Proficiency: Naval Combat
As opposed to Navel Combat, or the art of fighting with your belly button.
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Why am I making a new proficiency instead of something more crunchy and design-intensive, like a new monster/item/spell/subclass/anything else?
Because I want to!
Sorry, that’s the lame bratty answer.
Compared to previous editions, the 5e skill list feels kinda milquetoast and oversimplified. And I’m saying this as a player/DM who loves - and started with - D&D 5e. What do I mean? Every possible physical thing is lumped under Athletics. Or every piece of magical knowledge is lumped under Arcana. Or all art forms fall under Performance. I feel like it’s way too easy to be super good at all the skills you’ll actually use in a campaign. From what I’ve gathered - from real, online, and imaginary people - I’m not alone here. The most stalwart fighter should have that one task that’s a bit of an Achilles heel. Maybe a literal Achilles heel! Your 20 INT Wizard might know everything about the Lower Planes, but their artifact lore ain’t shit compared to the 20 INT Artificer - and vice versa. And I know it’s kind of the bard’s thing to be good at everything, but they shouldn’t be good at LITERALLY EVERYTHING.
I think with the current generalized skill list, there’s something of a dissonance between the way characters are built and the ways we want to play them. We want our characters to have hobbies, weird quirks. I think these options should be supported through mechanics, not just Fun Little Things you do for table banter while the DM’s reviewing their notes for the next scene. As the skill list works now, you can’t have that Barbarian that enjoys Bob Ross-style painting. Or the Sorcerer who’s weirdly good at arm-wrestling. Or a Fighter whose gardening could help procure magic herbs and veggies for potions or whatever. Or maybe you don’t want those things, or you think they aren’t necessary! That’s fine! You’re allowed to have that problem opinion. Point is, we can’t have those types of characters without wasting a skill slot or ASI. If you want to make any of those characters in the current Skills framework, you need to sacrifice something from The Optimal Build, or else your character will suck at the thing that makes them unique and that’s just sad.
TL;DR: I think more skill options - even just using the current skills as categories, and branching those out - would help bridge the gap between aesthetics and mechanics. More skill options + more proficiency slots. Please.
/endrant, here’s the actual thing.
(If you read all this, thank you for indulging my rantings and ravings. I hope I made at least a little sense.)
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Naval Combat
INT/WIS, depending on background; DM’s discretion
(This is just based on my personal definitions of each Ability. To me, Intelligence skills come from book-learnin’ - while many Wisdom skills CAN be learned in an academic setting, they can really only be honed through practice and life experience.)
Knowledge of the tactics and rules of engagement of naval warfare.
Possible Uses:
Guessing the pirates’ next move
Analyzing the best way to take down a sea monster
Knowing the proper definition and pronunciation of “parlay”
Recommended Races/Classes/Backgrounds
Whether you want to swap these out for other proficiencies, or tack this on as an extra ribbon proficiency – that’s up to you! I don’t know, I’m not your dad!
Races
Sea Elf
Water Genasi
Merfolk
Minotaur
Siren
Tortle
Triton
Warforged (might seem like a weird choice, but warforged are canonically built for just about any function)
Classes
Battle Smith Artificer
Storm Herald Barbarian
Swords Bard
Valor Bard
Tempest Cleric
War Cleric
Battle Master Fighter
Samurai Fighter
Conquest Paladin
Swashbuckler Rogue
Sea Sorcerer
Storm Sorcerer
Fathomless Warlock
War Wizard
Backgrounds
Marine
Mercenary Veteran
Noble
Sailor/Pirate
Shipwright
Smuggler
Soldier
I know there are a bunch of maritime-focused Backgrounds I didn’t include in this list, but I don’t feel like some of them would have been exposed to enough naval combat to know all the ins and outs. Mostly talking about fishers, harborfolk, merchants, etc.
That being said, maybe you see a couple of my other choices as a stretch.
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯












