D&D 3.5 Pirate ideas(help)

[atsumouri]

So sometime soon my gaming group on Friday is switching back to D&D from abberant and we are starting all over Either level 1 or level 3 not sure witch the dm seems to jump between those 2 levels a lot at the start of a game. This game is going to be completely different than what we are used to tho. We are going to do a Pirate/seafaring adventure. mostly at see starting probably as part of a crew on a pirate ship. the only rules are "no evil alignment" and "it has to be in one of the books no home brew stuff" And i was wondering what race/class would be a good idea for the adventure. we already have, a dwarf fighter, a barbarian (unknown race yet), An arcane caster of some sort race unknown, a cleric race unknown yet but probability halfling, a monk race probably dwarf, and a psyonic warrior, and me. i was thinking something rogue like or a backup caster like warlock or some other out of the ordinary class.
my current idea is being a Hadozee(race Stormwrack pg 41) and going Swashbuckler (complete warrior page 11)and cross classing with ninja (Complete adventurer page 7) mostly for the wis to ac and Rogueish play style as wearing armor on a boat has a slight problem if u fall overboard.
Was wondering if anyone has any good advise or ideas about how i can better the concept or just advise for seafaring adventures this is my first game that has any level of water transit besides a random encounter from time to time while switching continents. any ideas/help will be welcome.

[Urpriest]

Unlike Ninja, Rogues have the Daring Outlaw feat (Complete Scoundrel) to let them get Sneak Attack from Swashbuckler levels. So Rogue would be a better choice. Something like Rogue 4/Swashbuckler 16 (in whatever order you prefer). Plus Hadozee's favored class is Rogue, so you won't suffer multiclass penalties.

[atsumouri]

Unlike Ninja, Rogues have the Daring Outlaw feat (Complete Scoundrel) to let them get Sneak Attack from Swashbuckler levels. So Rogue would be a better choice. Something like Rogue 4/Swashbuckler 16 (in whatever order you prefer). Plus Hadozee's favored class is Rogue, so you won't suffer multiclass penalties.
Hmm ill have to look in to that that's not a bad idea Everyone likes more sneak attack dice XD

[SirFredgar]

I would also like to suggest the Legendary Captain PrC if you do end up at sea a lot and want your own ship. In that playing feild, it would certainly give your group a huge advantage on the high seas.

[atsumouri]

I would also like to suggest the Legendary Captain PrC if you do end up at sea a lot and want your own ship. In that playing feild, it would certainly give your group a huge advantage on the high seas.
What book is it in? and i think the Psyonic warrior and the dwarf warrior are both going to try to get dread pirate and part of red pirate is u must own a ship so that's 2 ships so we may be covered there but anything is worth looking in to.

[Machinekng]

What book is it in? and i think the Psyonic warrior and the dwarf warrior are both going to try to get dread pirate and part of red pirate is u must own a ship so that's 2 ships so we may be covered there but anything is worth looking in to.

It's in Stormwrack.

[SirFredgar]

What book is it in? and i think the Psyonic warrior and the dwarf warrior are both going to try to get dread pirate and part of red pirate is u must own a ship so that's 2 ships so we may be covered there but anything is worth looking in to.

It's in Stormwrack . It's a prestige class that focuses mainly on Navel Combat. It's actually not that good for characters expecting to face enemies in the traditional encounter, but put a legendary captain behind the helm of a ship during a firefight and you will see some awesomeness.

Leadership is a requirement of the class, and it does buff it somewhat during progression (to give you more followers for your crew). Because of that, though, some DMs may automatically say no (since I've known DMs that avoid Leadership like the plauge). I played one, once, and it was extremely fun while we were at sea.... once I wasn't on the deck of my ship though, my cohort was the power player (artificer).

[Tvtyrant]

I have never done a water-ship campaign. I have done a spelljammer ship campaign however, and an air ship campaign. So my advice might not be the most applicable, but there you are.

1. Leadership is much more acceptable in a ship campaign than in a dungeon campaign. A typical ship had between 50-200 crew members (once you get galleons), and needs officers. The easiest way to deal with this is leadership, with the officers of the ship being the players and their cohorts. The increased numbers as you level are important, since your ship will likely get larger over time.

2. There are three basic sub-settings of a sailing campaign. Town, island adventures, and the high seas.
The town sections are for shopping, finding new crew members, and finding out about politics. Fights with town guards are probably going to happen, but your players will want to buy things/spend their gold at some point. Have each town be a seperate government/city state that do not care about your reputation anywhere else and you can still go shopping even if you accidentally killed a king.
Island Adventures are for the party to play like a typical dungeon party. The crew stays on the ship to keep it safe, and the PCs go ashore to get loot and supplies.
The high seas are for ship battles, robbing merchants and fighting warships, sea monsters, storms, etc. The roleplaying is going to be mostly ship politics and relationships, tons (hundreds) of permanent NPCs with jobs and personalities. <-this section is what sets the setting apart from a normal dungeon crawl.

[Randomguy]

Swasbuckler 3/Factotum 17 would also work well. The downside is that you don't get int to AC until higher levels. You're a great rogue, and you've got some spellcasting, too.

Another possible build is spellthief 1/Factotum 19, with the master spellthief feat from complete scoundrel. Factotums have a caster level, so you steal spells as a level 20 spellthief.

Spellthief 20 is also good. It's got arcane casting and rogue abilities. You get less powerful spells, but more spells than a factotum. (Factotums get 7th level spells, spelltheives get 4th level spells).

[Rubik]

If you want swashbuckling craziness, I suggest either factotum or swordsage (or both!).

If you want crazy-good at sea awesomeness and can think outside the box with your abilities, a shaper psion can do all sorts of awesome stuff with its metacreativity powers. And warforged make the best shapers. Shaper 5/constructor 10/astral zealot 5 (with early entry into constructor via Favored Contact, from Cityscape) can do some seriously fun stuff with astral constructs, (Greater) Psionic Fabricate, Psionic Minor Creation, Time Hop, and the various sonic energy powers (Fire Energy Balls to create massive walls of steam, Sonic balls to dissolve enemy ships, and so on).

Fun fun.

[deuxhero]

tons (hundreds) of permanent NPCs with jobs and personalities

A "ton" of permananent NPCs is closer to 15, and that's if your pirates are pretty thin...

[Tvtyrant]

A "ton" of permananent NPCs is closer to 15, and that's if your pirates are pretty thin...

Or a ship full of hobbits.

[deuxhero]

Still only 66. 80 if they are women.

[SirFredgar]

Still only 66. 80 if they are women.

I don't get where these numbers are coming from or what they mean. Elaborate?

[Tvtyrant]

Still only 66. 80 if they are women.

Jermlaine. Your ship filled with tiny gnome-things awaists.

[Reltzik]

Druid could be a good pick. Forget unleashing the Kraken; you can BECOME the Kraken. (At high levels.) And you can pick an aquatic animal companion. Maybe not the best choice for power-build purposes, but really, how often do you get to do it?

Perhaps something leading to Arcane Archer.... ships are so nice and flamable, after all.

[Dr.Epic]

1. Watch the Princess Bride 20 times between now and then.
2. Copy everything in that film for your character concept.
3. ???
4. Profit

:smallwink:

[deuxhero]

I don't get where these numbers are coming from or what they mean. Elaborate?

It's a joke, it's not funny if it needs to be explained.

[Reltzik]

1. Watch the Princess Bride 20 times between now and then.
2. Copy everything in that film for your character concept.
3. ???
4. Profit

:smallwink:

3: Get sued for copyright infringement, defend on grounds of fair usage, and countersue.