'Way back in 2005 there was a competition on WotC's Eberron forums to create a Dread Pirate character. I''ve just dug out the notes on the entry I made for it. It may need some revision and adaptation, but hopefully it might be of use.
[sblock=The Dread Parrot Polyfex]
"Poly want a carrack!"
You see a disturbing apparition - a sailor in full captain's uniform, clearly the former commander of a naval vessel, but just as clearly now several days dead, for all that he still stands on two feet. Slowly and reluctantly, your eyes are drawn to the bizarre figure that addressed you - a parrot the size of a vulture which perches on the undead captain's left shoulder. Crimson-feathered, the parrot is dressed in a bejewelled waistcoat and wears a miniature peaked captain's hat on its head, a silver skull-and-crossbones symbol adorning it. The bird is distinctly time-worn - its left leg has been replaced by a wooden peg tipped with a steel hook, and a patch covers its right eye socket. Nevertheless, its remaining eye is lit with more malevolent intelligence than you have ever seen in an animal. "Talk to the bird, bozo!" it squawks, absently leaning across to gouge a beakful of flesh from the cheek of its undead perch.
Background
Polyfex began life as the animal companion of the much-feared piratical druid Samson, captain of the
Black Ash. Extremist members of the Ashbound druidic sect, Samson and his crew of marine rangers carried out a decade-long campaign of terror against the elemental-bound vessels of House Lyrandar, which Samson considered to be an affront to the natural order of the oceans. He Awakened his faithful animal companion with the intention of making him another ally in his quest.
But where Samson was driven by a twisted idealism, pillaging his pargets only for the funds to continue his deadly campaign, the awakened Polyfex's sole motivation was pure greed. Furthermore, the bird, now more intelligent than his master, developed an affinity for arcane magic. He took to stealing away the books and scrolls of wizards slain in Samson's raids, studying in secret to gain an understanding of wizardry. At the same time, he gradually got to know the crew, finding that a fair percentage of them were, like him, driven far more by greed than principle. Slowly but surely, he began fomenting revolt.
A year to the day after his Awakening, Polyfex led a mutiny aboard the
Black Ash, his supporters using surprise, subterfuge and poison to slaughter the other two-thirds of the ship's crew. He himself took on Samson in single combat on the main deck, losing a leg in the process but finally slaying his former master using the very same arcane magics Samson so despised.
In the five years since then, the
Black Ash has become even more feared than ever before. Whilst they still favour bound-elemental vessels as targets, having developed effective tactics against them, the ship's new avian captain is just as happy to go after any lucrative target. The crew still consist of a disproportionately large percentage of rangers, but they have entirely abandoned any vestiges of antipathy toward magic in the face of their captain's embracing of the Art, and the vessel now employs a full range of arcane tricks, tactics and devices.
More recently, as his necromantic abilities have increased, Polyfex has developed a grisly hobby. upon capturing a vessel, he supplements his own ship's crew with the animated corpses of that vessel's officers, taking the captain as his own animated perch. He sometimes plays games when speaking with those who don't know his identity, pretending to be a normal parrot and using
Ventriloquism to make it appear that the corpse whose shoulder he's riding is speaking. However, if any even slightly disparaging comment is made about the parrot on 'his' shoulder, he tends to fly into a rage, dropping out of character and quite probably immediately fireballing the offender. Polyfex has become almost entirely carnivorous, absently feasting upon pieces torn from his current perch's cheek or shoulder, and has been known to raid a new vessel even when the holds of his own are still overflowing with booty, simply because his perch is "going a bit gamey", and he wants a replacement.
Personality
Polyfex has a mercurial temperament, and can turn from amused to infuriated in an instant, and forget his rage just as quickly. He is highly intelligent, and it is his cunning at hunting other vessels and evading pursuit in turn that most motivates his crew to follow him, shortly followed by their terrified knowledge of the lengths he's prepared to go to in order to mete out horrific revenge upon those who cross him. In times of stress or distraction, he often reverts to his former mode of speech, uttering short parrot-phrases that express his current frame of mind. Some of these, like
"pieces of eight", are a sort of calming mantra, and his crew know to be especially careful around him when he starts muttering them habitually, as they betray an underlying rage that he is trying to suppress, which may burst out at the slightest provocation.
