Piracy in 5e

[Pinjata]

How do I do piracy in 5e? Most pirates are lvl 1, luitenants are lvl 2-3, captains lvl 5. Setting is Faerun.

I guess clerics of Istishia and Umberlee would be searched for for such crews. Balisstas as standard ship equiptment. Sea creatures are a threat I guess and can work with pirates. (sea elves especially)

Take into account in this setting PC classess are RARE. You can wish for a ship, full of clerics of Umerlee or a sniping team of warlock snipers, but at these levels, things will be far more mundane.

Still, got any ideas how to use the tools d&d offers in such a setting?

[Lines]

How do I do piracy in 5e? Most pirates are lvl 1, luitenants are lvl 2-3, captains lvl 5. Setting is Faerun.

I guess clerics of Istishia and Umberlee would be searched for for such crews. Balisstas as standard ship equiptment. Sea creatures are a threat I guess and can work with pirates. (sea elves especially)

Take into account in this setting PC classess are RARE. You can wish for a ship, full of clerics of Umerlee or a sniping team of warlock snipers, but at these levels, things will be far more mundane.

Still, got any ideas how to use the tools d&d offers in such a setting?

Yes, have a setting in which piracy makes sense. The mechanics aren't particularly complicated, what you want is a setting that makes piracy an attractive option - nations too focused on each other to divert resources to piracy, the slave trade making it more valuable, nations with a feudal or similar power structures that mean they won't have a standing navy, etc.

Also unless yours is a pretty early setting, don't do that weird thing D&D does where there's a 1650s level of technology but no guns for some reason. The ease of training for guns makes them an ideal pirate weapon, and cannons mean the PCs can't just win everything by boarding the enemy ship and wrecking face.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Not sure there's much I can add on the mechanical side... the answer to "How do I do piracy in 5e?" is pretty much 1) you get your pirates and 2) you put them on a boat. On the religious side though, I have some thoughts.

Istishia is (in my understanding) a god of healing/purifying water - and as a primordial, he is not often worshipped by humanoid clerics. He's more of a 'theoretical' god, rather than an active one who would help or hinder a pirate.

All seafarers live in constant fear of Umberlee, who they call the b*tch queen. They will do everything they can to placate her and direct her wrath away from their vessels, but I cannot see them inviting one of her clerics onto a ship. That would be asking for trouble. Kind of like what happened with Calypso in Pirates of the Caribbean.

I would suggest that religiously-inclined pirates might alternatively be interested in gods of the dead, such as Kelemvor, as they seem to be obsessed with death (witness all the skulls and hourglasses on their flags), Shaundakul, who protects travellers, Valkur (god of naval combat), because many pirates are really just unemployed/rogue members of 'proper' navies and possibly Bhaal, Malar or Cyric, who all value ruthlessness and a thirst for blood.

[UberMagus]

Also unless yours is a pretty early setting, don't do that weird thing D&D does where there's a 1650s level of technology but no guns for some reason. The ease of training for guns makes them an ideal pirate weapon, and cannons mean the PCs can't just win everything by boarding the enemy ship and wrecking face.

If you have to, say pirates somehow stole the secret of Smokepowder from the gnomes of Lantan, and the navies got it from them. In addition, that lets you add a nice plot device, like gnomish privateers trying to destroy the people who've stolen their secrets. :D And, if your worried about the repercussion, lower the damage on firearms and require a feat so they're more flavor than power. That way, cannons are still great naval equipment, but less likely to spread as normal weapons. :smallsmile:

[Lines]

If you have to, say pirates somehow stole the secret of Smokepowder from the gnomes of Lantan, and the navies got it from them. In addition, that lets you add a nice plot device, like gnomish privateers trying to destroy the people who've stolen their secrets. :D And, if your worried about the repercussion, lower the damage on firearms and require a feat so they're more flavor than power. That way, cannons are still great naval equipment, but less likely to spread as normal weapons. :smallsmile:

I'm somewhat confused. Cannons are not man portable, they would never enter use as normal weapons. Firearms would, but they would do no more damage than a longbow of the day and be significantly less accurate - their advantage lies in cheapness of maintenance, ease of ammunition creation and lack of training required.

