New Character in a Skull & Shackles game

[Nalz]

Hey all,

So here is the background:

My group is currently playing through the Skull and Shackles AP (we are somewhere in book 2 - see spoiler below) and everyone is having a blast.

Spoiler:

So far we have vanquished Whalebone Pilk and escaped a close encounter with the Dominator. We haven't investigated Tide Water rock yet, but our GM seems to be hinting that it may be a good idea.

Recently, we had a PC die and this sparked a debate as to whether it was appropriate to raise dead/resurrect/reincarnate a PC (who had not left any sort of documentation suggesting that was their desire) when we wouldn't do so for anyone else in the crew. Ultimately, we agreed that for this campaign no one would get raised, unless they had actively expressed a desire for this to happen at some point in the past. (For the record, we ruled that the PC closest to the dead PC had heard him express such a desire as we didn't want to punish him based on a spur of the moment decision.)

I fully support our decision, but it did get me to thinking - my character is not really one for forethought and he tend to drop quite a bit so he might have to be replaced at some point in the near future.

Now, I really have no idea what I would play if my current character bites it and I was hoping you kind folks could make some suggestions.

Here is the current party:

1) Lucius Rackham - Captain (CN; Human, Oracle of Waves 5) [Me]: He was made captain purely because he was the most likable/extroverted member of the party. He is a nice guy (just too lazy to be of Good alignment) and kind of a fop, spending too much money on cloths, jewels, and expensive wine. As the only character to max profession sailor he is currently the helmsman as well as captain. He also has solid social skills and acts as party face most of the time. When it comes to combat he is alright - I decided to play a more "balanced" character and thus fell into the classic jack-of-all-trades trap. He is also the only source of party healing (except for Sandara, which I believe Corvin is going to pick up as a cohort at level 7).

2) Corvin Shecuranz - Quartermaster [I guarantee you I misspelled that name...] (CG; Half-Elf, Ninja 5): He is the conscience of our motley crew, quick to tell us when we have gone too far. He is also an economic wiz and manages the ship's funds. He has an intense hatred for "One-Eye" (the non-disruptive, fun roleplaying kind). Outside of combat he acts as secondary face, and does the other things generally considered the purview of rogue-like classes (perception, disable device, etc.). In combat, the build is a fairly standard reasonably optimized ninja.

3) "One-Eye" - Bosun (CE; Aquadic Half-Orc, Sea Reaver Barbarian 5): He acts as a foil to Corvin, constantly pushing us towards more violent acts. After dying, he returned a bit more muted having seen the terrible afterlife that awaits him. He returns Corvin's hatred with aggressive apathy. He is the guy we turn to when something needs a good intimidating. He is probably the most combat capable character in our group and consistently dishes out really solid damage.

4) Rathion - Ships Wizard (CN; Drow, Shianti bloodline [?] Sorcerer 5): He is our stereotypical creepy wizard, who spends most of his time performing strange experiments in his alchemists lab. When he does emerge he generally acts as tertiary face and spell support. It is the player's first time playing any kind of caster, but he is picking it up fairly quickly and has been devastating in the last couple combats.

For this AP, our group is using 20pb and most pathfinder material is allowed - I say most because the GM has the right to veto anything, but it hasn't happened yet.

Questions (finally, that post went longer than intended):

1) So given our current party composition, what do you all think would be a reasonable replacement character for Lucius?

Some things to consider - I am leery of running without any healing. That being said, I don't really want to play another Oracle or Hedge Witch (which was my last character) so I am willing to be convinced to give it a go. Also, I am not a huge fan of dumping stats. I am willing to do it, but I generally like to have a solid roleplay related reason. Finally, I would really like to be able to make a meaningful contribution in combat (which is where I currently feel like I am lagging).

2) How would you go about introducing a new character into the insular culture of a pirate ship and getting them promoted reasonably quickly to an officer position? (Both general and group specific advice appreciated.)

