They recruited Selissa!? That's wonderful!
My crew, consisting of
Captain Firix Drakethorn, 1/2 Drow cavalier/bard, bastard son of Iron Bert Smythee (Buccaneer's Blood campaign trait);
Pilot Davor the Red, 1/2 Orc monk, bastard son of Iron Bert Sythee(also Buccaneer's Blood campaign trait - works for me, helped tie in Tidewater Rock that much more);
Master Artilerist Lionel Ulyses Caleb Killick, 1/2ling rogue/alchemist; and
Cook's Mate and Ship Incinerator Razmira (no known relation to Razmir but may well catch his eye...), suli-jann sorceress,
have recently taken on a new hero,
Rigger, Benzaragi, Mwangi 1/2-elf fighter, who left behind his wife and 5 kids to enlist.
They picked him up in Jula when they returned Barefoot Samms Toppin to her home turf and consequently involved themselves in a nightmarish mystery there.
(I plugged in the module From Shore to Sea, having the gillfolk community of Blackcove at the base of the cliffs of Jula. I substituted Gerlash the sorceror for Paolo Toppin, Samms' husband. When Samms disappeared at sea, Paolo mistook her as the first of Jula humans to succumb to a growing desire to visit the mystical island of Nal Kashel. When he went to investigate, he got snared into the role played by Gerlash.)
Partway through volume 2, their next stop is Ilizamagorti, on the return trip to Tidewater Rock.
Our first session was tonight, and our party consists of:
CN Halfling Cavalier (Daring Champion) - Future Captain
LN Human Gunslinger (Mysterious Stranger) - Future Master Gunner
NE Hobgoblin Kineticist (Aether) - Future Quartermaster
CE Tiefling Witch (Bouda, Scarred Witch Doctor, Sea Witch) Future Bosun
Yes, shenanigans have been had with the Witch.
N Human Water Kineticist
NG Halfling Brawler (mutagenic brawler)
N Human mesmerist
CG Human swashbuckler
Magenta - N female Elf Water Witch
Tharak - CN male Half-Orc Shark Shaman Druid
Nevari - NE female Tiefling Pirate Rogue
Zhamashah ("Smasher") - CN male Half-Orc Corsair Fighter
An all non-human gang of scallywags...
They have just taken the "Devil's Due" (A Chelish renamed version of the "Man's Promise") and this week will be shipwrecked at Bonewrack Isle.
The first five sessions were a bit dodgy as the PCs hated being press-ganged, and thought they could arrange a mutiny really quickly to take the Wormwood... .
Sandara managed to talk them out of it, but thanks to their lack of "respect" for Scourge and Plugg they already had a keelhauling (Tharak)... but he easily survived.
I added a side-trek to a tiny atoll (to get more fresh fruit) to get them off the Wormwood and cool things down a bit. Included some Cyclopean ruins where pirates had hidden a bit of treasure.
This was kinda added on the fly, but the pirate loot has since become part of a revised story...
It will turn out that the treasure belonged to Whalebone Pilk, so he and his ghost ship will come looking for the PCs later... .
I was thinking of changing Tidewater Rock to be Whalebone's old fortress, and have the "lady" there be his now-vampiric wife, with more undead (wights) as her guards... but still a bit sketchy on details.
Also... I keep having this crazy idea that Sandara is actually an aspect/avatar of Besmara... but not sure what impact that might have or where I will go with it.
Thoughts?
*snip*
The party is now level 6, on their way to Mancatcher Cove after defeating Captain Inkskin. Further developments:
Jazi's player left the group over some drama issues (bleh), and so Jazi retired to Senghor to work as a scholar. She has been replaced by:
Zadia (CG FM Merfolk Sorcerer). A Strongtail merfolk from a merfolk tribe more closely linked to sea snakes than fish (the player wanted to use a snakegirl-style lamia as his character art), Zadia was sent out on a scouting mission after her tribe noticed the increased aggression of the area's Sahuagin. She met the party when they came upon a fishing vessel that had been attacked by the sahuagin, and in the aftermath of the fight she agreed to work with them.
In addition, they picked up a second ship (an Aspis Consortium schooner that chased them out of Bloodcove after some mischief they pulled in the city), which they have put Sandara in command of with Rosie Cusswell as her first mate.
They got their infamy up enough that I let them sequence break a little bit and visit Port Peril for the first couple events of Tempest Rising before triggering the attack on Tidewater Rock and the assault on Mancatcher Cove. In the process they managed to catch Caulky Taroon and convinced her to join them, and she is now serving as the second mate on board the Owlbear's Roost.
They also took Isabella Locke alive, and found and removed the poison spine from her mouth. They're holding her prisoner with the intention of eventually social-fuing her into redemption.
