Pirates!!!!

[Devronq]

I'm making a pirate themed adventure for my characters (lv 16 and lets assume barley WBL but a descent amount of optimized but no cheese) any ideas for encounters?
I defiantly want the captain to be a beholder but I'm open for whatever for the build preferable CR.20 with 7 class levels but open to anything but beholder mage.)
Also any monsters that seem they would hang out with pirates (fluff wise) would be huge bonuses. We use gestalt but with slightly different rules you cant split your gesault or use any PRC and your stuck with your 2 classes and cant take any levels in any other classes.
Also we don't use psionics but anything else i havent mentioned yet is fair game :) thanks for the help

[Malvanis]

Scags (sea trolls) Sahuagin, evil aligned aqautic dwellers. Those kind of creatures are the ones that work best with pirates. You would proably have to put some class levels on those because of the ECL.

[Nettlekid]

Barley wealth by level? All your characters will be rich barley merchants? I think Craft: Basketweaving will come in handy, just to carry it all.

And a descent amount of optimization. So like, a highly optimized 1st level, quite optimized 2nd, mid-OP 3rd, not too optimized 4th, take-Truenamer-as-5th, in descending order of optimization?

I find that pirate campaigns are better when you focus on the exploration aspect of it rather than battles. I did a pirate one-shot about a year ago, and it was quite fun. It involved going to a Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter island, in search of components that would make a chalice of eternal life, guided by a cursed doubloon which would glow red-hot at the mention of "Captain Steele." I ended up just homebrewing a few monsters, like Sirens for the spring on the Spring Island, some stone animals for the Autumn Island, and a "skeleton swarm" on the Winter Island.

I would advice against class levels for the Beholder. Nothing you can get out of 7 level (beyond Beholder Mage) is as impressive as the Eye Rays it already has. It doesn't matter if you're a 7th level Rogue and get 4d6 extra sneak attack with your Disintegrate ray. What you could do is just DM fiat the prereqs and give the Beholder 10 levels in a class like Dread Pirate, mainly for flavor, and just up the DCs on its eye rays or allow it to bend more into an arc. Look through Lords of Madness to find Beholder-centric items like the mirrors and lenses it can shoot its rays through, and have those on its ship in strategic places. As for crew, I could imagine a Harpy in the crow's nest, a Rope Golem on rigging, a Kuo-Toa navigator (or one of the many special Kuo-Toa, like a Kuo-Toa Exalted Whip), a Sovereign Myconid chef making lots of potions, other aquatic creatures like Sahuagin or more Kuo-toas on deck as swabbies, and hey, give him a pet Kraken to call in case the battle looks too easy. Play it very much by ear.

Although, I can't imagine why you don't want to go Beholder Mage. The image of it poking out it's center eye and wearing a huge pirate eyepatch on top of it is fantastic to me.

[Humble Master]

For combat I would recommend encounters were water level is critical. Like a really dangerous monster that can only live in the water (maybe like an Greater Abyssal Parana Swarm or something. Not an actual monster, you would have to homebrew it) and a monster than can raise the water level. Now the PC's have to fight for the high ground so they can avoid getting mauled by the Parana while simultaneously killing the water raising monster (which is trying to kill the PC's itself).
Out of combat I agree that exploration should be top priority. Make a map of islands with some that are 'good' ( monsters with treasure and plot stuff ect.) and islands that are 'bad' (have stuff like monsters or horrible diseases). There would be clues as to which islands were 'good' and 'bad' and the PC's would have to navigate the archipelago.

[Devronq]

About beholder mages.. there just too good even not optimsed but at level 10 casting 9 spells around.. just as bas as alot of cheesy things

[Doorhandle]

Also it's worth noting that you just can't do a pirate themed encounter without a sea monster some point, in my opinion.

Dragon turtles, and sea serpents are the usual fare, but too weak and sosltairty for lv 16 unless they were part of the crew. A kraken is bascially the idea C.R at C.R 17.

For something less classic, I'm pretty sure 3.5 has rules for Silyca and Charybdis that could be cool, but the ideal thing would be several akhalut: bastard offspring of orca whales and wolves that can control weather and hunt in packs.

[Crustypeanut]

bastard offspring of orca whales and wolves

Wat.


I don't even..

[Lateral]

...Given that they're called 'akhalut', I'm going to go ahead and assume that they're inevitables that just happen to look like orca-wolf-things.

[TuggyNE]

...Given that they're called 'akhalut', I'm going to go ahead and assume that they're inevitables that just happen to look like orca-wolf-things.

That sounds plausible, but what are they the inevitables of? Do they hunt down fishermen who use nets that aren't dolphin-safe?

[Nettlekid]

Good guess on the Inevitable front, but no. Google them. They are exactly as described, orcas with wolflike legs.

[Andezzar]

Not any more silly than Bulettes.

There also was this extrapalanar flying shark somewhere. I can't find it in Stormwrack or the MMs though.

[gorfnab]

I defiantly want the captain to be a beholder but I'm open for whatever for the build preferable CR.20 with 7 class levels but open to anything but beholder mage.)

Dungeon Lord 5 (DS) / X 2 - Just declare the ship to be a dungeon and you're set. X 2 - Legendary Leader from HoB would be amusing, otherwise any front loaded class or prestige class for filler would work.

[Alleran]

I defiantly want the captain to be a beholder but I'm open for whatever for the build preferable CR.20 with 7 class levels but open to anything but beholder mage.)
An Illithid permanently polymorphed (either via a Dweomerkeeper buddy you have as a cohort from Leadership or use the Savage Species wish transformation ritual) into a Beholder, and the Illithid has levels of Illithid Savant.

:smalltongue:

[Humble Master]

Not any more silly than Bulettes.

There also was this extrapalanar flying shark somewhere. I can't find it in Stormwrack or the MMs though.
Might it be the Terlen from Fiend Folio?

[gurgleflep]

I'm making a pirate themed adventure for my characters (lv 16 and lets assume barley WBL but a descent amount of optimized but no cheese) any ideas for encounters?
I defiantly want the captain to be a beholder but I'm open for whatever for the build preferable CR.20 with 7 class levels but open to anything but beholder mage.)
Also any monsters that seem they would hang out with pirates (fluff wise) would be huge bonuses. We use gestalt but with slightly different rules you cant split your gesault or use any PRC and your stuck with your 2 classes and cant take any levels in any other classes.
Also we don't use psionics but anything else i havent mentioned yet is fair game :) thanks for the help

This may or not be helpful, but I've got a couple links for you.
Here's one involving a beholder pirate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=281958) and another with an undead pirare crew. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277982) I was looking for help with pirate themed quests a while ago and thought that these might help you.

[Andezzar]

Might it be the Terlen from Fiend Folio?That's it, thanks.