Making Tools Useful in 5e: Vehicles
It’s finally happened! I’ve finally remembered to finish the last official tool created by WotC! I did it! Cue the fireworks and pop the champagne! Though, before we get too celebratory, I suppose I should present to you my tool and talk about it. Then the fireworks.
Before we begin, this tool is a bit of a challenge because it isn’t actually tool. It doesn’t allow you to create something, which makes it a bit hard to figure out what to do with. I decided to simply provide some information on how to use this proficiency and then provide a few example situations for the DM to get an idea off of. Sadly, no one is making a boat with this tool or trying to craft a railroad with their proficiency, it’s just not how this proficiency works.
For those that don’t care about the how of my tool:
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Vehicles
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
Well, well, well, you big floating eyeball that is supposed to be funny in the margins of the book but ends up just being annoying. Let’s see what you have to say about this proficiency! On page 82 of Xanather’s Guide to Everything, it has this to say about vehicles:
Land and Water Vehicles
Proficiency with land vehicles covers a wide range of options, from chariots and howdahs to wagons and carts. Proficiency with water vehicles covers anything that navigates waterways. Proficiency with vehicles grants the knowledge needed to handle vehicles of that type, along with knowledge of how to repair and maintain them.
In addition, a character proficient with water vehicles is knowledgeable about anything a professional sailor would be familiar with, such as information about the sea and islands, tying knots, and assessing weather and sea conditions.
Arcana. When you study a magic vehicle, this tool proficiency aids you in uncovering lore or determining how the vehicle operates.
Investigation, Perception. When you inspect a vehicle for clues or hidden information, your proficiency aids you in noticing things that others might miss.
Vehicle Handling. When piloting a vehicle, you can apply your proficiency bonus to the vehicle’s AC and saving throws.
Alright, I’ll be the bigger beholder here, uh, I mean, man. This isn’t the worst tool in Xanathar’s and in fact, it is probably their better version of it. Of course, it heavily favors water vehicles making them OP (please nerf). Carriage drivers are just as likely to know about tying knots, seeing as how they have to secure cargo, tie up the horses, and more. Well, maybe not just as likely, but you get my point. It’s mean to land vehicles, and I won’t stand for it.
Anyway, getting back to the point of this. It’s actually fine and fairly useful. I like that you can add your proficiency bonus to the Vehicle’s AC and saving throws, as that is a great boon for whoever has this proficiency.
But before we get too carried away with the floating orb and his goldfish, let’s look at what they miss. This is going to bring to my proficiency in Vehicles.
Vehicles
I start this off with the basics about what vehicles are and what is covered when it comes to them. I also include the missing vehicle that they refuse to mention, and that’s airships. Yes, I know not every campaign has airships because the technology isn’t there, but I’d like to point out that plate armor and rapiers exist in a world where people think studded leather is actually a thing, so I think I win.
Just because not every campaign will feature airships doesn’t mean we can’t at least be inclusive and throw them a bone. They are often mistreated, plus an official WotC setting has airships in it… its Eberron… and Forgotten Realms… and probably Greyhawk, seeing as how it had a UFO on some sort of mountain… spoilers. So, there is no reason why airships were forgotten except that Xanathar hates the idea that people can fly.
Back to the tool.
I start out by clarifying that the majority of the time, a creature who is proficient with the vehicle they are controlling does not require an action to do so. Also, I totally stole WotC’s idea of adding a proficiency bonus to AC and Saving Throws, AND I include ability checks because some spells require checks and not just saving throws - and who knows what else a ship may have to roll. I’m just being thorough and inclusive to the unloved ability check. Of course, this doesn’t go to their attack roll because attack rolls are determined by your proficiency bonus anyway.
I then offer a few miscellaneous ideas as to what else you can use this proficiency for, trying to squeeze every drop of use out of this proficiency as I can.
And then we get into the real information that WotC didn’t provide in their book.
Dangerous Situations
OK, that's not 100% true as they have a DC 10 activity of “Navigate Rough Terrain or Waters,” which is. Well, not that helpful when it comes to figuring out things. Instead, I provide three different charts basically going over the same thing for each type of vehicle. The charts first show off the basic DCs of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, & 30, which represent the difficulty levels of Very Easy, Easy, Moderate, Hard, Very Hard, & Nearly Impossible, respectively.
Along with each of those DCs, I offer a brief example as to what activity might be required at each DC. I’m going to be honest: the hardest one for me to think of for each one is a DC 5 check because… those checks just kind of feel a bit pointless, seeing as how the risk of failure is so low to begin with. Those feel more like flavor activity than actual game mechanics, but for some odd reason, I feel like I remember there being a DC 5 trap or ability check in one of the official adventures. Sadly, I can’t remember which one it might’ve been for me to reference.
After those three reference charts, we then jump over to taking damage and what type of damage a DM can expect to throw at a vehicle and watch as it falls apart. This chart is somewhat lifted from the UA - Of Ships and Seas and the adventure book Ghosts of Saltmarsh, though I add in additional information to help a DM out which is Threat Severity and Typical Hit Points of an Object.
This information is simply to help out when it comes to our next portion of the proficiency…
DANGER!
Three dangerous situations for a DM to use and to gain inspiration for what could happen on a boat and make the one character with proficiency in vehicles feel useful. Everyone talks a big talk about being able to steer the boat, but only one person has the proficiency for it. And once everything starts going to shit, everyone will be pointing at the single dude with proficiency and demanding what’s wrong. It’s not easy being useful.
After the dangerous situations, we move on to the last part of this proficiency.
Example Stat Blocks
Just three stat blocks to add to the other stat blocks put out by WotC in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and Unearthed Arcana - Of Ships and Seas. My three little stat blocks are a cart, a hot air balloon, and the hulk (no, not the angry one). Our patrons might recognize two of those as I recently did several vehicle stat blocks for our Monster Thursday (every other week, I release a Monster-Manual-esque monster section with 5 to 7 stat blocks and full lore, if you want an example of one of these. Check out our Patreon).
And that’s the end of this proficiency and the end of the official tools put out by WotC! I have a few more tools I’ve been thinking up, and I’m going back through all of the older tools and updating them, adding new variant rules, new recipes, and more!
If you want a printer-friendly PDF of this tool or any other tool, consider supporting us at the $1 tier on our Patreon! All tools that I’ve created or will create in the future will be uploaded to our Patreon in printer-friendly versions. We appreciate any and all support!
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