- Would an Inquisitor with a focus on Wisdom / Cha / Dex (with weapon finesse / using the Rapier as deity weapon, and having some captain related skills such as Intimidate, Sailing, and such) work?
Hello, I don't know this campaign but I can help on this point. If you take the conversion inquisition, you use your WIS modifier instead of your CHA for all social skills. So you can base your character only on DEX and WIS.
Inquisitor have passive bonus to intimidate and sense motive, and 6 skill point/lvl to spend. Plus some spell to improve this.On the other hand cleric have some usefull spell for ship-based campaign. But if you have other spellcaster they probably can do this.
Also, lore-wise I encourage you to go the light-armor / high dex route (make sense for a pirate). You can do that with either cleric or inquisitor if you take weapon finesse.
Some inquisitions can allow your wisdom to help for some social skills as well, so you can work without pumping charisma. Still, if you decide you can do the job with 12 charisma and the skill points from the class levels, it could also work. In that case, though, I would not boost intelligence over 12. As the captain and as an inquisitor, you are expected to fight now and then, which means having decent physical stats. Clerics or oracles (who have the added bonus of being charisma-based and with more skill points than clerics) are definitely worth it for their spellcasting power. If you want to be a divine caster and a face, I think you should definitely check the oracle.
There are a few other fun options such as warpriests (fighter/clerics with fewer casting, but more combat powers) and the good old bard. Never underestimate how good a bard can be when leading men, women, gnomes and the occasional awakened bear to battle. I have not played Skulls and Shackles for too long (most of my online campaigns didn´t last long), but any acolyte of Besmara will do well on a ship. Just make sure you are not lugging 50 pounds of steel on you. As for a race, elves are okayish as inquisitors, but not particularly great. Half-elves are great at pretty much anything.
By the way, it might be a good idea to ask the DM if they will use the background skills system, which means essentially 2 free skill points per level for the skills not normally used for adventuring - which involves fun stuff like professions, crafts and other stuff useful on a ship. This can make a big difference, especially for clerics or fighters. Trust me, you will want people with profession (sailor) on that ship :) .
As of right now I am playinging an inquisitor of besmara in skulls and shackles. STR based dwarf with a rapier. He's not exactly optimized but he gets along really well.
In this AP intimidate is a pretty important skill to have. It determines how much infamy you get, infamy can be spent on cool stuff so I recommend maxing it out. Also. For at least the first little bit I would suggest not wearing more than a chain shirt, swimming is a common thing here and if you can't do it well or be able to consistently avoid it, your gana be in trouble.
I'm currently DMing the Skull and Shackles and would say either would work fine, particularly if you worship a sea deity like the recommended Besmara.
What I would say is that clerics tend to lack skill points so an inquisitor might be a better fit. Mechanically. I don't really see Besmara as being a particularly strict deity so you may need to be creative as who your God is if you go down the inquisitor route.
Stay away from Asmodeus though! Lol
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As others note, if going Inquisitor (totally a valid choice) Conversion Inquisition is your friend. Take it and love it. As a Dex/Wis character, you can have solid Int and Con too by dropping Cha (since you use it for literally nothing).
And, for a captain, I would indeed go Inquisitor over Cleric. You'll need high ratings in a wide number of skills so being a skill-based Class really helps.
As for race, Half-Elf seems a little more likely than Elf, but both should work fine mechanically. Half-Orc and Human are better, but mechanical effectiveness isn't everything.
In terms of armor, as a Dex-based character (and if going Weapon Finesse it should be your highest stat) you'll be wanting to wear a chain shirt at most anyway...so no worries on that score.
For Inquisitor, my advice is to think of yourself as a combat and skill character with buff spells and some healing, not an offensive caster. That's the way the class plays, and it's very good at it. Max out Intimidate, Profession (Sailor), Sense Motive, Perception, and any other social skills you want, and you'll want to put a rank each in all your class Knowledge skills (plus Knowledge-Local...you might want to take a Trait that makes that a Class Skill).