My Current Group, lvl 4 as of today for the game I am running has:
"Captain"
Eridyan - 1/2 Sea Elf: Sea Singer Bard
Amaranthe Koizumi - A Kitsune from Tian: 1/3 Kitsune Trickster/Witch
Edril Durlan - Absalom Human: Unchained Rogue
"Arch Duke of Neck punching"
Finbar Grubbs - Human from the sodden lands: Brawler
(he wears a sash stating this title that he crocheted)
Gruff Frenzybeard - Dwarf: Slayer
Seyouma - 1/2 Orc: Saurian Shaman(Druid)
This group is a really light in the ranged combat department so we shall see how this hurts them going forward. I am sure that it will pose a problem for certain encounters.
We'll be starting in January, with me GMing and three players/five PCs:
Jackie Ketch, great-granddaughter of Molryn Hangtree, with the Buccaneer's Blood trait; MIXED blood Human, primarily Chelaxian ("Heinz 57 Varieties"). Swashbuckler (Inspired Blade archetype).
Masika, female Suli-Jann Sorceress with the Seaborn (Wildblood Aquatic) bloodline; Ship's Surgeon trait.
Marco Selachii (heh; Google that last name...), male Skinwalker (wereshark-kin) Fighter; will be Master Gunner eventually. Ilizmagorti Native trait.
Andrei Codrescu, male Varisian Human, Cleric of Cayden Cailean, originally from Riddleport (his most recent memories of home involved the tail-end of our aborted [but GM'ed happy ending] Second Darkness campaign). Barroom Talespinner trait.
[to be named soon, hopefully ;)] male Rogue, patterned strongly after Geoffrey Holder's character in Swashbuckler (psst! It's available on DVD from Amazon! fun pirate movie). Not sure of race, campaign trait, possible archetype, etc. yet, but he likes knives. Lots and lots of knives (mainly because yeah, only the King has gunpowder weapons). ;->
Should be interesting... :D
LB
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OK I am starting the AP again with another table of PC's.
I have a 6 player game so I will have to adjust some of the encounters to account for the amount of players.
SO here is the player mix:
1 Gnome druid(storm,subdomain:wind)
1 Gnome alchemist
1 Gnome sorcerer
1 Half elf Witch(sea)
1 Half elf Magus
1 Human Ranger (Favorite enemy:animals)
Yep, I got 3 players playing gnomes...but I get the token Human.
We are actually almost to the Chapter 2:Man Promise.
There have been alot of whipping and punishments, and making some strange friends on the ship.
Played through with:
Mr. Grimm - hobgoblin rogue/wizard who used a whip and spells to control the battlefield.
Wharf - Orc barbarian/nature oracle/rage prophet with his pet flying dinosaur
Ebony - minor drow cleric of urgothoa raised mr. Plugg as a skeleton champion after killing him. Kept his corpse for numerous levels until she was high enough.
Ivory - Dhampir bard/gunslinger who shot everything and asked questions later.
So many fond memories.
We're next to start with Island of the Empty Eyes and our party is:
-Kiani "the Blue", Undine Watersinger Bard, the captain
-Fox "Zorro" Clayton, Human Inspired Blade Swashbuckler
-Darren "Mom" Alistair, Human Aquatic Sorcerer
-And as a bonus, the Sandara Quinn we all know and love, Human Cleric XD
We're next to start with Island of the Empty Eyes and our party is:
-Kiani "the Blue", Undine Watersinger Bard, the captain
-Fox "Zorro" Clayton, Human Inspired Blade Swashbuckler
-Darren "Mom" Alistair, Human Aquatic Sorcerer
-And as a bonus, the Sandara "The Voice of Reason" (or not) Quinn we all know and love, Human Cleric XD
And we have also managed to recruit Isabella "Inkskin" Locke, Caulky "No witty name" Tarroon, Corlan "The Crow" and... a Grindylow without name that Fishguts is mentoring into being a cook!
Selissa has found her people, so she has just left us. I am sure she will miss us. We will do.
Sandara is a very special voice of the reason...
The original AP suggests playing Sandara as «the voice of the reason» to keep characters from doing something stupid or making the mutiny too soon. My players were cautious enough, so my Sandara ended being more of a inciter. When I allowed my players to check some parts of the book after having GMed it, they found hilarious that Sandara was supposed to be the voice of the reason and will never let me forget it xD
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Captain Mez (surname up to me as the GM), is a human Bard (sea singer) 4. He's a pure face, and adopted Pluck the Parrot as a familiar on reaching L2. He almost can't fail checks to sell plunder and increase the party's infamy. He's also almost entirely responsible for the party turning every NPC on the Wormwood (except the hostile Conchobhar) friendly prior to day 17, making the eventual mutiny way too easy (but still a lot of fun).
