[PF] Design a Pirate Crew!

[goose1009]

Going to be running a pirate hunting game and i'm looking for some different pirate crew flavors. I was hoping you guys could possibly help me out. I'm using this as a way to make a sea based campaign a bit more varied. This would also cause the party to hopefully come up with different ways to tackle individual pirate crews. Hopefully some of you are willing to help me out!

Example:

The Green Sails
Ship fighting style: Strong, relies on ramming/melee boarding
Captain: Captain Toothgrin - Half Orc, smart but savage. Opens with a composite long bow, aiming to take out lightly armored targets while ship closes. Once boarding begins, brings out his Double Axe and goes to town in melee.
Crew: Made up of mainly half-breeds. Tends to try and only take out ships that seem like an easy mark. Has maybe 5-10 good fighters, the rest deckhands.
Tactics: They tend to kill and sink all ships they take over. Most information about them is known about crews that managed to fight them off, rumors are they flee a losing battle quite quickly, willing to leave behind crew members.

Looking for ideas similar for other crews. Perhaps divine, or arcane in nature. Basically anything creative to get the party involved in researching and fighting smartly.

Thank you all.

[Bigbeefie]

Boat name: Hellish Lust

Captain: Captain Thomas Paine: A Switch hitter ranger Level 7+ with a Roc for an Animal Companion and Boon companion feat.

Begins combat by sending out the Roc while making ranged attacks with his Composite long bow. After melee fighting breaks out he will wade into battle and use his Great sword and chop his foes down. He is a deadly warrior with lots of Brute strength. He respects strength and those who are apart of his crew are battle tested.

First Mate: Joseph the Gold: A Wizard/Sorc/or Magus

He Begins combat by disrupting enemy boats movement by targeting the sails and setting them ablaze. He then offers a few buffs and continues to act as ranged artillery. At later levels he will fly above the fight and rain down hell...or Poly morph into a dragon via form of the Dragon and begin his fly by assault.

The Crew: Every member of the crew was picked up thus far from other acts of Piracy. During every raid a few of the crew of the Victim ship is left alive. Having survived the length of the assault and living through the Captain offers the few remaining people to join his crew. He calls them the strongest of their former crew and that the captain only wants the strongest and battle hard for his crew...thus they made the cut. If they don't willingly join they are executed throughout the next week for the current crews Pleasure and entertainment.

The crew in a fight mans the Siege devices and when Melee breaks out they are all in till the combat is over. Any one caught fleeing will be shot in the back or executed when caught. Weaklings have no place in this world and this ship sees to it that the strong survive and thrive.

[BWR]

The Pirates of Penzance
Ship fighting style: Charge close and heavy use of Intimidate and magic to seem frightening, preferring to avoid violence
Captain: His true name unknown, the captain of the PoP is called the Pirate King, and is very proud of the fact and the freedom pirating brings.
Crew: Consisting entirely of orphans, especially orphaned gentlemen/nobles, they run the gamut of skills and likeability, though everyone has at least a veneer of gentility, and at least one level of bard so they can join in the song and dance routines.
Tactics: Whlie feared pirates, in no small part thanks to their ability to bluff, intimidate and spin stories about their horrible deeds, the PoP have one soft spot - they never harm or steal from an orphan (which has led to an increasing number of ships being crewed entirely by 'orphans'). When combat is inevitable, they rely on demoalization, acrobatic style and fancy swordplay.

I just couldn't resist.

[Rentaromon]

Take straight from my high seas immortal pirate adventure.



Dragons Horde: Captain Gold, A beautiful busty female captain who is a master of seduction, diplomacy, and a dam good pistol user. She controls a large number of pirates who are never targeted by other pirates, because of her secret weapon. The lack of competition in her part of the waters means her men gain large numbers of riches and almost never need to fight over them. She is married to a creepy man she lets live in the lap of luxury with whores ale and riches, because he has a power that no one else can match.
With just a name he can make a person who is the complete counter to that person. Whatever a persons skills he will summon a clone that is just a bit better at them, and that clone will do nothing but go after that person until they are dead. It is rare for someone to ever beat their clone, and another can always be made if one fails.
Typical Crew: One captain of CR 5 at best, the crew is generally low in power but uses better weapons than most. Expect Cannons, Guns, and Artifacts. They show little to no respect but leave without much trouble if they are payed off. They will quickly run if they think they might lose.

