Pirate Campaign

[Ilikednd]

I'm DMing for a group of 4, and I expect it too last about 10 sessions. One of my PCs wants to play a Dwarven fighter, and he says it will be like a Viking. Should I allow it?

[Âmesang]

I would only punish him if he insisted on wearing a horned helmet.

Otherwise, aside from the anachronisticness (?) of having a viking among (what I assume to be) Renaissance/Colonial-era pirates, from a mechanical stand-point it shouldn't be all that different. Well, I guess pirates weren't really known for pillaging land-based victims.

Of course now I'm picturing a battle-axe attached to a sawed-off/shortened musket/blunderbuss.

[FocusWolf413]

Is everyone having fun? If so, allow it.
Is it causing a serious disruption in the group? If so, talk to him directly.

[Broken Crown]

I would only punish him if he insisted on wearing a horned helmet. :small tongue:

Agreed; that would never do for a viking.

I guess pirates weren't really known for pillaging land-based victims.

Buccaneers and corsairs, on the other hand....

And axes were still in use by boarding parties well into the Age of Sail, so even that isn't anachronistic. (This is an Age of Sail campaign, I'm presuming, though OP says nothing about the setting, other than that pirates are involved.)

I'd say go for it!

[Flickerdart]

The only potential problem is that fighters like heavy armor, but it has a tendency to sink (and impede all sorts of piratey acrobatics like swinging on rigging). Make sure he has some way of surviving a fall into the ocean.

[BowStreetRunner]

Otherwise, aside from the anachronisticness (?) of having a viking among (what I assume to be) Renaissance/Colonial-era pirates...

During the age of sail, ships were often crewed by whatever manpower happened to be at hand. As the mortality rates aboard sailing vessels was fairly high during their long deployments, they had to scrounge additional sailors from whatever ports they visited. In historical times you would find European ships to carry sailors from every known continent and culture. In a fantasy world the 'savage' and 'barbarian' populations might very well be from a 'viking' culture that had yet to catch up technologically speaking.

On the other hand, there is no reason a pirate campaign would need to be set in the period with which we most associate pirate-genre swashbuckling movies. Piracy dates back to the dawn of sea trade and continues through the present.

[Âmesang]

Admittedly, almost as soon as I had written that, I was picturing a "classical pirate"-based Spelljammer vessel facing against a viking-inspired one.

…and then that led me into a rather disturbing thought of casting flesh to stone upon a mermaid striking a pose (without her initially realizing it, I'd imagine), polymorph any object from stone to "metal" (which should be permanent, maybe?), then transmute metal to wood in order to fashion said mermaid into the bust seen at the head of ships. I'm sure there's a more efficient way of making the effect instantaneous/permanent, but that's just what immediately came to mind via core rules.

"Gentleman, to evil!"

[Gwazi Magnum]

Well, I was about to say how a smart pirate captain might just grab whoever get's the job done and doesn't get overly paranoid over a certain 'style'.

But others already did, and backed it up historically too. XD
So yea, I'd allow it as long as the group is fine with it.

That and warn the dwarf player in advance about the dangers of heavy armour in water.

[Aleolus]

As long as there isn't an apprentice pirate on this ship who is only there because an old woman misheard his father when he said to make the boy ann apprentice to a pilot, I think you'll be ok

[Broken Crown]

As long as there isn't an apprentice pirate on this ship who is only there because an old woman misheard his father when he said to make the boy ann apprentice to a pilot, I think you'll be ok

That and warn the dwarf player in advance about the dangers of heavy armour in water.

A heavily-armoured dwarf fighter should have a fairly terrible Move Silently skill.

Make him sing "With Cat-Like Tread" every time he fails a check.

[Aleolus]

A heavily-armoured dwarf fighter should have a fairly terrible Move Silently skill.

Make him sing "With Cat-Like Tread" every time he fails a check.

Maybe have the crew's arch-nemisis be a model of a modern major general? :D

[Broken Crown]

Maybe have the crew's arch-nemisis be a model of a modern major general? :D

Would that be a Warforged with a skillmonkey build?