Feat-wise, I'd go for Fencing Grace. It gives you Dex instead of Str to damage for a rapier and should be available by level 5 (level 3 if you're human). That plus Judgments and Bane will make you pretty nasty in a fight by then.
Sample Half-Elf/Human/Half-Orc build:
Str 10 Dex 16+2 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 16 Cha 7
Domain: Conversion Inquisition
Saves: Fort +3, Ref+4, Will +5
Skills: Bluff +7, Diplomacy +7, Intimidate +8, Knowledge (Local) +3/6, Knowledge (Religion) +5/8, Perception +7, Profession (Sailor) +7, Sense Motive +8,
Feats: Weapon Finesse
Spells: Divine Favor, Cure Light Wounds,
Traits: Fate's Favored, one Campaign Trait (I'd go Ancient Explorer mechanically, due to Knowledge-Local, but any would work and several have better flavor).
A Human gets one more skill (I'd go Swim), and Weapon Focus (Rapier). A Half Elf gets either a Skill Focus or +2 to Will Saves. A Half Orc can get +2 to Intimidate (+10 total), another skill point (for Swim, again), and +2 to all Saves (from the Skilled and Sacred Tattoo alternate race features).
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The Conversion Inquisition can be found in Ultimate Magic. It's not super obscure or anything.
Also, here.
And an Inquisitor can absolutely provide some divine support stuff, though not as much as a Cleric. Condition removal stuff to supplement the Druid's lack is definitely within their capabilities.
Be sure to check out the Human Favored Class bonus in the APG's race section (which Half-Elves and Half-Orcs can take), it's really cool.
The half-elf does not give an intelligence bonus, but the extra skill focus can help.If you already have a druid, you can sort of cover for each other. I think druids have a bit more utility and damage in their spell list, inquisitors focus on buffs and the odd debuff. As Deadmanwalking said, they have some tricks the druid doesn´t get, so a bit of healing and support is fine. Just don´t expect to be a full caster like a druid, cleric or an oracle.
Mind you, if your only other full caster is a druid and you want to cover many skills I would once again recommend the bard. Versatile performance makes them probably the best skill users in the setting, and their spell list has a lot of utility and even a bit of healing.
Between those two, I'd go inquisitor for the skills.
As the Captain of my party in our Skulls and Shackles game, I would definitely advise going Inquisitor over Cleric if you want to be in charge. Cleric just won't have as many skill points as you will need to be in charge and be the face. Clerics are great to have on this AP, our group has one and he's wonderful, but not to have in charge.
Definitely ask your GM if any books besides the Core and the Advanced Players Guide would be ok, because there is a bunch of stuff that would be useful to your concept. For example the feat Fencing Grace from the Advanced Class Origins splatbook, or the Shoreborn Half-Elf from the Bastards of Golarion splatbook. Or like deadman said, the Convertion Archetype for the Inquisitor found in the Ultimate Magic book.
You don't need to wear full plate as a cleric, especially a cleric of Besmara, and Inquisitors don't even get full plate. I would advise not wearing full plate for this AP at all, because there is a non-zero chance you will fall overboard and drown. There are a lot of skill checks that full plate would give you minuses on (climb, swim, etc) and you really don't want those minuses.
Clerics and Inquisitors of Besmara would totally fit on a pirate ship, in fact you will meet them during the AP. Ask your GM to let you read the write up on Besmara that is in the first Skull and Shackles book for more info on her, or google Besmara. She's not a strict god. Clerics and such worship her through the act of piracy. And Inquisitors aren't necessarily Spanish Inquisition-esq torturers, but the more martial servants of a god. And pirates are pretty martial, so an Inquisitor of the Pirate Queen pirating is pretty much doing gods work :)
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Great, thanks a lot for all the advice! I'm probably going for an Inquisitor then using the suggestion made earlier as a start for level one.
Yay! Glad we could be helpful. :)
Our party most likely will be myself (Inquisitor then), a Druid, a Gunslinger, a Ninja and some form of offensive arcane spellcaster (probably a core-wizard).
Any feedback on the versatility of this setup, and whether I could fit in an Inquisitor there?
