Sixteen years is a good life. You should be proud of the home environment that you shared with him. With both of them.
|
Okay, now that you folks are becoming proper pirates, we need to discuss Disrepute, Infamy, and Plunder.
PLUNDER
There’s a difference between plunder and the gold pieces in a pirate’s pocket. While gold doubloons and fabulous jewelry can be plunder, pirates are rarely lucky enough to encounter a ship with a hold full of such treasures. Typically, there are trade goods, foodstuffs, spices, and valuables of a more mundane sort. Such takes can fetch significant prices, but for scallywags more interested in looting than the specifics of what they loot, this system provides a way for parties to track their plunder without getting bogged down by lists of commonplace cargo and their values down to the copper piece. Typically, at any point the PCs claim a ship’s cargo, conquer an enemy’s hideout, or find a significant treasure, there’s the potential for a portion (sometimes a significant portion) of that wealth to translate into plunder. Plunder means more than five wicker baskets, a barrel of pickled herring, three short swords, and a noble’s outfit; it’s a generalization of a much larger assortment of valuable but generally useless goods (and serves to help avoid bookkeeping on lists of random goods). Rather, a cargo ship carrying construction timber, dyed linens, crates of sugar, animal furs, and various other goods might equate to 4 points of plunder. Characters can also buy plunder if they wish, though those who do so risk becoming known as merchants rather than pirates.
Value of Plunder: Plunder is valuable for two reasons: It can be sold for gold pieces, and it helps you increase your Infamy. In general, 1 point of plunder is worth approximately 1,000 gp, whether it be for a crate full of valuable ores or a whole cargo hold full of foodstuffs. Regardless of what the plunder represents, getting the best price for such goods is more the domain of merchants than pirates, and just because cargo might be worth a set amount doesn’t necessarily mean the PCs can get that much for it. Exchanging 1 point of plunder for gold requires a PC to spend 1 full day at port and make an applicable skill check. Regardless of how much plunder the PCs have, one PC must spend a full day trading to exchange 1 point of plunder for gold. The PC trading also must be the same PC to make the skill check to influence the trade.
The larger the port and the higher the skill check, the better price the PCs can get for their plunder. At smaller ports there’s little chance of getting more than half value for plunder, unless a PC can employ a skill to make a better deal. At larger ports, the chances of finding a buyer willing to pay a reasonable price for cargo increases, and PCs can still employ skill checks to make even more lucrative bargains. PCs seeking to win a higher price for their plunder can make one of the following skill checks: Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or any applicable Profession skill, like Profession (merchant). A poor result on a skill check can reduce the value of plunder. If the PCs are not satisfied with the price they are offered for their plunder, they need not take it, but a day’s worth of effort is still expended. They can try for a better result the next day.
|
|
INFAMY AND DISREPUTE
Some pirates only do what they do for the promise of wealth, being little more than brigands of the waves. Others do it for the reputation, fearsomeness, and power that comes with numbering among the most notorious scallywags on the seas. That’s where Infamy comes in. Numerous times over the course of their careers, the PCs--as members of a single pirate crew--will have the opportunity to recount their victories, boast of the treasures they’ve won, and spread tales of their outrages. All of this has the potential to win the PCs Infamy, but that alone isn’t the goal. At the most basic level, infamous pirates have the potential to pressgang unfortunates into their crews, get repairs to their ships in nearly any port, and win discounts from merchants they’d prefer not to rob. As a crew becomes more and more infamous, however, its legend stretches across the seas, allowing it to garner support from other pirate lords, win more favorable vessels, and even rally whole pirate armadas under its flag. This system allows characters to track how their legend is growing over the course of the campaign, along with providing them tangible rewards for building appropriately piratical reputations.
Infamy tracks how many points of Infamy the crew has gained over its career--think of this as the sum of all the outlandish stories and rumors about the PCs being told throughout the Shackles. Infamy rarely, if ever, decreases, and reaching certain Infamy thresholds provides useful benefits and allows others to be purchased using points of Disrepute. Infamy is limited by actual skill, however, and a group’s Infamy score can never be more than 4 × the PCs’ average party level.
