Hi! I wrote these Homebrew rules for space combat. Feedback is welcome!:)

SciFi Vehicles and SpaceCrafts For D&D 5e

By Carlo Gemmani

Summary 1

Vehicles 2
Currency conversion 3
Structure of an Airborne Craft 3
Structure of a Small Spacecraft
Structure of a Large Spacecraft 4
Structure of a Mothership 5
Dogfights and Space Combat 6

Planetary Airborne Combat and Space Combat 6
Gravity 6
Underwater Combat 6

Maneuvers 7

Types of Maneuvers 7
Maneuverability 7
Outmaneuvering 8
Dogfight Maneuver Rolltable 8
Losing Control 9
Attacks and Actions 9

Crew 10

Crew Composition 10

Commanding Officers 10
Crew Members 10

Crew Proficiency 11
Controlling the Crew 11
Repairing the Ship 11

Characters in Space 12

Space Suit 12
EVA (Extravehicular Activity) 12
Death in Space 12

Weapons and Upgrades 13

Vehicles

Vehicle	Cost Credit	Speed MPH	Crew	Passengers	Cargo (tons)	AC	HP	Shield	Damage Threshold	Maneuverability
Land Vehicles
Motorcycle	150	400	1	1	-	13	50	-	-	high
Buggy	500	300	2	3	-	15	100	-	-	standard
Truck	600	200	3	3	30	15	200	-	5	low
Airborne Craft
Civilian Aircraft	500,000	570	6	400	20	13	100	-	-	low
Helicopter	100,000	250	2	12	-	13	60	-	-	standard
Air Fighter	3.5 Mil	1,550	2	-	-	15	80	10	-	high
Bomber	7 Mil	630	2	5	20	18	90	10	-	standard
Drone	130,000	135	-	-	-	16	60	10	-	high
Small Space Craft
Escape Pod	10,000	600	1	0	-	13	30	10	-	low
Utility Pod	100,000	5,000	2	0	1	13	60	20	-	low
Space Fighter	1.8 Bil	20,000	2	0	-	12	100	25	5	high
Mecha	2.25 Bil	20,000	5	0	-	15	200	20	5	high
Shuttle	1.25 Bil	17,500	7	5	2	15	300	30	10	standard
Patrol / Scouts	1 Bil	23,000	3	1	-	12	60	15	-	high
Repair Ship	500 Mil	2,000	5	2	3	14	200	30	10	low
Troop Ship	3 Bil	10,000	10	500	150	15	200	30	10	standard
Large Spacecraft
Escort	200 Bil	5,000	100	900	5	14	300	30	15	standard
Cutter/Frigate/Destroyer	100 Bil	10,000	30	50	50	16	250	40	15	high
Cruiser	1 Tril	15,000	50	200	300	20	800	50	20	low
Battle Cruiser	3 Tril	17,000	60	100	250	25	900	60	20	standard
Assault Carrier	2 Tril	9,000	20	60	100	16	700	50	15	high
Space Freighter	10 Tril	6,000	80	200	500	26	900	60	20	low
Cargo Ship	3 Tril	4,000	15	20	800	25	950	80	15	low
Dreadnought	50 Tril	3,000	200	800	1000	25	1000	100	25	low
Mother Ship	500 Tril	1,000	1000	5000	3000	27	5000	500	25	low
Submarine Vehicles
Waterborne Pod	2,000	100	2	0	-	12	60	-	-	low
Submarine	15,000	200	30	10	2	18	200	-	10	low

Currency Conversion

Copper = 1 Unit (=1 $)

Silver = 10 Unit

Electrum = 50 Unit

Gold = 100 Unit = 1 Credit

Platinum = 100,000 Units = 1000 Credit

Structure of an Airborne Craft

These craft are made to function only within an atmosphere and a gravitational field. They include Airplanes and self piloting Drones.

Cockpit/Flight deck
Wings
Fuselage
Engine Cowlings / Propulsion System
Radar
Flight Control system (Oxygen generation and Electrical emergency power unit)
Weaponry
Tail/Stabilizers

Structure of a Small Spacecraft

d10

Piloting Array
Sensor Array
Weaponry
Cargo Hold
Crew Cabins
Dining Room
Engine Room
Sick Bay
Passenger Dorm
Air Lock

Structure of a Large Spacecraft

This is what you can find in a large size spaceship

d20

Main Bridge
Sensor Array
Engine Room
Warp Engine Room
Weaponry (depending on the ship type)
Docking Tube / Airlock
Energy containment Cells
Emergency Power systems
Shuttle bays (may contain smaller ships such as shuttle, fighters, workers...)
Crew and Passenger Hull
Life Support
Cargo Hold
Sick Bay
Pressure Chambers
Escape pods
Computer Core
Shield Emitters
Cooling Tanks (for engines and weaponry)
Teleport Chamber (only specific advanced crafts have this technology)
Tractor Beam emitter (only specific advanced crafts have this technology)

Other spaces are

Kitchen
Recreation Chambers
Holodeck (for simulations and recreation.)
Conference Room
Officer’s Cabins

The presence, size and number of these parts may vary depending on the ship

Every ship part has its function. When hit with a critical hit or its HP drop to half, roll on the table above to determine which part of the ship has been damaged/destroyed.

