It seems like in Pirates of the Caribbean, there are multiple mortal baddies at the same time. I would like to add another pirate, opposed to Vanthus and the heroes. I want him to be an ordinary pirate, but one that works for Orcus in a manner similar to how the Heroes work for Malcathet. Where would a good place to put him be? I'm already going to insert this guy into "The Sea wyvern's wake," and I hope that the Sea wyvern will duel his ship at some point.
Any pointers?
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It seems like in Pirates of the Caribbean, there are multiple mortal baddies at the same time. I would like to add another pirate, opposed to Vanthus and the heroes. I want him to be an ordinary pirate, but one that works for Orcus in a manner similar to how the Heroes work for Malcathet. Where would a good place to put him be? I'm already going to insert this guy into "The Sea wyvern's wake," and I hope that the Sea wyvern will duel his ship at some point.
Any pointers?
If your pirate is going to be recurring and a servant of Orcus, I would give him a strong death motif. Maybe a level or two of Dread Necromancer, or some Gish style build. Have him wear lots of skulls of dead enemies and the like and maybe fight with a Sickle or Scythe instead of a rapier or cutlass. When Vanthus gets boosts, give him boosts. So when Vanthus becomes a Lemorian, give him an undead template. When Vanthus comes back as a death night, let him also be on the abyss but as a more powerful undead. Then when you are planning the assault on Gaping Maw in Enemies of My Enemy, this undead pirate can be a big part of your negotiation with Orcus. Ideally have the PC's develop a relationship of some sort with this pirate.
For overall classes, you want something that fits well as a pirate like Swashbuckler or something, but you also want some strong undead magic whether divine or arcane. Stormwrack has some great PRC's for Sea Based casters. Perhaps one of them would appeal to you. The Thrall of Orcus class from Book of Vile Darkness might also be a good choice, although it needs to be updated for 3.5 like some of the ones that were updated in the various Demonomicons.
Hope all that helps.
Main problem with having your pirate work for Orcus is that it implies Orcus knows what's going on re: the Savage Tide, which would make him a lot easier to recruit in Enemies of My Enemy.
As an alternative, how about having the pirate be someone who both the PCs and Vanthus have crossed? The obvious candidate is the ex-captain of the Sea Wyvern - he hates Vanthus for getting him killed (by his mutant crew) and he hates the PCs for (probably - this is what my PCs did anyway!) turfing his gnawed body unceremoniously over the side and then stealing his ship.
He could make some sort of bargain with Orcus in the afterlife (or else revive purely through his own hate and vengeance) and come back as some sort of undead creature, seeking vengeance on both the PCs and Vanthus. An annoying facet to his curse that makes him a more effective recurring antagonist might be handy - perhaps he (and his charred ghost ship, with its skeletal wyvern figurehead...) can only sail the material plane at night, and so as soon as the sun rises he gets shifted to the plane of Shadow whether he likes it or not. So to escape him, the PCs only have to hold out or run away until dawn, when he'll disappear, giving them a full day to head for the horizon before he returns (and then has to start looking for them all over again)
I'm not sure how he'll fit into the structure of the plot though. He's fine in SWW, and can probably be useful chasing the PCs away from the wreck at the start of HTBM and herding them back to land if they try to make it to Farshore by some improvised boat or other. Fitting him in Tides of Dread would be tricky though (although there's plenty of scope for making deals there...). He doesn't really have any place in Lightless Depths or CoBI, but Scuttlecove suits him nicely. You'll need to plan a fair way ahead - having another corner to the business adds a whole new level of complication to the whole Vanthus plotline.
While its an old book if you can get your hands on the 2nd edition "Complete Guide to Necromancers" there's some gems in there. Particularly a hobbled necromancer named "Scrofula" I believe, who sailed with a zombie crew. Something like that sounds perfect for Orcus.