First Mate Nuk, a half-orc Brawler 4, is an escaped slave interested in piracy...as long as there are no slaves. Made for an interesting intra-party conflict when I ran them through the Legendary Games AP Plug-In, "Spices and Flesh" and they captured a ship full of slaves. The rest of the party decided it was a great idea to sell the slaves to Shayonna without telling Nuk. He eventually agreed to the sale, but punched Capt. Mez in the face afterwards.
Carpenter/Surgeon Qouli, a custom dhampir/undine Oracle of Urgathoa 4. Qouli doesn't care about being a pirate, he just wants to recruit more followers to Urgathoa's cause. He creates skeletons to keep in the ship's bilge for use as mobile trap finders, when necessary, because the party doesn't have a rogue. He rarely speaks outside of combat, and is covered in tattoos, including a face covering tattoo of Urgathoa's unholy symbol. In combat, he screams nearly nonstop in Abyssal.
Master at Arms Kaerius, a gillman Swashbuckler 4, he wants nothing more than to be a pirate ship captain. He lobbied hard to have the party elect him captain after the mutiny, but was rejected in favor of Mez. He's been quietly resentful of this ever since, and has indicated he's not opposed to finding some way to subtly cause or allow Mez's death so he can become captain. Also, he's a gillman, and I have several ideas on ways to work an aboleth or two into the game to really screw up his life.
Gunnery Master Jayne Cobb, a human Gunslinger (musket master) 4, has an unhealthy attachment to his musket, Vera (mechanically via "Attached' drawback). He's become a pirate for an excuse to shoot things with Vera. And to shoot people with Vera. And to sleep in a hammock with Vera. And to sail the Shackles with Vera. Really, he just wants to do everything with Vera, the piracy is just a fun way to get more shiny, Cap'n.
No longer in the party:
Chief Rigger Khanu, a vanaran Rogue 3, is a mischievous jerk who likes nothing better than to play two people off one another until one of them snaps. One of his first acts aboard the Wormwood was to steal a fan from Aretta and plant it in Conchobhar's footlocker, resulting in the gnome being flogged for theft. He decided to do this after badly failing his initial influence check against Conchobhar and turning him hostile. He then made it his mission to keep Conchobhar hostile, taunting him after another PC would improve his attitude. After the first few sessions, Khanu's player had to drop out of the campaign. The party enjoyed the character so much, though, we kept him in the crew as an NPC.
In my group Sandara couldn't be the voice of anything after drowning in the grindylow cave. Eventually one of my players made the party travel to Besmaras Throne asking for a resurrection and they offered to do so (with a very nice discount) once he pleased Besmara by becoming a pirate lord.
I feel they could have needed a voice of reason as they had vastly different views on some topics and they got to a point where one good-aligned PC was basically preparing a mutinity against the new (PC) captain as he started to sacrifice his opponents to Besmara in order to raise his infamy score, but it all turned out well in the end.
Interestingly enough Shivikah (the ex-slave trader) filled some of her role. I played her a pretty honest and pragmatic person who openly addmited she only stopped trading with slaves because she couldn't compete with the locals at see and somehow she still became best friends with the good aligned PC.
My party consists of an incredible confident human daring champion cavalier, who is the captain of the ship and recently became member of the pirate lords. He is all for the pirate life and is already thinking about how to get rid of the current hurricane king.
The good aligned PC he would regularly clash with in the past (until they worked things out) is a catfolk psychic. She just wants to save a lost brother from a pirate lord and believes joining another crew is the best way to reach him. She is the navigator of the ship.
The first mate is a human shaman, who fell in love with Sandara early on and suffered from a bit of a depression until he recently managed to get her revived. He also took a crafting feat, which is one of the reasons he didn't became the navigator despite being a very talented sailor as well.
The last PC is a rather ugly monkey goblin (unchained) rogue with absurdly high acrobatics, climb and escape artist skills, who freely roams around any battlefield and is next to impossible to pin down.
They seem like a nice party, indeed. We don't have any good aligned characters, the swashbuckler is TN and the others all CN and living up to it.
Our Shivikah is a minotaur xD.
I've translated my S&S to Dragonlance setting and most of the action takes place at the Blood Sea instead of the Shackles.
The ressult is that our Sandara follows a CE goddess!
We're next to start with Island of the Empty Eyes and our party is:
-Kiani "the Blue", Undine Watersinger Bard, the captain
-Fox "Zorro" Clayton, Human Inspired Blade Swashbuckler
-Darren "Mom" Alistair, Human Aquatic Sorcerer
-And as a bonus, the Sandara "The Voice of Reason" (or not) Quinn we all know and love, Human Cleric XDAnd we have also managed to recruit Isabella "Inkskin" Locke, Caulky "No witty name" Tarroon, Corlan "The Crow" and... a Grindylow without name that Fishguts is mentoring into being a cook!
Selissa has found her people, so she has just left us. I am sure she will miss us. We will do.
