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Table of Contents
Ships' Crews
These standard NPC teams can be used to build crews for the complete range of vessels used in the game - from the simplest vessels, though commercial fishing boats, right up to armed river traders. Larger, seagoing, vessels need a bespoke senior command, but the bulk of the crew would come from these templates. Most vessels will have a mixture of different crew types, as befits their primary purpose.
The following crew profiles are based on Humans WITHOUT any racial modifiers. I use the extra feats and skills to personalise crew (when I need to) but don’t change basic abilities. If you change the race of a specific crewmember - remember to subtract 2 points from one ability, to cancel out the ‘Human’ racial adjustment, before you add racial ability changes. Personally, I only make those changes if I want a crew member to take a more active role in the campaign.
Deckhand (Commoner2) – a basic sailor
Sailor (Expert-2 ) – a skilled sailor| Sailors know how to sail a ship, navigate while at sea, and defend the vessel against pirates and other hostile boarders. Sailors are prepared to defending their ship, and have basic combat training. They don't, generally, board and fight on other ships, but will fight to defend their own vessel.
Note: A team of 5x sailors costs 90gp to recruit in a port town, but are unarmed (club only). If you want them to use other weapons, you must pay the extra cost (an extra 40gp for boarding pikes). A lest one team of sailors are required for any vessel larger than a keel boat) Sailors have a craft as a secondary skill (Carpenter, Cook, Sailmaker etc) and can make a vessel liveable and self-maintaining at sea.
- Init +1; Senses Perception +3
- DEFENSE: AC 11, hp 11 (2d8 & Favoured Class x2)
- Combat: Club +2 (1d6+1) or Boarding Pike +2 (1d8+1/x3),
- Abilities:, all = 12 (+1)
- Feats Athletic,
- Skills Acrobatics +6, Craft (?) +6, Climb +8, Perception +6, Profession (sailor) +6, Swim +8
Seamen (Expert-1/Warrior-1) – fighting sailors preferred by navies. | Seamen can replace sailors in naval ships, or other vessels expected to travel into dangerous areas. They don't like boarding, and fighting, on other ships, but will use boarding axes to defend their own vessel, and attack in support of marines.
Note: a team of 5x Seamen (or women) cost 145gp to recruit, although that includes the price of a boarding axe and a light shield for each member of the team. Seamen generally expect to have a team of marines to bear the brunt of the fighting, but are a worthy support force.
- Init +1; Senses Perception +4
- DEFENSE: AC 12, hp 16 (Toughness & Favoured Class x2)
- Combat: Combat: Boarding axe +2 (1d6+1/x3)
- Abilities:, all = 12 (+1)
- Feats: toughness
- Skills Acrobatics +5, Climb +6, Perception +6, Profession (sailor) +6, Swim +5
- Gear: Light Shield (wood), Boarding Axe.
. Marine Mercenaries (Warrior-2) – soldiers who can be used as guards or for assault|
Mercenaries can be found just about anywhere, either fighting wars or acting as guards for nobles, caravans or ships. These marine mercenaries are equipped for fighting aboard ship and can form part of your boarding team. However, they do not count as part of the ‘minimum Crew’ required to sail the vessel.
Note: a team of 5x Marine Mercenaries cost 220gp to recruit, although that does not include the price of their weapons as well. Having a team of Mercenaries aboard will convert your Seamen into assault troops. While they are called Mercenaries, they become permanent members of your crew and you do not need recruit them again.
Note2: It is best to spend 390gp to equip your ship with an armoury. An armoury can support up ten mercenaries or marines with weapons and armour, and is about half the price of equipping them individually.
- Warrior L2
- Initiative: +1 Perception: +1
- AC: 15 HP: 18 (2d10, con +2, Toughness +3, Favoured Class +2)
- Fort +4: Ref +2: Will +1
- Melee: Cutlass +3 (d6+1 x2 18-20 x2) | Dagger +3 (d4+1 19-20 x2)
- Ranged: Dagger +3 (d4+1 19-20 x2) Range 10, LXB +3 (d8 19-20 x2)
- Str:12, Dex:12, Con:12, Wis:12, Int:12, Cha:12 (+1 bonus all abilities)
- Trait: Deft Dodger (reflex +1)
- Feats: L1: Toughness (+3hp)
- Skills: Climb+5, Diplomacy +5, Intimidate +5, Profession(Soldier) +5, Swim +5 | (+1 spare for a hobby/interest)
- Favoured Class: HPx2
- Gear: Studded Leather, Shield (Light, Wooden), Cutlass, Dagger, LXB.
