I havent started the campaign yet, so please avoid spoilers. At the very least put anything spoilery in spoilers.
I'm thinking I'm going to play some sort of divine character who creates undead, probably cleric and maybe undead lord.
How would you use undead;
At sea in general?
in Skulls and shackles?
I've also never been an undead creating characters so any general advice is also welcome.
I'd go oracle for a single attribute demand (CHA) and focus on mindless undead.
Beheaded make superb ship-to-ship raiding parties; a flock of flying, screaming severed heads flying after your foes is simply too good to pass up. Their flight and small sizes will also help out in problem areas (tight corners, difficult terrain, etc.). Not to mention easy concealment.
Beheaded are pretty cool.
Also, keep in mind that skeletons and zombies retain their swim speed. Kill an aquatic dinosaur? That can be a nice buffer against underwater attacks, not to mention a hell of a surprise for any enemy ships.
Also, keep in mind that skeletons and zombies retain their swim speed. Kill an aquatic dinosaur? That can be a nice buffer against underwater attacks, not to mention a hell of a surprise for any enemy ships.
That or just underwater mounts via a pod of zombie dolphins. The imagery makes me laugh.
On that note, beheaded also make nice floating chairs. Get a dozen or so together, braid them, and there you have it: a floating throne. Create Grabbing beheaded if you want them to braid themselves.
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On that note, beheaded also make nice floating chairs. Get a dozen or so together, braid them, and there you have it: a floating throne. Create Grabbing beheaded if you want them to braid themselves.
My concern with this on a moving boat would be that the boat moves out from under any floating heads that aren't either inside the ship or tied down.
Just keep them belowdecks or in containers. If you need a lookout to literally stand watch, create a basic skeleton and tell it ring a bell if another ship is in sight.
Just keep them belowdecks or in containers. If you need a lookout to literally stand watch, create a basic skeleton and tell it ring a bell if another ship is in sight.
I could always have a grotesque macrabe bunch of "balloons." lol.
'Don't see any reason why grabbing beheaded couldn't anchor themselves to the railing while waiting for orders. Alternatively, create some headless skeletons or zombies and let any nearby grabbing beheaded take hold for a nice surprise to any hostile forces.
Mindless undead : not a good choice for actually sailing the boat and doing much of the needed maintenance etc.
Would need constant and complete oversight - pretty impractical when sailing a ship in less than optimum conditions. Some stuff might also be too complex for them (tying specific knots, reefingt to a certain point, trimming the sails), which would lead to a massive performance loss with regard to profession : sailor. No spoiler there, the profession will be important.
Sail North by Northwest ? Now does a mindless skeleton even understand what a compass is ?
Plus, the controlling character would need very good ranks in the skill required for their work to give them proper commands.
nevermind interaction with non-undead pirates.
No one suggested putting mindless undead in charge of piloting and maintaining the ship; at best, I advocated throwing a skeleton into the crow's nest with a heavy bell. Living pirates shouldn't have any problems with the undead if they trust the caster commanding the corpses.
I don't think any pirate would object to a skeleton taking some of their more menial tasks.
No undead will be doing anything requiring any level of technical skill.
Manning the bilges seems like a no brainer....
Manning the bilges seems like a no brainer....
They're perfectly suited to repetitive motions that require no skill.
Bilges, oars, etc.
Manning the bilges seems like a no brainer....
They're perfectly suited to repetitive motions that require no skill.
Bilges, oars, etc.
An undead trimerene is seriously scary.....
Alternatively, create some headless skeletons or zombies and let any nearby grabbing beheaded take hold for a nice surprise to any hostile forces.
Now, that is just plain wickedly evil.
I like it!!
One of my players is running a cleric of Urgathoa (?) with the eventual idea of creating undead crew, but it's still early days for that. About the best he can manage at the moment are undead vermin like rats or ship's roaches.... which do have some interesting if minor possibilities.
Manning the bilges seems like a no brainer....
They're perfectly suited to repetitive motions that require no skill.
Bilges, oars, etc.
Oars take skill actually. Lot's of it, especially for turning. There was a concrete reason why galleys exercised turns, stops, half speed and actually shifting the oars in case of close combat to avoid crushing the oarsman. On long hauls, yes, mindless undead would be nice to have as a "backup" for simple cruising... but not for combat.
Same for the pump and maintaining the bilgepump. Something blocking the pump ? Would the undead know ? or keep pumping, possibly tearing the pump to pieces...Where they would really be useful is some stronger ones manning the capstan (the main winch) around which they trundle, doing the really heavy lifting. Perhaps zombie-fy some ogres (or other large guys) for that. But beware of the stink
Psychologically : Wouldn't you be nervous or at least uneasy, if you have an undead, brought to unlife by dark and negativ forced watching over you while you sleep ? Some soulless entity, which would slay you at a moments notice if the cleric's control slipped ?
and
The reason landsmen, aka the fresh and untrained aboard, were so umpopular, is that besides not having a clue as what to do, they also did continuously get in the way and did not know effective moves and work aboard. If you GM thinks that that would be no problem, good luck.
As for the undead in the main top : cute thought, but beware its bad perception, which will usually mean that a humanoid outlook will spot your ship before you spot theirs.
An undead trimerene is seriously scary.....
Historic evaluation of the Athenian Trireme "Olympia" in the last twenty years would actually come to the opposite result. Since a trireme's oars are mostly moved by upper body weight and the thigh muscles (there are dozens of interesting bio-mechanical papers about it because the study becomes really complex with the interlocked oars on different benches and weight distribution in the ship ), speed would actually be worse if more continuous, as would maneuverability because oarsmanship for swift and complex turns would suffer. Zombies would have the mass, but are infamously slow. So you basically turn the nasty Trireme Cadillac into a slow and efficient Prius^^
And besides: because the undead would have to instantly follow complex (and memorized by humans) commands. Port first five benches full stop, the rest full-reverse ( ahem, can the undead still count ?)... Nevermind the ship being as unseaworthy as any galley on the open seas. Beaufort 5+ and you are basically hard-pressed to avoid sinking. Water coming in through the oar-holes, keel breaking from the strain ( since the entire structure has no frames) etc.
Ok, again, that would be (historical and archeaological) fact^^
And yes, the "undead galley" is a staple of pulp literature ever since Robert E. Howard. Which would mean... it could work wonders as a major illusion^^
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Skeleton Crew or Unseen Crew spells from Pirates of the Inner Sea yet. Both give the Profession (sailor) skill to the summoned creatures making them much more useful on a ship.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Skeleton Crew or Unseen Crew spells from Pirates of the Inner Sea yet. Both give the Profession (sailor) skill to the summoned creatures making them much more useful on a ship.
Note to self.
Ouch yeah, "skeleton crew" would be the spell of chocie for a non-combatant crew...
Actually, these skeletons might even be better sailors than most low-level pirates with an average 6th+level cleric and a wisdom of 18. The sole problem - after a few days you will need a new set of skeletons, or rather, fresh corpses.... desecrate the ship.... Just wondering how "mindless" (no Int, no skills ) harmonizes with "profession XYZ"