Now they have recruited Ederleigh Baines from the Island of the Empty Eyes, who I made a Hexcrafter Magus as I turned Bikendi to a Witch instead of a Wizard.
The Grindylow is still with them and he's called Cookie to honor the murlock cook from WoW.And they have Peppery, Habbly and Grok back with them!
The group is growing!
A bit of backstory before I get into the crew. I started the game as a play-by-post on the GitP forums, with a plan to use one of the homebrew naval systems on this very messageboard so that all of the PCs had a role in ship to ship fights. I tinkered with the system so that there would be 5 roles instead of 4, to account for a slightly larger party, but I liked so many of the applications that I made a radical decision. I chose 8 players to be Wormwood conscripts, and I told all of the applicants that I was going to cull them down over time, finding dramatically appropriate times throughout the first module to kill 3 off. It worked quite well, with most of the player deaths having major impacts on the story. We are powering through Raiders of the Fever Sea right now, with my chosen 5 ready to fill the roles aboard the ship that they've grown into over the first few levels of role playing and gameplay. They're about to take off back into open waters, where the AP's sandbox really hits its stride.
Without further ado, the crew of the newly squibbed Wyrmborn!
- Catrina Bagrid, CN Female Gunslinger (Buccaneer) / Swashbuckler (Picaroon). Daring, deadly, and seductive, she's a young girl with a big role to fill. As the ship's captain, she occupies the Bosun role in naval combats, commanding the whole crew and directing naval maneuvers.
- Lodan Tanner (really Lodan Wolfe), N Male Rogue (Knife Master), VMC Bard. Equally charismatic, with a penchant for tall tales and perennially underestimated. He is the Wyrmborn's first mate, and in naval combats he will be the Shantyman, supporting crew actions and demoralizing the enemy.
- Kana, N Female Druid. A budding adept in storm magic and at home on the sea, she has a dark past and is the taciturn pilot at the ship's helm. She also acts as the Pilot during ship to ship fights, pulling off crazy stunts and controlling the ship itself.
- Feuryon (Fury), N Male Nagaji Barbarian (Scarred Rager). A brutal lizard galley slave, Fury is the hulking sailor and consummate warrior of the group, trading blows with the worst monsters on the sea. He is the Sea Dog, the one who leads boarding parties and is always the first over to the enemy ship.
- Thysh, CG Female Gnome Oracle (Dual-Cursed). Blessed with divine magic, she has traveled the world and fallen in with disreputable pirates, but she is loyal to her crew. She is taking on the role of the Wyrmborn's quartermaster and resident alchemist, and is going to grow into the role of Master Gunner, commanding the siege crew.
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We just finished our second session of Skulls & Shackles: The Wormwood Mutiny part 1. Afraid of spoilers, so I haven't read any other posts in this thread.
The party consists of.
“Wild-cat” Aslan al-Bahair: Male CN Human Corsair 2 (3rd party class)
Swore to lawlessness after abiding the law kept his family in poverty. Was arrested, but managed to escape his hometown. As a wanted man, he took to the sees and has never looked back. Already a crewmember at the Wormwood and serves as the second steerman. In charge of the captives. Fights with a falcion.
Zannoch: Male CN Ratfolk Sorcerer 2 (Sage archetype)
A white-furred ratfolk from the slums of Absalom. Autodidact in magic, he set out into the world to learn more. Was eventually captured and brought onto the Wormwood, where he's been serving as the chef's assistant.
Lima Coffeepot: Female CN Halfling Unchained Rogue 2 (Pirate archetype - Allowed by GM)
An ill-tempered, but calculative and scheming woman, already experienced in the life at sea. Frequently runs her mouth (and her blades) if something doesn't sit right with her and hasn't been afraid to take on the higher ranked, even if they obviously out-power her. Dual wields a rapier and a dagger.
Flynn Rollins: Male CN Kitsune Swashbuckler (Inspired Blade) 1/Barbarian (Serene Barbarian/Invulnerable Rager) 1
An enthusiastic and optimistic, but also naive and childish street kid from Neruma who'm through no fault of his own, needed to flee his town and hide in the wilderness. Here, he was discovered by a hermit swordmaster, who had fled her position as a Minkaian military officer. She taught him the mindful and precise art of the sword. Fights with a Jian (In name only, the build works as normal)
Ushara Ekujae: Female NE Elf Oracle of bones 2
An elf who was lived a long life of over a hundred years. For a large portion of this life, she lived in slavery and abuse and has since forgotten a lot about her past. She has served at the sea before, among various other odd jobs and sees piracy as a natural way of yielding the same destruction back at the world that she was once the victim of herself. Radiates an aura of unnerve among most people and animals due to her creepy elven looks and withered body.
Sounds like an interesting party! Good luck with your game!
I get that you are a player, not the GM. Which one is your character?
Sounds like an interesting party! Good luck with your game!