Assuming the Ninja and/or the Druid do melee, that's basically a perfect setup for a melee Inquisitor.
It's pretty close to a perfect balance of roles just in general, too. If the Gunslinger's going Pistolero, there might be some issues fighting enemies at longer ranges, but it's pretty much perfect if they went Musket Master.
I mean, I guess you lack a Bard/really dedicated group buffer, but that's all you lack, you've got several people who can dabble in it, and no party can have everything.
I think the adventure path by default is actually very light on firearms. Have the player check with the DM if guns are going to be common - if not, they may want to check out the Bolt Ace archetype.
An inquisitor should work okay here, more control and buff spells can help, but the wizard can probably prepare a few to cover that niche. Have you thought about inquisitor archetypes?
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I think the adventure path by default is actually very light on firearms. Have the player check with the DM if guns are going to be common - if not, they may want to check out the Bolt Ace archetype.
Or someone could take Craft Magic Arms and Armor.
An inquisitor should work okay here, more control and buff spells can help, but the wizard can probably prepare a few to cover that niche. Have you thought about inquisitor archetypes?
This is a valid concern. I personally like sticking to the base class for Inquisitors, but if you dislike Teamwork Feats you could go Preacher.
A good way to fit an Inquisitor of Besmara in is to remember that you a first and foremost a pirate. You have other abilities, granted by the Goddess of Piracy, but they only serve to better allow you to pirate. I would suggest points in climb, swim, perception, Profession (sailor), knowledge (geography), knowledge (nature), and Diplomacy or Intimidate (both is better, but at least one or the other).
For Inquisitor Domains Besmara has a bunch of useful ones, though in my opinion the Chaos domain would be the least useful in the campaign (though we're only on book three, it might be more useful later.) Trickery would be great if you were a lightly armored fighter for the chance to not get hit, or Weather/Storms if you want to have a ranged damage ability.
Archetypes are kinda like sub-classes that modify a class, modify some of the abilities of the class and replace some others. There are some Archetypes listed in the Advanced Player Guide, but a whole bunch more listed in other hard cover and splat books.
A lot of archetypes are available online. Basically, the few I would recommend are the Preacher (party utility), Sanctified Slayer (trade judgement for the Slayer´s studied combat and a bit of sneak attack) and Monster Tactician (trade judgement for summons like the summoner - but no eidolon). Some of the others are also cool if you want to specialize in certain areas, like Witch Hunter for fighting hunting spellcasters.
@ Deadmanwalking - I remember hearing that AP makes the presumption that firearms are incredibly rare and it may be important for the plot at some point. If the DM says it's okay then sure, creating magic items through a PC or commissioning an NPC to do it are perfectly fine.
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Inquisitor Archetypes? I've not heard of that one. Beginner here, hehe. Where can I find information on that?
Archetypes are in the 'Spellcasting Class Options' section of Ultimate Magic, and the 'Class Archetypes' section for Ultimate Combat, plus the 'Archetypes and Class Options' sections of subsequent books. They basically modify a Class by trading out some features.
Almost all are also available here online.
You don't really need to worry about them if you'd rather not. A baseline Inquisitor is very good at what they do.
As for the party setup, the Rogue/Ninja will most likely be Melee, and I'm pretty sure the Druid will be as well. He was talking about creating a PC focussed on shapeshifting for combat so that will probably be something melee-of-sorts.
Yeah, a melee Inquisitor will work great then.
A lot of archetypes are available online. Basically, the few I would recommend are the Preacher (party utility), Sanctified Slayer (trade judgement for the Slayer´s studied combat and a bit of sneak attack) and Monster Tactician (trade judgement for summons like the summoner - but no eidolon). Some of the others are also cool if you want to specialize in certain areas, like Witch Hunter for fighting hunting spellcasters.
All true, but frankly, just going with the base Class before trying most Archetypes seems a good plan. Possible exceptions for Sanctified slayer and/or Preacher, which make it simpler in some ways.
