Crusty's Skull and Shackles Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Crustypeanut

I agree, D&D is far more progressive in these matters than real life. However, when I ran S&S with my real life group, basically half the crew were women - my players felt annoyed about that, as it just seems odd on a pirate ship. A military or merchant vessel makes more sense, as they're less scum-of-the-seas. Pirates are also very superstitious.. so even though its definitely not true that women on board would actually bad luck, they might still believe it. Same goes for Tengu being good luck, for example.

Its the same idea as Skull and Shackles being played without firearms - firearms and pirates just go hand in hand. Women making up nearly half the crew of a pirate ship does not.

In the end, it'll be more of a story thing than a gameplay thing, nor will it be a major part of the story. In no way am I against women or anything, I just feel that it is off by having so many on board. I'm leaving the major female NPCs intact, anyways, so that won't be changed.

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No problem about the flip flop Redbeard! You should've seen the character ideas I went through with Lucent's Ascension Campaign. I went from 3-4 types of Fighters, to an Oracle, to a Cleric, back to an oracle, and finally back to a Cleric. XD

In my Skulls game, the GM played the women crew as vicious and strong as the male sailors, so we (the players) weren't annoyed.

Oh I did too. But my players just thought that there were too many.. especially since the vast majority of the women on board hated my players. XD Seriously, almost every woman was against my players, for no reason beyond bad rolls. It was kind of funny..

Anyways.. I've already made the changes to the crew, but there are still enough women on board (its more like 1/5th of the crew, instead of 1/2) that they'll still have a presence.

I am currently leaning toward playing a Huntmaster. I will probably be the more "Good" member of the party, though I may take some steps to rectify that and fit in better with the party as a whole.

I was leaning toward being an Aasimar (idylking) Scion of humanity that would be mostly of Caldaru blood from the city of Senghor. However, if it would work better for the party, I might consider going tiefling as a Rakshasa-Spawn if that would fit better with the party theme of tieflings that seems to be developing... though honestly, if an aasimar wouldn't be subject to instant prejudice (especially scion of humanity) that would work much better for the idea that is developing in my head.

I could also switch up my idea completely if we really need a spellcaster (especially considering I brought a bunch of them to Marcellano's attention, but I kind of like the idea of a huntmaster. An old wet dog, a falcon or two, smelling of salt and fish with a hunger for adventure.

Aasimar won't be treated any differently than other races - if theres one thing the Shackles Pirates are known for, its their lack of racism. Hobgoblins, Orcs, Tengu, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halfings, Goblins, Tieflings, Aasimar, etc etc.. they can all be found aboard pirate ships. At most, you might get a derogatory 'nickname' based off your race.

So you can be an Aasimar or Tiefling as you see fit - a Tiefling would fit in line more with the other Tiefling(s) of course, but its not required of you by any means.

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So far, our group is certainly lacking an arcane caster. But again, you do have two full casters already, even if they are both divine. A Huntsmaster could work for sure.

Redbeard here is a Musetouched aasimar.

I may end up having him multiclass into a sea-singer bard in the following levels.

He'll also be the "good" pirate, changed his AL to CG!

To be fair, the party only has a cleric, a rogue, and an Oracle. I know Tavaluc was considering a brawler as well. The gate is kind of wide open for a whole number of types.

As far as traits:

Seafarer: You’re familiar with treacherous coastlines, currents, and tides and can use that knowledge anywhere.

Benefit: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (nature) and Knowledge (geography) checks while on the ocean. You also gain a +1 trait bonus on Swim checks, and Swim is always a class skill for you

S&S trait - I think Buccaneer's Blood
One of your ancestors was an infamous Free Captain of the Shackles, whose very name struck fear in the hearts of those who sailed the seas in search of an honest living. Piracy is in your blood, and you've always longed to follow in your forebear's footsteps and plunder the shipping lanes.

You went to a tavern called the Formidably Maid, a notorious pirate hangout in Port Peril, eager to start your career as a buccaneer. While you were there, however, a dashing and flirtatious corsair caught your eye, and after a whirlwind night of booze and romance, you found yourself beaten senseless and stuffed in a sack, carried off to who knows where.

