PDA

View Full Version : Homemade Character Class: Corsair



Fax Celestis
2006-06-28, 03:02 AM
The Corsair class is a warrior of the sea, landing about halfway between the barbarian and the fighter.

Abilities: Strength is probably your best ability, followed closely by Constitution. Both will help you immensely in combat. A high Intelligence would boost your low skill points, and a high Wisdom or Dexterity would supplement your lackluster saving throws, though none are necessary.

Races: Corsairs tend to be human, half-elven, half-orc, or halfling, though there have been reports of elvish corsairs. Dwarves have a natural disinclination towards the sea and as such tend to avoid this class.

Alignment: Corsairs may not be lawful.

Hit Die: d10

Starting Gold: 4d4x10 gp.

Starting Age: As fighter (PH 109).

Class Feature

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Corsairs are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as all weapons used in ship-to-ship combat (ballistae, cannons, etc.). They are also proficient with light and medium armor, but not heavy armor and not shields.

Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, x4 at 1st level): Climb, Craft, Forgery, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (The Seas), Move Silently, Open Lock, Profession, Survival, Swim

Seamanship: Starting at first level, a corsair gains a +2 competence bonus to all Profession (Sailor), Balance, Survival, and Swim checks while at sea. This bonus improves to +3 at 4th level, +4 at 7th, +5 at 10th, +6 at 13th, +7 at 16th, and +8 at 19th.

Sea Legs: A corsair may always take ten on balance checks while on board a ship.

Illiteracy: Corsairs do not automatically know how to read and write. A corsair may spend 2 skill points to gain the ability to read and write all languages he is able to speak.

A corsair who gains a level in any other class (except barbarian) automatically gains literacy. Any other character who gains a corsair level does not lose the literacy he or she already had.

Bonus Weapon Feat: At first level, a corsair gains the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat with one exotic weapon of their choice. As an option, the corsair may instead gain the Improved Unarmed Strike feat.

Dirty Fighting: At 2nd level, a corsair gains the ability to forfeit all other attacks (including attacks of opportunity) in a round to deal extra damage on a single attack. To perform a dirty fighting attack, the attacker must declare it prior to their attack roll. They then make a single attack roll at their base attack bonus. If they strike, the corsair rolls an addition d4 of damage. This ability increases to 2d4 additional damage at 5th level, 3d4 at 8th, 4d4 at 11th, 5d4 at 14th, 6d4 at 17th, and 7d4 at 20th.

Luck of the Seas: At 3rd level, a corsair receives a +1 morale to all saving throws. This ability increases to +2 at 9th level, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th. If at any time the corsair becomes shaken, frightened, or overcome by a malicious mind-affecting effect, the corsair loses this bonus until such a time as they are no longer affected by any mind-affecting effects of a malicious nature.

Special Ability: At 12th level, and again at 16th and 20th levels, a corsair may choose one of the following abilities:
*Improved Dirty Fighting: The corsair has become so adept with their dirty fighting maneuvers that they have a chance to stun their opponents while doing so. Every time a corsair succeeds with a dirty fighting attack, their opponent must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the corsair's class level + the corsair's Strength modifier) or be stunned for the next 1d4 rounds, plus 1 round for every 2 class levels of the corsair, rounded down.
*Improved Flanking: A corsair who takes this ability gains a +4 attack bonus while flanking instead of the standard +2.
*Improved Reactions: A corsair who takes this ability gains a morale bonus to his initiative equal to half his class level (rounded down).
*No Quarter: Corsairs are known for their "no quarter" style of fighting, but some are more ruthless than others. Corsairs with this feat gain an additional attack of opportunity per round. This ability stacks with the Combat Reflexes feat and is not cancelled by using Dirty Fighting.
*Improvised Weaponry: Corsairs are notorious for their rowdy drunken brawls every time they come to shore. Some corsairs pick up rudimentary skills from these actions, and are able to use items designed for more rudimentary purposes as effective weapons.