Disrepute is a spendable resource--a group’s actual ability to cash in on its reputation. This currency is used to purchase impositions, deeds others might not want to do for the group, but that they perform either to curry the group’s favor or to avoid its disfavor. This score will likely fluctuate over the course of a pirate crew’s career and can go as high as the group’s Infamy (but never higher), and at times might even drop to zero. This isn’t something to worry about, though, as a low Disrepute score has no bearing on a crew’s overall reputation--on the contrary, it merely means they’re making use of the benefits their status has won them. However, it does represent that even the PCs’ legend can only take them so far, and if a group’s Disrepute drops lower than the Disrepute price of a benefit, the crew must spend time building its Disrepute back up before it can purchase that benefit.
Winning Infamy and Disrepute
To gain Infamy, the PCs must moor their ship at a port for 1 full day, and the PC determined by the group to be its main storyteller must spend this time on shore carousing and boasting of infamous deeds. This PC must make either a Bluff, Intimidate, or Perform check to gauge the effectiveness of her recounting or embellishing. The DC of this check is equal to 15 + twice the group’s average party level (APL), and the check is referred to as an Infamy check. If the character succeeds at this check, the group’s Infamy and Disrepute both increase by +1 (so long as neither score is already at its maximum amount). If the result exceeds the DC by +5, the group’s Infamy and Disrepute increase by +2; if the result exceeds the DC by +10, both scores increase by +3. The most a party’s Infamy and Disrepute scores can ever increase as a result of a single Infamy check is by 3 points. If the PC fails the Infamy check, there is no change in her group’s Infamy score and the day has been wasted.
No matter how impressionable (or drunk) the crowd, no one wants to hear the same tales and boasts over and over again. Thus, a group can only gain a maximum of 5 points of Infamy and Disrepute from any particular port. However, this amount resets every time a group reaches a new Infamy threshold. Thus, once a group gains 5 points of Infamy and Disrepute in Quent, it can gain no further points of Infamy from that port until it reaches the next Infamy threshold, though the crew can travel to another port and gain more Infamy by boasting to a new audience.
Plunder and Infamy
Plunder can modify a PC’s attempt to gain Infamy in two ways. Before making an Infamy check for the day, the party can choose to spend plunder to influence the result--any tale is more believable when it comes from someone throwing around her wealth and buying drinks for the listeners. Every point of plunder expended adds a +2 bonus to the character’s skill check to earn Infamy. The party can choose to spend as much plunder as it wants to influence this check--even the most leaden-tongued pirate might win fabulous renown by spending enough booty.
Additionally, if a PC fails an Infamy check, the party can choose to spend 3 points of plunder to immediately reroll the check. The party may only make one reroll attempt per day, and spend the plunder even if the second attempt fails--some people just aren’t impressed no matter how much loot you throw at them.
Spending Disrepute
A group’s Disrepute can be spent to buy beneficial effects called impositions, though some impositions might only be available in certain places--such as at port--or might have additional costs--like forcing a prisoner to walk the plank. Spending Disrepute to purchase an imposition requires 1 full day unless otherwise noted. When Disrepute is spent, the group’s Disrepute score decreases by the price of the imposition, but its Infamy (and, thus, the group’s Infamy threshold) remains the same. The prices of impositions and the Infamy threshold required to make those impositions available are detailed below.
Until you reach at least 10 points of Infamy, you cannot make purchases using Disrepute. I have added trackers for Plunder, Infamy, and Disrepute scores beneath the link for the map.
The cutlass is not a finesse weapon, so those who fight with that style won't be able to use it and get Dex bonuses to hit.
It would be the most efficient way to pay for the squibbing, but it would also leave us in a tight spot if we encounter anything with DR/magic (at least until we come across more magic weapons).
Thoughts?
Personally, if we have enough mundane goods and coin to pay for the squibbing, I'd go that route. Once the ship is ready, we go hunting for our first merchantman vessel, and re-fill the hold with more plunder.
Another easy way to deal with that would be to buy Dantes a scroll or two of Magic Weapon, seeing as he's a transmuter and all—though you'd need a wizard to buy that off of.
What kind of magical cutlass is it? Just +1?
