Characters

Here you can roll your stats and talk about your Character's backstory (at least as much as they are willing to divulge to their ship mates) their immediate goal after the successful survival of a pirate rebellion, their Flaw that keeps getting in the way of this goal, and the position they held on the KGSS Chianti.

Feel free to establish a few things about the world with your backstory.

Some world building; the world as you know it is a large infinite ocean, with chains of islands offering the only land available. The biggest Island is owned by the Kingdom of Gwendyll, where the Kingdom of Gwendyll Shipping Services (KGSS) is based and ships goods within the kingdom as well as to other Islands. You became a sailor on the Chianti, and have survived the recent mutiny. Were you an innocent bystander? Was your sole purpose of coming aboard this ship to ensure the success of this hostile takeover? Either case you are now a member of a pirating crew, better then dead at least.

Well kicking this off, my idea is of one Theren Alantha, a wood elf monk.

Most of you know him as that guy who spent way too much time in the crows nest. With this takeover that happened below his feet Theren just hopes he still gets his pay. A flaw of Theren's is his lack of people skills tends to cause people to stick around enough to know him. Also people rarely trust him, and the lack of people to vouch for him tends to get into undue trouble.

Hi! Just a quick question, because the answer affects what sort of personality I'm giving my PC: Are we sticking to PHB? UA? Volo's? Or is all WoTC approved? Thanks!

Am thinking of a Swashbuckler Rogue from Unearthed Arcana: Waterborne Adventures.

I'm good with Volo's, I will probably be fine with UA. As long as your concept sounds like a good fit. And Swashbuckling is in the title of the game.

Question for you all, would you want flintlock guns in the game? There will be cannons for sure, but as far as pistols/muskets what do you guys think? How rare or common are they?

I like the idea that they are around but rare, people have heard of them but not so many have seen them. But of course it's what everyone else is comfortable and happy with.

My idea for my character is a Triton tempest cleric, named Zunis, who is polite, self sacrificing, and charitable. My flaw is that he was so sheltered in the temple under the sea that he barely knows anything about the world. He ran from the temple in hope of being a hero. He was the assistant cook/doctor on the ship before there was a mutiny and he was so oblivious that he barely noticed it. He decided afterwords that the old captain must've deserved it somehow and continues with his normal job. His short term goal is to gain riches somehow to become a more influential force for vigilante justice.

If a Chaotic Good character absolutely doesn't fit, I'll think of something else.

I like the idea of guns being rare. I want to also take the Sid Meier's Pirates approach, and have the gun be a one shot action for an entire combat. Something that could tip the tide of a fight, but you couldn't solely rely on.

So far we have a Dr. Cook and a seedy spotter. Both not taking part in the mutiny, but able to make their way into the good graces of the victorious side, and subsequently are now pirates in the eyes of the law!

Zunis, is your God well known to the Islanders, or is he/she strictly a part of the subsurface culture?

Strictly part of subterranean culture, unbeknownst to me. I assume everyone knows who he is.

Definitely playing a halfling swashbuckler. Will try to come up with his motivations over the weekend.

But as posted in the Absences thread:

I can't get away from Jabes it seems.

I see there is a cleric already, but I have a moody young war cleric who stowed away on a ship when he was 13 to escape his family. After a couple of years he left the sea and joined the temple. Possibly he was on this voyage as a passenger, not crew, but the draw of life on a ship is strong. If the crew had a convincing story, he may have participated.
He has not overtly displayed his god yet, but is not ashamed or deceptive about it when the time comes.

As we have a cleric, I will work on an alternative.

No, you can't! I'm in all the games! :-D

XOSkel10 I am okay with another cleric, but for whatever character you do decide to settle on, just make sure you clearly state the short term goal of the character, and the flaw that interrupts the character from succeeding in this short term goal.

Stat rolls. Not great, but could have been worse.

Roscoe Silversail is motivated by money, simple as that. He wasn't originally part of the plot to mutiny on the Chianti but he was easily bought with promises of gold.
Roscoe has a gambling problem. And though he seems to have an unnatural abundance of luck he tends to push that luck much too far. Consequently, he always manages to gamble away whatever coin he's just made from whatever latest scheme he's pulled off.