@ Deadmanwalking - I remember hearing that AP makes the presumption that firearms are incredibly rare and it may be important for the plot at some point. If the DM says it's okay then sure, creating magic items through a PC or commissioning an NPC to do it are perfectly fine.
Well, the PC, as a gunslinger, automatically starts with a masterwork gun. Or has one by 2nd level, anyway. So all you need is the Crafting Feat and not losing it.
EDIT: Ninja'd. Ah well.
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Alright, well even though I value the advice, I'm probably going to stick to the "base" for starters, since it's going to be a new thing for me anyway.
Sound policy.
The only "concern" I slightly have is the healing capabilities of our team, but with a Rogue who could use a wand, a druid who could heal, and myself as inquisitor who could then heal I'd say we'd be good to go right?
You should be. Pick up a Wand of Cure Light Wounds as early as you can arrange and use it for most of your out-of-combat healing. It's by far the cheapest and most efficient option for non-combat healing.
Yeah that sounds reasonable to me, plus the structure of the campaign is that there is often down time or one ship encounter in a day potentially. Depends on how your DM runs it.
I would re-consider whether Charisma should be a dump stat for a captain of a ship. We use voting and persuade the crew quite a lot, as well as recruiting new crew and allies etc. After all ship loyalty should be important and if you can't convince the crew of anything you won't make a good captain.
There is a way round this as our current captain is a magus who uses the traits and feats that improve diplomacy but he still feels the lack of charisma stings a bit. Maybe take at least 12 so you can at least hold a conversation. It is relevant to the mechanics of system with gaining infamy and disrepute.
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I would re-consider whether Charisma should be a dump stat for a captain of a ship. We use voting and persuade the crew quite a lot, as well as recruiting new crew and allies etc. After all ship loyalty should be important and if you can't convince the crew of anything you won't make a good captain.
There is a way round this as our current captain is a magus who uses the traits and feats that improve diplomacy but he still feels the lack of charisma stings a bit. Maybe take at least 12 so you can at least hold a conversation. It is relevant to the mechanics of system with gaining infamy and disrepute.
Huh? How?
Please explain, because I'm not seeing any references to Charisma anywhere in either naval combat or Infamy. Or anywhere, really. Diplomacy, Intimidate, and the like, sure...but not Charisma. And with the Conversion Inquisition, you don't need Charisma for those skills.
Skills are a huge part of this campaign. I played a cleric and I had to multiclass for a level in rogue (with the pirate archetype, of course!). It was second level and it was a huge increase on my skills, much of this being due to skills becoming class skills.
At 1st level, you'll want to be good in several of the skills from the player's guide. In the long game you'll need to get good at all of the social skills. Some people are saying to take intimidate and be done with it, but I like having the flexibility.
I do suggest inquisitor over cleric.
If you take the Conversion Inquisition instead of a domain for an Inquisitor, then you can use your Wisdom instead of your Charisma on Diplomacy or Intimidate, so then Charisma isn't needed for the Inquisitor to use those skills.
But if your GM won't let you use the Conversion Inquisition, or you want to take a Domain, then you will need to put points in Charisma.
Ah, I thought you meant "a conversion of an inqusitior" as in homebrew. That makes sense. Looks good to me.
Besmara's is quite an easy going no faith so you can try and convert people into becoming pirates by making them incredibly wealthy!
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I don't recall the details, but I think it was just CHR bonus that mattered for having a flotilla of ships in a major naval combat section towards the end of the path. Conversion Inquisition might reasonably allow that to subsititue WIS, but that would be up to the GM.
One advantage of a WIS char is that if your captain is also your helmsman, Profession Sailing is huge for ship to ship combat.
I think inquisitors are a great class, but I really think your party would be best with an evangelist cleric. Evangelist is an archetype that loses some of their channel energy and swaps spontaneous cure spells for a different set (less generically useful) but they gain bard performance powers, making them probably the best support buffer in the game. They also, like all clerics, have all of the condition removal spells that the druid might be missing.