Satinder can use it, seeing as I was going for "weapons all over" vibe for her anyway.
The dagger is not being used, is it?
The cutlass is a +1 cutlass that allows the wielder to cast hydraulic push a certain number of times per day (can't recall specifically how many times).
Ayaki has the dagger. She used it to stab Scourge in the mutiny. I don't recall seeing if it was anyting unusual.
Does anyone have any objection to my claiming the shackles of compliance? I figured, being boatswain, that they would be useful in the administration of discipline onboard.
Oh, wow, I take back what I said. Hydraulic Push is an amazing spell that can be used to knock enemies off the side of a ship from 30' away or extinguish fires in the rigging from deck level. Hydraulic Push is the reason I keep considering putting three feats toward getting Victoriana a Tidepool Dragon familiar, because that 7/day Hydraulic Push is monstrously good (I recently GM'd a one-shot where the enemy pirate captain's Tidepool Dragon familiar managed to keep three of our level 5 players occupied for four rounds in a row).
Man.... Tidepool Dragon nostalgia.
Hydraulic push? Thank you very much, if nobody minds I'll be taking that weapon.
A simple +1 dagger will come back soon enough I reckon.
Or we can haggle for 1000 in cash, en 1000 becomes 1500 in downpayment? Sounds reasonable?
Fun fact of the day:
A cracked opalescent white prism ioun stone (1500 gp) can give familiarity with one type of siege weapon, allowing anyone to fire a ballista without the -4 penalty. Because it's an ioun stone, it can pretty easily be passed to whoever's the current gunner.
Of course, you still need a single rank in Knowledge (engineering) to avoid the size penalty from aiming a siege weapon, but this makes it relatively for someone like Chumtooth or Alwen to fire a ballista as though it were a normal ranged weapon.
WELCOME ABOARD!!! ^^
By the way, if anyone didn't get Alwen's first naming suggestion for the ship, shame on you. :P
Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand..."
Well, it made me figure Alwen's other suggestions might be references to things I missed.
I noticed it, and I love it...
Would go for Firefly, but it doesn't make sense on a sailing boat I reckon :(
Well, the ship was named Serenity. But, same problem.
Maybe something a little more piratical, like "Enterprise" or "Voyager".
I like it, but it would take away some of the immersion no?
What do you reckon with going for those Calistrian themed things? Revenge is a strong word to work with, for the boat?
The Water Wasp
The Wave Wasp
Love's Keen Sting
The Stinging Strumpet
Swarming Vengeance
The Waspish Wench
"Pedro"
The Rapscallion
The Salt Wife ;-)
The Misty Mistress
The Bag of Cats
The Golden Garter
Wave Cutter?
Tide Cutter?
Aboleth?
Dire Shark?
Dire Turtle?
Dire Trout?
The Saucy Siren
The Sultry Succubus
Booty's Call
The Ill-tempered Sea Bass
The Lusty Lamia
The Randy Rake
The Fleshpot
The Wanton Wanderer
The Scarlet Harlot
The Coffin Nail
The Wayward Son
The Killing Joke
The Wormwood could become... the Absinthe?
In similar games I've run, characters have named their ships "The Dire Swan" and "The Gunpowder Dragon"
Only problem with that is that Captain Harrigan still commands the Wormwood.
The ship we now control was the prize ship: Man's Promise.
We could play off that name, though:
Lady's Demand
Unkept Promise
...or something similar. Or, I can keep throwing out names until someone says something...
The Cuttlefish
The Sea Snake
The Sea Spider
The Rum Barrel
Hardtack
The Guttersnipe
Three Dragon Ante
Stiletto
Red Rapier
The Brass Ring
Whoops, I got the ships mixed up. Given the female captain (and half-female crew), it could be fun to play on that with "The Lady's Vow" or "Oath" or something like that.
In case it becomes a sticking-point, here's a few piratical methods to name a ship:
1. Put it to a vote by the crew. This places the onus of selection on a single person (the DM), from a small list submitted by players.
2. Gamble on it. While ashore, the ship's officers play a few rounds of cards, with the winner getting naming rights. This may involve luck rolls for everyone involved, and may also involve suggestions characters are more likely to make under the influence of alcohol.
