      • 9 Riggers
    • Ship's Boat
      • 10 Squares
      • 1 Rigger
    • Warship
      • 40 Squares
      • 4 Riggers
  • Each rigger helps to make the ship go faster, if he does his job well
    • DC 10 Rigging Check (with modifiers for conditions) based on Strength
    • For every 5 a rigger misses the Check, it is a -1 to waterborne speed
    • For every a rigger succeeds over the DC, it is a +1 t0 waterborne speed
  • Rolls are made once per day while underway.
For example, on a warship, the wind speed of the ship is 30.  There are 4 riggers.  Here are some roll combinations:
  • Rolls: 12, 15, 3, 9
    • 12 -> Neutral, No Plus or Minus
    • 15->Positive, +1
    • 3->Negative, -1
    • 9->Neutral, No plus or minus
    • Overall: Speed is unaffected
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