[Âmesang]

You know what? Now I want to run a pirate campaign if for no other reason than to use the theme song to The Secret of Monkey Island.

[stanprollyright]

anachronisticness (?)

Anachronism :D

[Aleolus]

Would that be a Warforged with a skillmonkey build?

Sure, that works. But he has to make sure to have information vegetable, animal and mineral

[Flickerdart]

Sure, that works. But he has to make sure to have information vegetable, animal and mineral

That's just Knowledge (Nature).

[Aleolus]

That's just Knowledge (Nature).

But he also need to be well aquainted with matters mathematical, and understand equations, both simple and quadratical!

[Flickerdart]

But he also need to be well aquainted with matters mathematical, and understand equations, both simple and quadratical!

Alright, let's do this.

I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,

Knowledge (Nature)

I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;

Knowledge (History)

I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus;

Profession (Mathematician) or (Engineer) perhaps?

I know the scientific names of beings animalculous:
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

Knowledge (Nature) again.

I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's;

Knowledge (History)

I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox,

Generic high Intelligence checks.

I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus,

Peform (poetry)

In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous;

Profession (Mathematician) again

I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies,
I know the croaking chorus from The Frogs of Aristophanes!
Then I can hum a fugue of which I've heard the music's din afore,
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore.

Perform (various)...though the song itself is evidence enough that the Major-General has this maxed.

Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform,

Speak Language

And tell you ev'ry detail of Caractacus's uniform:
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

Knowledge (History)

In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "ravelin",

Profession (Siege Engineer)

When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin,
When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at,
And when I know precisely what is meant by "commissariat",
When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery,
When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery –
In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy –

Knowledge (History) covers wars

You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee.

Ride

For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury,
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century;
But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

So the necessary skillset for a modern Major-General is Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (History), Profession (Mathematician), Profession (Siege Engineer), Perform (oratory), Perform (singing), Perform (whistling), Speak Language, and Ride, as well as a solid baseline Intelligence score (at least 14, given the quantity of skills necessary and assuming the Major-General is human but not a rogue or scout).

[Aleolus]

Rofl, dude, you just won three internets and two dozen +5 Cookies of Awesomeness!

[Gwazi Magnum]

So the necessary skillset for a modern Major-General is Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (History), Profession (Mathematician), Profession (Siege Engineer), Perform (oratory), Perform (singing), Perform (whistling), Speak Language, and Ride, as well as a solid baseline Intelligence score (at least 14, given the quantity of skills necessary and assuming the Major-General is human but not a rogue or scout).

Bard, Rogue or Ranger would handle this fine.
Give or take one or two traits or variants to make certain skills class skills.

[Marlowe]

Awesome! But....

Peform (poetry)

Crimes of Heliogabalus? Also K/History.

Profession (Siege Engineer)

A marmelon or Ravelin? That's K/Architecture.

Did anyone think the original post was somewhat bizarre? "I'm doing a fantasy campaign about pirates. One of my players wants to play a standard fantasy race themed after a culture of pirates. Should I allow it?"

Next we'll have people asking if Fighters should be allowed to pick up edged weapons.

[Flickerdart]

Awesome! But....

Crimes of Heliogabalus? Also K/History.

Didn't feel like it bore mentioning, given all those

A marmelon or Ravelin? That's K/Architecture.

A mamelon is a hill, and has nothing to do with architecture. Ravelins are frequently made of dirt, and thus I would characterize them as defensive fortifications and not buildings.

[BowStreetRunner]

"I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies," - these are paintings, so Appraise might be in order here.

I'm surprised there is no Knowledge (Geography) reference, although navigation during the time was highly mathematical (they still used sextants and celestial navigation) so perhaps some of the mathematical references would apply to something along those lines - my mathematical knowledge is hardly high enough to be certain.

[Marlowe]

He's a Major-General, not a sailor. Navigation and geography are for those middle-class navy types.

In any event, any experienced military officer knows that any place that you need to know about will always be on the same spot.

Split between the most grimy and dog-eared corners of any maps you should happen to have.