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All,
As a general question, what classes make good options for pirate or ocean campaigns?
As a more specific question, in an ocean/pirate campaign, what other class would compliment a ranger, cleric, wizard and rogue in an ocean/pirate setting?
But really, I'm just wondering about more general thoughts, since I dont know for sure that the 4 I mentioned would actually be used. Thats just a "best guess" on what others in the group might do.
So I am just looking for general opinions too.
Thanks!
Is the ranger melee, switch hitter or ranged?
No decisions have been made. Just a high possibility of what that player may do.
A druid actually could be very nice, with an aquatic animal companion, weather-affecting spells, the ability to summon things, make friends with sea animals (whales, sharks, etc), and the ability to turn into things which can swim, water elementals, and so on.
Likewise, some kind of watery sorcerer (like Marid bloodline) could be great.
The complex thing about water/ocean campaigns is that you have much more three-dimensional terrain, so "control" becomes that much more important; also, the terrain is hostile, so the more "native" you are to it, the better you can use it to your advantage.
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Having played a bit of the Skull and Shackles campaign there are a few things I can offer:
A swim speed just adds many options. Anything that can supply those to others such as Touch of the Sea can help in any situation in which you are out of the boat.
A lot of the time you want to avoid heavy armored characters in this kind of campaign since the impact on their swimming and balancing capabilities can be crippling. As well you likely won't be doing daily ship duties in your Full Plate and spending several minutes trying to get into armor will be a hassle. Armored coat can be useful as a quick emergency armor since it can be donned with a move action.
Also remember that you can't consume potions underwater. This can make life hell for an alchemist. There are potion sponges that allow you to have a potion underwater but since they are one use and cost 2gp a pop it can be expensive for a low level character. In that vein as well there are special underwater crossbows that have a 20ft range increment underwater allowing ranged combat.
As David Haller stated any sea fight can be three dimensional. Make sure to keep that in mind for your fighting capabilities and for DMing that you will need to keep track of player and monster depth.
In the end I would say that a druid would be most effective. Their weather based casting and ability to interactive with the sea wildlife will come in quite handy.
A lot of the time you want to avoid heavy armored characters in this kind of campaign since the impact on their swimming and balancing capabilities can be crippling. As well you likely won't be doing daily ship duties in your Full Plate and spending several minutes trying to get into armor will be a hassle. Armored coat can be useful as a quick emergency armor since it can be donned with a move action.
I was actually thinking about this earlier when a GM friend of mine wanted to talk to me about a possible ocean/pirate campaign he wanted to do in the future.
I tried looking up what kind of penalties to swim checks you'd have for wearing armor while trying to swim (didn't find much on the SRD, unless it's listed somewhere else besides the Swim skill page), but one thing I really didn't find and really wanted to find was how much weight you could carry before you started to sink and what kind of swim checks you'd need to make to resist sinking (and if you did start sinking, how fast did you sink).
Perhaps an Undine Adept Druid?
You get a swim speed, at 2nd level (or sooner with an alternative racial trait) you get the ability to breath under water and of course you still get a lot of the druid goodness.
Just an opinion though, can't honestly say I've played one before, just saw it and thought that this is probably what I'd play if I was to be around water a lot.
Thanks for the replies. I will look at the stuff that was mentioned. I will check again in the morning to see if there were any subsequent replies. Thanks again!
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Aquatic Druid-Decent archetype
A Fighter-I never run into a situation where these aren't a good option.
Another Cleric- One of you take regular channeling, the other some sort of Alternate channeling.
Inquisitor- Pretty good if you can swing it with the group to pick up a teamwork feat or two.
Bard- Inspire competence could be useful during those storms you are bound to run into.
Gunslinger- Keep the powder dry, and maybe get yourself a cannon on the ship.
Just kinda pick one and make yourself good at a niche for the group. Usually as long as you don't screw up completely you will be able to do something for the group.
Inquisitor/Druid or Cleric with the frog domain
All,
As a general question, what classes make good options for pirate or ocean campaigns?
As a more specific question, in an ocean/pirate campaign, what other class would compliment a ranger, cleric, wizard and rogue in an ocean/pirate setting?
But really, I'm just wondering about more general thoughts, since I dont know for sure that the 4 I mentioned would actually be used. Thats just a "best guess" on what others in the group might do.
So I am just looking for general opinions too.
Thanks!
Druid is a good choice, as others have said. I'll also recommend the Barbarian. See if you can survive being shot out of a cannon. Hew the masts of enemy ships. Partay.