Not sure what's going on with this smokepowder business, but if that's a rewording of gunpowder why wouldn't it just spread the normal way?

[Ninja_Prawn]

I'm somewhat confused. Cannons are not man portable, they would never enter use as normal weapons. Firearms would, but they would do no more damage than a longbow of the day and be significantly less accurate - their advantage lies in cheapness of maintenance and lack of training required.

Not sure what's going on with this smokepowder business, but if that's a rewording of gunpowder why wouldn't it just spread the normal way?

Smokepowder is the FR version of gunpowder, and it was revealed to the gnomes by the gods (I believe Gond, god of craft, specifically).

And renaissance-era firearms have stats in the DMG, which explicitly defines them as more powerful than crossbows.

[Pinjata]

Lovely input regarding gods. There will be no gunpowder.

[Lines]

Smokepowder if the FR version of gunpowder, and it was revealed to the gnomes by the gods (I believe Gond, god of craft, specifically).

And renaissance-era firearms have stats in the DMG, which explicitly defines them as more powerful than crossbows.

Well then change it, that's wrong. The reason guns edged out bows and crossbows is they required a lot less training and maintenance, they didn't need the strength of the former or the complicated construction of the latter.


Lovely input regarding gods. There will be no gunpowder.

Why not? Don't get me wrong, there was obviously piracy before there was gunpowder, but the golden age of piracy is where most people draw their inspiration from. What kind of tech setting are we talking here? Bronze age?

[Pinjata]

What kind of tech setting are we talking here?
Faerun, latest update. Coasts of Chessenta - lots of warring cities sponsoring unoficcial "pirates" to loot and weaken their enemies. Very low magic also.

[UberMagus]

I'm somewhat confused. Cannons are not man portable, they would never enter use as normal weapons. Firearms would, but they would do no more damage than a longbow of the day and be significantly less accurate - their advantage lies in cheapness of maintenance, ease of ammunition creation and lack of training required.

Not sure what's going on with this smokepowder business, but if that's a rewording of gunpowder why wouldn't it just spread the normal way?

As was said, Smokepowder is FR's "magic gunpowder", revealed by Gond to the gnomes of Lantan after the ToT.

As to accuracy and damage, in the DMG they do more damage(d10 for Pistol, d12 for Musket), but are less accurate(range is lower). Which, to be fair, is pretty close to accurate. Muskets did f**k-tons of damage WHEN they hit, and really didn't care about your armor. :smallsmile: And, in the primitive firearms, I wouldn't put "cheapness of maintenance" in there. Maintenance on flintlocks and earlier basically took jewelry-level forging ability. Ease of use, though, I'd agree, the feat suggestion was to try to slow the spread, as was the suggestion of lowering the damage.

[RickAllison]

As was said, Smokepowder is FR's "magic gunpowder", revealed by Gond to the gnomes of Lantan after the ToT.

As to accuracy and damage, in the DMG they do more damage(d10 for Pistol, d12 for Musket), but are less accurate(range is lower). Which, to be fair, is pretty close to accurate. Muskets did f**k-tons of damage WHEN they hit, and really didn't care about your armor. :smallsmile: And, in the primitive firearms, I wouldn't put "cheapness of maintenance" in there. Maintenance on flintlocks and earlier basically took jewelry-level forging ability. Ease of use, though, I'd agree, the feat suggestion was to try to slow the spread, as was the suggestion of lowering the damage.

Far from jewelry-like, flintlock muskets and pistols have so few moving parts that maintenance generally involved cleaning out the barrel and the touchpan. Some earlier weapons *coughwheellockcough* were more complicated, but they required significantly less work to maintain than the elaborate care that maintaining the wood and strings of bows and crossbows entails (and then mechanical work for crossbows as well!).

[Lines]

Faerun, latest update. Coasts of Chessenta - lots of warring cities sponsoring unoficcial "pirates" to loat and weaken their enemies. Very low magic also.

Ok, just googled Faerun and I am confused as hell. They have pretty much every single technology contemporary of gunpowder except gunpowder itself, why? And just in case you're not aware (you could be simplifying for me for all I know, but adding this because it'd be a bit silly not to considering they're central to your campaign) the word for sponsored pirate in this context is privateer.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Ok, just googled Faerun and I am confused as hell.