3. Find a dockside carpenter (or one of the squibbers), and ask them for the most fearsome/buxom/affordable figurehead they've got. Name the ship after whatever it looks like
I'd say we should gamble on it. It'll be fun!
If you decide to go that route, Gamemastery Guide (according to the SRD) suggests opposed Profession (gambler) checks (Wis for the unpracticed), or Sense Motive if it's a game like poker, to see who wins the most hands over the course of an evening.
|
|
Rickety Squibbs has a base value of 600 gp. There is a 75% chance that any item of that price or below can be found in the settlement. Spellcasting up to the 3rd level is available, at the usual price. In addition, they have the following items available for purchase:
+1 leather armor - 1,160 gp
masterwork breastplate - 350 gp
+1 silver guisarme - 2,489 gp
circlet of persuasion - 2,250 gp
wand of cure light wounds (29 charges) - 450 gp
+2 light wooden shield - 4,153 gp
potion of fox’s cunning - 300 gp
Not sure if the party has any gold left to purchase with, but dang that's a nice price on that circlet.
Dunno if that means there is one or isn't one here. I'm hoping the former.
If not, a scroll of Masterwork Transformation might be available, which Dantes or I could use to improve a regular sword.
Chumtooth will look for:
Masterwork harpoon
Masterwork morning star
Masterwork kukri
Dark wood buckler
A tannery (to make the trophies for Alwen and Ayaki)
Food, drink, and female company that isn't terrified of him.
Now I just need to figure out how to pay for it all (sigh).
I definitely think the CLW wand would be a good investment for the group.
Sorry lads, been kinda very extremely busy with real life and work for a few days. Back now though! :D
No worries. CLW isn't bad, but I'm not sure who can use it besides Ayaki, and I'll bring at least decent downtime healing with me.
Welcome back!
To the sea, then?
(Also: do we have stats on the ship? Since Victoriana's the one most likely to be enchanting the sails and siege weapons, I figure I should be tracking that stuff)
Did we ever determine what all items will be kept by PCs and what will be sold? Do we know how much gold we each have to spend in port?
I believe selling was taken care of (and buying of magic items), though I think all the sold magic items went to pay for the squibbing.
Does one person want to take charge of managing party wealth and loot? (Maybe the Captain, since she seems to be very on top of this stuff, or whoever's the Quartermaster). I figure Victoriana can track ship stats and upgrades, though I'm still curious what the ship stats are (I assume we're just a standard 30'x90' sailing ship, though I'd like to know if we're not, as well as how many sails, weapons, and unused weapon slots we have, as well as how many crew we have and how many we need at a bare minimum).
If it's okay with everyone, I'd like to propose we devote some small portion of our looted wealth (maybe 5-10%) to a "ship upgrade fund"—Victoriana has all the necessary feats and skills to build faster sails and feats to build new catapults and ship upgrades, and at next level will be able to do magic sails as well. I can create a spreadsheet or something where we track ship upgrades and vote on what to do next, but there's some very cheap upgrades that would help our maneuverability a lot that I can make as soon as we get more loot.
Meanwhile, excited to get back to the sea.
I wanted to keep the as a necessary tool for discipline and/or interrogating captives. I think the bosun's call was also handed over to me.
I'm good with selling whatever else, or letting the rest be dispersed to whoever wants it.
Oh... that works too. With any luck we may even pick up more goodies along the way.
EDIT: Shackles of Compliance could be useful in interrogation, but using it on the crew regularly seems a bit evil.
Remember that with Vic and Dantes, there will be somebody on board willing to craft most magic items at sale value.
EDIT: Shackles of Compliance could be useful in interrogation, but using it on the crew regularly seems a bit evil.
Remember that with Vic and Dantes, there will be somebody on board willing to craft most magic items at sale value.
Not regularly, but it makes for fewer Grapple and Sense Motive checks when someone is caught stealing from his or her shipmates.
I think it will be primarily used on the captains of captured ships as a means of finding where they hide the extra valuable plunder.
Otherwise, I would have to bite off fingers until they started talking. Now that would be evil! ;-)