The part can be repaired by the Chief Engineer and their Mechanics after the battle as described in the “Repairing the Ship” paragraph.

Structure of a Mother Ship

Mother ships are extraordinarily large ships, which are often built in space and are the size of a small Space Station. This makes them a separate class of ships. You can think of them as small mobile Space Stations. They can be the size of a large town or even bigger. They can travel at Hyper Speed, but they are not easily maneuverable. They do not land on planets, unless they are equipped with appropriate landing supports, procedures or structures.

d100

Main Bridge
Auxiliary Bridge
Primary Sensor Array
Secondary Sensor Array
Main Engine Room
Auxiliary engine Room
Warp Engine Room
Torpedoes Bay
Torpedoes Loading Port
Drone Bay and Control
Nuclear Array
Nuclear Fusion Reactor
Reactor Service Hatch
Gyroscopic Pulse Cannons
Gyroscopic Phaser Beams
Weapon Turrets
Docking Tube / Airlock
Docking Arms
Landing Gravitic Supports
Main Power Generator
Energy containment Cells
Emergency Power systems
Shuttle bays (may contain smaller ships such as shuttle, fighters, workers...)
Crew and Passenger Hull
Life Support
Cargo Hold
Sick Bay
Pressure Chambers
Escape pods
Computer Core
Primary Shield Emitters
Secondary Shield Emitters
Shield Stabilizers
Emergency shield Adapters
Auxiliary Shields
Cooling Tanks (for engines and weaponry)
Teleport Chamber (only specific advanced crafts have this technology)
Tractor Beam emitter (only specific advanced crafts have this technology)
Tractor Beam Reactor
Main Exhaust Port
Thermal Exhaust Port
Power Converters
Atmosphere Processing unit
Atmospheric Membrane
Auxiliary Atmospheric Generator
Water Tanks
Gravitic Power Core
Sector Computer Cluster
Offices
Meeting Rooms
Officers Inner Hulls
Crew Outer Hulls
Heat Exchanger
Beam Focusing Magnet
Fuel Collector
Refinery
Trade Market
Trader Sector
Civilian Sector
Primary Factories Sector
Secondary Factories Sector
Armory
Magnetic Field Generator
Mining Bays
Fighters Bays
Solar Panels
Sewer Discharge System
Communication Relay
Communication Offices
Science Labs
Medical Research Facilities
Control Headquarters
Sanitation Systems
Recycle Synthesizer
Holodeck
AI Surveillance Cluster
Entertainment Facilities
Sports Stadium
Surface Racers Port
Surface Pressure Chambers
Surface Magnetic Pods
Propulsion Stabilizers
Thrusters
Warp Mass Anti Mass Support Cluster
Mass Detectors
Stellar Radiation Adaptor
Port Resources Depot
Resupply Connection Ports
Escape Pods Ports
Escape Pods Ejection Tubes
Mecha Storing Facilities
Mecha Launch Tubes
Mecha Laboratories
Assembly facilities
Construction Facilities
Gardens
Hibernation Pods Cluster
Food Processor
Kitchens
Restaurants

Dogfights and Space Combat

These rules apply to combat in spaceships and other airborne vehicles.

Planetary Airborne Combat and Space Combat

The difference between Planetary Airborne and Space combat is the presence of an atmosphere and gravitational field. When a planetary gravitational field is applied to a vehicle, the rules for Falling apply, and depending on a vehicle, in order to stay airborne, it might have to maintain a Momentum or Hover. When the speed of a craft is reduced to 0 within a gravitational field, it begins to fall.

Gravity

This Force determines the amount of damage that a craft takes upon falling. Follow the falling rules from the PHB. On a low gravity celestial body the craft takes half damage and can attempt to land. In high gravity, the craft takes double the damage.

Underwater Combat

Works just the same as Space Combat. But this time you can ignore Gravity, Inertia and Momentum.