Welcome to the Forgotten Realms!

This is one of the reasons people aren't fond of it as a setting. It's been around so long, and it's been built upon, revamped, remixed and re-imagined so many times that it no longer makes any kind of sense.

On the other hand, it's got the best set of divine pantheons of any setting I can think of. And the maps are really nice.

[UberMagus]

Far from jewelry-like, flintlock muskets and pistols have so few moving parts that maintenance generally involved cleaning out the barrel and the touchpan. Some earlier weapons *coughwheellockcough* were more complicated, but they required significantly less work to maintain than the elaborate care that maintaining the wood and strings of bows and crossbows entails (and then mechanical work for crossbows as well!).

Sorry, I meant the creation of the parts and the replacement of them. Maintenance was probably the wrong word. It would have taken someone with extensive smithing training to make the finely constructed parts, and to make sure they we manufactured finely enough to work. And, should one break, the replacement would also be as difficult. This is all, of course, for accurate pistols.

[Socratov]

Onthe topic of gunpowder: it has been around since ancient china. so, having thrown that into the fray Id suggest ballista's on ships. maybe catapults and trebuchetsthrowing burning barrels or other ammo.

and then there is the fact that some powercreep might set in (past lvl 4 is easy within, say 6 sessions ro so). And the fact of sailing being a real skill that everyone must have (and incidentally must have access to). so you migh twant to watch that.

Then, jsut for the economic ised of things: try reading dungeonomics (http://www.critical-hits.com/?s=piracy) for some more stuff to make piracy work.

[RickAllison]

Sorry, I meant the creation of the parts and the replacement of them. Maintenance was probably the wrong word. It would have taken someone with extensive smithing training to make the finely constructed parts, and to make sure they we manufactured finely enough to work. And, should one break, the replacement would also be as difficult. This is all, of course, for accurate pistols.

They actually weren't that bad to make either (again, barring those motherfraggling wheellocks, one of which I desperately want!). Making a fine bow would also take more expertise. Most of the parts tended to be really easy to make, but those last two sentences are perfectly accurate. While relatively easy to make (compared to high-quality bows), uniform parts didn't come for a few centuries on, and accuracy... Well there is the crock. Now, rifled pistols? While still not jeweler-level, they did require significantly more care both in creation and maintenance. Creating the slots required far more work than a smoothbore (which at their core are just a smooth piece of metal with the opening to the pan at the rear) and cleaning had to be far more thorough to ensure that the slots were being cleaned thoroughly.

I am a little bit of a firearms and a pirates enthusiast, so this is a particular favorite topic of mine :smallsmile:

[UberMagus]

They actually weren't that bad to make either (again, barring those motherfraggling wheellocks, one of which I desperately want!). Making a fine bow would also take more expertise. Most of the parts tended to be really easy to make, but those last two sentences are perfectly accurate. While relatively easy to make (compared to high-quality bows), uniform parts didn't come for a few centuries on, and accuracy... Well there is the crock. Now, rifled pistols? While still not jeweler-level, they did require significantly more care both in creation and maintenance. Creating the slots required far more work than a smoothbore (which at their core are just a smooth piece of metal with the opening to the pan at the rear) and cleaning had to be far more thorough to ensure that the slots were being cleaned thoroughly.

I am a little bit of a firearms and a pirates enthusiast, so this is a particular favorite topic of mine :smallsmile:

Hey, then maybe you could help me out on a question(sorta off-topic, sorry OP) I've been unable to answer: About how long did it take to craft a flintlock? Assuming knowledge and experience, and easy access to raw materials.

[RickAllison]

Hey, then maybe you could help me out on a question(sorta off-topic, sorry OP) I've been unable to answer: About how long did it take to craft a flintlock? Assuming knowledge and experience, and easy access to raw materials.

