Pirates

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Pirates

concept

Pathfinder Pirating. Way Down the Monkey Isles

Pathfinder DnD. Level 3 ( 1 level Pirate, 2 levels as you wish) in a low-level setting. You'd play the crew of a tiny skiff plying dangerous tropical oceans, discovering ancient ruins and trekking through steaming forests. etc. I’d set the adventure in the Guild Adventurers pocket universe I created on these board recently, expanding the map to include a New World, jungle continent and plenty of islands. A lot of the adventure would take place off-ship, with the pirate-theme helping to focus character ideas.

Standard Adventurer races 'd be human, halfling and tiefling. More exotic island races might include lizardfolk , jungle-elf, aquatic elves and grippli. You'd be ex-pirates from a scurrilous City of Pirates, looking for booty in a world where piracy is beginning to fade as a profession. The City was once powerful and rich but is decaying and falling into the into control of slum gangs and necromancer factions.

If there’s interest, I’d like to move at pretty good rate of play, ideally with daily posting. I am happy to puppet busy characters and put holidaying players on hold, but we’d need a core group of regular players to make it viable.

Let me know if there’s any interest- but please also give me a concept and be willing to accept feedback on an idea.


HOUSERULES

Born to Pirate. Start at level 3, but all characters have 1 level in Pirate (the archetype variation of Rogue). Think of it as a bonus level rather than a restriction! It will provide opportunities for lots of skill-rich, interesting characters.

No armor rules. where characters get a parry bonus depending on their class.

Firearms are common, a martial weapon rather than exotic, and added to the Rogue (Pirate) class weapon list. Defence bonus will not affect touch AC for purposes of shooting.

Faster play. All monster natural armour is halved (round up, mind); your ACs will be modest owing to the parry rules used.

Party initiative.

Classes: most core classes and anything that ‘feels’ right. Not keen on (don’t want) clerics; most dedicated spell-casters like wizards/sorcerers can burn spell-slots for healing spells. I don’t want tricky characters (like gunslingers ) that require complex resource-tracking or complex rules judgements.

Theatre of mind play. No wiki unless the game takes off.

Players track their own hit points and gear including money. Post details like hps to help the GM.

Languages

Old World languages are Common, Court Elven, Tusk and Dwarven. We had a hunting sign language and Thieves' Cant, too. There was a religious language, Angelic, like Celestial, and Reverse Angelic (David Lynch backwards slur) which was Infernal.

All those are still around. As new, new world learnable languages for humanoid characters I offer the following as likely to be actually used: 1. Pirate Cant. 2. Plaza. Trade language parsable by most humans and lizardfolk in the islands 3. Old Palace. Aristo, courtly and poetic human language 4. Aquan ("Tongue of the Sea": sea elves but also sea dragons, nereids and such) 5. Jungle Sign Language. Similar across multiple species but only shared by foresty types 6. Priestly, used by human and lizardfolk priests and magicians. 7. Dead Tongue. Used by ghouls, liches etc. Actually a scambled form of Old Palace


There are dozens of local human and lizardfolk dialects. Other weird exotic languages like aboleth, grippli, bullywug also exist but are unlikley to be freq, used.

City of Pirates

Some/ most characters will hail from the old world and the City of Pirates, where identities form around the races there: halflings (hearty but sturdy), elves( elegant and aloof) , etc. Many CoP people will be pirates or descendants of pirates, merchants, sailors, but others will be gangsters, thieves and slum-dwellers locked in gang warfare. The city is governed by pirate chiefs and sorcerers who use necromancy to create undead crews, raise famous pirates and such. It’s meant to be grim-dark but fun. there are plenty of infernal temples in the place and interbreeding with outsiders common.


Cove Secret

For several days the band follow the dusty ancient highway across the high desert spine of Spice Nations. The stones of the broad road have cracked with age and the intensity of heat. But the group travels easily in the shade provided by the Tidesage’s powers. At night they rest under rocky crags where sand dogs howl and the twin moons spin high in the desert night.

Cove Secret nestles in the crook of a hooked bay on the western coast. It is a relief to return to the jungle-clad coast and its humid heat. The town is a sight indeed. The grand main palace and rows of seedy slums have the very same feel as a quarter of the old world City of Pirates. On the waterfront, sails rise above a chaos of quays and jetties. Yet the structure of the old city on which it has nested- a lizardfolk ruin with plazas and avenues- gives some welcome shape to the place.

The highway runs directly into the town, aligning precisely with its central avenue. But the ancient gates are manned by a score of well-armed pirates, suspicious of such a large force arriving from the land side of the town. A guard captain descends with a swagger to challenge the newcomers.

“What kinds of lads is this. Lizardlads, lass-lads, greenskin lads,” he looks at the small druid, “all sorts. What boat are ye from, and what business do ye do ‘ere?”

Cove Secret

For several days the band follow the dusty ancient highway across the high desert spine of Spice Nations. The stones of the broad road have cracked with age and the intensity of heat. But the group travels easily in the shade provided by the Tidesage’s powers. At night they rest under rocky crags where sand dogs howl and the twin moons spin high in the desert night.

Cove Secret nestles in the crook of a hooked bay on the western coast. It is a relief to return to the jungle-clad coast and its humid heat. The town is a sight indeed. The grand main palace and rows of seedy slums have the very same feel as a quarter of the old world City of Pirates. On the waterfront, sails rise above a chaos of quays and jetties. Yet the structure of the old city on which it has nested- a lizardfolk ruin with plazas and avenues- gives some welcome shape to the place.

The highway runs directly into the town, aligning precisely with its central avenue. But the ancient gates are manned by a score of well-armed pirates, suspicious of such a large force arriving from the land side of the town. A guard captain descends with a swagger to challenge the newcomers.

“What kinds of lads is this. Lizardlads, lass-lads, greenskin lads,” he looks at the small druid, “all sorts. What boat are ye from, and what business do ye do ‘ere?” ....... Like the City of Pirates, the town is divided in three areas, each being governed by different levels of law. There is the tavern and slum quarter , where it’s every pirate for themself. The docks, shops and market are governed by ordinary laws, patrolled by a sharp-eyed watch. And the pristine Pirate Lord’s quarter, with its fountains and elegant houses, where the pirates must dress, speak and observe protocols very carefully indeed. ....

Inns Dives