Astral Pirate.

[CommanderCronos]

Hey guys looking for some advice. Im new on the forum so bare with me.

So im staring a new campaign soon. Heres the story: the world we are from was destroyed but people were able to escape on a large ship which can travel through the astral plane and other such areas. The ship is about the size of a small city so it is quite diverse and has many races and classes on it.

Another ship was able to escape too however and it was brimming with blood thirsty orcs. They managed to get on this ship and take it over. Now they are pursuing us as they know we have many riches and they want they. plus they are orcs so they like to chase and kill things lol.

Anyway my character is part of the force on the ship that removes obsticles they may slow us down. Like diplomatic missions as we move through differant areas with new races that we havent met before or fighting to keep scavengers away. Also they will fight the orcs any time they happen to find us.

SO.....i have an idea for a character who is a kind-of swashbuckling adventurer. I'm looking at either a ranger who uses two weapon fighting with a rapier or cutlass and off hand dagger and also uses pistols when he needs to(as we have access to gunpowder). Or just a plain swashbuckler who is a fast duelist. I'm toying with making him an elf who is a bit arrogant and also perhaps bitter about his world being destroyed as he enjoyed the comfort he had.

Starting level 6.

Any thoughts on build or even all new suggestions of classes for this char would be welcome.

Thanks in advance guys

[Duke of Urrel]

I'm new to the Playground, too, but I have a few comments.

Firstly, your campaign setting sounds great! Like a combination of Star Trek and a good pirate movie. A huge, city-sized ship on the Astral Plane would make a very interesting headquarters and launching pad for a great variety of adventures all over the multiverse. And whenever things start to get boring, the orcs could always catch up with you!

I always enjoy parties of contrasting characters, so the first thing I'd advise you to do when creating a PC is: Be something different from everybody else. Your strengths and weaknesses will be balanced by others in your party.

There is a ranger-variant class called Planar Ranger. Check it out in the SRD, if you haven't yet. There's also a rogue-like class called the Gatecrasher, which has a rogue-like skill set, specializes in manipulating interplanar portals, develops the extraordinary ability to survive in various planar environments, and would go well with the Planar Ranger class, I think. Unfortunately, I can't find this class described online, but maybe knowing the name can help you find a full description.

That's really the all the advice I have. There are really knowledgeable people in this forum, but they respond best to very specific questions.

[Duke of Urrel]

Here's an online description of the Gatecrasher class:

http://guilesworld.sudymodesign.com/role-playing-games-stuff/planescape/gatecrasher.html

This description is of the Pathfinder class, which I'm not familiar with. The Gatecrasher class I knew came from the 3.0-version Manual of the Planes.

[Arcanist]

Made me think of this... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60BjkUtqxPE)

[BowStreetRunner]

Hmmm... Battlestar Galactica goes from SciFi to Fantasy. It could work.

As for the Gatecrasher mentioned, that is in the Manual of the Planes (p26) which I believe is a 3.0 sourcebook that was never updated to 3.5, so you will need the D&D v.3.5 Accessory Update Booklet (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20030718a).

It's not a bad class, but it really does nothing to improve your combat abilities, so should be reserved for a support character. If that is a role you are willing to take, it has definite potential.

If you are more interested in being a bit more combat-ready, you might look into the Daring Outlaw feat from Complete Scoundrel and going Rogue/Swashbuckler. Just Google Daring Outlaw and you will find lots of threads relating to this character build.

[Duke of Urrel]

Hey, thanks for the sources, BowStreetRunner!

[CommanderCronos]

Thanks for all the help guys i will have to have a look through these. For the time being I've decided to go for a full on swashbuckler.

My team so far only consists of one PC. Not sure how many NPCs the DM will give us but ive decided to go swashbuckler so he can hold his own in combat.

I'm going to make him an elf who is bitter about having to leave his comfy home world and can be a bit of a **** as he thinks he is above many of the people he has to now mingle with on the ship.

He will also hate orcs just because he thinks they are horrid creatures that make his life even less comfortable, and his job harder.

[hoverfrog]

It sounds as if a half orc ranger\rogue would be a perfect opposite for you.