I get that you are a player, not the GM. Which one is your character?
That is correct!
I'm playing the Kitsune Swash/Barb. I'm having a lot of fun playing him.
I'm also very pleased with the party and the group that I'm in. We've gotten by the first two sessions with pretty much zero meta-gaming, after a discussion we had about not losing the "role" in role play. Everyone has managed to bring something interesting to the table with colorful backstories (They are all pretty abridged here, I felt more comfortable relaying the details of my own character's bio) and surprisingly consistent characterization. We're all fairly new players, and I'm liking this development a lot, giving this campaign a motivating start.
I have to give a shout out to the player behind the Halfling rogue, who'm insisted that her character could be so moody that she had to have a negative charisma score, which is uncommon among halflings. She managed to throw the GM off guard when she suddenly decided to roll initiative against one of the sadistic higher-ups on board after he gave her her first reprimande. It ended with her rapier being thrown over board as punishment, after a severe beating which almost killed her. True to character, she swears vengeance for her humiliation and begins to plot against them.
The GM actually controls the Elf Oracle, and has given a very eerie performance with her up to this point.
All in all, I think it's going to be a fun AP.
Kitsune swashbuckler and inspired blade! One of my players wanted to play a kitsune swashbuckler but was having a hard time coming with an interesting backstory. He had many ideas but any of them pleased him. So he finally came out with a great character concept for the same character build but being human instead of kitsune.
As a joke, he named the character Fox.
I'm right now writing the story of my campaign on a campaign journal and telling about his inability to make successful Fort and Will saves. Dice hated him.
Kitsune swashbuckler and inspired blade! One of my players wanted to play a kitsune swashbuckler but was having a hard time coming with an interesting backstory. He had many ideas but any of them pleased him. So he finally came out with a great character concept for the same character build but being human instead of kitsune.
As a joke, he named the character Fox.
I'm right now writing the story of my campaign on a campaign journal and telling about his inability to make successful Fort and Will saves. Dice hated him.
Aww! He needs charmed life! And possibly a few traits?
I went for the Kitsune alternate racial trait "shifting mind" which boosts Will saves by +2 and allows you one reroll per day. My Barbarian lvl 2 Dip (And future multiclass beyond Swashbuckler 5) Will help me out with fort saves.
Plus Serene Barbarian "rage" boosts Dex & Wis and gives +2 to all saves. It seems too perfect, and I would have been scared even suggesting the archetype if it hadn't been for our GM already allowing 3d party features to be used by the other players, and his general habit of beefing up the difficulty on most of the campaign encounters, giving enemies new classes than they originally possessed and so forth.
He needs to stop rolling poorly. He uses cHarmed Life and the Bard has Saving Finale, what helps a lot. He has Iron Will too... also 9 as his WIS score I must say.
But his main flaw is his poor dice rolling. He's been missing at least 1 attack each turn when he could only miss hits rolling a natural 1 (he has impressive Dex and a Bard buffing him, so most of his hits only miss with a 1).
He was going to go for that trait when he was kitsune, but it was left out when he went human.
Anyway the character has done consistently good during all the AP but his failed saves became a recurring joke, specially after he got confused/insane so many times. Once he had to be tied to his bed for a whole day because they couldn't heal him from insanity until the next day and he'd keep randomly harming himself or other people. (I want so bad to reach that point on my campaign journal to write that event down)
He needs to stop rolling poorly. He uses cHarmed Life and the Bard has Saving Finale, what helps a lot. He has Iron Will too... also 9 as his WIS score I must say.
But his main flaw is his poor dice rolling. He's been missing at least 1 attack each turn when he could only miss hits rolling a natural 1 (he has impressive Dex and a Bard buffing him, so most of his hits only miss with a 1).
He was going to go for that trait when he was kitsune, but it was left out when he went human.
Anyway the character has done consistently good during all the AP but his failed saves became a recurring joke, specially after he got confused/insane so many times. Once he had to be tied to his bed for a whole day because they couldn't heal him from insanity until the next day and he'd keep randomly harming himself or other people. (I want so bad to reach that point on my campaign journal to write that event down)
A campaign journal sounds like a fun thing to write. Maybe I should suggest one to the group and have us begin writing one, now that we're still early in the game?
I'd almost be worried that your swashbuckler had an unbalanced d20 - but it seems like it's just a comical coincidence if it unfortunately only happened during saves.
He didn't. We all rolled the same dice. And when he played a magus for a time (I allowed him to use another character for a few sessions because he wanted to) the magus had impressive rolls.
If you want to write it down go for it! I'm having fun writing mine. I'd read yours. I like seeing how different can the same AP be with different groups.
This is my campaign journal, I try not to reveal further plots in advance, but there can be spoilers, so if you want to read it I suggest reading each part after you played the whole chapter.
If you decide to write the journal please tell me, I'd gladly read it.
