GM Supergreat's Skull & Shackles: Some Kind Of Pun About Fish People

Game Master Newbonomicon

It's time to take the fight to the landlubbers! Skull & Shackles is already an adventure on the high seas, but this time around, our party is rising up from under the seas. Your group of scoundrels and scalawags have decided to rise up and take a ship for yourselves, and damn any surface-dwellers who get in your way. Here's how it will work.

Races: AMPHIBIOUS RACES ONLY! This includes Merfolk, Aquatic Elves, Gillmen, Skinwalkers of the shark variety, and Undines. Undines will be given the Amphibious alternate racial trait for free, and do not have to give up their spell-like ability to get it. If you figure out another race that can be amphibious, let me know, and I'll tell you if it's okay.
Classes: Any Paizo official, plus a FREE variant multiclass, meaning you do not have to sacrifice any feats for it.
Alignment: Evil is welcome! Good, on the other hand, might want to step back for this one.
Starting Level: We will be starting at level 5.
Point Buy: 25 Point Buy. Limited race options is a bit painful on the ability score front, so I think 25 PB is more fair.
Hit Points: Max first level, then average.
Skills: No background skills this time, sorry!
Traits: Don't bother with the campaign traits. Two traits, plus a third trait if you choose to take an appropriate drawback. I reserve the rights to reject certain drawbacks, but I will probably be lenient.
Money: 10,000 gold. This is slightly below WBL, but to compensate, the group as a whole will be receiving a very nice homebrew item for free. Or at a discount, at least.

I will most likely be accepting five or six crew members, and we will decide on roles, including captain, before beginning. As you may have guessed, we will be skipping (almost) all of book one and beginning with a slightly tweaked battle for the Man's Promise. This is my first time running a PbP, but not my first time GMing, and I'll try to keep things challenging.

Edit: Some friends of mine have been pre-accepted, which brings us down to 2-3 new spots. Expect them to post soon with their characters.

*Dot*

*Waves*

Hey-YA there! (^_^)

Would that be a Punfer fish perhaps? ~__~

Would you allow a Grippli with the amphibious trait in this? Perhaps in place of one of his other abilities (although it is only a 6pb race)?
I had once created a race of ancient underwater temple dwellers that were half-frog, half-lizard that might be fun to dig back up :)
Will have to think a bit before I know what im going to build tho.

Hia Sunny :)

Edit: Maybe replace 20ft climb speed with 20ft swim speed and aquatic?

dot, I see you are Fishing for players. Will submit somthing within the weekend.

No Grippli, sorry. I don't want to homebrew any race variants... and also, frogs don't usually live in salt water.

Hai-Jun, the SharKraken ready to terrorize the seas!

A question about 3rd party stuff? Is/are any allowed?

I ask because I've seen a 1/2 CR version of this humanoid, though further details escape me at the moment.

Cecaelia

Sorry, no third party.

*Nods* (^_^)

No worries! Wus jus' lookin' ta' be helpin' people's wiff they's pickin' and choice about whut t'is they be wantin' ta' play!

*Giggles* (^_^)

Okeys!

Here's a character page wiff character stuffs an' such. (^_^)

I has a aminal freind, an'a lil' tinker toy or two. (^_^)

Hasn't done all'a me gear yet. (>_>)

People's thoughts, ideas and comments welcome and always appreciated.

Yeah, I don't think the OP is interested in homebrew.

Is not 'home brewin'. Is puttin' stuffs t'gether, like.....

But, this Sunny is a Alchemist. So she can be home brewin'! (^_^)

Is not 'home brew'. Is puttin' stuffs t'gether, like.....

When you write a new thing that's not from the books, that's homebrew.

:(

Awe... so is not a go-er then?

If you want a Flask Thrower, those already exist in Gnomes of Golarion. Alternatively, there's a Launching Crossbow in Adventure's Armory that does the same thing.

(^_^)

Thank'e fer tha' helpin' Hai-Jun! *Hugz*

*Looks at DM with big, puppy dog eyes*

I wanna be a Cod!

You just want to play cod for the halibut.

I'll bite. I'm looking at a merfolk bard.

Hello, everyone. Along with Hai-Jun and a siege weapon specialist gunslinger who should be posting shortly, I'm one of the three pre-approved characters - I will be playing a chaotic evil female merfolk vigilante accompanied by a handful of undead minions.

The tales the surfacers tell of the fair mermaids are true - their beauty exceeds description, and their voices can bewitch even the most stalwart sailor's mind. The radiant and bloodthirsty Sinmara is no exception, taking sadistic pleasure in the ending of lives and the collection of their gleaming treasures. Not content to simply lurk beneath the waves, the rapacious mermaid sometimes shifts her form to that of a fair human maiden as she drifts on some debris to be "rescued" by a crew all too eager to bring the lovely lady aboard.