^This! Exactly this. Would it be possible for any of the PC's to start with firearms? I take that back: IMO it would be more fun if we had to win them, either through fighting, shady black market deal, or just steal 'em. :-D

I like the real world explanation for guns being rare in pirate times: they were expensive. The only reason that pirates had guns and cannons it because they stole military ships and all that stuff was already there. Considering this is a trade vessel, it probably wouldn't have much in the way of guns or cannons unless it's in the habit of carrying high profile cargo. They almost all had a few cannons though, to protect against raiders.

Now it's time to come up with dark secrets. Your characters will know one incriminating thing about the other person's character I gave you. This could be anything, but it should be something that you could use to blackmail them. I will tell them this secret but they will not know who has found out.

(stats: standard array)
Goal: the thing that anybody could tell your character is aiming for, a definition of what success would be to your character.
As a fairly new acolyte, Pasquale feels he should share his found faith and philosophy. He feels that he can recruit more followers to the temple, hopefully also loyal to him.
Flaw: the thing that keeps getting in the way of your goals
Pasquale's understanding of his faith is very narrow. Although he is experienced on the sea, he is not experienced with much else. He remembers what he has been taught, and can recite it at will. He has yet to really understand it and see it in real world application.

Looking forward to this, 2 clerics? Looks like the rogue and monk don't shouldn't have to worry about being glass cannons.

Until they are attacked by a pirate captain with a bandolier of flintlock pistols...

I did say shouldn't after all

How are these guns going to work? My take:

Flintlock Pistol- 1d8 piercing damage. Can be fired as a bonus action if already loaded. Takes about 30 seconds to reload. Requires gunpowder and a lead bullet to reload.

Bayoneted Musket: 1d12 piercing damage. Can be used as a melee weapon that deals 1d6 piercing damage on hit. Takes about 60 seconds to reload. Requires gunpowder, a lead bullet, and barrel lubricant to reload.

Blunderbuss: 2d6 piercing damage in a 20 ft line. Dex save for half damage to all enemies within the effected area. Takes about 120 seconds to reload. Requires gunpowder and about a pound of gravel/sand/lead bullets.

Feel free to make improvements or ignore it completely.

Shhhhh! It's a secret!

Wait. We're deciding the secrets that other people have?

From the Game Details Page:
Wait, can you read what I posted above? It was supposed to be a secret note to SamuraiPie. Did I do it wrong?

Whoops, I neglected to read that. And yes I can see it plain and clear.

* The top one I can't see. The bottom two passages and the quote are plain as day

I don't see how, but I seem to have messed things up, @SamuraiPie. How do you want to do this?

@Endermun, are you also able to read the secret note at the end of this post?

Secret notes not being secret might be a bug that needs reporting to Keleth.

No that's completely fine.

I have the same deal as Endermun, can see the last two passages at the end of the quote.

Just to confirm, what do they say?

Jabes.plays.RPG sent a note to SamuraiPie
SamuraiPie says:
While the Chianti was landed, loading and unloading cargo, Roscoe took the chance to visit his Nan.
While he sat across from her, drinking tea and losing a game of dominoes, he regaled her with stories of the ship, a bit over exaggerated for affect of course. However, after describing the ships medic/cook Zunis, his Nan slammed down her hands and stood up abruptly. She stared him in his eyes and told him...
Despite her advanced age Rosco'es Nan, Zenda Silversail, is still strong and sharp as a whip. She used to captain a merchant ship herself back in the day, and often tells Roscoe stories of her adventures. She tells him of the day a Triton patrol boarded her ship many years ago and learned about Zuis Aboonlath.

Zunis is the son of a rebel leader who led an uprising when Zunis was yet a child. Zunis' father was executed but the young Zunis, deemed too young for harsher punishment, was sent to the temple for the clerics to raise and keep an eye on. When he ran away from the temple, Zunis became a fugitive.

Weird. Brought it to Keleth's attention in the Bugs thread.

It may be something to do with quoting the same person you were noting too?

Let me mix up who chooses who.You can keep the same initial set up I whispered to you previously be just insert the new character that I am sending down below.

Are we getting close to being ready?

Ahoy there!

I'm still waiting to finalize some secrets, but I am itching to go as well.

Any chance we can get characters approved? Just so we can use them for IC posts in the forum

When are we getting our secrets?