D&D Ship Information

There are rules for buying boats in 5th edition but no rules on how to make them yourself! In Xanathar's guide to everything there is expanded functions for artisan tools so this guide will make use of them. Now let’s recap what the game already says about watercrafts.

Standard Ship Info

Gold Cost Ship Type Speed 50 Rowboat 1.5 Mph 3,000 Keelboat 1 Mph 10,000 Sailing Ship 2 Mph 10,000 Longship 3 Mph 25,000 Warship 2.5 Mph 30,000 Galley 4 Mph

We will now use the new rules from XGE to help us determine the most logical route for ship building as it is a multi-step process. Keep in mind that this next section is all based off of my interpretation of the rules and my own thoughts on how I would rule ship building. Your DM may not see the rules the same way as I do so before you use any of this, ask your DM.

Tool Profieciencies

A boat is a very complex object and thus will require various tools to complete. The more complex the ship the more proficiencies will be needed to build it. If you only want a pure wooden ship then you would only use Carpenter's Tools but for more complex creations use the following table. This also assumes that you do not need to create your own nails or other fasteners. If you cannot obtain these from a shop, you need Smith Tools to make them yourself. The table below details the required tools for each ship with each entry also carrying the requirements from above in the table as well.

Requirement Ship Type Carpenter's Tools Rowboat Land & Water Vehicals Keelboat Weavers Tools Sailing Ship Smith's Tools Longship Tinker's Tools Warship Wood Carver's Tools Galley

This is a general guideline as some requirements can be avoided by not, for example, using a sail on a Sailing Ship thus removing the requirement for Weaver's Tools. Use your reason when using the table above and think about the tools needed to build what you want.

Note about Ship Components If you want to have things like windows in your ship then you would need Glassblower's Tools. You could also just buy windows too so think about what you want in your ship and think about how you will get them.

Building the Ship

Now for the less speculative stuff. The requirements for crafting the ship are to have raw materials worth half the selling price of the ship you are crafting. We will include things like windows, doors, ropes, sails, anchors, and other vital components of the ship in this cost of the ship. Other things like beds and furnishings will not be included in the raw material requirement. Next, to determine how long it takes to build the ship, take the cost of the ship and divide it by 50 gold increments per week. This gives us the following for a one person job:

Single Builder Times

Time Ship 1 Week Rowboat 60 Weeks Keelboat 200 Weeks Sailing Ship / Long Ship 500 Weeks Warship 600 Weeks Galley

As per usual crafting you can have more than one person work on the ship to speed up the crafting time by dividing the total time by the number of workers. Each worker does not need to have every tool proficiency to work on the ship, only the things they are working on. Thus, a Keelboat would require two tool proficiencies and those could be divided among two workers. If all the workers are proficient in all the required tools for the job, some kind of bonus could be awarded to production, like advantage on rolls for construction.

For example, John has a crew of 6 workers that all are proficient in all the tools listed on the "Tools Required to Build" table. Since they are all proficient they all get advantage on any roll involving the construction of the ship since the ship requires six tool profs to build.

It could be ruled that RAW, each worker would need all the proficiencies, but the rules also say to use reason when crafting with many people. The person making the sail does not need to have the same skills as the person making the hull, even though they are working on the same ship.