Description[]
Light and maneuverable, the Falcon is a useful smuggling ship. Lightly armed with a single light ballista, its weaponry nonetheless has a good field of fire, and is intended for defense and to discourage pursuit. The ship is roughly 40' long and 20' wide, not including the wings. A small bridge is found in the bird-like head. The crew quarters and mess hall are located in the aft section of the ship, while the cargo hold is found in-between, in the ship's body. The wings are a wooden frame covered in canvas, and usually have little to no interior space (although some smugglers have secret cargo holds built into the wings for smuggling very small goods). A gangplank is lowered from the cargo hold to provide access to the ship when it has landed.
Crew[]
Most Falcons operate with a simple three-man crew, which is enough to operate the ship and man the weaponry. The captain will usually be a fighter or thief, and will serve double duty as the weaponeer or sails master. Such a ship usually has only a single spellcaster to serve as the helmsman, with no backup. While a larger crew would usually be safer, the crews of Falcons have usually worked together for a long time, and prefer not to hire additional hands unless combat is expected. This means that each of them has a larger share of the profits.
Ship Uses[]
Trader: The majority of Falcons are used as light trade vessels, carrying light, high-value goods swiftly over fairly short distances. The small size and maneuverability of the Falcon allow it to evade most pirates and other threats, while the low operating costs somewhat make up for the small cargo capacity.
Smuggler: While most Falcons are used for legal pursuits, a handful of smugglers have been very successful with these small craft. Their success has actually been so great that the Falcon has earned the reputation of being a smuggling ship, with the result that port authorities often give a great deal of scrutiny to these ships and their crews.
Other Configurations[]
Raider: A number of pirates have found the Falcon to be an effective raider when used with skill. These pirates usually modify their ships by topping them out, and thickening their hulls. This increases MC to A, AR to 7, and HP to 5, but reduces cargo capacity to 2 tons, and increases minimum crew size to 3. Raider Falcons usually operate with a crew of about a dozen experienced reavers, who will swoop in and attempt to board any fat merchantman they come across, but who will give any military vessels a wide berth. The infamous pirate Mourngaunt sailed an Octopus, however the pair of Falcon Raiders that his Octopus carried were the reason for his success, since the light craft were able to get close to prizes through a combination of stealth and subterfuge again and again.