Starting campaign soon and I don't know what to play!


Skull & Shackles

Grand Lodge

We are starting the skull and shackles campaign soon and I am running into too much trouble trying to figure out what to play. I have read several threads regarding the best classes to play.

My DM let us roll stats and here are the stats I rolled:

18, 17, 14, 11, 11, 11 (apparently my dice like 11 :S)

I initially thought of playing a beastmorph / vivisectionist alchemist, but I am not 100% on how that will work out on a ship etc.

Other ideas I had were:
- the dread (dreamscarred press psionic class)
- Knifemaster rogue archetype
- brief ideas of a kitsune something
- druid... but I have misgivings on how to justify playing a druid background wise...
- human scarred witch doctor (racial heritage feat orc)

I am open to any ideas based on what I have already thought about and or anything else. I don't fully know what to expect, except being near, in and around water, and having to have at least some ability to swim or sail (swim skill and profession (sailor))


- Alchemist : not such a great idea. Try drinking underwater (feat), try throwing underwater (exotic feat)

- no idea about the dread

- Knifemaster : personally I don't think close combat rogues are a huge success in this AP. Daggers.. might work.

- Kitsune....... (help !). I'd (as a GM) have massive problems with the race, them being already extremely rare (and hated, them effectively being the epitome of chaotic evil trickster spirits. Very bad ones.) in their original setting (Tian/Japan). Play one another few thousands of miles off the beaten track ? Sure....
Nevermind the race being massively "broken" for some concepts. Yeah, the "extremly powerful class" boards love those foxes...

- Druid : not the worst pick. Motivation, especially if looking at a lifestyle and "the life of freedom" might well apply.

- Human scarred witch doctor (racial feat) : this might be rules legal. But imagine a human (!) being trained in the sacred ways of the orcs, emphasizing their Stamina and brutalily.... rules legal, but role-playing wise ? Meet Scrawny our human "brother"... ahem.... I would really love along-write up of this character's background, just to get some laughs out of it^^ Most people's imagination will take a leap out of the window.. if your group and GM do not care, why not ? But is this Pathfinder the RPG or "Pathfinder" the movie (w. Karl Urban) ?

_____________

Talking for the groups I know, the Kitsune and witch doctor concept would get you a warning glance, if not an enforced perma-ban for min-maxing by the GM (YMMV) around here. Ok, maybe most players I know are too old-fashioned and interested in roleplaying.

All of that being said... I consider it very hard, if not impossible to slaughter, your way through the AP. Social interaction is a key feature, and almost everyone needs to be semi-competent at it up to AP#4... you will have to charm, convince, wine-and-dine and even at times arrange marriages of convenience. Think "Sparrow", think most Errol Flynn/Fairbanks pirates...

Purely looking at POWER and it being legal : play the Kitsune *sigh* bard, rogue (yeah, why not the knifemaster) and enchantment sorcerer... will probably knock your shoes off.

Having played the path, and having entered belatedly (there being a scheduling conflict) , I had to go with an onboard character and got "stuck" with the bard. With an inconvenient race.... Rarely did that class feel so powerful.

Just my 2 cents


Play a pirate!

Grand Lodge

Well in terms of the alchemist idea I am giving up the bombs for sneak attack with the vivisectionist archetype, so throwing them etc... will not be an issue.

I keep coming back to the idea of playing the feral mutagen chugging alchemist who goes hog wild after drinking his mutagen. 3 natural attacks with possible sneak attack on top of the normal damage.


deathbydice wrote:


- Knifemaster : personally I don't think close combat rogues are a huge success in this AP. Daggers.. might work.
<snip>
Some stuff about Kitsune

I'd have to disagree. There's a knifemaster in the group I'm running through it and she is killing EVERYTHING. d8 sneak is nice and the large selection of rogue skills make her good at social/stealth/swim/profession and all that other nice stuff. She stalks enemy crew through their own rigging and drops down to slaughter them when they're surprised or flanked before sneaking off again.

Interestingly there's also a Kitsune (Sea Singer Bard/Cloistered cleric) in our group who

Possible plot spoiler:
has become Captain of a pirate ship
and has done very well at masquerading as a pirate while seeking out knowledge and ancient relics. We don't play in Golarion so the race isn't a problem, but I can't see it being too much trouble in Golarion either.

If I were to play in the AP though I'd go Rogue, Gunslinger or Bard to fit in with the theme of the campaign (though not necessarily from a combat-optimised point of view). Take DEX and CHA and their related skills and you should do fine.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Play a Druid.
Not the northern Europian type, but the Mawangi shaman type. Don't take an animal companion (as nice as they are), take a domain that fits (storm?).
Summon and wildshape will be your main contributions, with magic to buff yourself and others.
The ability to wildshape to a sea creature will always be helpful (who needs to worry about drownding when you can be a shark?).