Whew, I think that is everything. Thank you to everyone who managed to slog through my sloppy prose.

[Suthainn]

Melee (reach perhaps) focused cleric or ranged inquisitor of Besmara would both work well, they provide some healing, powerful self buffs to allow them to do well in combat and enough face skills to keep you in the talking game.

Working them in as a friend of one of the other surviving characters that you happen to meet in port or such after losing someone can work well, as the other player can heartily recommend them, perhaps even make up a whole story about it "why he saved me life that one time that we were beset by..." etc. Hell, with another players agreement they could even suggest the crew seek out 'their old friend' to help bring up the numbers.

[Nalz]

Awesome! Thank you Suthainn. A ranged inquisitor is not something I had previously considered - do you think that they have enough feats to support the archery combat style?

[XMorsX]

Archer Inquisitor is a very strong choice, as all archers are. See this:

Human Inquisitor

Starting Stats (20 points): Str (14), Dex (16+2), Con (12), Int (10), Wis (14), Chr (8)
Put all leveling stats into dexterity.

Domain: Animal (Feather) – gives you animal companion and pluses to perception and initiative.

Traits: Reactionary, Adopted: Animal Friend

1. Point Blank Shot (human), rapid shot
3. Precise Shot, Shake it of (bonus)
5. Boon Companion
6. Enfilading Fire (bonus)
7. Deadly Aim
9. Manyshot, Target of Opportunity (bonus)
11. Instant Judgment
12. Lookout (bonus)
13. Judgment Surge
15. Improved Precise Shot, Duck and Cover (bonus)
17. Snap shot
18. Paired Opportunists (Bonus)
19. Improved Snap Shot

Take horse at first, wolf when you can ride him. Good general feats for the companion are: Power Attack, Lunge, Weapon Focus, Light Armor Proficiency, Improved Natural Armor, Improved Natural Weapon. For the horse you also want the overrun feat tree, for the wolf the trip feat tree. You can full-attack while moving with your mount.

Human favored class bonus every time, more spells=more win.

[Suthainn]

Nalz wrote:

Awesome! Thank you Suthainn. A ranged inquisitor is not something I had previously considered - do you think that they have enough feats to support the archery combat style?

Definitely, as xMorsX shows above you can fit pretty much everything you need in and the ability to deal full attacks without having to move most of the time means you'll get more of them than a melee based character would.

Given time to buff a ranged Inquisitor is one of the most powerful archers out there and even if not, the ability to start buffing as swift actions as a fight goes on while *still* taking full attacks is amazingly powerful.

[Shaun]

The player's guide for this AP has a lot of really neat ideas for good classes/archetypes for this adventure. The book "Pirates of the Inner Sea" has some great archetypes. I'd go with one of them myself. I'd personally enjoy playing a ranger (freebooter) who specializes in harpoons, a rogue (pirate), a wizard (diviner) who specializes in treasure hunting or a cleric of Besmara (details on clerics of this religion are found in "The Wormwood Mutiny". My 2 cents: An inquisitor of Besmara seems silly, seeing as how it's a fairly unorganized chaotic neutral faith.

But, full disclosure: I've been biased against inquisitors from the start when I saw the silly-looking iconic who I dubbed "Where in Golarion is Carmen Sandiorco".

[XMorsX]

Well, just noticed that your options for animal companion is everything a druid can get. With this in mind I would suggest a Horse for 1-3 lvls, a giant chameleon for 4-6 lvls and a Roc for the rest of your lvls. If for RP reasons you want to stick with one animal companion, Roc is probably your best bet, but you won't be able to ride it until level 7.

[XMorsX]

Suthainn wrote:

Nalz wrote:

Awesome! Thank you Suthainn. A ranged inquisitor is not something I had previously considered - do you think that they have enough feats to support the archery combat style?

the ability to start buffing as swift actions as a fight goes on while *still* taking full attacks is amazingly powerful.

