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I will be running the Skull and Shackles AP in the next month and one of my players has expressed interest in playing a Merfolk in the setting. While I plan on giving him some heads that playing a Merfolk will be really good in ocean situations it could be not so good on the land portions.
I would prefer to not tell him he cant play a Merfolk so I was wondering if anyone had some ideas how to handle them in this AP. This is my first time running this AP so I really dont know what to expect, especially in the later books.
Merfolk will be seriously challenged in this AP.
A lot of the action will take place on land (or on shipdecks, which is rules-wise the same for merfolk). The major dungeons of AP 1 and 2 will be below water, as well as at least 1 dungeon of AP 3, but apart from that, most of the action is above water.
They will have to clear an enemy stronghold, board enemy ships, sail their own ship (as both crew and officers), explore an entire island, conduct some investigation in the major ports... all of which is above water.
In all of these situations, which is 3/4, if not more, of the time, he'll be stuck with a base speed of 5'. He could be a barbarian or monk to make up for this, but unless he's playing a class with increased speed, or plans to ride a mount (and that'll be pretty complicated for a merfolk, I guess), it'll suck to be him.
I wouldn't tell him no, but I would warn him that this is not an underwater AP. He should know exactly what challenges he would face with speed 5', and be willing to accept that.
There's an alternate racial trait in the ARG that gives merfolk a land speed of 15 feet, but cuts their swim speed by half. That would certainly help.
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Yea I have suggested that he take the alternate racial trait and also he was thinking of a merfolk barbarian. He is an experienced player so I am assuming he knows what he is doing character wise I just wanted to know how to handle the beginning. For instance what is keeping him from jumping off the ship first chance of freedom he gets?
Those are the issues I am mainly worried about.
For instance what is keeping him from jumping off the ship first chance of freedom he gets?
Nothing, except for meta-gaming ("do I really want to abandon this game?"). Or you (and he) could justify it by loyalty to his comrades. Perhaps Harrigan, knowing the danger, threathens to execute one of the merfolks comrades if he abandons ship? That would off course assume that he has comrades, and cares about them.
Failing that, Harrigan could keep him schackled. A nice heavy chain tied to the mainmast would give him some freedom to move around on deck, but would make it impossible to get away. That's very restrictive in regards to exploring the ship, so the alternative could be a classic chain-gang style ball-and-chain. While it wouldn't prevent him from jumping overboard, it would ensure that he sank to the bottom of the ocean if he did, which could crush him from enviromental damage if over very deep oceans, or at the least be very inconvinient.
Perhaps a combination would be in order: keep him chained for the first couple of days, untill Plugg and Scourge has identified his friends, and then keep him in line through threaths from that point onwards.
I saw a PbP game here that had a merfolk. They kept her on a ball and chain and had her help Kroop in the kitchen. She could do a little exploring so she wasn't so limited. When the storm came, they unshackled her and the player had her decide to stick with her friends.
There's a dropped subplot about a village of aquatic elves that's spying on the PCs. You could develop that into an actual element of the AP in order to give your player more to do in later chapters.
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I just have to throw out there, Skull n Shackles was my and my groups most favorite AP and we played through it with three humans and a half-elf. Every time I see parties stocked with undines and gillmen and merfolk I feel like I'm seeing meta gaming specifically designed to rob the group of the core unique challenge of the AP. I would strenuously suggest that you discourage aquatic races as it will bring up all kinds of fractures within the group dynamic and devalue the unique appeal of this adventure.
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For instance what is keeping him from jumping off the ship first chance of freedom he gets?
The sharks, mostly.