Close
Close
Advanced Search

Smoke and Sail: a Pathfinder 2e Naval Warfare SourcebookClick to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/396152.xml&w=500&h=354

Smoke and Sail: a Pathfinder 2e Naval Warfare Sourcebook

ADD TO WISHLIST >

FOUNDRY SUPPORT AVAILABLE NOW OR BOTH AT A DISCOUNT!

 Cover artwork for Smoke and Sail Foundry Support Smoke and Sail PDF & Foundry Bundle Cover Artwork

Few environments conjure feelings of excitement and trepidation more acutely than the ocean, with its endless rhythm of churning waves and possibility for adventure. Tenacious crews sailing ships of all sizes make perilous journeys across the majestic vastness that stretches from horizon to horizon, certain that their vessel will carry them to shore under any sky and on any sea.

This sourcebook provides a comprehensive ruleset for running such a vessel and engaging in thrilling, ship-based combat encounters.

Featuring:

-Full rules for running dynamic naval battles including ship movement, positioning, weapons, ranges and damage

-10 unique crew roles

-Over 70 new and exciting abilities and actions to be taken aboard ship

-Templates for vessels of varying sizes and the NPC crews that sail them

-Rules for underwater hazards that could reduce your ship to splinters

-Nearly 100 new items of treasure

-New skills and feats for your naval adventure

pixel_trans.gif
 
 More from this Title's Contributors
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (8)
Discussions (13)
Customer avatar
Ben F June 19, 2023 6:49 am UTC
PURCHASER
Do you have any plans to write an expansion with more modern ship types? I've been trying to find some good pf2e rules for WW1 and/or WW2 naval combat. I'm planning to run a 1930s campaign in Foundry and this is the closest I've found so far.
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S July 06, 2023 6:40 pm UTC
PURCHASER
We aren't going to write that. The field is wide open for you to do so.
Customer avatar
Cristian M June 05, 2023 12:48 am UTC
Hello Paizo team/Jamie, I am looking at purchasing this, however, do you happen to have an adventure that uses these rulesets. Or a something of the sorts is already in the book/Foundry module?
Reply
Customer avatar
Jamie T June 05, 2023 10:47 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi Cristian, there isn't a pre-written module that goes with the pdf or foundry. We are currently using the rules in a 2e conversion of the Skull and Shackles adventure path. There would be work in converting that AP, but there are plenty of sections in it where naval combat occurs and we use these rules for those sections rather than what is provided in the 1e adventure. Hope that helps!
Customer avatar
Igor L May 21, 2023 1:16 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I just found that the "counter ritual" magister action has the same description of the "repeat ritual" one. Is there any fixed pdf version coming?
Reply
Customer avatar
Jamie T May 21, 2023 1:21 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Igor, yes it's actually on my to do list for next week. Thanks for pointing out counter ritual, that was already on the list along with a couple of other tweaks
Customer avatar
Igor L May 21, 2023 1:02 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Also the merchantman having a faster speed and almost the same armament of a frigate seems odd to me.
Customer avatar
Robert P April 06, 2023 1:14 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Overall, this is a wonderful add on for Pathfinder, and I hope to use it in an actual campaign in the near future.

However, I was a little disappointed in the lack of wind rules. Using the weather gage is the key to seafaring combat. And these are ships, with sails they require the wind to come from specific directions, and that affects speed, maneuverability, shot accuracy, &c. Obviously, in a game like Pathfinder, there has to be some give. No one (except maybe me) wants to do a bunch of trigonometry in the middle of combat. But there are zero rules about it, and instead the ships will feel like cars instead of ships, just going back and forth against each other.
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S July 06, 2023 6:42 pm UTC
PURCHASER
It is unfortunate you gave us 3/5 stars on the review because of this. Clearly there is a need for simplification from real combat. I did write in there-- shortly, but you could find it-- that GMs could use wind direction to make traveling certain directions count as "difficult terrain" or in other words double the movement cost when traveling against the wind.
Reply
Customer avatar
Robert P July 11, 2023 12:08 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I did see that, but "difficult terrain" isn't quite sufficient. I feel like a sailing mod without actual wind is only worth a 60% review.
Customer avatar
vincent P January 09, 2023 3:05 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi ! I'm loving the product thus far, but I have one issue I would like your opinion on: even if managing 8 or less roles for 4 players is very much doable, it's much more of a pain for DMs. How do you make it easier and less of a headache to run ?
Thank you very much !
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S March 03, 2023 1:54 am UTC
PURCHASER
There is a half page in the book on this. Maybe you would consider putting your review up once you see that we did include this information already
Customer avatar
Neil S November 14, 2022 8:27 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hullo, I saw that this was originally part of a conversion of S&S.
Is that project still in the works? Is it likely to appear on Infinite?
It's a project I've been considering, but I don't want to duplicate something that is in progress.
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S January 09, 2023 1:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
We are not planning on doing a published conversion of S&S
Customer avatar
Nicholas B September 26, 2022 6:57 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Looking forward to using this for an upcoming exploration game I am running (was previously using Savage Worlds, which I love, but also comes with its own hassles). Couple of questions though:
1) It says "non-officer NPCs" don't get actions, but if that's so then who fires all the weapons? It seems that the Master Gunner can really only fire one weapon per turn, and if the other officers (PCs) are busy doing their own thing then only one weapon is fired? Or does their action initiate firing all of the available weapons?
2) Plans to update the Foundry module to v10? It seems the update may have broken the Navigation Skill bonus feat, as it is always based on Int now. Not a big deal, because I can either tie it to Survival or try to make my own rules element.