This is one of the major reasons why classes like inquisitor and paladin make for so good fighters, especially archers.

[Lamontius]

as a side note

In my RotRL game we have an aasimar cleric named "Lucien"
The halfing cavalier in the group, upon meeting him, misheard his name...

...and in the first three chapters, every single time the cleric's name has been mentioned in-character by a PC, they call him "Luscious" to his eternal dismay

so, uh, beware the name "Lucius"
or don't, if that's your thing

[XMorsX]

Feats for the horse: Light Armor Proficiency, Toughness

Feats for the giant chameleon: Light Armor Proficiency, Power Attack, Improved Overrun

Feats for the Roc:
1. Light Armor Proficiency
3. Toughness
5. Dodge
7. Weapon Focus (talon)
9. Improved Natural Attack (talon)
11. Flyby attack
13. Iron Will
15. Improved Natural Armour
17. Improved Natural Armour
19. Improved Natural Armour

[Nalz]

Thank you all so much for the help, it is greatly appreciated. I think I am going to run with the ranged inquisitor build XMorsX suggested - sticking with the Roc the whole way through as I like the idea of one loyal companion. Now I just need to find a suitable god (we use all homebrew gods and there are some major holes in our pantheon) and figure out how to house and feed it on a ship...

Lamontius: My group is the same way - pretty much every single BBEG has had his name twisted into something at least semi-humorous. Fortunately, Lucius has so far avoided this fate and is just called "Captain Rackham."

[Suthainn]

Fish! Birds are well known for gliding over water and then plunging down to snatch up large fish near the surface, so no problem feeding it! If it storms too much, just feed it some raw giblets saved from the crews meal!

Re: God. No idea how your homebrew works but for domains but if you're not 100% sure on the animal companion you may want to consider a god that grants the Conversion inquisition, that can really push you into a face role and allows you to dump cha without any real problems should you wish since all your social skills will be based off Wis, giving more points to spend elsewhere.

[Makarion]

The Feather sub-domain and a parrot companion is so obvious I'm surprised no one has suggested it yet. Craft (cook) and weapon focus (meat cleaver) is optional.

[XMorsX]

I just understood that the feat progression for animal companions is different than that of PCs. With that in mind, and the fact that at early lvls Roc is going to fight, I would suggest the following feats:

1. Weapon Finesse (retrain at 7 for Light Armor Proficiency)
2. Power Attack
5. Toughness
8. Flyby Attack
10. Combat Reflexes
13. Improved Natural Attack (bite)
16. Improved Natural Attack (talon)
18. Eldrich Claws

[XMorsX]

Just saw again the build I posted, it would be better if you ditch instant judgement and judgement surge, take snap shot and improved snapshot 4 lvls earlier, take combat reflexes at 17 lvl and finally instant judgement at 19 lvl.

[XMorsX]

EDIT: Actually there is a mistake in the build, as you can not take snap shot without weapon focus, which I don't have. Here is the correct one:

Human Inquisitor

Alternate racial trait: Heart of the Wilderness or Silver Tongued if you are the party face

Starting Stats (20 points): Str (14), Dex (16+2), Con (12), Int (10), Wis (14), Chr (8)
Put all leveling stats into dexterity.

Domain: Animal (Feather) – gives you animal companion and pluses to perception and initiative.

Traits: Reactionary, Adopted: Animal Friend

1. Point Blank Shot (human), Rapid shot
3. Precise Shot, Shake it of (bonus)
5. Boon Companion
6. Enfilading Fire (bonus)
7. Deadly Aim
9. Manyshot, Target of Opportunity (bonus)
11. Weapon Focus (composite longbow)
12. Lookout (bonus)
13. Snap shot
15. Improved Precise Shot, Duck and Cover (bonus)
17. Improved Snap Shot
18. Paired Opportunists (Bonus)
19. Combat Reflexes