While its an old book if you can get your hands on the 2nd edition "Complete Guide to Necromancers" there's some gems in there. Particularly a hobbled necromancer named "Scrofula" I believe, who sailed with a zombie crew. Something like that sounds perfect for Orcus.
Good luck finding it. I paid $50 last year for a good condition used NHB 2E, and it took me months for Noble Knight Games to get just one in stock. People don't tend to part with that particular book.
Wow! these are all great ideas! I was thinking that Orcus would physically bind him to the ghost of his ship, with a particularly long chain. Having the phantom Sea Wyvern is a great idea. While he's on the ship, he looks like a sea monster of some sort, tentacles and all, perhaps a half-Pseudonatural Marlith (no swords though, just slashing tentacles). He's going to be too powerful for the PCs to take on when he's on his own ship, but that'll be the only way to permanantly kill him.
However, his chains are long enough so that he can leave the ship. When he's off the ship, he reverts to humanoid undeadness.
Yeah, I get a lot of time to think at college.
Wow, I'm excited for this guy.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Good luck finding it. I paid $50 last year for a good condition used NHB 2E, and it took me months for Noble Knight Games to get just one in stock. People don't tend to part with that particular book.
I must be lucky. I found it for $4 as a pdf. ;-)
http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/aDAndD2/rulebooks/comple teHandbooks/v5748btpy7mrw
Good luck finding it. I paid $50 last year for a good condition used NHB 2E, and it took me months for Noble Knight Games to get just one in stock. People don't tend to part with that particular book.I must be lucky. I found it for $4 as a pdf. ;-)
http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/aDAndD2/rulebooks/comple teHandbooks/v5748btpy7mrw
Just my luck. The one I bought was a present for my wife... so buying a PDF as a present would have gotten me labled cheapest bastard ever.
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You could add your pirate to the Scarlet Brotherhood blockade encounter. Maybe they encounter the Scarlet privateers as written, but their captain recognizes a superior force when he sees one and avoids a fight. Then your undead pirate takes command of the privateers - perhaps the PCs see a ghost ship sail up to the privateer, engage in a brief battle, and then both ships come chasing the Sea Wyvern on a hell-spawned wind. Or maybe your pirate just materializes on the privateer and scares its crew into doing his bidding. Either way, it'd be easy for your pirate to live to fight another day - as an undead he can just jump overboard and walk along the sea bottom! (Maybe that's where he finds the ghost ship he later appears on?)
I paid $50 last year for a good condition used NHB 2E, and it took me months for Noble Knight Games to get just one in stock.
Hmm, I need to start looking at Ebay...
Don't forget, if you have the AD&D Core Rules CD-ROM, you can get the Necromancer Handbook for a free download.
It's a long shot, but you can download the exe file and try it without the Core Rules CD. It didn't pop up with an install on Vista, but try another system.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Just my luck. The one I bought was a present for my wife... so buying a PDF as a present would have gotten me labled cheapest bastard ever.
Yeah, those pdfs are convenient, but not as nice as the real books. For the longest time I was on the lookout in discount bins for the Planes of Conflict boxed set. It came out right as TSR was sliding into bankruptcy and the print run was very low making it hard to find. Even though I could get the pdf, I hold out hope of getting a hard copy one of these days...
Just my luck. The one I bought was a present for my wife... so buying a PDF as a present would have gotten me labled cheapest bastard ever.Yeah, those pdfs are convenient, but not as nice as the real books. For the longest time I was on the lookout in discount bins for the Planes of Conflict boxed set. It came out right as TSR was sliding into bankruptcy and the print run was very low making it hard to find. Even though I could get the pdf, I hold out hope of getting a hard copy one of these days...
Ask and ye shall receive: http://www.nobleknight.com/searchresults.asp?search=Planes%20of%20Conflict% 20
It costs a small fortune ($80 to $100 bucks) but they have two in stock. I'm guessing Paizo won't mind me posting the link, since it was in dungeon that I found their add. Noble Knight is good stuff. II've bought from them many times.