And an evangelist of Besmarra would be a perfect pirate captain. Go with human, have a 10 int and focus on sailing, shouting (perform oratory) and intimidate and just make sure everyone else handles all the other skills (ninja should have the other social, wiz the knowledges, druid survival etc). A bit light in CHR, but with 20 point buy you should be able to manage a 14 to start.
A regular bard would also work well, but might leave you at times lacking key condition removal ability.
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Cool, thanks for the advice. Is Charisma really not that needed indeed? I was kind of surprised at the 7 suggestion as well :).
Well, you need Charisma skills like Bluff, Intimidate, and Diplomacy, but if, for your Domain, you grab the Conversion inquisition (which you should) you use Wisdom instead of Charisma for those skills.
Which makes Charisma basically useless to you, since you don't cast with it, and the only skills it would apply to are Disguise, Perform, Handle Animal, and Use Magic Device...which sound like skills other people in your party will be covering if they're needed at all.
I don't recall the details, but I think it was just CHR bonus that mattered for having a flotilla of ships in a major naval combat section towards the end of the path. Conversion Inquisition might reasonably allow that to subsititue WIS, but that would be up to the GM.
Ah. This is technically true. Speak to your GM before dumping Wisdom. I'd allow it, but I'm not your GM.
Doesn't matter until Book 5, but it could really matter then.
There is a way round this as our current captain is a magus who uses the traits and feats that improve diplomacy but he still feels the lack of charisma stings a bit. Maybe take at least 12 so you can at least hold a conversation. It is relevant to the mechanics of system with gaining infamy and disrepute.
In my Skull and Shackles game I was a Magus Captain with a horrible CHR as well. I could intimidate but that was about it. We had another player who was a bard, basically my spokesman who handled most of the negations, I just stood around and looked scary.
Bard probably should have been the captain, but since that character joined us later in the campaign he wasn't around when originally chosen. I couldn't sail a ship very well either, so our druid was the helmsman. Mostly as captain my job was just kill things, definitely a lead from the front kind of guy.
Point is, there are a lot of viable ways to divide the ships duties among the PCs, but if you want the feel of the captain being the guy who talks and is at the wheel, you probably need some CHR and WIS to be really good at it.
There is a way round this as our current captain is a magus who uses the traits and feats that improve diplomacy but he still feels the lack of charisma stings a bit. Maybe take at least 12 so you can at least hold a conversation. It is relevant to the mechanics of system with gaining infamy and disrepute.In my Skull and Shackles game I was a Magus Captain with a horrible CHR as well. I could intimidate but that was about it. We had another player who was a bard, basically my spokesman who handled most of the negations, I just stood around and looked scary.
Bard probably should have been the captain, but since that character joined us later in the campaign he wasn't around when originally chosen. I couldn't sail a ship very well either, so our druid was the helmsman. Mostly as captain my job was just kill things, definitely a lead from the front kind of guy.
Point is, there are a lot of viable ways to divide the ships duties among the PCs, but if you want the feel of the captain being the guy who talks and is at the wheel, you probably need some CHR and WIS to be really good at it.
Actually WIS isn't that needed... My Bard has a WIS of 10 and a +16 profession sailor at level 1, and she can pilot the ship really well. Like we outran the Deathknell really well. But it takes a lot of dedication to being a good sailor, racial bonuses, skill investment, traits, feats and a nice hat.
Ironically I played an evangelist cleric in razor coast lol. Great minds think alike eh?
No spoilers 'Sani!
I would favour evangelist over inquisitor, the inspire courage of bards is great. A lot of fun to play.
One other thing, imwould recommend you DM takes a look at Fire as She Bears. The naval combat rules in the players guide is pretty dire - really just floating attack platforms. Whereas the Fire As She Bears supplement has one of the best Enzeitgeist reviews I've ever seen. It has dramatically made ship fights more interesting. The whole part is involved rather than just the captain.
For 10 dollars on PDF on this site it is well worth a look. Best 3pp rules I've ever used.
For someone new to Pathfinder in general though, I would suggest sticking closer to straight classes. Evangelist is great, but it's a bard/cleric mix and might be confusing to someone new to the system. Once they feel they have gotten a handle on their original class and abilities, then they can look into multiclassing/retraining into things that start to mix things up.
