Spelljammer crew ideas!

[Mitchellnotes]

Hi all! I am looking for ideas for a spelljammer crew. I am hoping to fill it in a bit more so there is a bit more personality and connection to them
My players have a:
-swashbuckler captain who is always underestimated but wins through charisma and having a small but plucky crew
-an aberrent mind helmsman who escaped mind flayer captivity and is seeking revenge
-a kenku wizard (conjuror/war wizard/ or abjuror) navigator who mimics everything and is along for the ride

Given the small party, im hoping to fill out the ships crew and am looking for ideas! Don't need full builds (and most will prob use henchman rules anyway), but general ideas or tropes would be appreciated!

For instance a dwarf/gnome/giff artillerist/fighter weapons master whose first instinct is to blow everything up

Also looking for ideas for a general personality for the ship! (Hoping it becomes essentially another character!)

Dont have to stick to pc races or classes, could be anything! Any ideas appreciated!

[Sherlockpwns]

I’ve only done spelljammer once but I played a delightfully stupid hulking deck hand who was really too dumb to even know right from wrong and was constantly being manipulated by the other crew to do their dirty work.

Also every ship needs a sniveling first officer named Smee.

[da newt]

Every ship's crew ought to have most of the below - you just need to DnD them up a bit.

You need a big strong boatswain.
You need a cook.
You need a parrot.
You need a gunnery officer.
You need a doctor.

[Sigreid]

Watch an old pirate movie. That'll cover it. :D

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

My party just acquired a spelljammer from a bunch of gith slavers they'd killed. Two PCs have proficiency in water vehicles which I'd decided is good enough to know the basics, but none have navigator's tools. They found three blue goblin captives, who were spelljammer merchants the gith intended to sell. They also press-ganged the two surviving githyanki warriors into helping them crew the ship.

The goblins are basically Ed, Edd, and Eddy. Eddy (leader, navigator) has a noble's stats, Edd (smart one, navigator) has a Kobold Inventor's stats, and Ed (strong one) has a bugbear's stats but goblin traits and size.

So between the three goblins, two githyanki, and two PCs, plus other PCs trying to learn and helping out, they've got a sufficient crew for the ship.

[CapnWildefyr]

Every ship's crew ought to have most of the below - you just need to DnD them up a bit.

You need a big strong boatswain.
You need a cook.
You need a parrot.
You need a gunnery officer.
You need a doctor.

You dont need the parrot. You just need the sorcerer to have polymorph. Lots of fun. Or a druid for shapechange.

[Temperjoke]

They already have a parrot, they have a Kenku! :P

You should have someone that can do some basic level repairs for the ship, to keep the ship together until you can get to a place for better repairs. A doctor of some sort would be good, again who can do basic medical treatment, doesn't even necessarily need to be a spellcaster, they could have the Healer feat and med kits. Should have some miscellaneous crew people too, who do the cleaning and grunt work around the ship, since the players have most of the leadership positions covered.

[Sigreid]

No reason a caster's familiar can't be a parrot instead of an owl.

[Lord Torath]

The link in my signature goes to my dropbox. In there is a document of spelljammer house rules (2E spelljammer, not 5e), including a list of perks and quirks I mostly got from Hackjammer. I'm afraid I don't know how the ship-to-ship combat works in 5E, but they might add some character to your ship.

You also might try Night Druid's (aka Adam Miller of Hackjammer) Tall Ships and a Star to Steer By (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5wnrTfms5DZaDFwUXRHU2pjWEk/view?resourcekey=0-nHX1TfqhZpkiuKWLvFNVWA) for several different ships complete with crews. You can probably steal a crew from one of those ships, or use them as inspiration for your own.

Night Druid has actually written quite a lot (https://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=27796) for Spelljammer. Might be worth looking through his stuff.

Best of luck, to you! :smallamused:

Edit: Has 5E Spelljammer been released yet? I know it's been available for Pre-order, but I haven't heard if it's actually out yet.

[Mitchellnotes]

Edit: Has 5E Spelljammer been released yet? I know it's been available for Pre-order, but I haven't heard if it's actually out yet.

Thanks! Released August 16th, so should be soon! That's why I havent decided on a ship, want to see what the crunch looks like. Just trying to get some of the other pieces in place.