Maneuvers

To avoid the complication of a grid like approach, that would not work on a 3d Environment, the movements are substituted by Maneuvers. To complete a Maneuver, roll a Dexterity check against the specified DC in the Table below. On a success gain the benefits of the maneuver. On a critical fail (natural 1) the craft has disadvantage on the next maneuver roll.

Types of Maneuver

Maneuvers are performed by the Flight Control officers and their Flight Operators crew from the bridge of a Craft. In a small craft such as certain types of Fighters, the Flight Operator is also in charge of the weaponry. When this crew is active, and the bridge is functioning, the ship can perform the maneuvers below. When the bridge is damaged or the crew is dead, the craft’s speed is reduced to 0, and either drift helpless into space, or falls when within the gravitational field of a larger object such as a planet, a moon, or a large asteroid.

Below are basic maneuvers not used in combat.

Hover: Allows a craft to stay airborne even when the speed is reduced to 0.
Forward Momentum: minimum speed to stay airborne within a gravitational field.
Inertia: This apply only in space movement. Once a character or vehicle begins to move in one direction, it keeps doing so, until a Reverse or a Hover bonus action is taken.
Orbit can be done around objects that exert a considerable gravitational force over the craft. Tractor Beams don’t count to this end.
Landing can be done on planets, Asteroids, or Ports.
Takeoff can be done from planets, Asteroids or Ports. Can be aided by Tractor beams, Gravitic technology and Landing Procedures.
Emergency Landing can be attempted when a craft is out of control or the Engine is damaged or its speed is reduced to 0. First, control of the ship must be taken through the Losing Control rules below (Roll a DC 10 Dex Saving Throw).
Docking It’s a Landing operation in Space. Requires dexterity and training in Space Piloting.
Offensive and Defensive. These maneuvers are described in the section below.

Maneuverability

When a Craft is maneuvering around a Larger one, or one with less maneuverability, they have advantage on all Maneuver Roll, and vice versa.

	Low Maneuverability	Average Maneuverability	High Maneuverability
Low Maneuverability	-	Disadvantage	Disadvantage
Average Maneuverability	Advantage	-	Disadvantage
High Maneuverability	Advantage	Advantage	-

Outmaneuvering

Outmaneuvering happens when a Craft gains tactical advantage on another. See the table below for the Maneuver rolls. When a defender outmaneuvers the attacker, he becomes the attacker.

Dogfight Maneuver Rolltable

These rules describe movement on and off gravitational fields.

Some of these maneuvers, if failed, can cause the pilot to lose control. Follow the table below for more details.

Attacking Maneuver	DC (Dex)	Properties
Lag Pursuit	10	Become the attacker and keep the Craft steady on the defender’s trail. Gain tactical advantage.
Lead Pursuit	15	Lean the craft to aim ahead of the defender. Gain advantage roll on your cannons and rays
Pure Pursuit	18	The craft tails their opponent with high precision. Gain advantage on next attack roll. Lock On is triggered. You can now use your missile ammo.
Defensive Maneuver	DC	Properties
Defensive Spiral	10	Within Gravitational fields only. You dive trying to lose your tail, using gravity to your advantage. On a failed roll, you must succeed a DC 10 Dex Saving Throw or lose control of your craft. In order to stay on your trail, the attacker must also succeed a DC10 Saving throw or lose control. Otherwise the Attacker can forfeit the pursuit attempt.
Low flight	18	Pilot dangerously using the environment to your advantage. Use caves, mountains, asteroids, city buildings, etc. On a fail succeed on a DC 10 Dex Saving Throw or lose control of the craft.
Scissors	15	Keep your craft out of phase from the attacker going into a forward spiral. If successful, a Ramming action can be taken
J-Turn	18	Only applicable to High Maneuverability vehicles. Perform a controlled Tail Spin 180. Now you are facing the attacker and you can shoot with your cannons. On your next turn, you can attempt pursuit.
Evasive maneuvers	13	The attacker has disadvantage in his next Pursuing Maneuver roll.

Losing Control

When a pilot loses control of his craft, they have little time to regain it. Roll a DC 10 Dexterity ST. on a fail you lose control of the craft and either begin to fall towards the center of the Gravitational Field (a planet, space station, large asteroid) or drift in space out of control, losing all tactical advantage. On your turn you can roll the saving throw again until you regain control of the craft, or until the ship crashes, or is stopped from moving from outside forces (such as Tractor Beams and Repair Ships).

Attacks and Actions

A craft can take as many action as it is possible each turn. For example it can shoot with its cannon while recharging its laser beams and waiting to Power up its Antimatter Cannon.

Fire! This is the regular attack. Utilizes your weapons of choice. Some can be used only through the use of a maneuver roll.

