Optimized Airship Captain

[Lev]

Ok, well the current Leadership feat discussion has spurred me to want to create an airship captain.

The base class is something I want to ask for help on, but by level 6 the base class(es) should have 4 BAB, the 6th level feat free for Leadership, 8 ranks in Profession and 5 ranks in Knowledge Geography.

This frees the setup for the PrC Legendary Captain (pg, 56 Stormwrack) who gains a large bonus in leadership and will generally bolster the crew's strength and ability, otherwise I'll have to drive it more towards a purely moral based pirate mercenary crew, which would be tricky to fund later on and I'd much rather flesh out cohorts than red shirts.

What are some cool fluff and flavor options for this theme? What would make an awesome airship captain? Is dread pirate worth it?

[Chrono22]

Holy carp, I just happen to be making an optimized airship captain.

I suggest not taking the legendary captain class, since most airships don't have a complement high enough to hold such a number of followers. I suppose you could own a fleet of vessels to accommodate them, but then you have less direct influence over the course of battles.

For your crew, I suggest including a dwarf and a minotaur. The minotaur has the handy ability to never get lost. The dwarf can keep you updated on your elevation in regards to the ground (Dwarves can naturally determine depth underground. It's not a huge stretch to assume this ability can apply above the ground as well). Snow goblins (from frostburn) have a climb speed, are reasonably intelligent, and are used to breathing in areas of high elevation.

I'm using pathfinder to construct my airship captain (he's a level 10 half elf (pathfinder half elf- big difference). He'll be high int and dex, good cha, con, and wis, and low str. I'm still fiddling with his build in my head, but he's probably going to have 3 levels of ranger, 3 levels of scout, and 2 levels of duelist (pathfinder prestige class). Not sure on the other two levels, but he might continue to advance ranger or he might dip into swordsage for some initiator levels.
For feats, I'm getting Elf Dilettante, Leadership, and Wild Cohort (dire eagle; races of stone). Elf dilettante has the nifty benefit of giving you a +1 bonus to alot of skills, and being able to use all trained-only skills. I might take Jack of All Trades instead though (treats you as though you had a half rank in all skills). This includes things like obscure skills, such as Iajutsu focus.
Basically my character will be a dex-and-int based combatant with some skirmish damage and some decent abilities besides.

I'm not going into the nitty gritty of the build really, but he'll basically be like a charismatic half elf sinbad.

[Iku Rex]

Not what you asked for, but the Windwright Captain PrC from Explorer's Handbook is worth considering if you're in Eberron.

As for base classes, bard is an obvious pick.

Marshal, from Miniatures Handbook, could be very effective. (You'd need a way to get profession, be it some feat or multiclassing.)

[Lev]

Thanks for the input, are there more options?

Caster options?

Also, a big question: What kind of airship?

Zepplins seem to be the obvious choice, but I'm looking for something a little more steathy and durable... not a 60k hindenburg in a world full of fireballs.

[Chrono22]

You could always transpose the stats of the Elven Wingship into airship stats.
But elven wingships are very expensive...
a good alternative would be the humble Pinnace. They are swift, easy to handle, and require few to man. They have two light outfits, which isn't anything to scoff at.

Speaking of fireballs... they aren't as much a problem, when your primary cohort is an intelligent magic item- namely, the ship itself. Especially when that sentient magic item has taken levels in wizard.:smallbiggrin:

[Duke of URL]

Any medium- to high-BAB class that benefits from a decent charisma will work, presuming you can get access to the necessary skills. The easiest way around the latter is the Education feat, if you don't consider that too setting-specific. and really, shouldn't an airship captain have some measure of education?

Beyond that, it comes down to what do you want your captain to be and do, apart from captaining the ship? Melee? Ranged? Caster? Skill-Monkey?

Swashbuckler fits the trope, but really has no CHA-synergy. Bards and Rogues do it better, with a little less combat prowess, but a lot of other benefits to make up for it. Factotums, of course, can do anything, airship captaining included.