That's actually a really difficult question to answer! I have looked more into mechanisms than manufacturing, but I would estimate at least a day per firearm with only a basic workshop and an expert artisan, and that might be stretching it. With more specialized equipment, production would necessarily increase, but again this is assuming you want the basic flintlock. Pistols tended not to fit that criterion, as they were often custom jobs that really did require jeweler levels of skill (and sometimes actual jeweler skill; some nobles really liked their pistols!) but this was more for the sake of the ornate patterns.

The barrel would be fairly easy to manufacture with a mold, so that wouldn't require many man-hours at all. The flintlock mechanism would be trickier, as the artisan needs to mount the **** rooster :smalltongue: bird's beak (dang you, modern slang!!!) so it has the requisite force while still being manageable under fire and the pan's opening to the breech had to be precisely cut to permit sparks, but not allow gas to escape and reduce the power of the weapon. With the artisan being alone, he would take longer because he has to devote time to every process, but apprentices could take on the lower-skill tasks like the barrel and production could ramp up to several per day. With apprentices, the master can be focused solely on the most intricate of tasks and ensuring the end weapons are up to par.

[UberMagus]

Thanks!
So, yet another example of the 5e crafting rules being WAY off. (50days per pistol)

[RickAllison]

Thanks!
So, yet another example of the 5e crafting rules being WAY off. (50days per pistol)

Keep in mind, that is for someone who is an expert at crafting those weapons. For someone who is just an ordinary smith trying to work it out from an example, 50 days is more reasonable :smallbiggrin:. As written, crafting rules seem like they only make sense for people not skilled in the task at hand. For them, 50 days devoted solely to manufacturing a flintlock with access to a forge would be about right, if maybe an understatement.

[UberMagus]

Keep in mind, that is for someone who is an expert at crafting those weapons. For someone who is just an ordinary smith trying to work it out from an example, 50 days is more reasonable :smallbiggrin:. As written, crafting rules seem like they only make sense for people not skilled in the task at hand. For them, 50 days devoted solely to manufacturing a flintlock with access to a forge would be about right, if maybe an understatement.

In that case, how many times would they have to spend 50 days before they spent less?
I'm mostly just kidding, because the 5e crafting system just seems really "off" to me. :smallbiggrin:

[Addaran]

All seafarers live in constant fear of Umberlee, who they call the b*tch queen. They will do everything they can to placate her and direct her wrath away from their vessels, but I cannot see them inviting one of her clerics onto a ship. That would be asking for trouble. Kind of like what happened with Calypso in Pirates of the Caribbean.


It's usually the contrary with clerics of Umberlee. People want them on the ship as an added insurance. Less chance that Umberlee will destroy one of her own and if she does send a dangerous storm, that cleric can interpret the sign and find a solution. ("quick make a donation of at least 100 GP!" or "sacrifice 10% of the crew and the rest will live!") Likewise, sailors will make sure to pay respect to her or else they can be sure to endure her wrath.

If there's a fight between two ships that both have a cleric of Umberlee, i could see the winner fishing out the cleric of the losing ship and making sure no harm is done to him.

[Doug Lampert]

As was said, Smokepowder is FR's "magic gunpowder", revealed by Gond to the gnomes of Lantan after the ToT.

As to accuracy and damage, in the DMG they do more damage(d10 for Pistol, d12 for Musket), but are less accurate(range is lower). Which, to be fair, is pretty close to accurate. Muskets did f**k-tons of damage WHEN they hit, and really didn't care about your armor. :smallsmile: And, in the primitive firearms, I wouldn't put "cheapness of maintenance" in there. Maintenance on flintlocks and earlier basically took jewelry-level forging ability. Ease of use, though, I'd agree, the feat suggestion was to try to slow the spread, as was the suggestion of lowering the damage.

Armor was routinely "proofed" by double-loading the powder charge on a heavy musket and firing at the armor (with no real backing) from point blank range. This was expected to leave a small dent (not hole) which was then called a "proof-mark" and indicated that the armor preformed AS EXPECTED against guns. We've got accounts from Malta of gun armed Janissaries simply giving up on even trying to shoot armored knights and trying desperate improvisations to try to find SOMETHING that would actually hurt an armored man rather than their almost completely useless muskets. There are similar cases from the English Civil war.