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Rogue 6/Horizon Walker 10/Whatever 4
Level 1 take endurance, Every rogue talent should be terrain mastery, every feat from level 3+ should be extra rogue talent(terrain mastery). Your first two Terrain Dominance's should be aquatic and urban (all humanoids).
That's only if you want to decimate nearly every relevant skill and have massive damage output from level 9+. Before level 9 it will be pretty rough with the exception of the favored terrain skills being ridiculous.
This build works anytime you know the exact environment that your campaign will be taking place in. It is a really cheesy build and I would never actually play it 100% as written. Though if you did take it as written you would definitely negate most of the rogue's hitting problems.
If you go 10 rogue/10 walker, at level 20 against creatures that are from your highest favored terrain bonus you have +44 to hit/damage, +44 Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival. While within your highest favored terrain you get +44 on Initiative, Knowledge (geography), Perception, Stealth, and Survival. Boots of Friendly Terrain will increase these bonuses by another +2 as well. These are also untyped bonuses, so that's nice.
Here is a fun link to a built Oterisk did close to a year ago. It's the Greatest Sailor in the World. Basically you have an obscene profession sailing, perception, initiative, and stealth while you're on the water.
It's a great build until the GM decides to up the difficulty curve to challenge this one player and ends up killing the rest of the group. My two cents, do not do this build unless everyone else in the group is going to be doing roughly the same level of Power.
freebooter ranger.
Any class you can play out of heavy armor, I suppose. Since it seems your spellcasting needs are pretty well covered, my first thought was barbarian, who can get a swim speed. Your ranger, rogue and cleric can all do melee, but you really don't have a center on your denefsive line, so to speak. Maybe its not neccessary for the campaign though.
I think an Oracle with the Waves mystery looks cool ... I guess i can add that to the list, or it could be considered something to do instead of Cleric. None of us have actually played an Oracle, so not sure how they compare to Clerics.
Anyway, we try to avoid having more than 2 full casters and the Wizard is almost a certainty, so the Cleric slot would be Cleric, Oracle, Druid or Witch.
Anyway, thanks for the replies!
Also, fighter with enough armor training that that one trait
Btw, for Barbarians or other characters whro areoften buit to udez two handed weapons, what are realistic weapons on a saiing ship? I mean, is a two handed sword out of the question? What weapons DO work for melee barbarians in ocean/pirate adventures
Thanks!
In our Skull and Shackles campaign the two classes that have made a huge difference are the Bard and the Master Summoner.
The Bard for obvious reasons, to compliment the rest of the party, serve as a secondary source of healing and provide the party's 'face'.
The Master Summoner on the other hand served 3 valuable roles: the first was his ability to summon creatures who could fight and thrive in an aquatic environment. While others struggled in fights underwater, his water elementals often made the difference, as did his air elementals in ship-to-ship combat and his earth elementals ashore. Secondly, with an eidolon who can fly, breathe underwater, see in the dark and communicate telepathically, there simply was no better scout whether looking for ships to attack or warning of underwater threats like shoals or sahuagin. Finally, the Master Summoner's spell list has a lot of useful spells (such as Water Breathing, Fly and Teleport) that will free up the wizard to focus on less utilitarian options.
I could REALLY tell you some stories about what a game-changing influence he has had over the campaign thus far. If you have any questions on a well-built sea-faring Master Summoner just let me know.
Btw, for Barbarians or other characters whro areoften buit to udez two handed weapons, what are realistic weapons on a saiing ship? I mean, is a two handed sword out of the question? What weapons DO work for melee barbarians in ocean/pirate adventures
Thanks!
We also have a Barbarian as part of our crew - an Invulnerable Rager - and his high damage resistance has gone a long way towards making armor unnecessary which is a very good thing at sea. Again, if you need some advice on pursuing that particular build I'd be happy to help.
Any weapon would technically work fine, but ours uses a boarding pike as a reach weapon - remember that only piercing weapons deal full normal damage underwater, so you want to take that into account when building a character.
Our other melee type is a Rogue and she uses the Knife Master and Scout archetypes. Spring Attack+Sneak Attack is remarkably effective when you have a reach-wielding Barbarian to hide behind...
EDIT - FWIW, the group is actually thus:
Kitsune Bard (Lotus Geisha), Ship's captain
Half-Elven Master Summoner, Ship's Pilot and Bosun
Human Unbreakable Fighter/Invulnerable Rager & Urban Barbarian, Master-at-Arms
Elven Knife Master & Scout, Ship's Quartermaster and Master of Coin
Thanks for the additional replies. I did think of one more question.