Great work with the book!
Reply
Customer avatar
Nicholas B September 27, 2022 2:49 am UTC
PURCHASER
I figured out why the Navigation Bonus Feat was not properly working. If you enable the Rules Element UI (In settings for PF2e module), you can change it so that is always uses Wisdom, even if Int is actually higher.
The rules elements are:
{"key":"FlatModifier","label":"addwis","selector":"navigation","type":"untyped","value":"@actor.abilities.wis.mod"}
and:
{"key":"FlatModifier","label":"removeint","selector":"navigation","type":"untyped","value":"-@actor.abilities.int.mod"}

Your original had "Navigation" and not "navigation" so it wasn't working either. I assume v10 made it so it needed to be all lower case.
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S September 27, 2022 12:50 pm UTC
PURCHASER
1) I appreciate that sleuthing very much. I will put out an update.
2) I will update to v10, but only when I am sure that the pf2e system is stable. I'm still reading mixed messages on that.
3) Not every weapon will be fired every round. The Master Gunner will fire once, probably, and maybe 1-2 other PCs will fire, if they have the actions to do it, but they may be wrapped up in other things. There is no expectation that all the guns will be fired constantly.

Thank you for engaging!
Reply
Customer avatar
Jamie T September 27, 2022 1:28 pm UTC
CREATOR
Sometimes other officers will shoot and sometimes they will be too busy doing other necessary actions and that choice of what to do round by round we hope is part of the fun!
Reply
Customer avatar
Nicholas B September 27, 2022 8:49 pm UTC
PURCHASER
So, for instance, something like the Bail action isn't necessarily something the crew would handle in the background, but is rather more like the officer spending two action points to direct the crew to do so?


I actually posted my rule element fix online, and a PF module dev responded saying that additional methods were in the works, so while method is valid it also won't be as necessary soon. Yea, guess they are updating, which is good.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jamie T September 27, 2022 9:29 pm UTC
CREATOR
Exactly that. When Im a player with the system and we're on a small ship, I narrate that my PC does the bailing. When we're on a huge boat with hundreds of crew it's more like you're ordering a host of swabs to bail with those two actions.

The story stays fixed on the PCs that way and they can name and narrate the actions of either themselves or the sailors they are directing, but the balance of actions stays in check
Reply
Customer avatar
Jamie T September 27, 2022 9:33 pm UTC
CREATOR
By the way, I'm thrilled you like the product! That really means the world to me.

This isn't the easiest way to engage do if you have other questions on this or any of the other amazing products on Pathfinder Infinite, I'd recommend joining either the Drivethrurpg or Infiknightpossibilities.net discords. You'll find amazing communities of creators and players there and you'll get much more immediate answers to any questions :)
Customer avatar
Adam H September 05, 2022 7:54 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I'm surprised that there's no compatibility/conversion guidance with the Artillerist, Trick Driver, or Vehicle Mechanic archetypes. Seems like a missed opportunity; those are essentially "trap options" for unknowing players with GMs using this supplement.
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S September 07, 2022 10:52 pm UTC
PURCHASER
It's a pretty good idea. I don't think we have plans on getting to that, but it could be something a GM takes the time to do and maybe even publish it here on Pathfinder Infinite.
Customer avatar
Paul S August 05, 2022 1:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This pdf has been updated with more art, fixes of some errata, and additions of some requested features. If you already bought it, you should redownload the pdf. If you haven't bought it, well you should! :D
Customer avatar
Tord S July 24, 2022 10:49 am UTC
PURCHASER
We tested the waters so to speak this last friday with the party's Clipper and NPC controlled Pinnace vs a Cargo Flyut.
We're using foundry, so I had set up a standard rote of actions for the NPC ships with inline rolls, so the NPC turns were surprisingly quick, tho it was still a bit of a hassle keeping track of how many actions the npc ship had free to do stuff like pumping. There was no point where guns were unloaded or unfired because of other actions, especially on the NPC ships where i only bothered with the most basic of "buff" actions, leaving four officers basically free to do cannons and bilging.

