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In light of the announcement of this new and epic pirate Adventure Path I decided to check out the Guide to Freeport. A campaign setting that takes place in the pirate city Freeport. It looks like a very cool setting but what really caught my eye was the companion guide that was pathfinder compatible.
It was full a few new base classes and pirate themed feats. Upon looking through the classes though, I noticed that they were kinda underpowered compared to the regular base classes. Even with the pathfinder update.
So has anyone checked out this guide and played the classes; if so how do they compare to the regular core classes? I understand that the classes in the book are probably suppose to be played together (for balancing) without a lot of mixing from the core classes but the fact that they have NPC's in the back of the book with full Pathfinder base classes makes me think otherwise.
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Yes, Freeport classes are bad in general Pathfinder context. However, when put in their native environment, things change for the better quite a bit.
Let me highlight a few aspects unique to Green Ronin setting:
- everyone can use a gun.
- potent magic users are rare.
- heavy armors are bad news (for their lowners).
- knowing right folks, being able to call in favors or having a squad of thugs often trump individual and personal strength.
Neat, I hadn't realized the use of guns for all classes. I'm trying to figure out ways to beef the classes up just a little to make them more viable for Pathfinder. It would be interesting to play characters designed for a pirate campaign.
I've got that book. I think you could do quite well.
Have you considered going as-is? The stock characters provided in APs are not heavily optimized, so a well-built and well-played Noble or Survivor should be able to keep up.
You can also modify with better ability scores, more loot, or more players.
Given the number of threads I've seen starting "PCs are too powerful, how can I adjust?", you might want to make sure you have a problem before you fix it.
I do like this book's Firearms rules better than those in UC, things feel more authentic.
Agreed on that. The UC gun rules are deliberately watered down to fit the Gunslinger - the Freeport guns are way better for a pirate "gun every once in a while" kind of feel (as opposed to "multiple shots a round, because this is the Wild West").