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KidDangerous wrote:
deathbydice wrote:


- Knifemaster : personally I don't think close combat rogues are a huge success in this AP. Daggers.. might work.
<snip>
Some stuff about Kitsune

I'd have to disagree. There's a knifemaster in the group I'm running through it and she is killing EVERYTHING. d8 sneak is nice and the large selection of rogue skills make her good at social/stealth/swim/profession and all that other nice stuff. She stalks enemy crew through their own rigging and drops down to slaughter them when they're surprised or flanked before sneaking off again.

Interestingly there's also a Kitsune (Sea Singer Bard/Cloistered cleric) in our group who
** spoiler omitted ** and has done very well at masquerading as a pirate while seeking out knowledge and ancient relics. We don't play in Golarion so the race isn't a problem, but I can't see it being too much trouble in Golarion either.

If I were to play in the AP though I'd go Rogue, Gunslinger or Bard to fit in with the theme of the campaign (though not necessarily from a combat-optimised point of view). Take DEX and CHA and their related skills and you should do fine.

hmmm, knifemaster : To be honest, we tended to devaste ships both with ranged attacks and cleaving melees. Or simply by eliminating key personell aka the "steering crew" and/or officers with "sudden death" appearances on the afterdeck. The problem I see with knifemasters is that you usually will try to have and use two daggers, which... on ships... leads to falls... onto deck or into the water (and your ship will be moving - quite possibly away from you at some signficant speed ).

Although, daggers being far more useful, which I agree on, then say scimitars or other stuff - piercing etc. Besides gain a chance to sneak, and yes you will profit from the extra point per sneak die (average of 3.5 vs 4.5).

Oh, and nevermind that Rogue saves suck in so many major ways....

Spoiler:
luckily few casters attacking in the initial stages

As for Kitsune. Yeah, the problem is the ARG and most other stuff never really "tell" you about races and how they are integrated into and integral to a world. But, I personally do see a massive problem with a fox spirits thousands of miles away from its home turf "randomly" appearing in a group just because it is convenient. I'd say the same thing for a pygmy juju shaman witch doctor in Irrisen^^
You get told a race or class exists - noone ever considers the implication and habitat. Point in case, a group (with my an ex-GF of mine, who actually plays the character), just started Jade Regent. Nobody as of yet has considered (yet) that her Grippli Alchemist, trekking both out from Sandpoint and out over the Northern Ice cap.... will turn utterly absurd. I personally envision a cold-blooded Kermit in the icepack, and that really sends shivers down my spine.

Next thing "cute orks" (and human - racial adepted - orcish witch doctors )... fluffy ogres ? Much like everybody and his half-brother playing "good" drows after the Drizzt books hit the market. Absurd, absolutely against the concept of the world, but right, it looked so cool and nobody else did it, right ?

Gunslingers : fine idea, but Caws did not mention those. Bard... having lived through to level 15 on a halfling bard (stuck with a fiddle), I do agree !


Our group had four members and all worked exceptionally well.

The first was a Human 2nd level Lore Warden / 15th level Seasinger Bard who took Eldritch Heritage feats for the Aquatic bloodline. She was our captain and really excelled as both a face and a mass buffer for not just the PC's but the crew.

The second was a Human 1st level Unbreakable Fighter / 16th level Urban Barbarian & Invulnerable Rager who had unbelievably high DR - an effective alternative to bulky metal armors in an aquatic campaign.

The third was an Elven 17th level Knife Master. She was viscious, incredibly effective both in and out of combat and gave us some of the best moments of the campaign.

The fourth was a Half-Elven 17th level Master Summoner. Not only could he summon creatures appropriate to any environment (most notably elementals), but he had an eidolon who could both fly and breathe underwater, see in the dark and communicate back to him telepathically. It sought out ships on the horizon, scouted underwater caves before we entered and aided him in piloting the ship through treacherous waters.

Any of these would be great options to consider.


If I were playing in this AP (as opposed to currently GM-ing it) I'd be looking very hard at running a Gunslinger, or perhaps Gunslinger/Corsair. It just seems like such natural fit for the story.

That said, there are established groups of Chinese and Japanese descent both (or their Golarion equivalents) living in the Shackles, so a Kitsune might not be all that out of place. I don't know enough about the race to know if they are as unbalanced as some seem to think, but one of the online Shackles campaigns has a Kitsune Rogue (?) onboard and they don't seem to be having any major problems with it.

Heck, play a Kitsune Gunslinger/Corsair! I won't tell anyone.... ;D

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