Marshal is an interesting option. Not much of a combatant in and of itself, but a good "buffer" that isn't a T1/T2 spellcaster. Of course a Cleric can do it better, but that's pretty much true for anything.

For an offbeat option, consider a Warlock. It'll have the necessary BAB, least invocations can include Beguiling Influence and Eldritch Spear (make ranged EB attacks from on board your ship), and grab Fell Flight as your 6th level invocation, just in case you fall off the edge of your own ship.

For the paperwork-inclined, there's always Dread Necromancer. I'd go 8 level there first, though, before PrCing out. Create your own crew, and they don't even require wages!

[Lev]

You could always transpose the stats of the Elven Wingship into airship stats.
But elven wingships are very expensive...
a good alternative would be the humble Pinnace. They are swift, easy to handle, and require few to man. They have two light outfits, which isn't anything to scoff at.

Speaking of fireballs... they aren't as much a problem, when your primary cohort is an intelligent magic item- namely, the ship itself. Especially when that sentient magic item has taken levels in wizard.:smallbiggrin:
That's a good point, it would be wonderful to have something like that.

Wingships and Pinnace, source?

Undead crew sounds like not a bad idea, same with construct or awakened crew now that I think about it.

I think the ability to cast Submerge Ship would be pretty amazing, is it possible to integrate the spell into the ship itself to do away with the need for a heavy caster? It's a 7th level sorc/wiz spell with a focus of a small wooden rudder inlaid with silver (2,500g) which you could homebrew to use the ship's wheel as the focus as the focus can be handed off at any time... which if the ship is intelligent it can auto-pilot the ship but then automatically transfer control to anyone touching the wheel.

Thoughts?

[Iku Rex]

Also, a big question: What kind of airship?

The standard Eberron airship (http://eberronunlimited.wikidot.com/airship) from the ECS book is the obvious choice. 92 000 gp (and usually 8 000 gp extra for the Wheel of Wind and Water).

The Windwright Captain gets you one of these at level 2, although it still belongs to House Lyrandar and you have to pay "rent".

Dragon 329 has a short description of an "Air Cutter". Smaller and faster than a regular airship, 55 000 gp.

Then there's the Gargantuan Wyvern Effigy (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96729) variant. :smallsmile:

[Lev]

Then there's the Gargantuan Wyvern Effigy (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96729) variant. :smallsmile:

Nice, that's totally Lexx bug ships right there.

[Gensh]

I can't remember the source right now, but there exists an armor special material called liveoak, which is exactly what it sounds like: oak that keeps growing even after being hacked to bits and made into something else. Make your airship out of this stuff and you'll never have to buy wands of mending, but more importantly, dryads live exclusively in oak - there's your crew. As a bonus, any unwanted passengers...or admirers standing too close to the boat...or completely random passersby are subject to an entangle effect, free of charge.

As far as class goes, dragon shaman would be interesting thematically if not the most useful choice, though to get the skills, you'd have to do human paragon+able learner. For reasons unknown, I do that half the time anyway, but it's not always the best choice.

[Lev]

Having a crew or just the captain or whathaveyou that can move through walls of the ship sounds like it would have immense artistic advantages in terms of ship design, without the needs for being stable on the water it doesnt have to be semi-circular, and without the need for platforms, doors or windows or walkways you could basically make it anything you want.

An upside down forest growing on the bottom of the airship comes to mind, ect.

[Prime32]

I can't remember the source right now, but there exists an armor special material called liveoak, which is exactly what it sounds like: oak that keeps growing even after being hacked to bits and made into something else. Make your airship out of this stuff and you'll never have to buy wands of mending, but more importantly, dryads live exclusively in oak - there's your crew. As a bonus, any unwanted passengers...or admirers standing too close to the boat...or completely random passersby are subject to an entangle effect, free of charge.ECS (the same source as the airship) has livewood, which is likewise clinically immortal. Dryads can live in livewood trees instead of oaks, and it's mentioned that they sometimes end up in ships because of this.

[faceroll]

Windwright Captain (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20050803a&page=3) has 3/5 casting/infusions and some ok abilities.

[Lev]

Very nice, greatly appreciated.