An improvised weapon in the hands of a corsair with this ability is treated as a weapon he is proficient with. In addition, any improvised weapon used by a corsair with this ability deals 1d4 damage plus whatever damage he would deal as an unarmed strike. On a roll of 1, an improvised weapon breaks and is thereafter useless.

Playing A Corsair
You're a pirate, plain and simple. Living according to a moral code is something you choose to do (or not to do), but it doesn't always match up with societies' ideas as to how you should live.

Religion
Kord, Fharlanghn, and Hextor are the primary deities of corsairs. Good aligned corsairs may find Pelor to be the liking, while especially evil ones tend to go with Nerull or Wee Jas.

Other Classes
The more rogueish the class, the better the corsair will get along with them. 'nuff said.

Combat
Corsairs excel in one on one fighting, mostly due to their Dirty Fighting techniques. They can fight in the front line, the back line, aboard a ship...pretty much anywhere.

Corsair Progression
{table]
Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special

1st +1 +2 +0 +0 Seamanship +2, Sea Legs, Illiteracy, Bonus Weapon Feat

2nd +2 +3 +0 +0 Dirty Fighting +1d4

3rd +3 +3 +1 +1 Luck of the Seas +1

4th +4 +4 +1 +1 Seamanship +3

5th +5 +4 +1 +1 Dirty Fighting +2d4

6th +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 -

7th +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 Seamanship +4

8th +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 Dirty Fighting +3d4

9th +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 Luck of the Seas +2

10th +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 Seamanship +5

11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +3 Dirty Fighting +4d4

12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +4 Special Ability

13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +4 Seamanship +6

14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +4 Dirty Fighting +5d4

15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +5 Luck of the Seas +3

16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +5 Seamanship +7, Special Ability

17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +5 Dirty Fighting +6d4

18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +6 -

19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +6 Seamanship +8

20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +6 Dirty Fighting +7d4, Special Ability, Luck of the Seas +4

[/table]

Altair_the_Vexed
2006-06-28, 03:22 AM
This seems quite powerful... you've got d10 hit die, same BAB progression as the fighter, and a stack of special abilities...

It's a more generic pirate than the published PrCs I've seen, and maybe better balanced. Someone needs to compare this with the Legendary Captain and Scarlet Corsair PrCs from Stormwrack. I'll do that later today if no-one else has, but at work, I don't have access to my book.

Fax Celestis
2006-06-28, 03:26 AM
Well, I posted it here to get some input. I was thinking about lowering the hit die to a d8 and removing heavy armor and shield proficiencies. Not sure what to do from there though.

Fax Celestis
2006-06-30, 10:12 PM
Updated. Good? Bad? ...ugly?

sin_sephiroth
2006-07-01, 12:17 AM
looks good to me. only a few thoughts to change. i would drop it to either a d8 or lose the heavy armor. i cant see a pirate with a ton of hp or wearing (example) some half plate while working at sea. also, i would lose 1 of the lvl 20 abilities for some mystical mumbo-jumbo( like control weather 1/day or something). it jsut seems so mundane to not have something stand out at the lvl 20 acheivement. otherwise, a good class. my campaigns tend not to be very water involved, so it would have no place in my campaigns, but if i ever do an ocean based adventure, ill be sure to use it.

Fax Celestis
2006-07-01, 12:35 AM
looks good to me. only a few thoughts to change. i would drop it to either a d8 or lose the heavy armor. i cant see a pirate with a ton of hp or wearing (example) some half plate while working at sea. also, i would lose 1 of the lvl 20 abilities for some mystical mumbo-jumbo( like control weather 1/day or something). it jsut seems so mundane to not have something stand out at the lvl 20 acheivement. otherwise, a good class. my campaigns tend not to be very water involved, so it would have no place in my campaigns, but if i ever do an ocean based adventure, ill be sure to use it.

...he has no heavy armor proficiency. I would have, but I don't know about what to do for a lev 20.