Benefit You gain a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate and Profession (sailor) checks. In addition, you gain a one-time +1 trait bonus to your Disrepute and Infamy scores (see “The Life of a Pirate” in Pathfinder Adventure Path #55 for details on the Infamy system)

Alrighty guys, the concensus is 'for' Hero Points, so we will be using them. You may instead choose to be an 'antihero' and forgo Hero Points and instead gain a bonus feat, if you so wish. I'll update the campaign tab.

Crunch is almost finished

Ditto. I think I got 'er squared away.

@Red Beard

I was looking at your crunch. I don't think that the Adopted trait can give you a racial trait, like Heart of the Sea. I think it gives you a race trait, like Adrift.

Otherwise, it would too powerful, and I would take Additional Traits to take Heart of the Sea, too!

cheers

Thats exactly right Korbo - I hadn't looked through everyone's crunch yet, as I was waiting for everyone to 'lock in' their characters. Glad you caught that, though.

Hmm... I'll either play the vanara monk(master of many styles)/fighter(unarmed fighter) that I was playing around with in my head, or a arcane caster. Is there still a desire of a arcane character? I'll check back tonight after work and finalize then.

Yeah we currently don't have an arcane caster. Two Divine Casters and one Skill monkey/face so far.

Just a quick comment/question for you two, Korbo and Caerlei. Are you sure you two don't want to put ranks in Swim? Korbo, you currently have a -1 (+1 without armor)(Although that would be a +0 and +2 if you include your campaign trait into the mix), and Caer currently has a +0 (+2 without armor). This campaign features enough swimming where you can easily, and I mean easily be shafted without the ability to swim. While yes, you can take a 10 untrained (Although Korbo would not be able to, as he wouldn't be able to swim in even calm water with his gear on), in combat, not having a bonus, or a good bonus, will hurt. Its actually one of the primary reasons I disallowed races with a swim speed - I want you guys to take thought into skills you won't normally use. Swim is one of those.

Also, Caer, without one rank in Profession(Sailor), you're susceptible to Sea Sickness. Not a major problem necessarily, but its there and it might mess you up, especially without a fortitude bonus. Both you and Korbo are also lacking in Climb ranks, and although thats not as important as Swim, it will have its uses too.

Just a bit of warning to you guys, thats all. I want to make sure you guys are well aware of some of the unusual bits seen in this campaign, and I don't want to see a character drown because he can't swim! :P This campaign is surprisingly skill oriented, where certain skills might mean the death of you, unless you have magical aid to make up for it.

One more thing - you two part-humans, pick a ethnicitiy for your human-half. Depending on your ethnicity, you may get a bonus language. If you're not sure what language you may get due to your human-heritage, just ask. Though if you pick one of the more 'generic' human ethnicities of Taldan or Chelish, don't worry about it, as the Common tongue is actually their primary language.

Korbo, I see you chose to pick an Anti-Hero Feat for your character. Have you simply not picked the two bonus traits you wanted from the Additional Traits feat? Just wish to clarify this, though I'm betting that is the case.

Caer - I like how you carry your own set of manacles. Very in-character, and creepy of you. :P

Redbeard - Don't forget about the whole Adopted issue Korbo mentioned earlier.

OK. Fixed. Ready for final review.

Almost perfect. I only see two problems, and they're both minor:

Your AC is right, but the bonuses you added up to get your AC are wrong. You have +4 Armor, +3 Dex, +1 Dodge. Since you replaced your Chain Shirt with Wooden Armor and a Buckler, it should read +3 Armor, +1 Shield, +3 Dex, and +1 Dodge. (Order that it shows it doesn't matter).

Your Will save is +6 - should be +5. +3 from Will, +2 from Base. Unless you have something that adds one more that I'm missing.

Everything else looks good, far as I can tell. Welcome aboard, Tengu!

Fixed. You're on both counts.

Oh guys, just wanted to add something I just remembered. Due to the fact that all Firearms are Martial weapons, if you're proficient with all firearms, you're also proficient with Cannons and other Siege Firearms.

