Net of the Pirate Kings
"This is madness!"
"Nah, this is politics!"
As independent as they've always seemed, and as free as they've deluded themselves into thinking they are, the pirates have always had their own rulers. Powerful and feared pirates who have ruled for ages. Pirates who have cut up the oceans into nations, to be ruled as tyrannically or benevolently as any nation with it's foundation in stone. Quite apart from these terrestrial nations, however, is the rarity of hereditary rule upon the tides. Piracy is a fierce game, harsher than any dirt politics, and it takes the best to claim rulership, thus it is a meritocracy by default, and it's rulers have claimed their position through respect and fear.
Most of the original Pirate Kings are dead, gone to Davey Jone's Locker. Those who live now are but pale imitations of men, and women, who met their ends through the glory of a worthy adversary, or the treachery of the royal navy. However, these souls, bound as they were by politics, are bound together even now, as the eggs in a mermaid's purse, and they can be sought. Should they be successfully beseech-ed, they will endow one worthy soul with great power and their terrible reputations. Only one soul may be so endowed at a given time, and the honor is often transferred through backstabbing, much to the Pirate Kings' approval.
Requirements
BAB: +5
Skills: Profession (Sailor) 1r, Climb 4r, Intimidate 8r, Knowledge (Nature) 4r, Use Rope 3r
Special: Must own and captain a ship, which sails under a proper, and unique, jolly roger, and is considered a pirate vessel. Must seek out the souls of the Pirate Kings and convince them to bestow their power upon you. There may only be one Net of the Pirate Kings at a time, and killing the current one is a good way to convince the Pirate Kings you should be the new one.
Game Info
HD: d8
BAB: Full
Saves: Good Ref
Skills: As Swashbuckler
Power Source: Ancestral
Level--Special
1-- Sea Salt, Blackbeard's Heir
2-- The Sweat of Our Brows, Captain Sparrow's Hat
3-- Content Under Pressure, Paine's Letters of Marque
4-- The Strength of Our Backs, Callypso's Key
5-- Pull of the Sea, The Lich Captain's Sea Chest
6-- The Courage of Our Hearts, Captain Nemo's Ingenuity
7-- Chart a Course, Barbossa's Fleet
8-- Release the Kraken!, Mantle of Davey Jones
Sea Salt The Net of the Pirate Kings gains the Aquatic subtype when in water (swim speed equal to twice land speed), may walk on water, and his ship is never adversely affected by the weather. Should weather ever treat his ship unfavorably, it instead is affected as though the weather were the most favourable conditions to the Net's purpose.
Blackbeard's Heir The first level Net of the Pirate Kings may as well have sprung from Blackbeard's own salty crotch. He gains a bonus to Intimidate checks equal to his class level, and is surrounded at will by a sulfurous cloud of smoke. Anyone within 15 feet of the Net must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC10+1/2class level+Con Mod) or take a -2 penalty on all attack and damage rolls until 1d6 minutes after leaving the area.
Furthermore, the smoke it gives off grants the Net concealment against creatures 5 feet away and total concealment against creatures 10 feet or farther away. The Net may begin or end this effect as a free action.
The smoke does not obscure the Net’s vision at all, nor does any other smoke, for that matter. Any fire based effect that would impair the Net's vision does not affect his vision.
The Net will never run out of ammunition for his weapons, or those of his ship, nor shot.
The Sweat of Our Brows The Net of the Pirate Kings is a terribly effective leader. When leading, all allies may work for twice as long before succumbing to fatigue or exhaustion, and have a morale bonus on their rolls to resist such effects equal to the Net's class level. This is explicitly *not* a mind affecting effect.
Captain Sparrow's Hat At second level, the Net finds a worn leather tri-corner hat the next dawn, sitting with his other personal effects. When he puts it on, he feels the mad brilliance of it's former owner, and acquires style, and luck, to spare. He gains the Armoured in Life ability of a monk of his class level. He also has so much style that it constantly leaks from his pants. Should he ever elect to perform a stylish stunt, he need not make any special roll to do so, nor does any required roll suffer a penalty. In fact, if he explains exactly what he's doing in a sufficiently stylish manner, he gets a bonus equal to half his character level to all required rolls.
The Net will never be without a hat, as the hat will happen to reappear within a day should it ever be removed without his consent, nor will he ever lack for drink, as he will always be able to find a bottle, jug, or other container of a non-magical drink of his choice by pure happenstance. Finally, he may summon a pair of medium size Snapping Turtles (Stormwrack, 168) at will, who will swim up in the nearest body of water, and may be carrying interesting or useful minor items (including drinks) on their backs.