How do Lawful Good characters fit into pirate/ocean games? Especially something like Skull & Shackles, where the characters may very well take up some piracy themselves, out of necessity?
I feel confident that Paladins would have it rough due to their code, but it seems that Lawful Good characters would have issues too, generally.
Any thoughts on that aspect?
Thanks!
Thanks for the additional replies. I did think of one more question.
How do Lawful Good characters fit into pirate/ocean games? Especially something like Skull & Shackles, where the characters may very well take up some piracy themselves, out of necessity?
I feel confident that Paladins would have it rough due to their code, but it seems that Lawful Good characters would have issues too, generally.
Any thoughts on that aspect?
Thanks!
If the goal is piracy absolutely there would be difficulties for Lawful characters, though not necessarily evil ones. Characters could be privateers given charter by one government to attack the shipping of another, for instance. In our Skull n Shackles campaign we made it known that any ship who surrendered would be given the 'Maiden's Promise' (also the name of our flagship), which means no one would come to harm nor would the ship - cargo would taken and only the captain would be seized for ransom; the rest of the crew and officers could sail on without any danger to themselves... except slavers - slave ships we freed and then burned to the waterline. We considered ourselves chaotic neutral but with our own code and rules that we lived by.
More like guidelines, really. :-P
Characters could also be good aligned and be at sea trying to stop pirates just as they might be trying to stop bandits on land. An entire campaign could easily be written around such adventures.
Thanks for the replies. I asked about the LG because the player who will prob play a ranger likes Erastil, who is Lawful Good.
Gracias, all!
Summoner would be good.
Alchemist would be good.
Pistol Gunslinger could be fun.
I would avoid LG in a pirate campaign. CG can work as a Robin Hood type.
Personally I would avoid an Aquatic Pet. I haven't played S&S but if you have alot of land time then your pet is useless.
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Clerics are not out of the question
Animal domain and boon companion for a flying or swimming animal
Weather or air for wind powers
Spells like command to be a forcefull captain
Divination to find treasure
Create booze and food/water (I see a few options)
Summons and fire spells to take out other ships
Even create undead crew
Have a decent int and be human taking fast learner at 1st so you can take more skills, throw in the peg leg trait for awesomeness.
Priest of Gozreh
Cleric 6
Domains: wind and animal
Str 10--@6-10
Dx 8(-2)----8
Con 14(5)---14
Int 14(5)----14
Wis 15(7)----18
Chr 14(5)---14
BAB +4
HP 11+(5*8) 51
Fort 5 +2+1 trait
Rex 2+-1
Will 5+4
Traits
peg leg
Child of nature
Feats
Human: fast learner
1: augment summoning
3: Selective channeler
5: Boon companion
Skill ranks (5per level)
Knowledge Religion 5
Nature 2 (+1trait) (class skill)
Survival 3 (class skill) (+2 food water)
Profession(sailor) 2
K(geography) 1
Swim 4
Climb 1
Perception 6
Diplomacy 1
Acrobatics 3
Perform (tall tale) 1
Handel animal 1
Special:
Wind Blast (Su): As a standard action, you can unleash a blast of air in a 30-foot line. Make a combat maneuver check against each creature in the line, using your caster level as your base attack bonus and your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier. Treat the results as a bull rush attempt. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Electricity Resistance (Ex): At 6th level, you gain resist electricity 10. This resistance increases to 20 at 12th level. At 20th level, you gain immunity to electricity.
Domain Spells: 1st—whispering wind 2nd—wind wall, 3rd—gaseous form, 4th—air walk, 5th—control winds, 6th—wind walk, 7th—elemental body IV (air only), 8th—whirlwind, 9th—winds of vengeance
Speak with Animals (Sp): You can speak with animals, as per the spell, for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + your cleric level.
Animal Companion (Ex): At 4th level, you gain the service of an animal companion. Your effective druid level for this animal companion is equal to your cleric level – 3. (Druids who take this ability through their nature bond class feature use their druid level – 3 to determine the abilities of their animal companions).
Domain Spells: 1st—calm animals, 2nd—hold animal, 3rd—dominate animal, 4th—summon nature's ally IV (animals only), 5th—beast shape III (animals only), 6th—antilife shell, 7th—animal shapes, 8th—summon nature's ally VIII (animals only), 9th—shapechange.
Animal companion (Roc)
Cool cleric. I personally kinda hate Gozreh, but still ... cool cleric. I would probably do Feather and Wind if possible myself, not so much to get the perception bonus (though that rocks) but to get the domain access to Feather Fall, Fly and Mass Fly.