SilverBacks: Captain Pel, A old and ruthless pirate who has been at this for many many years. His group of pirates is few in number but all are veterans. They are more interested in controlling their islands and the mines/farms they control to make their money. Pel himself is a great fighter who turns into a vicious monster in combat.
They generally force pirates and the law away from their area with intimidation but can hold up in a fight with the best of them.
Typical Crew: A crew of a handful CR 6-9, with only 1 or 2 weaker new members. They prefer to fight in Melee with Caster support and 1 Undead monster per ship. They will use simple tactics to get close to a ship and will target weaker members to kill off. They have great respect for great fighters and old pirates but will still fight them if needed. They are rare to run away, and rarely need to because they pick their battles well.

Imperial Navy: The Commander, Davy Jones old first mate, a master tactician, and a ruthless leader in the fight against piracy. The navy is strong, discipline, and well funded. Under The Commander they have also become incredibly effective at hunting down pirates and predicting their movements. The Commander's name and abilities are unknown, but he has never been known to lose a battle.
Typical Crew: a navy crew is well discipline and knows how to fight pirates with a large crew of CR 4-5 fighters. They are armed with Guns, Cannons, Anti-Pirate weapons, and recently all have at least 1 Oracle. They do not trade with pirates, they can not be bought off, and with the oracles they always enter a battle knowing what to do and with backup on the way.

Sea Dogs: The sea dogs have no leader, no flag, and no honor. They are the poor and evil banded together to steal and kill. They have no honor and will send anyone to the bottom of the sea for fun. While they are by far the weakest they use tricks and dirty fighting to win.
Typical Crew: while only a handful of CR 1-4 fighters their tricks can make them hard to fight. They Disguise as fishermen, use Human Shields, and will even use Devil Magic. They will enter fights they cannot win a lot, they are desperate, but not suicidal. They will run if they are unable to win.

Knights of Raan: Led by the Archmage Ferijall, a powerful wizard with a large array of frost based magic. He controls a Huge Iceberg “The fang of Nidhog” that has been shaped into a huge fortress, that acts as a fortress and mobile shipyard. They control the waters near the northern pole but are not trying to expand their territory. His leading members are The Family, his own relatives that are all very strong casters as well, and a bit inbred(an extra toe or 2 nothing too bad). Most members are from northers islands and most are not true pirates.
Typical Crew: most ships do not go far from the fortress but the ones who do are lead by a member of The Family, typically a CR8 Mage. The crew is large and unskilled but usually prefer to sink ships instead of boarding, they use Cannons, Explosives, and Ice Magic. The ships will call for backup quickly if they don't take a ship down fast, without backup nearby they generally don't fight.

Great Whites: Led by King Megalodon, these pirates are all of the species Cartiladins. Natural Predator of the Merfolk. They are predators that pray on the weak to feed, to collect treasure for Megalodon, or just for fun. They have little respect for surface creatures and have very little honor, however they do respect power. Anyone able to fight them and survive is treated as one of their own and they will at least not try to kill you for no reason, true trust is not possible. They do no come back to life when they die, they have their own reaper to fear in the water. Don't let them smell your blood in the water, it drives them crazy.
Typical Crew: while they dont have ships they do travel in packs, typically 6-8 CR4-6. They fight by Drowning you, eating you with their massive Teeth, and sometimes Sea Creatures. If you can prove your to strong to beat they will leave you alone, but if you cant then if they target you your as good as dead.

[Silverbit]

BWR, you're a mind reader. I was just about to post that.