Sea Turtles
Hit Die 5d8+15
Init -2
Speed 5', Swim 20'
Armour Class 13 (-2 Dex, +5 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple
Attack +4/+7
Full Attack Bite +8 melee (1d8+3)
Space/Reach 5'/5'
Special Attacks Improved Grab
Special Qualities Hold Breath, Low Light Vision
Saves Fort +7, Ref +2, Will +1
Abilities Str 16, Dex 6, Con 17, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 4
Skills Spot +6, Swim +14
Feats Improved Natural Armour, Weapon Focus (Bite), Improved Natural Attack (Bite)
Paine's Letters of Marque The dawn after reaching 3rd level, The Net of the Pirate Kings finds in his bag a small leather case, within which are the Letters of Marque of Captain Thomas Paine, but signed in infernal ink. The Net may change his ships flags' colour and insignia at will, allowing him to match those of any nation or navy. The Letters themselves will be seen as signed by any chosen Ruler, decided from moment to moment. If the Net must ever show his letters of Marque, he may choose for them to appear to be granted by any known ruler, thus escaping most capture.
The Net of the Pirate Kings need never fear capture or execution by mortal authorities. He is immune to Coup de Gras, and has been appointed a privateer by one of the highest authorities of the realms, Hell itself. Only the forces of good can attempt to try the Net for the Crime of Piracy.
The Strength of Our Backs The Net of the Pirate Kings crew is inspired by their captain to put their backs into their work, pushing themselves to their fullest, and wringing every ounce of strength from themselves. All allies of the Net of the Pirate King gain a morale bonus to strength based rolls (attack, grapple, damage, strength based skills and strength checks) equal to his class level. This is explicitly *not* a mind affecting effect.
Callypso's Key At fourth level, the Net acquires a key once said to belong only to the Pirate Witch Callypso, that which open's Davey Jones' Locker. This key allows a modicum of Calypso's power, namely the ability to call the dead. 5/day, as a move action, the Net of the Pirate King may cast a specialized form of Animate Dead as a cleric of their character level, and call forth undead from the ocean depths. (It's a third level necromancy spell, with a casting time of 1 move action. It's range is close, but only to determine where the zombies and skeletons appear from. The spell reaches into the ocean, and so always has access to corpses.) If the Net of the Pirate King is landlocked, the skeletons and zombies will crawl from the nearest body of water, or from the ground, mysteriously soaking wet, even if appearing in a desert.
Original Version
The Lich Captain's Sea Chest The dawn after the Net of the Pirate Kings reaches fifth level, he finds a weathered sea chest, planks of darkwood, and banded in rune inscribed iron, with a skull of indeterminate material forming the lock. This is the personal chest of the dreaded undead pirate captain who was only ever known as The Lich Captain, which served as his phylactery before he was destroyed. With possession of this chest, the Net may use the spell Raise Death Galley (see below) at will, requiring only a sunken ship within the range of the spell. He may only raise and have one Death Galley at a time, but his personal ship is always considered to be a Death Galley, and does not count towards his limit.
The Net of the Pirate Kings is now all but immune to affliction, poison, and ability loss. Every hour spent on a ship he owns, or which sails under his flag, he recovers from one disease, poison, fatigue, exhaustion, or point of damage or drain to one ability score. If he does not suffer any of these conditions he regenerates 10 hit points each hour on his ship.
The Courage of Our Hearts Whether because they've been inspired, or terrified, the crew of the Net know no fear, save that they may hold for their captain. They are completely immune to fear effects while he is their captain. This is explicitly *not* a mind affecting effect.
Captain Nemo's Ingenuity Upon reaching sixth level, the Net of the Pirate Kings finds his crew has mysteriously gained a member. A dark skinned, female artificer (Artificer level equals your character level-3) by the name of Jenny has turned up, and is a full crew member, even if no one remembers her. A submersible ship also shows up and attaches to the Net's personal ship, and the artificer quickly busies herself with upgrading the ship with many strange technological devices. Within a week, the Net's personal ship has a mechanical engine, which triples it's speed, gattling cannons, which improve the ships gun damage as if their size had been increased twice, double the range, and half reloading time, and an adamantine sheath over the entire hull and masts, granting it DR 20/-.
The ingenuity of the strange Artificer has also made it so that the Net's ships can never sink.
Chart a Course At 7th level the Net of the Pirate Kings learns the course to the legendary haven of pirates, Dalmatia. The location is a carefully guarded secret, only those most trusted to protect their fellow pirates are allowed to find it. thus keeping it safe from the Royal Navy and all others who would end their reign over the seas. Dalmatia is a demi-plane accessible only by sea with normal gravity, timeless, finite in size (about 5 miles across), and divinely morphic. It is a bustling port town perpetually experiencing a clear, balmy summer night. Hunger does not take effect on it's inhabitants, nor will they age. They do however eat and sleep, but more out of desire than need. The Pirate Kings may alter the demiplane as they see fit, and thus so may the Net of the Pirate Kings. While in Dalmatia, the Net of the Pirate Kings gains a Magnificent Mansion, as the spell, located on the top of a hill overlooking the town.