Actually WIS isn't that needed... My Bard has a WIS of 10 and a +16 profession sailor at level 1, and she can pilot the ship really well. Like we outran the Deathknell really well. But it takes a lot of dedication to being a good sailor, racial bonuses, skill investment, traits, feats and a nice hat.
How did you get +16 to Profession sailor at level 1??
If your are playing at first level I really don't think the addition of bardic music is that big a shift. No bigger than a bard having to learn it as well as spells, skills and combat.
Anyway what's the worst that can happen, and player forget to do something, I have faith in new players. No more complicated than a wizard or Druid - some would argue much less so than a Druid!
I agree that Evangelist isn't enough more complex than a regular cleric to worry about. If coming from 3.5, I don't see any issues. If not familiar with either pathfinder or 3.5 then figuring out the massive cleric list and what to prepare can be daunting, but that has nothing to do with the evangelist part.
A Preacher Inquisitor of Besmara going strength-based Two-Weapon Fighting with a rapier and a cestus is scary-dangerous and highly thematic. Something like:
Dual Talent Human: 15/17+STR, 14/16+DEX, 14CON, 10INT, 14WIS, 8CHA.
Traits: Fate's Favored, ???
1. Two-Weapon Fighting
3. ???
5. Double Bane
7. ???
9. Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
Making four attacks while you have Judgement, Divine Favor and Double Bane active will tend to vaporize targets. Don't mess with the captain.
Well, generally I would not recommend tanking charisma on the captain conceptually, but the conversion inquisition makes it much less necessary. It isn't a problem to leave it at 10, for example, or even increase it from there, but it is not really useful. The Reformation inquisition, for example, lets you use charisma for diplomacy, intimidate and perform (oratory), which sort of does the same except leaving the bluffing to other people like the ninja - it makes up for that in other ways, though, and I would give it a look.
Anyway, you can either go for something like what Badbird proposes or focus on dexterity, using fencing grace for dex to damage, i.e.
13 Str, 18+ Dex, 12 con, 10 int, 14 wis, 10 cha (lower if needed). You are looking for weapon finesse, weapon focus (rapier), fencing grace, and power attack for your combat core.
Actually WIS isn't that needed... My Bard has a WIS of 10 and a +16 profession sailor at level 1, and she can pilot the ship really well. Like we outran the Deathknell really well. But it takes a lot of dedication to being a good sailor, racial bonuses, skill investment, traits, feats and a nice hat.
How did you get +16 to Profession sailor at level 1??
1 from invested skill point
3 from class skill bonus4 from Child of the Sea alternate Shoreborn Half-elf racial trait
3 from Half-elf free Skill Focus in Profession (sailor)
1 from Campaign trait Besmara's Blessing
2 from Region trait Abendego Pilot.
2 from Prodigy Feat.
Currently in our campaign we just hit level 8 and it's at +26 I think. But I'm playing a bard, and my sacrificing a little combat capability for the ability to sail circles around everyone doesn't impact my role in the group much. For someone who is planning to actually enter combat (the joke in our party is that the Captain leads from the aft of the ship) they might not want to invest THAT heavily in Sailor.
There is no right or wrong way to play but I don't see much point having a skill system if you pass a difficult check on a -1 dice roll.
Each to their own. But remember that a lot of table don't play that way when giving advice.
I wasn't advising people play that way, I was just using it as an example of why a WIS score isn't necessarily needed to have a good Prof: Sailor skill. Like I said, for anyone who actually wants to enter combat (I assume most people do!) they probably don't want to go that nuts pumping it up high enough to Tokyo drift a ship at full ahead :D
I don't recall the details, but I think it was just CHR bonus that mattered for having a flotilla of ships in a major naval combat section towards the end of the path. Conversion Inquisition might reasonably allow that to subsititue WIS, but that would be up to the GM.
One advantage of a WIS char is that if your captain is also your helmsman, Profession Sailing is huge for ship to ship combat.
