Jacques Lacrimoisi's page

Grandam Lacrimoisi was an infamous pirate captain in the Shackles, renowned for her dark magic and her ghost ship Nightmare sailed by the spirits of the dead. However, according to her daughter when telling the tale to her own son Jacques, these legends were all blown out of proportion-- mere stories to frighten soldiers and other pirates. Grandam Lacrimoisi was a wicked woman, and when she died she suffered for her misdeeds, and those who come after her suffer because of her evil reputation. But Jacques liked these stories and wanted to believe them with all of his heart. He grew up resenting his mother's domineering influence, who was determined to keep him safe and practicing a respectable trade.

As a teenager going through the attic of his ancestral home, he discovered an old chest made of black lacquered wood with the Lacrimoisi family crest carved into it. Inside, he found a note of warning: it said that Grandam Lacrimoisi had left these treasures as heirlooms for her family, and invoked woeful curses upon anyone else who disturbed them. Beneath this were beaded charms and fetches made of bones, gold coins, jewels, several weathered books and journals, scrolls, rolled-up maps, a rapier, and finally a heavy, dusty tome filled with magic writing and bearing a weeping skull on the cover. Sitting there in the dusty eaves, he finally knew that it was all true, and he could see his destiny before him. He returned downstairs with a new swagger, and ceased to obey or even listen to his mother. He practiced shadow-fencing night and day, and began his study of the dark arts. After several more years, his long-suffering mother became very sick and died. Taking this as a sign that he was finally free to leave his home and become a pirate sailing the Shackles, Jacques closed up her shop and burned down the house, destroying all of her possessions. Her bones, he kept.

Theme Song
"Hermandad De Piratas", from the Tropico 2 game soundtrack

Description
Jacques is tall and dark-skinned, head shaven. He typically wears comfortable sailor's clothes, and when he is not working he also wears a heavy coat and black hat festooned with feathers and bones. He has a tattoo of a black weeping skull and crossbones over his heart (Grandam Lacrimoisi's infamous sigil). After several days at sea his normally smooth face has begun to grow bristly with greasy black stubble. He wears a rapier and a spell components pouch at his belt. His voice is deep with a slightly affected accent, and no matter what he does his laugh sounds sarcastic-- the vocal equivalent of a slow clap.

He generally believes that all creatures are but tools for his own advancement, including evil creatures like demons or the undead. However, having been himself recently press-ganged into service, his enthusiasm for the enslavement of other people has severely lessened. Following his grandam's example, he views a pirate crew as a deadly machine with necessarily interlocking parts, and he feels loyalty, care, and concern for his fellow crewmembers, whatever he may think of them personally. He is passionate and easily excited, and also quite vengeful, taking a long time to forget slights and betrayals and vulnerable to petty and cruel acts in the pursuit of payback. Like many other pirates he likes strong drink, music, and dancing. Most of all he likes amassing supernatural knowledge, and using that knowledge to aid his crew in their black-hearted endeavors.

Derring-Do (Ex): At 1st level, a swashbuckler can spend 1 panache point when she makes an Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Fly, Ride, or Swim check to roll 1d6 and add the result to the check. She can do this after she makes the check but before the result is revealed. If the result of the d6 roll is a natural 6, she rolls another 1d6 and adds it to the check. She can continue to do this as long as she rolls natural 6s, up to a number of times equal to her Dexterity modifier (minimum 1).

Opportune Parry and Riposte (Ex): At 1st level, when an opponent makes a melee attack against the swashbuckler, she can spend 1 panache point and expend a use of an attack of opportunity to attempt to parry that attack. The swashbuckler makes an attack roll as if she were making an attack of opportunity; for each size category the attacking creature is larger than the swashbuckler, the swashbuckler takes a –2 penalty on this roll. If her result is greater than the attacking creature’s result, the creature’s attack automatically misses. The swashbuckler must declare the use of this ability after the creature’s attack is announced, but before its attack roll is made. Upon performing a successful parry and if she has at least 1 panache point, the swashbuckler can as an immediate action make an attack against the creature whose attack she parried, provided that creature is within her reach. This deed's cost cannot be reduced by any ability or effect that reduces the number of panache points a deed costs.

Social Panache (Ex): At 1st level, a noble fencer can spend 1 panache point when he attempts a Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Sense Motive check to roll 1d6 and add the result to the check. He can do this after he rolls the check but before the result is revealed. If the result of the d6 roll is a natural 6, he rolls another 1d6 and adds it to the check. He can continue to do this as long as he rolls natural 6s, up to a number of times equal to his Charisma modifier (minimum 1).

Just before a verbal duel, a noble fencer can spend up to 4 panache points. For each point he spends, he selects a tactic for which he has chosen Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Sense Motive as an associated skill and gains an edge he can only use with that tactic.

This deed replaces the dodging panache deed.

I've played the first part of this adventure before, and one of the things that I thought very tricky was managing the players' expectations about their characters' roles. It seems common to me that most players see their character as the future captain of the group's pirate ship. However, if everyone wants to be the captain, there will be a lot of tension in the group because everyone can't be in charge. I've been in two groups that fell apart relatively early on in this adventure path because of this problem.

That said, I don't see Jacques as a leader-- not of living crew members, anyway. He is more of an enforcer, probably good as master of arms or first mate depending on everyone else. For this reason, he doesn't have any skill at Diplomacy. I suppose if no one else wants to be the captain Jacques could temporarily occupy that role, but his high Intimidate is better focused on enemies than towards other player characters, or he will come across as a jerk. But that might be okay, I don't know. :)

He is also a hopeful necromancer, though it will take a while for the associated spells to come online. However, I have played with people in the past who could not see their characters working with someone who can raise the dead, which is an unfortunate thing to realize once we are all in a game together. I feel like pirate stories blend really well with ghost stories ("You best start believin' in ghost stories, Miss Turner-- yer in one!") and I would hope that anyone interested in this game isn't going to be morally opposed to my character occasionally casting spells that might be considered evil by general Golarion standards. :)