Recharge Roll a d6 and compare it to the Recharge DC of the weapon. If the Recharge succeeds the weapon can fire again.
Cooling Wait N turns to use the weapon again.
Power Up Wait longer to fire, in order to magnify the damage of certain weaponry.
Docking Can be executed upon a willing vessel, or a drifting out of control craft. A craft can only dock upon a same size or larger craft.
Ramming. Can be executed on a Surprise turn, after a successful J-Turn, Scissor or Pure Pursuit. It can be also performed against an out of control vehicle, or a larger and slower vehicle.
Ready - The Crew gets ready for a counter maneuver. Counter the next enemy maneuver with a Contest (dex) instead of the Maneuver DC

Crew

Depending on the crew size, and ship type, one person may cover one or more of the roles shown below

Crew Composition

Commanding Officers

General
Admiral
Commander
Captain
Science
Flight Control
Security
Tactical
Operations
Engineering
Medical & Counseling
Linguist
Intelligence
Diplomatic
Civilian VIP (Ambassador, Emperor, King/Queen and other relevant political individuals)
Master Chef

Crew Members

Flight Operator
Security Officer
Tactical Advisor
Worker
Mechanic
Nurse
Agent
Soldier
Chef
Bodyguard Private
Sanitation
Civilians/Passengers

Crew Proficiency

Some crews are more trained than others. Follow the table below for proficiency and general prices of a crew.

Crew	Proficiency Bonus	Commanding Officer Cost/Week	Crew Member Cost/Week	Characteristics
Shabby	0	1 C	50 U	They will fly the ship, but don’t expect them to be organized.
Interlopers	+1	10 C	1 C	Organized, but don’t take responsibilities
Trained	+2	40 C	10 C	Professional Pilots and Mercenaries
Veteran	+3	80 C	40 C	Expert in Space Travel and Experienced in Combat
Disciplined	+4	150 C	80 C	Usually coming from the Army and highly disciplined organizations. They will obey orders to the death. You can count on them.

Controlling the crew

Having a crew in battle is vital in order to complete many actions in the same turn. Consider the ship as one character who can perform as many action as it is possible with their weapon and movement capabilities at the same time. Don’t consider the crew individually unless they are docking and pillaging another ship. Follow the Heroes, in order to keep the fight cinematic and keep things simple. Avoid having a space battle, unless the heroes specifically control any of the ships involved.

Having command officers gives advantage on initiative rolls and a trained crew is vital in order to call all men at their station before the battle begins. A surprised craft will take one turn to get their crew to their posts.

During a Dogfight, follow the maneuver rules and ignore the crew members. Once the battle is over, or when it becomes relevant (during a docking or ramming, or when the fight moves into one ship or the other), assess how much of the crew was lost during the fight. Look which parts of the Ship were damaged/destroyed, consider that part of the crew dead.

If a character was established in the damaged part of the ship, roll a Dexterity Saving throw. On a fail they take damage as well and are ejected into space; if they succeed they take half damage but they are safely within the ship. They are then moved to Sick Bay for those craft that have one.

Repairing the Ship

A damaged ship is not lost. The Chief Engineer and his crew of mechanics can attempt to repair the ship once the battle is over. The craft can expend a short rest (24 hours) to recover half of its HP, and the damaged parts are now functioning. During a Long Rest (48 hours) the ship recovers all HP and all parts are functioning.
The amount of time needed for a repair can be determined at the discretion of the GM. All of these rules are just a guideline.

Characters in Space

Space Suit

A space Suit is a piece of equipment that every Space Vehicle has. The number depends on the vehicle Type. When completely charged, a suit has a Power and Oxygen independence of 1 hour. This may vary upon GM discretion.

Vehicle type	Average Number of Space Suits
Small Vehicle	4 - 10
Large vehicle	30 - 100
Mother ship	200 - 1000

EVA (Extravehicular Activity)

In order to begin an EVA, - or Space Walk - a Character must be wearing a working Space Suit. He must also go through a Compression Chamber where he must remain for 1 turn before access the outside of the Vehicle or Space Station.

A character in space is subjected to Inertia, and not subjected to falling, unless a gravitational field is applied to them.

Death In Space

The space suit exhaust the Energy cell, or the Oxygen finishes, the ship depressurize and jettison you into space. You float helplessly. A choking darkness surrounds you.

When a character is in outer space without protection follow the tab below.

Turns n	Effect
1	Take 1d8 Cold Damage + 1d10 Force Damage
2	Take 1d8 Cold Damage + 2d10 Force Damage
3	Falls Unconscious. (Begin Death saving throws.)
4	From this turn on, the character has Permanent Injury even in case of recompression
15	Death (even if the character managed to stabilize succeeding 3 death saving throws, if exposed to the vacuum for this long dies automatically.)

