Aeronaut Captain

Craft (cartography) is the skill using in the creation of maps, particularly those used in a ship’s navigation. As an overland standard action, a creature may make a map of the territory it has crossed that day, aiding in future travels that return to that location. This becomes especially important when exploring for new delves or new planes and worlds, as without a skilled cartographer it can be incredibly difficult to find the same location twice, and many crews will pay handsomely for the use of a skilled cartographer. A cartographer can be aided by only one creature at a time.

The result of the check indicates the value of the map.

Heal functions as written in the Core Rulebook for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, except for a few new uses that are outlined in the Player's Guide to Skybourne. A healer can only be aided by one creature at a time when it comes to determining the result of their check, but may receive aid from up to one crew when determining how many patients he can look after with long-term care, etc.

While Craft skills such as Craft (ships), Craft (vehicles), or Craft (furniture) are required to make objects, Profession (carpentry) is an all-purpose skill that relates to the upkeep and repair of such objects. A creature with Profession (carpentry) may make a skill check to repair damage to any wood-based object such as an airship, wagon, etc. For metal or stone-based objects, substitute Profession (blacksmithing) or Profession (mason).

Making a repair check requires 1 gp’s worth of new materials and is an overland standard action. The object heals a number of hit points equal to the result of the Profession (carpentry) check. A creature may receive aid from up to one crew but the cost of repairs increases by 1 sp for every creature (13 sp for a small crew, 2.5 gp for a medium crew, 5 gp for a large crew) using aid another. This includes creatures assisting via Profession (servant).

A creature with the mend spell or the repair Creation sphere ability gains a +10 to their Profession (carpentry) checks, but otherwise cannot directly heal a ship. A creature may use make whole spells or may spend spell points via the Greater Repair Creation sphere talent to heal a ship location directly, as they could any other object.

While it is possible for a party of adventurers to survive on trail rations and simple cooking, a dedicated chef can provide bonuses for a crew by providing them with much better food.

As an overland move action, a creature may make a DC 10 Profession (chef) check to prepare better-than-average meals for a group, granting them a number of temporary hit points for that day. Each member of the party gains 1 temporary hit point, +1 for every 5 points by which the check exceeded the target DC. When dealing with crews, this number increases to +10 temporary hit points +10 per 5 points for a small crew, +20 temporary hit points +20 per 5 points for a medium crew, and +40 temporary hit points +40 for a large crew. A creature cannot gain these temporary hit points back for the day once they are lost. A creature cannot gain bonuses from multiple chefs; only the highest bonus applies.

A creature cannot prepare meals in this fashion for more than 12-13 people (a small crew, an adventure party, or a group of officers). However, this number increases by another 12-13 (a small crew) for every assistant aiding the chef. A chef may also double the number of people he and his aids cook for by taking an overland standard action instead of an overland move action.

A chef can only gain an aid another bonus from 1 creature (including someone making a Profession (servant) check) when determining the size of his check result, but may receive aid from an entire crew when determining how many creatures he can cook for. Other uses for Profession (chef) are outlined in Chapter 4: Flying the Skies.

A creature trained in Profession (courtesan) can provide entertainment for a ship, similar to a creature trained in a Perform skill, as detailed in Chapter 4: Flying the Skies. A courtesan or performer can receive aid from only one creature at a time, but can receive aid from an entire crew when determining how many people they can entertain.

When a ship must travel great distances, a skilled navigator is required to make sure the journey happens quickly, easily, and effectively. No Profession (navigator) check is required to make simple trips; a simple trip involves traveling over short distances or along very obvious landmarks (visiting a city you just came from, following a distant mountain peak to find the monastery built at its summit, etc.). If such a check is required, the DC is 5.

Profession (navigation) truly comes into play when attempting to visit a new location, such as plotting a journey to a distant floating island, following a treasure map to a newly-discovered delve, or attempting to cross the Maelstrom to visit the worlds and planes on the other side. When making such elongated, detailed trips, someone in the party must pass a series of Profession (navigator) checks to keep the party traveling in the right direction. Someone can only gain aid from a single other creature when making Profession (navigator) checks, including someone using Profession (servant).

Note: While Survival and Knowledge (Geography) are useful when navigating an overland route or understanding landmarks, they do not equip a character for the intricacies of navigating planar space or an endless, uniform sea of green. In a pinch a character may make a Survival or Knowledge (geography) check in place of a Profession (navigator) check, but at a -5 penalty.

Plotting a Trip: In order to plot a trip to a destination without obvious landmarks, the navigator must first know where to go, often by purchasing a map from a dockside dealer. (Without a map or some other form of directions, there is little a crew can do but pick a direction and hope for the best). If the intended location is a floating isle, another plane, or some other location that moves, this map must be current to have value. If the map is particularly shoddy (or fraudulent and being pawned on unsuspecting PCs), it may not lead to the intended destination at all.