Muskets used a big heavy ball, if they hit someone where he wasn't armored they did a lot of damage. But one reason musket armed armies tended to wear heavy wool coats is that even at the very short ranges they engaged at those wool coats had a real chance of stopping the relatively slow moving balls.

There is simply no reason to count a gun as more damaging than a battleaxe to the face, nor to give them special anti-armor powers. (Cannon on the other hand...)

As for piracy, one thing you need to decide is who the pirates prey on. Ancient Mediterranean pirates routinely raided coastal settlements. Even in the "golden age", Drake and his contemporaries would frequently attack land targets, often disembarking and travelling overland to attack from the less defended landward side.

If pirates are operating against shipping they need a way to FIND the ships, sailing around at random only works if there is an enormous amount of shipping. This frequently means you need a narrow passage through a bunch of islands or some way to hold station quite close to a port.

[Doug Lampert]

If there's a fight between two ships that both have a cleric of Umberlee, i could see the winner fishing out the cleric of the losing ship and making sure no harm is done to him.

Historical pirates in our world would often take the ship's carpenter of ships they took and forcibly make him a member of their crew. I've encountered a claim that at one point the British started simply releasing any ship's carpenters from captured pirate vessels on the basis that you couldn't prove he'd joined the pirates voluntarily.

So valuable specialists getting special treatment is historical in our world.

[Tanarii]

I thought the entire point of smokepowder was it required magic to create? Gunpowder just doesn't combust at all in worlds that require smokepowder ... it take Magic to make something that works.

Reminds me of the Chronicles of Amber, where Corwin finds a powder (used in the Shadow as a jeweling rouge) that is the only thing that works as gunpowder while in Amber.

[Lines]

In that case, how many times would they have to spend 50 days before they spent less?
I'm mostly just kidding, because the 5e crafting system just seems really "off" to me. :smallbiggrin:

Crafting's horrific, especially of the magic item variety. Just putting this here so you can tell me if you find a better system somebody's already worked out, was thinking of working out my own and realised that there may be a better one already out there.

[Telok]

At one point I was building a campaign setting (on hiatus now) where I wanted cannon but not personal scale firearms. So I asked in the real world armor and weapons thread, checked some mining saftey and physics websites, and came up with a solution. I ended up with a graph of real world blast radius vs. mass of explosive and the equation that gave it. I then tweaked the equation produced a graph where powder had this sort of critical mass of two pounds in order for it to be a dangerous explosive. Less then 2 pounds of powder was simply not powerful enough to be a weapon. By tagging damage dice to the graph I also got a table of mass to damage to blast radius that was useful for bombs, because at some point the players are going to want to make a bomb.

TLDR: I figured out how to have cannons and gunpowder without muskets and pistols in D&D and it works.

[Temperjoke]

Pirates also often times "forcibly recruited" their sailors in various ports and from ships they attacked. So theoretically you could justify just about any type appearing on a pirate ship. I'd imagine that you could also find a Storm Origin Sorcerer, maybe a Coastal Land Druid, for magic-users.

[Lines]

At one point I was building a campaign setting (on hiatus now) where I wanted cannon but not personal scale firearms. So I asked in the real world armor and weapons thread, checked some mining saftey and physics websites, and came up with a solution. I ended up with a graph of real world blast radius vs. mass of explosive and the equation that gave it. I then tweaked the equation produced a graph where powder had this sort of critical mass of two pounds in order for it to be a dangerous explosive. Less then 2 pounds of powder was simply not powerful enough to be a weapon. By tagging damage dice to the graph I also got a table of mass to damage to blast radius that was useful for bombs, because at some point the players are going to want to make a bomb.

TLDR: I figured out how to have cannons and gunpowder without muskets and pistols in D&D and it works.

On that note, why is D&D so determined not to have firearms? They're less useful than a longbow would be for a player and they'll only be found on low level enemies, why does everyone try so hard to avoid them?

[Addaran]

On that note, why is D&D so determined not to have firearms? They're less useful than a longbow would be for a player and they'll only be found on low level enemies, why does everyone try so hard to avoid them?

It doesn't fit most people's vision of medieval setting. Same reason some don't like Eberron, all the "magical technology" isn't what they want in a D&D game.

