Corsair archetype - armored pirate class ability

[WRoy]

I'm getting the feeling that this fighter archetype ability doesn't quite work as intended...

Corsair - Armored Pirate wrote:

A corsair wears heavier armor than is common aboard a ship. At 3rd level, the corsair reduces the armor check penalty of any light armor he wears to 0 for purposes of Acrobatics and Swim checks. At 7th level, this becomes true of medium armor as well. At 11th level, it includes heavy armor.

This ability replaces armor training.

So, a corsair gives up an increase in max Dex to AC, a flat-rate reduction in armor check penalty, and the ability to move at normal speed in heavier armors. In return, the corsair gets to reduce his armor's armor check penalty to 0 for Acrobatics and Swim.

The main problem with this is the corsair still cannot use Acrobatics if his speed is reduced by armor, so the 7th- and 11-level improvements do nothing RAW. Considering how low the armor check penalties are on light armor, the corsair is essentially giving up armor training to be able to have a 0 armor check for swimming in any armor.

I'm assuming the RAI was to let corsairs tumble and swim with impunity while armored? Just curious if anyone has any insight into this archetype's design or if I'm missing something.

[Cheapy]

The author may have thought that setting the penalty to 0 would allow acrobatics. Which isn't unreasonable, but isn't really spelled out either.

I think your call on the intent is correct.

[WRoy]

Thanks... it's pretty moot for my PFS corsair because he's planning to jump into duelist, but I just noticed the discrepancy with Acrobatics.

The archetype is otherwise decent - getting weapon training with pirate weapons is not bad for a switch hitter, and deck fighting (cleave with no prereqs or AC penalty) has proven to be a good feat (at least in tier 1-2 PFS stuff).

[Starbuck_II]

WRoy wrote:

I'm getting the feeling that this fighter archetype ability doesn't quite work as intended...

Corsair - Armored Pirate wrote:

A corsair wears heavier armor than is common aboard a ship. At 3rd level, the corsair reduces the armor check penalty of any light armor he wears to 0 for purposes of Acrobatics and Swim checks. At 7th level, this becomes true of medium armor as well. At 11th level, it includes heavy armor.

This ability replaces armor training.

So, a corsair gives up an increase in max Dex to AC, a flat-rate reduction in armor check penalty, and the ability to move at normal speed in heavier armors. In return, the corsair gets to reduce his armor's armor check penalty to 0 for Acrobatics and Swim.

The main problem with this is the corsair still cannot use Acrobatics if his speed is reduced by armor, so the 7th- and 11-level improvements do nothing RAW. Considering how low the armor check penalties are on light armor, the corsair is essentially giving up armor training to be able to have a 0 armor check for swimming in any armor.

I'm assuming the RAI was to let corsairs tumble and swim with impunity while armored? Just curious if anyone has any insight into this archetype's design or if I'm missing something.

Dwarfs aren't reduced in speed. Maybe all corsairs are Dwarfs. So reducing acrobatics ACP to 0 means they tumble easily.

[brannanjp]

I'm wondering about the loss of movement restriction, and pondering just modifying the ability to retain the lack of movement restriction for the corsair. I think trading off the multiple skill penalties for lack of penalties on two skills is a fair trade-off.