Sinmara rarely goes anywhere on the surface without a small cadre of her Drowned, the unliving remnants of all the unfortunate sailors her siren song has lured into the deep. She is passionate about her devotion to the pirate goddess Besmara due to the power and influence it has brought her, using the skull-and-crossbones tattoo on her left palm as a badge of both authority and divine right. If the surface-dwellers are too weak of will or too frail of swordarm to stop her, then their glittery fortunes were undeserved, and would be better served in the hands of the Bloody Siren.

In terms of party role, Hai-Jun is a terrifying melee threat, more monster than spellcaster. Sinmara is a jack-of-all-trades (more than capable in the social skills department) but is primarily reliant on her ability to summon and buff her skeletons and zombies in battle, and also heavily utilizes mind-affecting spells. You probably don't need me to tell you what the gunslinger is good at.

Of note - Sinmara will be radiating a permanent desecrate spell once she reaches level 6, and she plans on installing an altar to Besmara on the ship we eventually take over. So if anyone has ever felt like playing a negative-energy channeling cleric, this is your grand opportunity. Desecrate inflicts a crippling +3 (or +6, if near an altar to Besmara) increase to the save DC against channeled negative energy.

Also, Sinmara and her army of undead are all healed by negative energy, rather than positive. So there's that.

I may take you up on that offer for a Negative energy cleric.

It'll be that or some sort of thrown weapon user... or maybe a mix of both..

would you be open to the undead lord cleric if I went that route? or would I be stepping on toes.

yeah.. I'm thinking an Undine cleric, CN or some such. thinking of ways to become effected by negative energy... hm.

this or a storm druid.

A provisional dot for a Gillman Drakerider, Order of the Dragon - its all Paizo so I'm assuming that's ok? :)

Shame 3PP stuff is out - there's an Order of the Sea, which would tremendously fluffy.

If I take VMC Magus - could I take the Mindblade archetype for the VMC? So I'd get a psychic pool and all related effects rather than an arcane pool?

That sounds pretty awesome. In that case Im definitely ditching the merfolk bard in favour of an aquatic elven sea-born sorcerer with the aquatic bloodline.

I am already gonna be crowding up the battlefield with tons of undead - Undead Lord would perhaps literally step on toes.

Personally I love the idea of a drakerider. That one's very cool.

I am preemptively dotting as I think of some pirate puns.

I will simply start by saying that a little part of my heart died when nobody proposed a full wereshark team. I mean, it's like Street Sharks, but on Sea! Sharks Sharks!

Anyway, would you allow Werecrocodiles if we assume it's a saltwater crocodile thingy? I can't get this image out of my mind

actually, scratch everything, I will make a water bender or air, not entirely sure yet. (kinetisict class)

And this is Coranzen Nyl, the pre-approved gunslinger alongside Hai-Jun and Sinmara. He is an aquatic elf from the deep, dark sea, rather than the shores. He (quite literally) picked up gunslinging after nabbing a firearm off of a raided ship, and has since expanded his repertoire of ballistics. He also has experience manning ballistae against threats from his old home community, which has translated into a knack for engineering and siege weaponry.

In combat, he currently wields one of two firearms; a single-fire musket, or a scatter-fire culverin. He is also handy in melee with a rapier, due to a dip in Swashbuckler.

He is still unfinished, but if you'd like to check the WIP, his sheet can be found here.

Well, my idea of a combat monster doesn't make as much sense given the reserved slots.

recalculating.

I already asked the GM about werecrocodiles way back when we were starting to make characters - since they cannot breathe water, they're not allowed. Holding your breath isn't going to cut it.

I'm considering an evil oracle w/ the spirit guide archetype for a second pool of channel energy. Could be a lot of fun, particularly with undead - might pick up a few of my own too, we'll see. Sort of the opposite of this guy (link) who I'm playing now. Not sure if the concept will work, but it's a starting point.

My concern though is with an evil campaign and the plot. With a bunch of folks running around only looking after themselves, how will we work as a party? Or is the intent that we're at each others throats as much as the opposition?

Just curious as to how you see this playing out (DM and other pre-approved players) in the long term. Will we band together for some common goal? Or will we be expected to look for weakness within the group and exploit it?

UPDATE: Interestingly my initial idea won't work, but I'm still delving, and my other questions about tone still stand. Thank you!

@Nikolaus: Sounds good to me! Archetypes for VMCs can be a bit of an iffy concept, but this one is pretty cool, and doesn't give you anything TOO powerful.

@Emissary: Yeah, sorry. What Sinmara said.

@Euan: Evil doesn't have to stab its friend in the back. As long as sticking together is more profitable than betraying each other, you should be fine. Emphasis on 'should', of course.

We're roleplayers playing a game, not people trying to simulate how our characters "would act." Not betraying the party is a responsibility of the player. Even if it might make sense for your character, if you backstab your fellow players in a cooperative RPG, you're just being a jerk.