Every day, week, or month of the trip (as decided by the GM depending on the length of the journey), the navigator makes a Profession (navigator) check to stay on course. The target DC is 20 for a standard trip (on the same continent), 25 for long trips (across continents, under the ocean, etc.), and 30 for extremely difficult trips (journeys that cross planes and space). Particularly bad circumstances such as extremely cloudy weather applies a -4 penalty to this check (or worse, if dictated by the GM). In addition, maps of particular quality may add bonuses to this check, as outlined in Chapter 5: Equipment and under the Craft (cartographer) skill.

For every point a failed check falls short of this target DC, the party travels one mile off-course, multiplied by the number of days that check represented. Roll a d4 to determine the direction of the error (1=left, 2=right, 3=too far, 4=too short). If enough of these errors are made in the same journey, the party could end up grossly off-course, never knowing it until they reached a landmark, or arrived at where their intended destination was only to find it wasn’t there. At such times, the party may need to re-orient themselves via landmarks, begin exploring around them, or may even have to turn back.

Making Your Own Map: When a navigator has visited a location, they may make a note of it themselves with a successful Craft (cartography) check, using their own information when moving to and from that location in the future.

Old Maps: Destinations that move such as floating islands or planes require up-to-date maps in order to locate easily. For every month that passes after a map is made, the bonus it provides decreases by 1. If a map’s bonus ever reaches -4, it becomes useless.

Selling Maps: While old men in pubs might sell treasure maps, and the PCs might find someone willing to pay them for a special map to a secret location, generally the market for buying and selling navigational data is regulated by a cartographers guild, and the PCs will not be able to sell their own maps. The cartographers guild keeps their navigational information regularly updated, selling it to merchants and adventurers of all types, and few are willing to pay someone not in the guild for information they cannot know for certain is accurate (unless, of course, the buyer is a desperate PC who cannot afford better). As such, while the cartographer’s guild might employ adventurers to map dangerous areas, this is done as a service for a fee, rather than a chance to make and sell a map.

Profession (sailor) checks are used to pilot almost any form of ship, be it water, air, or planar, as well as to make engineering checks with sails. A creature can only receive aid from one other creature when making a Profession (sailor) check to pilot a ship or make an engineering check.

Piloting a ship outside of combat in calm skies is a fairly simple task, and usually doesn’t require a skill check (if such a check is called for, the DC is 5). However, some airships have bad maneuverability (a ship with poor maneuverability grants a -4 to the pilot’s check, while a ship with clumsy maneuverability grants a -8 to the pilot’s check). In addition, strong winds add additional penalties to these checks. In these situations, a pilot may need to pass this check just to keep the ship in the air; on a failure, the pilot must immediately make a check against rolling the ship, or immediately land (crash).

Profession (sailor) checks are also used when multiple airships meet in combat to determine which ship has the advantage.

When two ships engage in combat, siege engines are often employed to damage or cripple the enemy’s ship.

If an officer possesses ranks in Profession (siege engineer), he grants any crew he commands a +1 bonus to their attack rolls with siege engines for every 5 points of bonus in his Profession (siege engineer) skill. He also grants them the benefits of all feats he possesses that relate to siege engines, including proficiencies, Weapon Focus, etc. A creature cannot receive aid from more than one person when making a Profession (siege engineer) check, including creatures making Profession (servant) checks.

This skill relates to a character’s ability to aid others in their endeavors; not just as an extra pair of hands, but as a trained assistant who can make everything run more smoothly, be it by holding tools, running messages, cleaning clothing, or doing the hundreds of other small jobs that otherwise might be overlooked. Whenever an ally attempts a skill check where others could use the aid another action to help them, a character trained in Profession (servant) may make a Profession (servant) check in place of whatever skill would normally be necessary. This grants a circumstance bonus to the character attempting the skill check equal to the Profession (servant) check divided by 10 (+1 for a roll of 10 or higher, +2 for a roll of 20 or higher, +3 for a roll of 30 or higher, etc.). Only one creature may attempt a Profession (servant) check to aid another in this fashion, but up to an entire crew can use aid another to help a creature with this Profession (servant) check.

As an overland move action, a character may make a Profession (servant) check to aid all creatures on the ship for that day.

Profession (soldier) represents how well a creature can train and discipline soldiers and crewmen, as well as handle the administrative, logistical, and tactical needs of such a large group. Every crew may have a single officer who serves as that crew’s commanding officer. If a crew has such a leader with at least 1 rank in Profession (soldier), it gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC and a +1 morale bonus to all saving throws for every 5 points of bonus it’s leader has in Profession (soldier). Only one creature may aid another creature with Profession (soldier) checks, including a creature using Profession (servant).