For those unaware or unsure of siege weapon rules, heres a brief overview of how to use them, mainly Cannons, as they're the ones that will be most frequently seen:

• First off, a Cannon requires a crew of 2 to operate properly. Having less than that makes it slower to reload, slower to aim, and less accurate.

• Aiming a siege engine requires a number of full round actions based on its aiming time. Cannons require one full round to aim. Since there are 2 crewmates, one person can spend a full round to aim it, while the other can use his action for something else (Such as firing it). If there is only one person working the cannon, it takes twice that number of full round actions - so two full round actions by the person.

• Siege engines bestow a -2 penalty on attack rolls per size category the user is smaller than the weapon. So, a single medium creature firing the cannon has a -2 penalty on attack rolls. But if he has a second crewmate, which hopefully he should, he lessens that penalty by -2 to 0. Another way to reduce this penalty is to have at least one rank in Profession(Siege Engineer) or Knowledge(Engineering).

• Loading a Cannon requires three full round actions to reload. Since there are two crew, that means on the first round, they each spend a full round action, and on the second round one of them spends a full round action, and the other can fire (if it is aimed). So a cannon working at full capacity can fire every other round. One could argue that you could have a crew of 4 and fire every round, if you have enough crew available. But on most ships, 2 is all you can spare.

• Cannon balls weigh 25 lbs and cost 7gp, 5sp per shot. While it doesn't say how much gunpowder is used per shot, I'm going to take a guess and say 10 doses per shot. Both ammunition and the siege engines themselves can be made Masterwork and enchanted. They have similar rules as Firearms for misfire and explosions. Cannons cost 1500 gp, excluding masterwork and enhancements. People with Gunsmithing can make Cannons and other Siege Firearms at reduced cost.
  

Was working on the campaign and I came across this, so I wanted to make sure its clarified for you guys, and for myself so I can have a place to read it if I need to refresh myself without having to go through the Ultimate Combat book.

Also: Cannons are fun. :3

Hmmm... I've been having trouble picking an arcane casting class. I dislike the way wizards are designed currently. There's not enough flavor or neat abilities for them in the fashion that I like.

That said, I reticent to take a sorcerer, as Caerlei is an Oracle and seems to have Bluff and Intimidate covered. I'm reticent to make a bard (for knowledge skills) because Redbeard mentioned he might be taking the sea singer archetype bard later on. So, I suppose my question is this: What is the party looking for in an arcane caster? Support? Blasting? Knowledge skills?

I want my crunch to fill a useful niche. I can mold the fluff to fit.

So far I've had the ideas of a fetchling shadow bloodline sorcerer, a fetchling shadow caller summoner, a halfling aquatic bloodline sorcerer, and a catfolk bard (specializing in knowledge skills and dervish fighting in melee). I've always wanted to play a staff magus, but I'm reluctant to wield a bludgeoning weapon as a primary weapon for underwater combat. Outside of arcane casters, I've considered a vanara master of many styles monk/unarmed fighter or a vanara musketmaster gunslinger.

Key things that an arcane caster brings:
- See Invisibility
- Fly
- AoE controlling or blasting

@Dark
I agree with your assessment, which is why I've got a cleric. I would run a witch, but I just started a Winter Witch in Reign of Witch. A magus could cover the first two.

An alchemist could work if Crusty allows us to replace the normal fire bombs with either Acid, Frost, or Shock. Those are normal discoveries, and maybe the alchemist would want to discover fire bombs later for ships. I'm playing an alchemist in my home game running Kingmaker. I might be interested in another one.

cheers

I could get excited about a Ratfolk or Tiefling alchemist if we could switch the Fire bomb to Acid, Frost, or Shock. What do you think?

EDIT I'm thinking about a Tiefling alchemist with Eschew Materials.

Hmmm... I've been having trouble picking an arcane casting class. I dislike the way wizards are designed currently. There's not enough flavor or neat abilities for them in the fashion that I like.

