Seafaring characters

[Felix]

It depends upon what you want your pirate to be:

Barbarian: Ranks in Climb, Swim, Jump, Intimidate, Profession (sailor) and Survival; Feats like Power Attack, Cleave, and Kiai Shout; this will be the "Do what I tell you or you'll end up as Chum" kind of pirate.

Bard: Ranks in Climb, Swim, Intimidate, Bluff, Diplomacy, Profession (sailor), Knowledge (geography), Sense Motive; feats like Leadership, Weapon Finesse, and Intimidating Strike; this will be the kind of pirate who uses his bard song to rally in battle, and guile to keep his sailors in line and in plunder.

Druid: Ranks in Knowledge (nature), Survival, Spot, Profession (sailor); feats like Elemental Mastery, Energy Substitution; this pirate is the wrath of the wave and storm, not seeking riches but revenge for past offences.

Fighter: Ranks in Climb, Swim, Jump, Intimidate, and Profession (sailor); Feats like Dodge, Mobility and Spring Attack; this will be the pirate who holds onto his job by his ability to out-duel rivals.

Monk: Ok, I can't see a monk pirate. Sue me.

And aside from the Paladin, who might make a good pirate-hunter, the rest of the classes follow suit; pirating is not a class: it's a way of life. It's a skil-set and flavor. Wizards will harness the energy of Wind and Wave; Clerics will prosecute the will of their watery deity; Rogues will see opportunity for plunder, and mobility on thier ships; Water-borne Rangers will have the same regard for the sea that most rangers have for their forests.

So any class or PrC can turn pirate, just as any class can be an effective brigand on a kingdom's highways.

 

[MarkB]

If you want to actually be able to drive a boat, and you go by the Stormwrack rules, the most important skills are Profession (sailor) (for the captain, and sundry other tasks), and Knowledge (geography) (for the navigator).

If you want to be able to do well aboard a ship, Balance and Climb are also going to be useful, so you'll want something that doesn't cripple them with armour check penalties.

Ranger gives you most of that, and multiclassing with Rogue will get you Balance and some pirate-friendly class abilities. You'll need to spend some cross-class ranks to keep all those skills maxed, but you'll have the skill points to do it.

Alternatively, Bard hass all those skills on its class list, and if you're aiming to captain a ship, bardsong gets very good when you're using it on an entire crew.

 

[Felix]

I should add that being a captain requires a lot of skills. Profession (sailor), Knowledge (geography), Survival, etc. This will mean that in order to be a competent captain, and not have to rely on navigators, shipwrights, and helmsmen, you'll need to have a high INT, even for the classes that have quite a few skill points. This is not necessiarly a bad thing; captains, even piratical captains, were generally regarded as intelligent and capable leaders of men: they were often well educated, and knowledgeable about proper conduct and etiquitte.

This, of course, does not hold true in every case, but is a sound enough to point out this generality: if you're stupid (low INT), foolish (low WIS), or uninspiring (low CHA), or any combination of the three, you should have a very hard time maintaing control over a boat full of restless scum.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Any class can make a good pirate. It is all about the attitude anyhow. Pick the right skills and you are most of the way there. If you are a wizard or sorcerer, take a monkey or parrot as a familiar. Terrain rangers (from UA) centered on Ocean/Island/Jungles. Swashbucklers become the norm for warrior classes otherwise.

Again, the attitude is what matters. Pirates seem to be the type of folk who draw upon just about anyone to fill their ranks, and thus there could be pirates with any number of specialties.

There was a nice little documentary on A&E about the RW pirates of the Carribean, airing in conjunction with the release of the second movie...

The pirates of history did come from all walks of life...

For example, Black Bart Roberts was the most successful pirate in history- taking in his career something like 10x the number of ships of some more famous ones, like Captain Kidd and Blackbeard. Yet he was a teetotaler who gave Sunday sermons to his crew.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Roberts

Captain Kidd had been born to a fairly well off family that fell on hard times when he was 5...

And as for Monks...while there's no evidence of an Eastern-style monk ever having served on a pirate ship, I don't see why they couldn't. After all, their alignment requires only that they be lawful- they can still be neutral or evil.

Besides, PCs of any alignment or class might swear an oath of fealty to a government and become privateers.

 

[tecnowraith]

I should have said a seafaring character that might go for a pirate privateer depends on how the campaign goes. But still, thanks for the replies all.

 

[Pbartender]

I should add that being a captain requires a lot of skills. Profession (sailor), Knowledge (geography), Survival, etc. This will mean that in order to be a competent captain, and not have to rely on navigators, shipwrights, and helmsmen, you'll need to have a high INT, even for the classes that have quite a few skill points.

Of course, with enough ranks in Bluff, Intimidate and/or Diplomacy alongside the Leadership feat, you don't NEED to have all those other skills... After all, that's what your very loyal crew is for.

 

[Felix]

Of course, with enough ranks in Bluff, Intimidate and/or Diplomacy alongside the Leadership feat, you don't NEED to have all those other skills... After all, that's what your very loyal crew is for.

Very true. And Intimidate keeps people "friendly" for as long as you are around them; you could argue that shipboard is close enough to keep them "friendly" the entire time, and the only time they might be able to break this effect is when you make landfall.

But even then, if a INT 4, WIS 4, CHA 4 character takes Leadership, his cohort and followers are going to be loyal to him the way the psych ward is loyal to the committed.

 

[geosapient]

Monk: Ok, I can't see a monk pirate. Sue me.

A monk pirate concept was covered in the PS2 game Summoner 2 (Prince Neru).

 

[Hairfoot]

Captain Nemo of the Nautilus was portrayed as a monk in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

I can see a lot of advantages to being a seagoing monk: no armour to drown in (or boots, for that matter), less danger from falling out the crow's nest, less reliant on provisions and clean water etc.

A seagoing monk order could be fun. A galleon full of ascetics avoiding the temptations of urban life, perhaps.

 

[Felix]

Let me phrase it differently...

I cannot see an Eastern monk, who spends his time in meditation, contemplation, and the pursuit of enlightenment being the captain of a sailing vessel going around pirating for gold.

Sailors, I have less of a problem with, vis a vis Nemo (though I'm skeptical he was a monk). But a pirate? I'll keep my monks on top of mountains, despite Summoner 2.