I also fail to see the point of the crew splash, even with dedicated crew damage ammunition the amount of damage on player characters is neglible, and the rest of the crew seem to be unaffected? Does this mean I as DM also need to keep track of individual officer hp on the enemy ships?

Despite the hiccups, everyone had a good time and the party is looking forward to...See more
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S July 24, 2022 11:37 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I am happy to hear of your experience! When I GM the npcs ships, I often do what you do and keep it simple, and let the PCs have the fun of taking the more complicated actions.

You are welcome to create new ships. In fact, the way Pathfinder Infinite works, you could write your own PDF of ships.

In regards to crew splash damage, it is meant to soften up the enemy and PCs prior to an hand to hand engagement. I figured that most battles would end up in a melee, though certainly some ships will outright end the other in a sinking. If a party really concentrates on doing crew splash damage, like perhaps buying the proper ammunition ahead of time, and taking certain actions, you can get quite a lot of damage in and then when you end up boarding, you might be able to take them down quick AND keep their boat.
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S July 25, 2022 2:48 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I am working on putting in Foundry support for this PDF. In doing so, and revisiting the ship stat blocks, I can see different ways to change the variety of ships. A GM could put on more specialized crew-- like throwing in a skilled magister. They could and should also give a ship a load out of different types of ammo. And also add things like flags, anchors, crow's nests, etc, from the treasure part of the document. It would be harder, but you could also design new base ships. If anyone wants to make a PDF of a huge variation of this type of thing, it would be a great addition. I probably won't do it myself though I wouldn't rule out the possibility, due to working on other projects, but I am putting it out there as an open field for other Foundry authors.
Customer avatar
Tord S July 15, 2022 12:19 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This book is great, Surprisingly much content for the price, and the ship to ship combat looks excellent, This will make an excellent addition to my ongoing shackles campaign.
I do however have a question. The Celestial Navigation feat states "Reduce sailing Downtime between locations" but there does not appear to be any other reference to this in the book or in the pathfinder rules as far as I've found, could you perhaps elaborate?
Reply
Customer avatar
Jamie T July 16, 2022 4:04 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Tord, I'm glad you're enjoying the book so far and hope you enjoy it even more when your group starts blasting cannons!

The area you point out is probably a good one for an errata to make all this clearer and tighten it up a bit. Exploration mode sailing speeds are determined by the ship's movement. The rules for this are here; https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=469

The fastest ships in the Gamemastery guide have a speed of 40ft which equates to 32 miles per day. Until we get around to putting this in the book, I would suggest using the hex speeds in the ship statblocks as your guide for how fast a ship should be in feet and then determine how far per day it can sail. For simplicity, I would say 4 hex of movement ships should be slowest at 20ft (12 miles per day), the ships with 6 hexes should be 30ft (24 miles per day) and the 8 hex ships should be 40ft (32 miles per day)

Then Celestial Navigation reduces that sailing time.
Reply
Customer avatar
Tord S July 17, 2022 8:03 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks for the reply, that clears things up a bit.
I have been setting up some upcoming fights for my party, and I've run into a smal hurdle.
Should I play these enemy ships as if they have a full alotment of officers? or is there a simplified system for the non player ships I've just missed?
Reply
Customer avatar
Jamie T July 17, 2022 8:59 pm UTC
CREATOR
Sure! You should find in the example ship statblocks ship roles and expected skill bonuses for the various checks needed. Use these as your starting point. They are set up to be a good challenge at different levels but can be tweaked to make things easier or more difficult as you see fit.
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S July 18, 2022 9:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The intention is for the GM to run all the officer positions. If you wanted something simpler, you could have the officers that you aren't interested in only take the basic crew actions. The only really required position is the person steering the ship and everyone else is just a bonus.
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S August 05, 2022 1:06 pm UTC
PURCHASER
We've updated the PDF to cover the sailing time issue (Speed is now in knots and thus as a real world equivalent, there is a miles per day that we have calculated). Also I have given guidelines for operating with a smaller crew. So redownload the PDF!
Customer avatar
Paul S May 31, 2022 12:56 am UTC
PURCHASER
thanks for the kind reviews
Reply
Customer avatar
Paul S May 31, 2022 12:57 am UTC
PURCHASER
thanks for the kind reviews. Please let me know if there are any questions, as author, I can answer them or if problems are found can edit the pdf
Narrow Results
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!















Product Information
Gold seller
Community Content
Rules Edition(s)
Pages
50
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Last Updated:
July 10, 2023
This title was added to our catalog on May 08, 2022.