While I am very tempted to try and dissuade you of that notion of Wizards, for now I'll just recommend something else that you didn't mention:

The Witch

Witches focus less on raw spellcasting power than Wizards, and have many more Supernatural abilities that can be used repeatidly. I'm more fond of the Wizard, myself, but I've seen the Witch used very effectively by someone who actually thought he was the group's worst player. In fact, he was considered MVP by the rest of the guys just for his support abilities and the fact that he could stop an important enemy dead in his tracks when needed.

They're not as fun as Wizards in my personal opinion, as Wizards can have plenty of flavor if you know how to make them, but Witches are easier for their on-demand, at-will SU abilities, even if their spellcasting is considered lackluster compared to a Wizard. They do, however, not have to worry about getting their spellbook wet - a Familiar being their spellbook allows their spellbook to more easily get out of harms way and hide. A Wizard's familiar (And I'd -highly- recommend a familiar over a bonded item) is generally more adept at being in combat, due to its less important nature.

Plus, Witches fit this campaign's theme better than Wizards, imo.

*Edit*: As for Alchemist Bombs, they don't work at all underwater, from what I'm reading. Thrown weapons do not work underwater, and Bombs, although supernatural, are still thrown weapons. So the issue of them being fire or not is irrelevant, unless you don't want to start a fire on a ship.

Delayed Bombs would work though, as they would act more like depth charges.. you won't able to 'throw' them, but you could drop them from above the water or drop them while underwater and swim away.

So as for an Alchemist, I'd recommend either a Vivisectionist, which sadly means no AoE (not recommended), or I'd highly recommend Grenadier, its a really fun archetype. Underwater combat is not where most of the campaign takes place - its just maybe 1-3 areas per book where, during these parts, your bombs won't work.

Extracts, unless prepared with Undine-created Potion Sponges (Which are reusable - just make sure you have one potion sponge per extract slot), cannot be used underwater either.

Now if you go Staff-Magus, you'll simple be out of luck in the underwater portion with your staff - do take note, though, that Staff Magi can still use other weapons in combination with their Spell Combat. I see nothing that says otherwise. So, you can have a short spear, dagger, or some other melee one handed piercing weapon for use underwater.

Theres also one other class/archetype I'd like to recommend, although this one is weak in the AoE department - the Master Summoner. Being able to summon all sorts of beasties can be amazing. The Summoner gets See Invisibility and Fly, as well. Plus, he and his weaker Eidolon can provide above-water AoE assistance with thrown splash weapons. No one never needs to be without AoE if they carry a few splash weapons :P

Just some food for thought, since you're having a hard time deciding.

I could get excited about a Ratfolk or Tiefling alchemist if we could switch the Fire bomb to Acid, Frost, or Shock. What do you think?

EDIT I'm thinking about a Tiefling alchemist with Eschew Materials.

Eschew Materials only works with spells, not Supernatural Effects like Bombs and Extracts. :(

Alrighty Darkwhisper, because I really want to show you what awesome a Wizard can be besides a simple spellcaster who runs out of batteries in 1-2 battles, I made this guy for you in about an hour, using the rules for this campaign. I broke my own rule of Familiars > Bonded Items, though, but for this its worth it.

He's a Human Conjuration[Teleportation] Specialist Wizard who chooses to be quite adept with a firearm. He uses his spells to assist himself and his allies and generally avoids offensive spells, except on occasion, when AoE may be needed. He's fully capable of surviving on a ship and performing routine sailor duties. He's also very mobile due to his Teleportation specialization. Not to mention, he's very knowledgable about local customs and arcana, can speak over a half dozen languages, and has protected his spellbook by wrapping it in no less than ten waterproof bags, which offers the book ten minutes of protection from water.

He also has spells that allow him to fire his pistol underwater, can repair his pistol, can grant himself the ability to swim, and can even increase the range of his pistol. He still must use move actions to reload, but thats fine for him, as he's not going to be getting a ton of bullets off.

With some minor modifications, he could easily be an amazing candidate for an Eldrich Knight, too. Just remove the weapon proficiency (Which will make him a rather bad shot for his first level) and replace it with something else, then take a single level of either Fighter or Gunslinger, then resume Wizard levels until 7th level, when you can go Eldrich Knight from then on. You only lose two caster levels, but gain d10 HD and full BAB progression and bonus feats. You do lose improvement on your Conjuration abilities though..

