Appropriate classes for a pirate game

[Kaladhan]

As a few of you may know from prior posts, I'm planning a campaign in Eberron where the players will be the crew of a pirate ship.

The magister from the previous DnD campaign was simply too powerful compared to the other characters. For this reason, I would like this campaign to have no mage-type characters. The players all agreed to this (even the magister, who prefers to play barbarian, but played a magister because there was no spellcaster in the group).

What classes would be appropriate for a pirate campaign? So far, I have:

Artificer
Barbarian
Bard
Favored Soul (Complete Divine)
Ranger
Rogue

Is the swashbuckler any good?

 

[Hussar]

NINJA!!!

**I crack me up**

I think a warlock wouldn't be a bad thing to let in in all honesty. You don't get the problems of the wizard blowing the crap out of enemy ships all the time.

 

[joshuakanton]

Aquatic Druid, using a shark or porpoise animal companion.

 

[GreatLemur]

Well, the list of truly non-magical classes is sadly very short, but you might want to throw in the Scout and the Marshal. And--did you omit this one deliberately?--the Fighter, of course. And then there are the Tome of Battle classes, of course. I don't think a Warblade would be completely out of place.

In a weird way, the Knight class might actually be appropriate. The whole heavy-armor-and-horse bit is obviously a bad idea on a ship, but the Knight's enemy manipulation abilities could actually have a really swashbuckley feel to them. You might want to replace that free Mounted Combat feat with something else, though.

Oh, and the Dragon Shaman is a magical-but-non-spell-casting class that might be helpful for keeping the rest of the crew healed in the absence of a Cleric.

 

[Hussar]

Binder kind of works in a "I'm a weird voodoo witchdoctor" sort of way.

 

[smootrk]

Nearly any class can take up the mantle of Pirate. There can be piratical mages with parrot or spidermonkey familiars, Fighters/Barbarians/Rangers make obvious choices, as do the rogue types. Clerics may require some adapting, as the good clerics probably only associate with privateer types and evil ones may be necessary for actual evil or typical pirate crews. Beguilers are a natural, and folks who like Dread Necromancers and Archivists could easily insert them into piratical campaigns.

Being a pirate is more of a lifestyle than a specific profession, and could be espoused by nearly anyone... you just need to say 'yarrrrggg' and 'aye matey' a lot.

 

[Kaladhan]

So I'll add:

Druid (Aquatic)
Witch (from Arcana Evolved)
Warlock
Classes of Tome of Battle (since we'll be playing the in Lhazaar Principalities, ninja style fighting could come from Sarlona)

About the fighter, yes, I dit omit this one willingly. My players consider it too bland (sp?).

 

[GreatLemur]

About the fighter, yes, I dit omit this one willingly. My players consider it too bland (sp?).

The Fighter is only as bland as your feat selection, but it's definitely looking pretty undepowered, lately, with classes like the Warblade running around.

 

[Desdichado]

Yeah, Swashbuckler's a'ight. It's a bit bland, the AC doesn't progress as fast or well as you'd expect IMO. I like the Unfettered from AU/AE more for the same role, but that requires a bit of tinkering to fit into the rules.

I think some minor casting classes wouldn't be out of place. A hexblade, or something, ferinstance. I agree that full on spellcasting classes might ditch the piratey feel, though.

 

[DreadArchon]

You're allowing Druids in an effort to prevent powerful caster classes?!?

"I turn into a Gull and do a flyby of the enemy ship, lighting it on fire. They put it out? Okay, fine, I turn into a shark and Warp Wood on the bottom of their hull."

"They've sent half the royal navy to get us? Okay, Control Winds. They all die horribly."

"Plan C: Let's swarm them with giant octopi."

Etc.