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Our party is captain by Sandara (who was voted captain over my PC by a mere 2 votes (owlbear doesn't understand how voting works)
the PCs
Erkos Marasgift, the ship's surgeon, and a demonspawn tiefling. He is the adopted son of a rather well known Free Captain called Fera Coldwave and grew up on his ship called the Lady's Gift. He is an oracle, and many have noted that he is both a kind and loving man and completely ruthless if someone has commited a crime that he disapproves of (slaving is one of the things that really pisses him off. There are a few others but bringing them up might offend some people). He's in a non-exclusive relationship with Sandara
Qouvan is a halfling sorcerer with a dragon bloodline, known for her greed and dislike of people. And always being covered in electricity. She keeps her emotions to herself. She's our boatswain.
Pali is our navigator, he's a hedonistic ratfolk wizard who really enjoys money and booze. He's rather brilliant and extremely skilled in teleportation.
Murch the Magnificent and Meldesome, master of all riggings, sails, knots, barnacle removal and disposer of questionable foodstuffs. (he will get more titles as time goes on, keeps him happy) He's a monkey goblin and the only PC who wasn't kidnapped so much as fell asleep after eating an entire barrel of pickled fish. He's kinda the ship's mascot.
Aethar is a half-orc bloodrager. He's very scary, and very good at beating people up. He's our quartermaster. Doesn't talk much though.
Ruben, a human dervish dancer bard. He's the ship's bard, and is not allowed to help in the kitchen at all whatsovever.
NPCs and backup characters
Asara- Aasimar bard, a very kind and gentle soul who was the target of abuse for several of the bad NPCs. Doesn't really fit in well on a pirate ship, since she is NG and worships a LG deity. May or may not have perished the day before the mutniy. (depending on if I need to bring her in).
Tarn- Nagaji brawler, one of Erkos' lovers (dating the GM is fun). Big guy, very quiet. Never suffered much abuse at the hands of the former officers because it was well known that he could likely kick the asses of anyone on the ship excpet Harrigan.
As of yet unnamed tiefling backup character. Asuraspawn, a hemaphorditic person who really enjoys trolling people. Kinda a dick and really does embrace their tiefling nature. Not quite to the point of being evil, but they just really like seeing people squirm. (and I'm using the term hermaphordite here biologically they have complete male and female organs and can both father and bear offspring (and might even be able to self-fertlize). The term is offensive when used with intersex humans. But tieflings are not humans or humanoid.)
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Captain Mez (surname up to me as the GM), is a human Bard (sea singer) 4. He's a pure face, and adopted Pluck the Parrot as a familiar on reaching L2. He almost can't fail checks to sell plunder and increase the party's infamy. He's also almost entirely responsible for the party turning every NPC on the Wormwood (except the hostile Conchobhar) friendly prior to day 17, making the eventual mutiny way too easy (but still a lot of fun).
First Mate Nuk, a half-orc Brawler 4, is an escaped slave interested in piracy...as long as there are no slaves. Made for an interesting intra-party conflict when I ran them through the Legendary Games AP Plug-In, "Spices and Flesh" and they captured a ship full of slaves. The rest of the party decided it was a great idea to sell the slaves to Shayonna without telling Nuk. He eventually agreed to the sale, but punched Capt. Mez in the face afterwards.
Carpenter/Surgeon Qouli, a custom dhampir/undine Oracle of Urgathoa 4. Qouli doesn't care about being a pirate, he just wants to recruit more followers to Urgathoa's cause. He creates skeletons to keep in the ship's bilge for use as mobile trap finders, when necessary, because the party doesn't have a rogue. He rarely speaks outside of combat, and is covered in tattoos, including a face covering tattoo of Urgathoa's unholy symbol. In combat, he screams nearly nonstop in Abyssal.
Master at Arms Kaerius, a gillman Swashbuckler 4, he wants nothing more than to be a pirate ship captain. He lobbied hard to have the party elect him captain after the mutiny, but was rejected in favor of Mez. He's been quietly resentful of this ever since, and has indicated he's not opposed to finding some way to subtly cause or allow Mez's death so he can become captain. Also, he's a gillman, and I have several ideas on ways to work an aboleth or two into the game to really screw up his life.
Gunnery Master Jayne Cobb, a human Gunslinger (musket master) 4, has an unhealthy attachment to his musket, Vera (mechanically via "Attached'...
UPDATE 7 Months later...
Mez Tarin, Captain; Bard (sea singer) 7. Still the face and ultimate skill monkey. Aside from his player rolling an inordinate amount of ones, Mez handles Infamy checks and selling plunder like a boss.
Nuk, first mate; Brawler 7. He still hates slavers, and recently assisted the party in killing his former owner.