If a character exposed to the Space environment is not recompressed within 90 seconds he dies. Also, the character must be recompressed even if exposed to the vacuum for just 1 turn. Ships and Space stations are provided with Compression Chambers where this can be done.

Weapons and Upgrades

Vehicles and Crafts can be upgraded substituting or adding the elements from the tab below. The cost below only refers to the cost of the upgrade. If the characters decide to have a Mechanic install the upgrade, the fee for their labor is not included.

Upgrade	Properties	Installation Time	Cost Credit
Weapons
Cannon	Projectile, Repetitive (6/second), 1d4+5 Piercing Damage,	10 Hours	100
Phaser Beam	Plasma, High Precision, 1d8+5 Radiant Damage	24 Hours	600
Pulse Cannon	Plasma, 1d8 Radiant Damage + 1d10 Burning Damage, Recharge (5)	24 Hours	1,500
Gauss Beam	Dark Matter, Power up (+1d10/turn), 1d10 Radiant Damage+1d12+5 Force Damage, Cooling (2 turns)	48 Hours	8,000
Antimatter Cannon	Antimatter, Power up (+1d12/turn), 1d12 Radiant Damage, +2d10+5 Force damage, Recharge (6)	3 Days	10,000
Torpedo	Missile, Lock on, 6d10 Fire Damage, Consumable.	20 Minutes	9,000
Nuclear Warhead	Missile, Lock on, 15d12 Fire Damage, 10d10 Force damage, Consumable.	3 Hours	20,000
Turret	Projectile, Repetitive (6/second), 1d4+5 Piercing Damage,360∘ Angle	24 Hours	300
Engine
Pulse	Short Extraplanetary Travel	3 Weeks	10,000
Gauss	Long Extraplanetary Travel (star system)	1 Month	5.5 Mil
Antimatter	Interstellar Travel	2 Months	1 Bil
Warp	Instantaneous interstellar travel.	6 Months	10 Bil
Tech
Thrusters	Hover, Landing Procedures(+6 to Landing and Emergency Landing Rolls), Takeoff (automatic success)	48 Hours	150
Gravitic Rings	Ignore Falling and Crashing even when a gravitic field is applied to the craft. Makes the craft extremely smooth and quiet during landing and takeoff procedures.	30 Days	1,000
Mining Beam	Allows to mine materials from asteroids and planets.	5 Hours	30
Tractor Beam	Applies a gravitic field in cone area 30 ft long, 20 ft wide ray area from the ship.	48 Hours	450
Shields	Adds 50 Temporary hitpoints per upgrade. Can be stack to a maximum of 3 upgrades. The shield Temporary Hitpoints may not exceed the total HP of the craft.	24 Hours	100
Stealth Camo	Provides Invisibility	8 Days	3000
Space Suit	Provides protection from the vacuum of Space. See rules on Space Suit	10 Minutes	1,200
Holo Projector	Creates illusion	3 Hours	50
Gyroscopic rig	Mount your cannons on this rig to gain a 360 angle of attack. This rig allows the defender to shoot a pursuing craft	2 Hours	250
Ram	Allows the ship to ram into another craft and allows the crew to access the other ship for a raid operation.	8 Hours	100
Cooling System	Allows the cooling of weaponry that necessitates it.	48 Hours	60
Solar Sails	Can be used even when the engine is incapacitated to achieve speed (maximum of 150,000 mph). This technology can only be used within a solar system (proximity to the sun)	4 Days	900
Plasma Coils	Generate Plasma and supplies a steady amount to a Pulse Engine.	2 Days	800
Dark Matter Extractor	Filter and channels antimatter into an Antimatter Cell. Provides stability and independence to a Dark Matter Engine.	5 Days	500,000
Antimatter Synthesizer	Synthesize Antimatter	1 Week	1 Mil
Energy Cells
Plasma Cell	Powers Pulse Engine (30 - 90 days), Phaser Beam (500 Charges) and Pulse Cannon (1000 Shots)	10 Minutes	90
Dark Matter Cell	Powers Gauss Engine (1 Light year), and Gauss Beam (500 Charges)	20 Minutes	10,000
Antimatter Cell	Powers Antimatter Engine (10,000 Light years), and Antimatter Cannon (100 Shots)	30 Minutes	650,000
Anti Mass Containment Cell	Powers Warp Engine, Upon Warp Drive Trigger stabilizes the appropriate amount of Antimass, and supplies the energy to tear through space and time for a jump, Recharge after 3 Days	1 Week	2.5 Bil

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Mar 19, 2017

Homebrew 5e Space Combat