Statistics
The Dread Parrot Polyfex CR 13
Awakened Parrot, Rogue 1 / Necromancer 7 / Dread
ParrotPirate 2
NE, Tiny, Magical Beast (augmented animal)
Action Points 12
Init +3;
Senses Low-light vision, Listen +10, Spot +12
Languages Common, Druidic, Elven
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AC 24, touch 18, flat-footed 20
Hp 56 (8¼d8 + 1d6 + 7d4)
Resist evasion
Fort +11,
Ref +20,
Will +11
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Speed 10 ft. (2 squares), fly 40 ft. (average)
Melee Claw +14 (1d2-4)
Melee Hook +1, Unholy, Flaming +15 (1d3-3 + 1d6 fire (+2d6 vs. good creatures), 20/x2)
Space 2½ ft.;
Reach 0 ft.
Base Atk +8
Grp -4
Atk Options Sneak Attack 1d6
Spells Prepared (CL 7th):45431
4th- Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, Confusion, Animate Dead(M)
3rd- Fireball (2), Lightning Bolt, Ray of Exhaustion
2nd- Protection From Arrows, Scorching Ray (2), Mirror Image, Ghoul Touch
1st- Shield, True Strike, Burning Hands, Magic Missile (2), Ventriloquism, Ray of Enfeeblement
0- Detect Magic, Read Magic, Ray of Frost, Prestidigitation, Disrupt Undead
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Abilities Str 3, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 21, Wis 14, Cha 10
SQ Trapfinding, seamanship, fearsome reputation +2
Feats Alertness, Weapon Finesse, Flyby Attack, Scribe Scroll, Eschew Materials, Empower Spell, Still Spell, Spontaneous Casting, Two Weapon Fighting
Skills Appraise +13, Balance +5, Bluff +3, Concentration +3, Decipher Script +6, Intimidate +5, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (local) +6, Listen +10, Profession (sailor) +10, Search +8, Sense Motive +5, Spellcraft +7, Spot +12, Swim +2, Use Rope +10, Tumble +6
Possessions Hook +1 Unholy Flaming, Heward's Capacious Pocket*, Vest of Resistance +5, Headband of Intellect +4, Amulet of Natural Armour +2, Ring [anklet] of Protection +2, Wizard's Spellshard, 625 gp
*New magic item: Heward's Capacious Pocket. This wondrous item is essentially a single side pocket from a
Heward's Handy Haversack. It weighs half a pound, and its extradimensional space can hold up to 2 cubic feet in volume or 20 pounds in weight. It costs 1,000 gp, and Polyfex wears his as a backpack.
Ship
Name The
Black Ash
Background / History Formerly the command of the druid Samson, the
Black Ash was built to outrun and take on Lyrandar elemental galleons, using Druidic magics to augment its performance and counter the arcane abilities of the Lyrandar dragonmarked crews. After captain Polyfex took over, some alterations were made - the ship now uses primarily arcane magical devices to aumgment its performance. There are rumours amongst the crew that Ployfex intends to complete the ship's divergence from its former ways by incorporating bound-elemental enhancements into its hull, and that he has already commenced some of the preliminary design alterations required for this project.
Crew Roughly one-quarter of the crew are nautical Rangers formerly of Samson's crew, who followed Polyfex in mutiny. Of the others, there are a wide variety, though Polyfex has acquired a number of low-level wizards, sorcerers and magewrights to boost the vessel's arcane firepower.
Flag Description A skull above two crossed crimson parrot feathers.
Parrot See above.
Polyfex has considered acquiring a familiar, but decided that his own history was a strong lesson in the dangers of having so close a dependent companion, and has so far refrained.[/sblock]