Qouli, carpenter/surgeon; Oracle of Bones (Urgathoa) 7. Qouli has started interacting with the crew more. He picked up a lesser reach metamagic rod so he can animate skeletons during combat. He recently animated a marsh giant (Fishpork) as a skeleton. Unfortunately, he then lost Fishpork in the next combat.
Reynard, Sailing Master; human (Chelaxian) Wizard (evoker) 7. Reynard is a former member of the Chelaxian Imperial Navy who deserted after his family was killed during an attempt to infiltrate Sargava with loyal Imperial citizens. The actual attack that killed his family was carried out by Harrigan, so he was more than happy to join the party.
Jayne, Master Gunner; Gunslinger (musket master) 7. Jayne is currently "mostly dead." In a combat encounter last night, he was killed by a magus using spell combat who scored a critical hit with his black blade falcata. After the session, Jayne's player asked me if he could use 2 hero points to avoid certain death, and I agreed. We've spent the day conversing on Slack to determine how the party's going to get Jayne back. So far, two speak with dead and one animate dead spell have failed to have any effect on Jayne's body, and the other PCs are freaking out.
Kaerius left the party after butting heads too many times with the other members. He was far more blood-thirsty than the other PCs, so the player asked if the character could leave and he could introduce a new one (Reynard, above). When Kaerius departed, he stole the money for the plunder he sold on Mez's behalf, then began searching the Shackles for Harrigan to give him all manner of dirt on the party. In every port in which he stopped, he told tales about the PCs' treachery and villany, giving them penalties to Infamy checks in many ports throughout the Shackles.
I started running this series recently. My group is temporarily shrunk due to real life issues to two players and myself; we've since added one and hope to get two more. We just hit level five about 1/3 of the way through Part 2: Raiders of the Fever Sea.
Our initial group was:
Jarod Stormsailor, male human freebooter. This is my PC/NPC character, inserted to fill out the group and also to enjoy playing a freebooter in its natural habitat, a pirate-filled campaign. He's the pilot of the ship and the only real front-line fighter.
Casmar Dorylund, male human bard (sea singer), now Captain of the Raven's Rage. Our first spellcaster and only arcane one. He adopted Pluck the parrot as his familiar. He alternates between spells and weapon combat while maintaining lots of bard song bonuses.
Lara McBowdy, female halfling gunslinger (bolt ace). Scrappy and with an attitude. She's starting to live up to her reputation as a deadly sharpshooter. Our best climber, she's the bo'sun and manages the main deck.
Devir, male undine hunter. Despite his skills, he is frequently overshadowed by his hawk companion, the only other front-line fighter and frequent flank-buddy for Jarod. He just learned how to use a light ballista and is the ship's Master Gunner.
When necessary, they are supplemented with Sandara Quinn, First Mate and Carpenter/Healer. More often she just helps clean up with healing spells after fights on ship and providing some timely scroll spells when we need them. She only splits XP and loot when she actively joins the officers adventuring, though I keep her XP and level current with the party for when she is needed.
Other NPCs fill in slots for officers. Rosie Cusswell is our Master-at-Arms, Jack Scrimshaw (for now) our Cabin Boy, Conchobar Turlach Shortstone the Quartermaster, and of course Fishguts is still our cook.
With any luck, our two absent players will return and give us some necessary spell power. Despite that deficit, we've managed quite well so far. Surprisingly well IMHO. We have some phenomenal luck as well as our skills, so as long as that keeps up, I think we'll be very successful.
Our Party as it began.
Andrazzi - Archaeologist Rogue
Ariel Triton - Priestess of Besmara
The Kindly Sisters
"Bloody" Mari Kindly - Priestess of Besmara
"Black" Jaqi Kindly - Swashbuckler
Grug Treesplitter - Orc Barbarian
Jamest Iberiu Skirk - Air Elementalist Wizard (me)
At the time of the mutiny:
Andrazzi - Captain
"Bloody" Mari Kindly - Pilot
"Black" Jaqi Kindly - Gunner
Grug Treesplitter - Master
Jamest Iberiu Skirk - First Officer
Ariel had been "killed" by Andrazzi, her body tossed overboard. Our GM spared her and she is now a wereshark, I think, who has yet to return and wreak vengeance upon us.
Two months after the mutiny, Andrazzi decided to "retire". The dice hated him and the player was just dying living by his rolls. By that time Ariel had been replaced, by a pixie-fairy we met on Bone Wrack Isle, Misbell. We also found a eager officer bent on vengeance against his extended family, Talathel. Bloody Mari lost her arm to a 30' shark in the sahuagin cave, presumably sent by her dead grandmother and Besmara, which she replaced with an enchanted replacement of iron.
The Besmara's Lust, as we have been since Rickety Squibs.
"Iron" Mari Kindly - Captain
"Black" Jaqi Kindly - Gunner
Grug Treesplitter - Master
Jamest Iberiu Skirk - First Officer
Talathel - Officer
Misbell - Activities Director
Minor update for the Raven's Rage crew.
