Leveling up ship's crew

[molten_dragon]

I'm going to start DM'ing this AP soon. It'll be a little while before my PCs have their ship and their own crew to sail her, but I like to try and think ahead.

Since their crew are going to be fighting in boarding actions against other ships, those who live should get XP, and should eventually level up. Of course there will also be some crew members dying, and being replaced. I don't really want to track 30 or 40 random pirates individually though. So has anyone else considered this, or thought about ways of handling it? Or are you just going to ignore it and say that their crew never levels.

One thing I was thinking of doing was basically saying that each crew member has a one in X chance of dying during any boarding action, and after Y actions they level up once. Then if they get to a certain level (probably 4 or 5) then they become a full-fledged NPC with a name and stats of their own. That way the PCs would be able to use them as officers, or even to crew other ships they might find/steal/buy/etc. if they think they're trustworthy enough.

As an example, maybe any given crewman would have a 1 in 4 chance of dying during any given boarding action, and after 4 boarding actions, they level. They start at level 2, so if they make it to level 5 (i.e. they survive 12 boarding actions), they become a more fleshed out NPC.

[sabedoriaclark]

Here's my system which may be more or less granular than you're looking for, but has been working well for our group.

[Damocles Guile]

Honestly, we would have a pool of NPC's that kind of came and went at various times and the rest of the crew were considered to be dieing or leaving the ship at the same rate they were being recruited. The GM found it easier to identify ahead of time who he was going to make a fully-fledged NPC rather than have it randomly determined. The character's who's levels were actually tracked were:

Spoiler:

Sandara Quinn - her levels were kept apace with the party's and she was with them for most of the AP, leaving only during the Island of Empty Eyes for a religious pilgrimage.

Rosie Cuswell - her levels were kept apace with the PC's and she was with them for much of the early parts of the AP, leaving when she got her own ship at the end of Raiders of the Fever Sea but staying in regular contact with them and rejoining them during The Price of Infamy for the fleet battle.

Aron Ivey - his levels weren't tracked as he wasn't considered a full-time combatant but rather a shipwright and ship's carpenter. After being recued he stayed with the crew during Raiders of the Fever Sea and Tempest Rising but lost his leg before the Island of Empty Eyes and 'retired' to oversee the building of a new flagship, aided in part by the Master of Gales.

Mardus Siggs - levels were tracked but lagged behind the PC's a bit. He joined the crew as a hostage/cabin boy after the Rock was taken in Raiders of the Fever Sea, but eventually became a ship's favorite and in time earned his own ship, leaving the crew after the Island of Empty eyes but returning in The Price of Infamy for the fleet battle.

Fishguts Kroop - levels weren't tracked but was with the crew from The Wormwood Mutiny until dieing of 'natural causes' before the Regatta.

Ratline Ratsburger - levels were tracked but lagged behind the PC's, stayed with them from the Wormwood Mutiny all the way until dieing in battle against the Wormwood in The Price of Infamy. Kind of a ship's mascot.

Barefoot Samms Toppin - levels weren't tracked as she was considered more of a 2nd string ship's surgeon and fisherwoman than anything. She was with the ship from the Wormwood Mutiny before 'retiring' to oversee The Rock and then the holdings on the Island of Empty Eyes. Often a source of wisdom by way of old stories.

Except for rare instances, the only NPC's whop regularly adventured with the group was Sandara (about 90% of the time) and Rosie who was about 50/50 adventuring alongside of them or left in charge of the ship while they were ashore.

[Lithrac]

I've just started DMing S&S, and here's what I planned to do.

About the "unnamed" sailors: the goal is for me to avoid unnecessary bookkeeping while maintaining the illusion for my players that every sailor on their ship has their own personality. I'll be using a generic build (something like warrior 1 / expert 1 or something) for the generic sailors, with maybe 5-6 of them with specific names and characters traits (flaws, mannerism, etc.). That way, I can always ensure that my PCs have someone to interact with, while keeping a large panel of NPCs.

I thought about the possibility of levelling them up, and I'll probably make the unnamed crew about one half or one third of the PCs' level (starting at 2nd), with NPC classes only.

NPCs die in battle, of course, and so some of their named crewmen will inevitably die, allowing me to change personalities for them. Levelling is not an issue, because the newly recruited NPCs will join at the same level as the other people in the crew, because the PCs' higher level will allow them to recruit higher-level sailors.

[Lithrac]

(Continued from last post, got interrupted while writing it.)

As for the named NPCs (Sandara, Rosie, etc.), they're obviously treated differently. I'll keep the base stats and allow them as temporary cohorts for the PCs, especially when one of them can't make it to the game. If they're brought in for the adventure, they earn the same XP as the PC (one less share of XP for them, but less risk obviously) and can level up / improve. I had already done that in my previous PF sandbox campaign (homebrew), and it worked well.

All the named NPCs will also gain "crew XP", i.e. the XP earned by ship actions, boarding parties, loot, etc. Thus they will all level but far less fast than the PCs, but still be in a desirable spot level-wise, without being unbalanced. Concerning the Leadership feat, it's still very good since it'll allow the chosen NPC to be brought in without taking an XP share.

I also invented about a half-dozen (so far) recruitable NPCs in a wide level range. Those characters include a gnome conjurer with a passion for Ghol-Gan (they don't have an arcane caster on a regular basis), a tiefling fighter who escaped from Cheliax where his band of thugs (named the "Bastards of Erebus", wink wink nudge nudge) were wiped out by adventurers, a calistrian priestess/bard and sacred prostitute, a mwangi guide who was wrongly accused of the murder of an important member of the Pathfinder Society, a varisian harrower (tie-in for "the Harrowing" module, which I plan to run), etc.

Overall I hope that the experience will be enjoyable!