Evil crews of NPC pirates operate just fine. We'll be no different.

OK, Cool. So we are playing a cooperative game. Just making sure - folks can take this evil thing pretty far... :)

Thanks for your thoughts!

Hmm, I've never played an aquatic race before. Intriguing. Perhaps a Seascarred Druid. Need to do some thinking. Thoughts on the Leadership feat? I've always wanted to play a Druid who was followed around by hordes of awakened animals (cohort and followers, that is).

Crab People

Hai-Jun here is a Wereshark Kraken Caller Druid, two seascarred druids might be a bit much.

Indeed. Rats.

I'm thinking either an undine hydrokineticist or an aquatic elf or gillman mesmerist, depending on your thoughts on occult classes. The concept for the campaign has me hook, line, and sinker.

Perhaps a Mantis Zealot, going into Crimson Assassin. An evil-friendly campaign so near to Ilzmagorti just cries out for something Achaekek-y.

I'm thinking either an undine hydrokineticist or an aquatic elf or gillman mesmerist, depending on your thoughts on occult classes. The concept for the campaign has me hook, line, and sinker.

Occult classes are fine. I'm using an occult archetype for my Vigilante, even.

Hmm, I've never played an aquatic race before. Intriguing. Perhaps a Seascarred Druid. Need to do some thinking. Thoughts on the Leadership feat? I've always wanted to play a Druid who was followed around by hordes of awakened animals (cohort and followers, that is).

Keep in mind that I will already have 3-4 undead minions out at any given time too. Might not need a second character with lots of moving pieces to crowd up the battlefield too much. A druid with a single powerful animal companion might be a great pick, but a horde of them would probably be overly complicated.

Yeah, with Hai Jun already being a druid I'm going a different direction. Probably a Warpriest or Magus, still mulling my options.

I'm thinking either an undine hydrokineticist or an aquatic elf or gillman mesmerist, depending on your thoughts on occult classes. The concept for the campaign has me hook, line, and sinker.

I absolutely love occult classes. Go for it.

Keep in mind that I will already have 3-4 undead minions out at any given time too. Might not need a second character with lots of moving pieces to crowd up the battlefield too much. A druid with a single powerful animal companion might be a great pick, but a horde of them would probably be overly complicated.

Ahhh, er. Hrm. Just built this here cleric and I’ll have an undead or three wandering about as well. Shouldn’t be a big problem in PbP, but I’m happy to have all but my manservant in the background doing other tasks and not on the battlefield if it helps. Might use the archer variant on him too to keep the front lines less cluttered if it's permitted.

My background and crunch can be seen in my alias. Let me know if you'd like me to explain anything, change anything, whatever. :) I’m a little confused on how the variant multiclassing works, and think I have too many feats as a result, so please check that in particular.

I’ve DMed and Played on these boards for a few years now, and I’ve always been an active and supportive poster in every campaign. Please feel free to peruse my aliases and campaigns.

If selected, I can also help with treasure tracking if you like. I have a useful spreadsheet that I use in campaigns I'm in to help track that sort of thing so you don’t have to. You should be able to see a version of it here (link).

I’m really looking forward to this opportunity!

Ahhh, er. Hrm. Just built this here cleric and I’ll have an undead or three wandering about as well. Shouldn’t be a big problem in PbP, but I’m happy to have all but my manservant in the background doing other tasks and not on the battlefield if it helps. Might use the archer variant on him too to keep the front lines less cluttered if it's permitted.

No worries, just figured it would be important to be aware of as you're making characters. If you do get selected, my permanent desecrate aura is gonna make your minions fantastic.

I’m a little confused on how the variant multiclassing works, and think I have too many feats as a result, so please check that in particular.

So, for Variant Multiclassing, normally, you sacrifice half of your normal feats in order to get access to a set of abilities from another class. Our GM is giving us the abilities you'd normally get from that for free, so you should have exactly the same number of feats on this character as usual. You just get to pick up a few extra class features along the way (I'm getting an Oracle Curse and an Oracle Revelation for mine).

Cool, we can sort it out. I'm sure we'll shine in different ways.

Thanks Sinmara for the help. I'll correct my feat tree then. It felt all wrong... good to know my instincts are still good! :) Oracle is pretty sweet - I'm sure you'll enjoy the bonus.

Dot...

Thinking shark skinwalker but let me see...

Merfolk Sorcerer of the arcane bloodline. That's my idea, let me brew it up ;)

I'm actually not sure if it's a good idea to have two characters focused on raising undead. I like your character, but I want everyone to feel unique.

This is my merfolk sorcerer. Her alignment is subject to change, but she will be a tattoo sorcerer.

How would you rule with regards to the Magician Bard archetype's Arcane Bond interacting with either the VMC Wizard or Arcane Sorcerer's Arcane Bond? I ask because I like the Magician but I'd really like to have a familiar if possible.