@Darkwhisper - If you'd much rather be the vanara character that you seem to be leaning toward, I could be convinced to abandon my idea for a huntmaster and instead adapt to being a Summoner.

That would give the party access to: See Invisibility, Fly, and some AoE spells. The biggest problem with summoners I see is that they only know a very limited number of spells?

I can't find any specifics, but am I right to assume that they do not have spellbooks and cannot learn new spells through scrolls or the like?

Summoners are like Sorcerers and Bards when it comes to learning new spells. They have a set number they know, and although feats and possibly favored class bonuses can increase it, they cannot learn new spells from spellbooks or scrolls.

Darkwhisper, let me know, if I do go summoner i'll either be a deep summoner or a master summoner.

If Lurk takes a summoner, is this the group?

Summoner
Cleric
Oracle metal
Rogue

We don't have a real hammer or anvil, do we?

The Eidolon could work as one to an extent, but aye. But it'd depend on what Dark went.

Reading over everything now. I just got home from work. I'll finalize in a bit.

I haven't settled completely yet. I really, really like the pistol wizard that Crusty presented. Wizards were my mainstay back in 3.5 (although I honestly don't play much), but I've found them lackluster in feel in Pathfinder.

Right now, I'm trying to decide between that build (if you don't mind that I steal it) or a grenadier. Lurk, go for your houndmaster. I want to see that archetype in action. :)

Feel free to steal it and modify it, its why I posted it :P And do know that you're also proficient with siege firearms in that build. You could also go for a blunderbuss or musket/double barreled musket in place of that pistol. Heck you could go with a Hand Cannon or Double Hackbut, if you're feeling particularly nuts. XD

Switched Trickery domain for Weather.

Still searching for a more inspiring build.

I intend to make Caerlei fairly tanky/CMB heavy in the long term. Expect a lot of trips to be flying from her end of the table. I will swap some skills out on the initial product, probably also trade a favored class hitpoint for an extra skill point.

Metal Oracles get some benefits to wearing armor that makes heavy armor more appealing and far less restrictive at later levels.

I think I'll remake Red Beard as an Angel-kin Aasimar Gunslinger(Buccaneer) to serve that hammer and nail role while still maintaining some key campaign skills

if this trait would qualify him as a human for the purpose of class archetypes

Scion of Humanity Some aasimars' heavenly ancestry is extremely distant. An aasimar with this racial trait counts as an outsider (native) and a humanoid (human) for any effect related to race, including feat prerequisites and spells that affect humanoids. She can pass for human without using the Disguise skill. This racial trait replaces the Celestial language and alters the native subtype.

If not, I'll make him a ranger (freebooter)

EDIT: Gotcha

Yup, I'd rule that it would, so go ahead.

@Crusty: Will the grenadier's weapon proficiency be able to give proficiency in all firearms, similar to how it works when you take the feat?

Hm.. I suppose it would only be fair if it did, as Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Firearms) and Martial Weapon Proficiency(Firearms) gives proficiency for them all, without you having to take proficiency in each one, unlike other martial/exotic weapons.

Excellent! I'll be making a grenadier that plans to pick up guns then. Looking between tiefling and ratfolk for the race. I'm leaning towards tiefling, but I don't want to step on Caerlei's toes.

I doubt you'd step on his toes at all by going Tiefling. Its the class where someone might step on another's toes, not the race. :P

Yeah, I certainly don't mind. Lots of tiefling breeds out there.

Alright, I've picked out a Grimspawn as the type of tiefling I'll play. I'm going to start as a grenadier alchemist, take a level of gunslinger at second level and then continue up through alchemist the rest of the way.

Rolls for alternate abilities:

1d100 ⇒ 47
1d100 ⇒ 16
1d100 ⇒ 69

Hmmm... Able to use large weapons without penalty, curse water 3/day, or fog cloud 1/day. I think I'll take the ability to use large weapons due to oversized arms. He's not an attractive person, anyways, so the deformity fits.