[Lines]

It doesn't fit most people's vision of medieval setting. Same reason some don't like Eberron, all the "magical technology" isn't what they want in a D&D game.

But D&D isn't particularly medieval. The tech level is difficult to pinpoint, but it seems to average out to at least the 1600s - and it's not like the late medieval period didn't have gunpowder weapons, which judging from the abundance of plate armour (seriously like every knight has some) we're in at least.

[Addaran]

But D&D isn't particularly medieval. The tech level is difficult to pinpoint, but it seems to average out to at least the 1600s - and it's not like the late medieval period didn't have gunpowder weapons, which judging from the abundance of plate armour (seriously like every knight has some) we're in at least.

That's why i said "people's vision" of medieval. A lot of people aren't particularily informed about real world history and just have LOTR, Merlin's tale and the like for reference.

[Ninja_Prawn]

It's usually the contrary with clerics of Umberlee. People want them on the ship as an added insurance. Less chance that Umberlee will destroy one of her own and if she does send a dangerous storm, that cleric can interpret the sign and find a solution. ("quick make a donation of at least 100 GP!" or "sacrifice 10% of the crew and the rest will live!") Likewise, sailors will make sure to pay respect to her or else they can be sure to endure her wrath.

If there's a fight between two ships that both have a cleric of Umberlee, i could see the winner fishing out the cleric of the losing ship and making sure no harm is done to him.

Hmm. The wiki backs you, claiming the church of Umberlee hired out clerics to join ships' crews (though it does say "citation needed"). I'm still not a fan though. It just doesn't tally with the Umberlee style.

Another thought (also from the wiki): sailors love Selûne, because her stars help them navigate at sea. And she's, you know, nice to people. I would expect to see shrines to Selûne in most ports and maybe even on board larger ships.

[Temperjoke]

Hmm. The wiki backs you, claiming the church of Umberlee hired out clerics to join ships' crews (though it does say "citation needed"). I'm still not a fan though. It just doesn't tally with the Umberlee style.

Another thought (also from the wiki): sailors love Selûne, because her stars help them navigate at sea. And she's, you know, nice to people. I would expect to see shrines to Selûne in most ports and maybe even on board larger ships.

Well, wouldn't it offend Umberlee if they excluded her clerics? Plus, having her clerics on ships means that those sailors are going to do all the things that make Umberlee the happiest.

[gfishfunk]

To make the pirates more than just an encounter, I recommend:

1. Decide how the battle can be arranged: will it take place on the PC's ship, the pirate's ship, or both? For practical considerations, I would use a grid map that is blank and cut out two grid ships off of a piece of paper so that you can move the ships around independently. That makes for a very interesting encounter.

2. You need a port of call and a typical target for the pirates, a place where they can safely offload their merchandise. Maybe they are slavers, maybe they just steal cargo, or maybe they expect the merchants that they prey upon to negotiate giving up half the cargo in exchange for a peaceful pass-through.

3. You need a mindset for the pirates: suicidal berserk frenzy? Gentleman bandits? Fatalistic religious zealots? Foreign government-sponsored 'privateers' that are merely an extension of cold-war style inter-governmental conflict?

4. Have two or three known pirate figures, and let the PCs do knowledge checks or perception checks during pursuit to figure out which of the pirate groups that they are looking at.

[RickAllison]

Random thought, clerics of Talos could be useful as enemies. IIRC, he is close to Umberlee, but tries to avoid personally storming out in her domain. Having his clerics out there means he can exert his will without intruding on Umberlee's territory!

[Xalyz]

What about a viking raiding party instead of pirates? Makes more sense in a world without gunpowder.

[Sigreid]

A less thought about part of pirates is that they really weren't kill them all types. To be sure they were nasty pieces of work, but the whole point of the skull and crossbones flag instead of sneaking up under a false flag was to inform the target that they were after loot and not blood, but blood would flow freely if the target fought.

[RickAllison]

A less thought about part of pirates is that they really weren't kill them all types. To be sure they were nasty pieces of work, but the whole point of the skull and crossbones flag instead of sneaking up under a false flag was to inform the target that they were after loot and not blood, but blood would flow freely if the target fought.