Alon's Raiders:
Ship name: Alon's Revenge; big ship fast for its size.
Ship fighting style: stay close to the shore, hiding in bays and islets. Attempt to ambush small lone trading vessels, but might take on a military ship due to overconfidence and greed for superior weapons.
Captain: Alon the Wake - human Superstitious Barbarian, fights with a falchion. About level 5, very high initiative score.
Crew: large numbers; mostly human and elven warriors, small amount of low-level Barbarians. All use throwing weapons, bows and two-handed weapons. Light armour.
Tactics: open combat with a hail of missile weapons then try to board. Will run if obviously outmatched. Have a tendency to burn captured ships (sometimes with the crew) as a sacrifice to barbaric gods.

Alon's Raiders often work as mercenaries for more powerful entities; they're paid in well-crafted equipment or magic items.

[LarwisTheElf]

Dulfo's Dragons
Ship: The Dragonette, an elf wingship that the captain stole at the start of his career.
Captain: Dulfo, elf beguiler 6. Favors illusions. His favorite tactic is to create an illusion of a dragon swooping in to attack the other ship just as he is about to strike as a distraction. Uses his spells to help his crew gain the advantage over the other crew and gain the upper hand.
First Mate: Durgo, elf bard 5 and Dulfo's little brother. Extremely loyal to his brother, and will not tolerate any thought of betrayal among the crew. Generally a decent person but will quickly slit someone's throat if they intend to harm his brother. Uses bardic music to bolster the crew, and loves to sing in battle.
Crew: Comprised mostly of elves, but a few half elves and humans as well. Mostly fighters and rogues, but the quartermaster Hervick Blind-eye is a human ranger 4 (animal companion hawk).
Tactics: Dulfo and Durgo disguise the ship to allow them to approach their prey easily, then Dulfo uses major image to make a dragon that attacks the other ship. While the ship's crew is distracted, Dulfo and his crew quickly approach and board, trying to overpower their prey quickly. As soon as the other crew surrenders, they cease killing and plunder any goods the ship has. They leave enough supplies to allow the ship to sail to the next port, but that's about it. If a fight goes bad, they quickly retreat, using all their spells and tricks to mislead their opponents so they can quickly sail away.

[goose1009]

I love you guys, this is exactly the kind of info i was hoping to get!!!

This will add some spice to the game for sure!

[Slipperychicken]

The Mad Cultists
Ship Name: The Alert
Crew: Insane, dreadful pirate scum who perform unholy rites in the worship of their dark, terrible gods. They probably also possess at least one Witch and/or Cleric with the madness, evil, death, or void domains. They worship a horrible idol of master craftsmanship but unknowable origins.
Tactics: Board the enemy ship as soon as they can, kill or capture everyone on board, in melee if possible. Magic-users will stack fear effects (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/special-abilities#TOC-Fear) (such as Vision of Hell (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/v/vision-of-hell), the Enforcer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/enforcer-combat) feat, Haunting Mists (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/h/haunting-mists), and Cackling Skull (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/cackling-skull)*) to fill the enemys' minds with dread (i.e. get them to Frightened (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/conditions#TOC-Frightened) and/or Panicked (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/conditions#TOC-Panicked)) and keep them from retaliating, occasionally dropping a buff like Remove Fear (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/r/remove-fear) or Swallow Your Fear (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/swallow-your-fear) on the cultists if they get frightened by friendly fear spells.
Behavior: They patrol the seas surrounding a strange uncharted island: a nightmarish corpse-city covered with goo and seaweed, whose ancient construction and mind-warping angles house terrors beyond reckoning. The cultists destroy any and all who come too close, and know neither sanity, fear, nor mercy.


*(a witch would probably have dozens of Cackling Skulls prepared and have cultists carry or launch them onto the enemy's ship. They are most likely set to discharge their horrible messages when the witch cries out some blasphemous prayer -each skull might be keyed to a different utterance. This may be quite strong in conjunction with overlapping Visions of Hell. It also gives the cultists an excuse to wear a bunch of skulls).