Pirate crews

[roguerouge]

I'm DMing a 1 PC campaign who's a privateer. She's done a salvage and a surprise boarding of a pirate vessel. Now that she's got a ship though, it's going to be soon that she'll have to face off with a real pirate.

Does anyone have any suggestions for an interesting pirate battle? Her crew's about 10 people right now, so should I suggest that she add some muscle to her ship's complement?

 

[Clueless]

What sort of player do you have?
The charge head and let god sort them out sort? Or the long term planner schemer sort?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Small crews on small ships were actually pretty standard during the golden age of pirates. Get some ranged firepower -- are you using gunpowder? -- and let her go after some slower, bigger ships. A huge unwieldy ship full of pirates and cannons is no good if it can't turn to face her nimbler vessel.

A salty old first mate who knows his way around a pirate ship would be a good way to impart some strategy tips in a realistic way.

 

[roguerouge]

Her bard PC's crap at MS/Hide/Spot/Listen, so she really doesn't put much into sneaking. She's done ambushes, however. She's been willing to use NPCs as a diversionary tactic and to pin down opponents on the battlefield.

My plan is to have wands of orb spells function as cannons in this setting, with catapults of alchemist's fire working as well. She doesn't have any of that, however.

Her crew:

Bard 4 (the PC)
Expert 3 (with awesome UMD and craft: alchemy skills)
Warrior 4 (beefy Power Attack smacker)
Cleric 2
Goblin Warrior 1 (five or six of them)
Pseudodragon (excellent scout)
Ship's cook (drunk)

Is her crew too fragile? Should I wait? Until what level?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Wait, so how are they pirates? Are they able to outrace other ships or something? Merely sailing about maliciously does not a pirate ship make.

 

[roguerouge]

She's a privateer, but I will (eventually?) need pirate antagonists.

 

[freyar]

She's a privateer, but I will (eventually?) need pirate antagonists.

I think the confusion is that privateer is usually thought of as a government-commissioned pirate preying on the enemy's trading ships. Do you mean that she's a pirate-hunter?

 

[GlassEye]

She's a privateer so I assume she's employed by some government or other to hunt pirates and rival government ships. Have her employer send her after a particularly large group and partner her with another ship whose captain happens to be a favorite of her employer. During the chase and subsequent battles her 'partner' shows himself to be arrogant, ruthless and bordering on breaking the law. At a crucial moment have him betray her and flee with something dear to her. That way you'll have a recurring villain (with complications).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

She's a privateer, but I will (eventually?) need pirate antagonists.

OK, but if the ship doesn't have any ranged attacks, it's not a privateer, it's just a malicious fishing boat.

"Hey, you! Pull over, we want to board you," isn't going to get a ton of results.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

OK, but if the ship doesn't have any ranged attacks, it's not a privateer, it's just a malicious fishing boat.

For quite a while during the classical period ships had no ranged weapon more potent than the bow and arrow which isn't exactly likely to sink even a small ship, and piracy flourished. Speed is the weapon of a pirate, not strictly firepower. You can have all the firepower in the world and it's useless if you can't overhaul and board.

In the case of small sail-powered pirates, sitting near chokepoints in trade routes where you have a favorable wind and quickly bearing down on the target while their ability to alter course to flee is limited. Also pirates (and privateers) did a lot of coastal raiding as well up until nation-states became strong. You watch the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, where the Black Pearl raided the port? Running a reduced scale version of that where the PC and her crew knock over a small coastal settlement belonging to the enemy could be fun. And it lets you put a comparable lower level privateer affiliated with the enemy out there to hunt her when the action is reported.