Devir's player had to bow out for now due to work scheduling conflicts, as did his brand new sorcerer undine cohort.
All three players aside from myself decided to take Leadership and get a cohort. The captain took Sandara Quinn, giving us much-needed clerical magic and healing. Our halfling PC took Rosie Cusswell. Both are now 5th level in their respective classes. Excellent way to fill out a small group of players/PCs.
We just finished the three tests for our leader to become a Free Captain and will be dining with the Hurricane King next week!
Andrew <:-(}
My group is still on the Wormwood but here's the party;
Polly - Tengu Rogue of unknown gender.
Kimiko - Teiffling Samurai with a weak arm but enough STR to still kick butt.
Cassandra - Shifter Sorceress. I mean technically she might be Skinwalker - Wolf or we dug into another setting for the rules. I liked her in another game and let the player use the same stat roll up.
Delilah - Human Swashbuckler and leader of the team.
I kinda like them as they've bounced off the crew pretty well and even rigged up a curse hoax/story and got a crew member killed off with it.
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Its kinda interesting being the player. Ive played for maybe 9 months since pathfinder came out otherwise being the DM for a table or two each week.. Now i passed the torch and am playing in both Skulls and Shackles and Giantslayer.
Our crew has just finished up boarding training a couple weeks into the game. Our GM just started playing last year at my Kingmaker Table. Hes doing a good job, helping him a bit as ive already played through book one but we had a good cleave take out most of the party. That GM didnt really at all explain that we could attempt to influence the crew at night.. So come you know when.. everyone still hated us..
Party is an interesting blend.
Our Rigger is a Tengu scout named blackbeak (ninja/skald) who is also the richest of us all having performed every night and gotten 20 gold a day for doing such a great job..
Our Cooks mate is an Azlanti human name Erik Cartman who has got to be one of the worlds best turtle fishermen.. and has managed to convince the captain to slaughter his celebratory pigs for the whole first week.. and managed to keep his boss sober for all cept day 2.
Our Deckhands consist of three of us.. all aquatic beings.
First we have a genderless mermaid investigator named Lotus of the Deep, unfortunatly that poor being had never been onboard a ship before and has been seasick for the past 7 days with lady luck frowning upon her.
Next we have a Sharkkin named Saganon (druid/swash)who is able to mend the ship with but a touch.. makes our repair days.. much easier.. He spends his time talking to sharks and coaxing turtles onto Erik's hooks.
Myself Im playing Gillman gunslinger armed with a repeating heavy crossbow who specializes in sailing, engineering and siege weaponry.. goal of being a shipwright and building some kinda of submarine..
Were having fun its a very much yohoho and a bottle of rum game.
We can frolic under the ship.. weve affixed ropes and spikes so we can tie ourselfs to the hull and float..
We started our campaign almost a year ago.
Niitsa, our winged tiefling tempest sorlock. She started as a rigger and now is the lady of a keep.
Shadow, a tabaxi inquisitive rogue bounty hunter who lounges in the lookout and detests water.
Khyrlis, the triton champion fighter who defends his crew and is learning to have a bloodthirsty streak.
Oddette, the water genasi sorceress who can bake like nobodies business.
Dagwen "Orphan Maker", the dragonborn warlord who, while young, has already earned her nickname through dealings with sea witches.
Finally Flint, the halfling assassin rogue who always plays dressup and is seen riding the shoulders of his simple human mount.
Together they are the scourge of the seas aboard their ship the liar's revenge!
In my secon attempt of this Campaign my current group consists of the following:
Lusaf
Human swashbuckler. The Captain of the ship after the mutiny. A coward who thus far have shown poor leadership skills.
Furrum
Catfolk swashbuckler (Picaroon archetype). Has only attended one session thus dar because he's been on vacation. Shown to be very capable during the mutiny using his climb speed (alternative racial ability) to harass the enemies from tge rigging with his pistol.
Lefroig
Grippli rogue. Another coward who constantly sneaks away from the party to loot while the others are busy fighting. Has also shiwn to be vengeful and violent almist ending up getting keelhauled after atracking Slippery Syl during the boarding exercise.
Otter
Hunan water kineticist. Proven to be very useful so far dealing a lot of damage and being very effective during water encounters. A bit of a one trick pony though.
Rufus
Human brawler. A not to bright brute. The party's tank. Specialized in intimidating enemies although hasn't used his intimidate skill much so far instead preferring to just hit stuff.
Lattis
Elf wizard (pact wizard archetype). Very effective and a good strategist. Probably the nicest of the party being NG. He hasn't clashed with the others of the party yet, mist of them not having a good alignment, but it's only a matter of time. Really dislikes Conchobar for some steange readon even though the gnome has been nothing but kind to him