I'm picturing him as almost ape-like in posture, with curling ram horns, red eyes with black irises, thick, arms and massive hands, and a long, thin tail. The gun he'd use would be a large-sized pistol (a double pistol when he could obtain one) that basically looks like a hand cannon to others.

Merrily working away at the crunch, but now I need sleep.

Heeeey Fenyx. Lucent is looking for you over on the Reign of Winter thread. Don't forget to post over there :P The last thing I want is you guys to focus on my campaign over Lucent's. That Ruins of Pathfinder: Reign of Winter Campaign is awesome so far, and it would make me very sad if we ended it.

Plus, I wrote an awesome internal monologue about my frozen nutsack you need to read. Marcellano is itching to kill something. Lets get a move on! :P

Darkwhisper, also keep in mind that there is a wizard archetype that specifically focuses on using Guns called the Spellslinger in ultimate combat I believe. It's a suggestion in case you wanted to go gunslinging wizard.

The real problem with that archetype is you have to sacrifice four schools. Its really quite bad, in my opinion. Not only does he lose four schools, but he also loses any specialization abilities like Shift from Teleportation or whatnot, and he loses his arcane bond (so no Mwk Double Barreled Pistol that can spontaneously cast a spell and be upgraded easier) for just the ability to 'attune' your guns to your spells. You also don't get an extra spell slot for your specialization. And you lose cantrips, and sacrifice Scribe Scroll for a battered gun and Gunsmithing.

Overall, its really not worth it. Might be worth it for a simple blaster wizard, but those kinds of wizards aren't that great anyways.

Yes, the spellslinger is too handicapped vs. the benefits.

The magus might work with well guns, because he can add distance to it.

If you don't like the wizzy, you can do the same build with an Arcane sorcerer to get your Arcane Bond.

Anybody got any other ideas to replace my cleric? I'm still looking for inspiration.

cheers

I'll work something up for you Korbo. I love making characters too much.. lol

Also, Darkwhisper, another idea I came up with today on my walk was to grab Focused Shot at level 1. Use your int modifier for damage :P This, in combination with double shots and Deadly Aim once you get it at level 3, will allow you to do 2d8+12 damage per round (if you have rapid reload and can reload as a free action) with that pistol for only a standard action. Grab Gunslinger at level 2, so you can get free up all three of those feats at level 1. At level 1, take Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Focused Shot. You won't be proficient in that gun of yours until 2nd level, but you should be alright.. just be careful with it and don't fire from a misfired barrel.

Focused Shot doesn't mention firearms, but firearms weren't in the game when they made that, and it makes no sense why you couldn't use a firearm with it.

If you do go this route, you'll gain swim and climb as class skills - so you could take something else for a trait than the one that gives you climb as a class skill, and same goes for Heart of the Sea, Or you could keep them and keep the bonuses, up to you. If you don't keep them, you'll be less than great at swimming and climbing at 1st level, which might hinder you. So its up to you on that regard.

Also, Korbo, how against being evil are you? I have a rather.. fiendish.. idea that might be awesome, if you don't mind being NE and being damned to the lower planes automatically at a higher level. The upside is, of course, that you can deal and trade in souls.. kind of fits the piracy theme, but with a much darker twist.

;)

Alright, Korbo, got a new guy made for you, who is designed in the same theme as your old one.. but different.

He's a Tengu Witch Hunter Inquisitor of Besmara with the Black Powder Inquisition. Basically, as there are many witches and hags who've taken sailors and pirates alike to their doom, your guy seeks them out and kills them. Normally I'm not much into using the Rich Parents trait, but.. I'm not disallowing it, as any one of you could be the child of a successful (But now dead) pirate. This Tengu is skillful in the rapier and the pistol, not to mention having no ACP. He's not absolutely amazing at swimming and climbing, but he gets the job done. He's a good sailor, though. He's also good at sensing people's motives and perception, not to mention being quite sneaky for an inquisitor.

He's also quite deadly against spellcasters, mainly Witches. Could easily go with a regular Inquisitor though, if you wished.