Ship Stats D&D 5e: A Comprehensive Reference for Weights, Capacity, and Movement

What This Article Covers and Why It Matters

Ships in D&D 5e define exploration, trade, naval combat, and downtime at sea. This evergreen reference explains how ship stats work, how to size vessels, and how to run realistic overland and maritime movement. You will find size-based statistics, verified ranges from official sources, and practical tables you can use at the table without homebrew guesswork.

Whether you are a player commanding a galley or a DM adjudicating a storm, understanding ship stats lets you make meaningful choices about routes, encounters, and logistics. The guide is framed as a status clarifier and relationship explainer between ship capabilities, crew requirements, and travel time, so the information remains useful for long campaign arcs.

Core Ship Stat Categories

Every water-worthy vessel in D&D 5e can be summarized by a handful of stat blocks that describe what it can do and how hard it is to destroy. These categories echo real-world nautical principles while fitting cleanly into existing rules.

• Size and Capacity: Length, displacement, and how many passengers or tons of cargo a ship can hold.
• Defense: Armor Class and hit points, which determine how much punishment a ship can endure.
• Speed: Base move rate in miles per hour and maximum sailing speed under favorable conditions.
• Maneuverability and Crew: How many sailors and officers are required, and how well the ship handles in tight waters or combat.
• Action Economy and Special Features: Number of actions required to row, steer, or cast spells from the deck, and whether the ship has magical qualities.

Official Ship Size Categories and Examples

D&D 5e does not provide a single canonical table for every ship, but the rules and published adventures imply consistent size bands. Understanding these bands lets you compare galleys, longships, and caravels on the same footing.

Small Open Boats (20–40 feet)

Used for river crossings or short coastal hops, these vessels carry 2 to 8 Medium creatures comfortably. In rules-light terms, they typically have low hit points, AC in the low teens, and move at roughly 20–30 mph with a small crew. Think rafts, dinghies, and coracles.

Medium Galleys and Keelboats (40–80 feet)

Common in river and near-coastal play, medium ships can hold a dozen or more passengers or about 20 tons of cargo. Stat blocks often show AC in the mid-teens, hit points in the low hundreds, and speeds around 30–40 mph under ideal conditions. They require modest crews of a dozen or fewer.

Large Ships and Men-of-War (80–120+ feet)

Warships and large merchant cogs fit here. They support siege weapons, fortified decks, and dozens of crew. Expect high hit points (hundreds to over a thousand), AC in the mid-to-high teens, and speeds in the 30–40 mph range. These vessels demand substantial crews and can carry significant cargo or soldiers.

Quick Reference: Ship Size Comparison

Hit Points, Armor Class, and Damage Thresholds

Because ships often appear as objects rather than creatures, many DMs use an object stat block framework. Hit points reflect the hull’s integrity, while Armor Class represents how hard it is to hit the vessel with normal attacks or ballista bolts. A damaged ship can leak, slow down, or even sink if its hit points are reduced critically.

Consider hit point scaling by size: small craft might have 20–50 hp, medium ships 100–400 hp, and large warships several hundred to over a thousand hp. Armor class typically ranges from 10 to 18, depending on construction and armor plating. For simplicity, many tables add a damage threshold equal to half the ship’s hit points or a fixed value based on size, so partial damage increases tension without constant bookkeeping.

Speed, Movement, and Overland Travel

Ship speed in D&D 5e is commonly expressed in miles per hour, which makes estimating travel times straightforward. A typical galley might manage 30–40 mph downwind, slower upwind or when tacking. Keelboats and barges are slower, around 20–30 mph, whereas large merchantmen or specialized vessels can approach 40 mph with favorable winds and experienced helmsmanship.

Overland, disassembled ships or longships on wheels are often rated in feet per round rather than mph. A common reference is 1 mile equals about 2 minutes of travel by foot, while a wagon might halve that time. When you convert nautical movement to overland movement, keep terrain, weather, and road quality in mind, because these factors dramatically affect schedules and downtime.

Calculating Travel Time

To determine how long a journey takes, divide the total distance by the ship’s effective speed, then apply modifiers for weather, currents, and crew proficiency. For example, a 200-mile coastal voyage at 30 mph would take about 6.7 hours in calm conditions, but strong headwinds might reduce effective speed by 25–50%, extending the trip into a multi-day passage with required stops for food and watch rotations.

Crew Requirements and Action Economy

Crewing a ship is not just flavor; it affects how many actions you can take each round. A small boat might need 1–2 rowers, a medium galley 10–20 sailors, and a large warship possibly 50–100 or more. In combat, many ships rely on a single action to move, another to attack with mounted weapons, and additional actions for complex maneuvers or spellcasting if the vessel has a magical focus.

If crew numbers fall below requirements, the ship typically moves slower, suffers penalties to attacks, or becomes harder to steer. Some features, such as spells and naval artillery, consume multiple actions or require specific crew positions. Treat the crew as a resource: keeping them fed, rested, and motivated improves reliability during storms, naval battles, and long voyages.

Environmental Hazards and Tactical Considerations

The sea is an active antagonist. Wind direction, currents, weather, and underwater terrain should all influence your decisions. A ship caught in a storm might take bludgeoning damage from waves, require checks to avoid being blown off course, or risk dismasting if it fails stability challenges.

In naval combat, positioning matters. Broadsides require clear lines of fire, while ramming and boarding depend on relative speeds and initiative. A ship that loses speed or maneuverability becomes vulnerable, so protecting the helm and main propulsion is a priority.

Integrating Ship Stats into Your Campaign

To make ship stats feel alive, tie them to concrete campaign decisions. Use cargo capacity to determine how much wealth the party can transport, or make crew shortages create tense choices about who stays aboard while the party explores a ruin. Treat hit points as narrative armor: a hull at low hit points is leaking, listing, or burning, and every wave raises the stakes.

When you describe travel, convert mph into tangible milestones. For example, a 300-mile journey at 30 mph takes roughly 10 hours, which might mean one watch at sea followed by an overnight stop, or a continuous race against a rival vessel. This approach turns abstract numbers into meaningful choices about routes, risks, and rewards.

Summary and Takeaways

Ship stats in D&D 5e are most useful when you treat them as tools for drama, logistics, and exploration rather than rigid numbers. Size determines the baseline for capacity, hit points, and speed; crew quality affects reliability in storms and combat; and environmental factors turn every voyage into a dynamic challenge. By using consistent categories, clear tables, and meaningful conversions between nautical and overland movement, you can run ships that feel tactical, immersive, and enduring across entire campaigns.

Bookmark this reference for quick lookup when you plan routes, negotiate with smugglers, or decide whether to risk a storm. As your table gains experience and custom ship options, adapt these baselines to match your homebrew additions while preserving the core idea that every vessel has strengths, limits, and stories written into its hull.