I think inquisitors are a great class, but I really think your party would be best with an evangelist cleric. Evangelist is an archetype that loses some of their channel energy and swaps spontaneous cure spells for a different set (less generically useful) but they gain bard performance powers, making them probably the best support buffer in the game. They also, like all clerics, have all of the condition removal spells that the druid might be missing.
And an evangelist of Besmarra would be a perfect pirate captain. Go with human, have a 10 int and focus on sailing, shouting (perform oratory) and intimidate and just make sure everyone else handles all the other skills (ninja should have the other social, wiz the knowledges, druid survival etc). A bit light in CHR, but with 20 point buy you should be able to manage a 14 to start.
A regular bard would also work well, but might leave you at times lacking key condition removal ability.
I have not played this AP but I can personally verify that the evangelist cleric is a blast to play. It is so good in fact that I would never play a vanilla cleric or any other archetype of the cleric. You can easily make a good summoner out of one to go with the bard buffs and status removal.
Its fair enough 'Sani, and there is no shame in being good at something! Heroes want to feel heroic.
I guess what I'm saying is that most poeple haven't maxed a skill out with feat and trait combinations so Wisdom is still relevent to the skill.
I will add one more voice to recommend inquisitor. The first half of The Wormwood Mutiny could be described nonstop skill challenges sprinkled lightly with the occasional combat. Skills are super important and a 2+Int skill rank class will be at a significant disadvantage (unless it makes up for that by being intelligence based).
This is probably way more than a new player would want to get involved with, but since we're talking about pirate captains and evangelists, then for your consideration:
Solomon Black, the Pirate Lord
Storming aboard an enemy vessel cloaked in a haze of mirrored images, waving a skull-and-crossbones banner while bellowing a hellish sermon, and cutting down his foes with a frenzy of rapier strikes, the appearance of the Pirate Lord is a sure sign of the end for those who oppose his crew.
Unchained Monk 1/ Evangelist of Besmara 8
Dual Talent Human: 14/16+STR, 10DEX, 14CON, 12INT, 14/16WIS, 13CHA
Traits: Fate's Favored, Magical Knack
Domain: Trickery\Deception
1[Unchained Monk]. +Improved Unarmed Strike / +Dodge / Crane Style (Only one level of Crane Style, no free hand needed for +4AC)
3. Weapon Focus: Rapier
5. Crusader's Flurry: Rapier
7. Quick Draw
9. Flagbearer (+2CHA headband)
(Crew buys a Banner of the Ancient Kings (Skull and Crossbones), making his total buff to the crew a +5 to attack and damage from Inspire Courage and Flagbearer).
The Pirate Lord begins battle carrying his Banner of the Ancient Kings on a longspear, casting Divine Favor/Power and beginning his Inspire Courage performance in one round. When in a position to full attack, he quick-draws and activates his Grayflame rapier to begin making Flurry of Blows attacks while he carries the banner in his offhand (losing initiative and will bonuses, but keeping Inspire and Flagbearer bonuses). He uses Wisdom AC, Dodge and Crane Style for a "heavy" level of armor without armor, and fills his Domain spell slots at 2 and up with Mirror Image.
His Grayflame rapier does around 25 damage by level 9 with all his typical buffs running, and he can make 4 attacks per round with flurry if using Haste or Divine Power.
Actually WIS isn't that needed... My Bard has a WIS of 10 and a +16 profession sailor at level 1, and she can pilot the ship really well. Like we outran the Deathknell really well. But it takes a lot of dedication to being a good sailor, racial bonuses, skill investment, traits, feats and a nice hat.
How did you get +16 to Profession sailor at level 1??
1 from invested skill point
3 from class skill bonus
4 from Child of the Sea alternate Shoreborn Half-elf racial trait
3 from Half-elf free Skill Focus in Profession (sailor)
1 from Campaign trait Besmara's Blessing
2 from Region trait Abendego Pilot.