Barbossa's Fleet At 7th level, the Net of the Pirate Kings gains a fleet of ships, all sailing under his flag, and for his profit. Any ships he currently owns besides his personal ship will have their sails turn black at the next dawn after he attains this level, blackening from the top down as the sun rises and the shadows fall (his personal ships sails are whatever colour he desires). His flag is known the world over as pirates fly it before attack, and shout his name as they swing from ship to ship. All characters three or more levels lower than the Net will fear and/or respect him as appropriate, and defer to his word. Any port he lands in will yield up at least one ship and crew should he seek it, at no cost to him. He has no need to worry about mundane wealth, as he now has vast fleets of ships that sail for the sole purpose of his profit. He has literally as much gold as he desires. At his option, he may now be known as Pirate Admiral.
Release the Kraken! At 8th level, the Net of the Pirate Kings is, he himself, known as the Pirate King, and gains the right to call the most fearsome beast ever controlled by men at sea, the Kraken (not to be confused with *a* kraken). Once per day, while at sea, the Net of the Pirate Kings may take a full round action to call the beast. In 1d6 rounds the call will be answered by a Fiendish Giant Squid, which will serve for the remainder of the encounter. The Kraken always posseses enough HD to have a CR equal to 2 less than the Net of the Pirate Kings' ECL.
Mantle of Davey Jones At 8th level, a skeletal chirurgeon appears, cloaked in the jolly roger of Davey Jones, and cuts out the Net's heart, placing it in a locked chest, and places the worn jolly roger over the Net's body. The flag becomes a piece of clothing of the Net's choosing (yes, any piece of clothing, though it should be readily seen. So those jolly roger panties better get flashed a lot). From that point onward, he is has the Undead type and the Dark Minded and Aquatic subtypes. Should he die, without the Pirate Kings being beseech-ed by the killer, he will rise again in eight days, with his crew and ship from the nearest seas.
The Net will always have a full crew, a number of undead pirate followers equal to his unmodified charisma modifier with CR equal to his ECL-4.
Raise Death Galley]
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 7
Components: VSM
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Long (400'+40'/level), see below
Targets: One sunken ship
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throws: None
Spell Resistance: No
The necromancer shouts an incantation of lurid and profane prose to the sea and the spirits of all ships that have sunk, seducing one from the depths to serve him. As he completes his call, a ship rises swiftly from the depths, crewed by tireless undead, and the caster catches a glimpse of an ephemeral figure, with a striking resemblance to the ships figure head, who quickly retreats towards the ship's captain's quarters.
At the end of the casting time, the ship breaches the waves, complete with a skeletal or zombie "skeleton" crew (or combination there of) which patrols the deck and performs the duties they had in life, and any items it may contain, or may be on it's deck. Sea creatures inhabiting the wreck will be pushed out, unless they can survive in atmosphere, in which case they will be raised with the ship and subject to the Caster's ability to control or befriend creatures (they will have a -4 penalty to resist any attempt to control, and the Caster, or his delegated captain, will receive a +4 bonus on handle animal checks and the like. Vermin are automatically controlled.)
Only horizontal range matters for the range of this spell, vertical depth has no effect.
The ship is at the command of the caster, serving him as much as a dutiful lover as a commanded ship. Command may be delegated, and often will be when the caster has multiple Death Galleys, as a given man may only captain one Death Galley at a time, all but married to the ship's spirit.
Death Galley
A Death galley is a sunken ship raised through powerful magic, and made sea worthy by the same effect regardless of holes, barnacles, age and torn sails. The ship gains 10 overall hp point Caster's class level, and 5 hardness per Caster's character level. It's maneuverability increases one step, and it's speed increases by 50%. The ship constantly emanates a Fear spell effect as cast by a 20th wizard, and is immune to Cold, Electric, Fire and Unholy attacks, can never catch fire, cannot in anyway be turned, and grant their crew Turn Resistance +4.
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Need to think on more abilities.
Still need three more captains, and possibly small abilities not named for Pirate Kings to go on levels that don't already have them
EDIT:
- Changed the healing on The Lich Captain's Sea Chest to hourly regeneration to fix energy/creature type issues
- Stated that The Kraken advances HD
- Added some fluff to Davey Jones' Mantle
- Changed the Undead Cohorts on Davey Jones' Mantle to really good followers, and the number
- took the redundant "always has a ship" bit off the end of DJM, since other abilities, and DJM themselves give the ability without it needing to be stated.
- Changed Raise Death Hulk to Raise Death Galley and some specs
- Added Content Under Pressure at third level
- Added Pull of the Sea at fifth
10/11/11
- Final captain ability added, finally.