Indeed. Black flags indicated quarter would be given and taken. Red flags, on the other hand, signified a fight to the death (perhaps barring valuable personnel like doctors and carpenters... But only perhaps).

[lebefrei]

I like having the secret leader of pirates be an Aboleth, personally. It changes the game up and makes them significantly more threatening. It also gives a more terrifying water based BBEG than just Captain Evilbeard.

[JackPhoenix]

3. You need a mindset for the pirates: suicidal berserk frenzy? Gentleman bandits? Fatalistic religious zealots? Foreign government-sponsored 'privateers' that are merely an extension of cold-war style inter-governmental conflict?

This reminds me of a story I've read recently: Captain Benjamin Hornigold, a pirate, once captured a ship and boarded it, then apologetically asked for the passengers' hats. He explained that his own crew had got drunk the night before and thrown their own hats overboard. After receiving the hats, the pirates left the ship alone. This would happen occasionally: pirates would often pillage ships of menial supplies and such that they, as wanted criminals, couldn't easily obtain, and, if nobody started anything, they generally just left people unharmed. Blackbeard himself (or was it Henry Morgan) was known for stealing medical supplies and clothes and not hurting people during such raids. Blackbeard in particular is famous for attacking a ship, stealing nothing but medicines for syphilis and other STDs, and leaving.

[Kurt Kurageous]

The reason guns edged out bows and crossbows is they required a lot less training and maintenance, they didn't need the strength of the former or the complicated construction of the latter.

The field of killology says guns edged out bows for their much greater psychological impact. Boom-boom scarier than thwip thwip. As noted, kinetic energy and accuracy of early guns is actually inferior to the longbow and crossbow.

Back to topic, piracy or privateering is a business decision. A mercenary land force was essentially a bunch of land pirates, organized on the same principals. Meet a demand or make a supply. Murder is still murder, though.

[rtrnofdmax]

Random thought, clerics of Talos could be useful as enemies. IIRC, he is close to Umberlee, but tries to avoid personally storming out in her domain. Having his clerics out there means he can exert his will without intruding on Umberlee's territory!

+1 on Talos. Also I think there is room for a storm sorcerer to help the captain with navigation. Maybe a lieutenant of sorts.

[Joe the Rat]

Hmm. The wiki backs you, claiming the church of Umberlee hired out clerics to join ships' crews (though it does say "citation needed"). I'm still not a fan though. It just doesn't tally with the Umberlee style.

Another thought (also from the wiki): sailors love Selûne, because her stars help them navigate at sea. And she's, you know, nice to people. I would expect to see shrines to Selûne in most ports and maybe even on board larger ships.

afb, but I think "Take the Umberleerean and she might not sink you" is mentioned in the SCAG. It wouldn't be the first "make an offering to the evil thing so it leaves you alone" in myth/religion.

[Dimolyth]

Hmm. The wiki backs you, claiming the church of Umberlee hired out clerics to join ships' crews (though it does say "citation needed"). I'm still not a fan though. It just doesn't tally with the Umberlee style.

Another thought (also from the wiki): sailors love Selûne, because her stars help them navigate at sea. And she's, you know, nice to people. I would expect to see shrines to Selûne in most ports and maybe even on board larger ships.

As for regular sailors, I would say that Selûne (for navigation), Tymora (for luck in travel), Shaundakul (for traveling) and Waukeen (especially by crew of traiding ships).
Umberlee clerics and priests could be "not desired". But what captain has a courage to say "no" to a priest of Umberlee? (or, for the lesser extend, to a priest of Beshaba or Talos?)

[Laserlight]

What about a viking raiding party instead of pirates? Makes more sense in a world without gunpowder.

Not necessarily. Piracy was around quite a while before gunpowder--for example Gaius Julius Caesar was captured by pirates in BC75.

If you have a fast ship with 80-160 men, you're probably not going to have much problem with a heavy-laden merchantman with 6-12 crew. Even if you don't feel like boarding, you certainly have archers, and maybe firepots or greek fire.

And of course, it's not an either/or situation--if you don't run into a ship you want, you can always put ashore and go raiding.