2 from Prodigy Feat.Currently in our campaign we just hit level 8 and it's at +26 I think. But I'm playing a bard, and my sacrificing a little combat capability for the ability to sail circles around everyone doesn't impact my role in the group much. For someone who is planning to actually enter combat (the joke in our party is that the Captain leads from the aft of the ship) they might not want to invest THAT heavily in Sailor.
Besmara's Blessing and Abendego Pilot both give trait bonuses and don't stack.
This is probably way more than a new player would want to get involved with, but since we're talking about pirate captains and evangelists, then for your consideration:
Solomon Black, the Pirate Lord
Storming aboard an enemy vessel cloaked in a haze of mirrored images, waving a skull-and-crossbones banner while bellowing a hellish sermon, and cutting down his foes with a frenzy of rapier strikes, the appearance of the Pirate Lord is a sure sign of the end for those who oppose his crew.Unchained Monk 1/ Evangelist of Besmara 8
Dual Talent Human: 14/16+STR, 10DEX, 14CON, 12INT, 14/16WIS, 13CHA
Traits: Fate's Favored, Magical Knack
Domain: Trickery\Deception1[Unchained Monk]. +Improved Unarmed Strike / +Dodge / Crane Style (Only one level of Crane Style, no free hand needed for +4AC)
3. Weapon Focus: Rapier
5. Crusader's Flurry: Rapier
7. Quick Draw
9. Flagbearer (+2CHA headband)
(Crew buys a Banner of the Ancient Kings (Skull and Crossbones), making his total buff to the crew a +5 to attack and damage from Inspire Courage and Flagbearer).The Pirate Lord begins battle carrying his Banner of the Ancient Kings on a longspear, casting Divine Favor/Power and beginning his Inspire Courage performance in one round. When in a position to full attack, he quick-draws and activates his Grayflame rapier to begin making Flurry of Blows attacks while he carries the banner in his offhand (losing initiative and will bonuses, but keeping Inspire and Flagbearer bonuses). He uses Wisdom AC, Dodge and Crane Style for a "heavy" level of armor without armor, and fills his Domain spell slots at 2 and up with Mirror Image.
His Grayflame rapier does around 25 damage by level 9 with all his typical buffs running, and he can make 4 attacks per round with flurry if using Haste or Divine Power.
Seems to me you would have difficulty actually casting any spells.
I think personally I'd give up the increased melee from all the monk level and all those feats and just go cleric, wear some real armor, keep the longspear for AOOs and actually be a spellcaster.
I will admit it is a pretty cool pirate themed character though.
Seems to me you would have difficulty actually casting any spells.
I think personally I'd give up the increased melee from all the monk level and all those feats and just go cleric, wear some real armor, keep the longspear for AOOs and actually be a spellcaster.
I will admit it is a pretty cool pirate themed character though.
There's no need to draw the rapier until getting into a close melee, and typically a battle Cleric who moves into close melee isn't going to be casting spells. With drawing a free action and sheathing a move action, it's actually less difficult to cast a spell than it seems unless the idea is to be running around healing. Anyhow, a bit of support spellcasting combined with really brutal DPR and AoE buffs is much more a 'pirate lord' than sitting around with Cleric spells. In many ways the build operates much more like an Inquisitor than a typical Cleric.
There's no need to draw the rapier until getting into a close melee, and typically a battle Cleric who moves into close melee isn't going to be casting spells. With drawing a free action and sheathing a move action, it's actually less difficult to cast a spell than it seems unless the idea is to be running around healing. Anyhow, a bit of support spellcasting combined with really brutal DPR and AoE buffs is much more a 'pirate lord' than sitting around with Cleric spells. In many ways the build operates much more like an Inquisitor than a typical Cleric.
Sheathing does provoke, so that can be problematic.
I agree that it is quite pirate thematic, as I said. Very clever build, and good at what it does. I just think the focus on melee takes away from the real job the character should have in this particular party.
Probably not an issue for one-a-day boarding actions, but being one-a-day encounters those tend to be on the easy side anyway. A lot of the path includes more traditional adventuring environments where you often don't have several rounds to precast all your buff spells.
Basically, the party doesn't need another striker.