++++ Marine (Fighter 2) – soldiers skilled in the use of siege engines
Marine (Human, Fighter 2)| Fighters trained for shipboard combat. Normally associated with National Navies or the Aspis Consortium. However, other groups employ marines as well, and there are mercenary marines available for hire.
- Init +6; Senses Perception +1
- DEFENSE: AC 15, hp 19
- Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +1; +1 vs. fear
- Combat: Melee boarding pike* +5 (1d8+3/×3) or short sword +4 (1d6+2/19–20)
- Combat: Ranged light crossbow +4 (1d8/19–20)
- STATISTICS: Str 15, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10
- Feats Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Improved Initiative, PowerAttack, Weapon Focus (boarding pike*)
- Skills Climb +7, Knowledge (engineering) +5, Swim +7
- Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds;
- Other Gear
- masterwork studded leather, light crossbow with 10 bolts, boarding pike*, short sword,
- SPECIAL ABILITIES: Exotic Weapon Proficiency. Marines have Exotic Weapon Proficiency in whatever type of siege engines are carried aboard their ships.
++++ Buccaneer (Human, Fighter 2)
Veteran Buccaneer (Human, Fighter 3)
Marine Mercenary (Human, Warrior-2)
The following crew profiles appear to have been built without racial benefits taken into consideration.
That doesn't matter for unnamed characters, but you should personalize the statblock if you decide to name the characters. Racial Benefits
Veteran Pirate (Warrior 3)
The following links might work for individual crew members, but probably aren't suitable for a whole crew.
Petty Officers
The junior officers aboard a ship who oversee the day-to-day work of the vessel. They are more skilled than the crew, and often hac PC classes. The following examples are from D20PFSRD and while they might be immediately useful in some circumstances you might want to modify their skills and alignment to suit your game situation. A petty officer may well be the 'captain' of small vessels such as a Shallop, River Boat, Pinnace, Great Launch or Area Patrol Boat.
Petty Officers will probably be L2 in a character class, L3 in an NPC class or an L4 commoner - at the minimum.
Officers
The ship's Captain and their most trusted lieutenants. They oversee the petty officers, take watches and can take responsibility for the ship when required. The following examples are from D20PFSRD and while they might be immediately useful in some circumstances you might want to modify their skills and alignment to suit your game situation.
These Junior Officers will probably be L3 in a character class or L4 in an NPC class (at the minimum). They may well be the 'captain' of vessels from a large boatyard, but will rarely be in charge of anything from a commercial shipyard. They probably have a petty officer or two to assist them.
- Quartermaster - swap Perform:Sing for Prof:Sailor
- Watch Officer - swap Know:Local for Prof:Sailor
- Watch Officer - swap Perform:Act for Prof:Sailor
- Pirate Officer officer.
- Ship's Priest - Someone of this spec has replaced Sandra as Kaleb's
Characters of Level 5 might Captain ships from commercial shipyards. They often have an officer and petty officers to manage the ship for them. Pirate and naval ships, or any vessel with a larger than average crew) need more officers than merchant vessels.
- Merchant Captain - swap Handle Animal for Prof(Sailor)
- Ship's Captain - swap Know:Dungeoneering for Prof:Sailor
- Great Merchant Captain - swap Perform:Seance for Prof:Sailor
Marines
Most naval vessels, and armed merchantmen, have a contingent of marines aboard. They are trained to fight on ships, boats and coastal areas, and often have their own officer to take charge of their activities.
Bespoke Crew Example
I have a bespoke crew that I use for special missions and those times when I need a crew that can take an active part in Role Play. Slightly higher level, and much more diverse, than a standard crew they crew a magical folding boatwhich is used by adventuring parties on river journeys.
I tend to reuse NPCs, especially those I like, and most of this crew have appeared in an earlier game. The PCs in that game rewarded them (occasionally) with various pieces of cast-off equipment - so some of them have better gear than you might expect :)
- Captain: Helga (Commoner-5) - a large female half-orc who has been knocking around the river for years. She is very intimidating, but her crew know that she will always have their best interests at heart. In times of trouble, she wears Leather armour and wields a Great Axe
- First Mate:Tom Salt (Expert-5) - He started life as a farmer, went to sea and then finished up on the river. He is responsible for communications when they are in port and oversees any trading activities.
- Second Mate: Carin Fisher (Half-elf, Commoner-3/Adept-1) - He has spent most of his life fishing along the Sellen river, and became a minor priest of Hanspur in later life. He is, by far, the best fisherman aboard and knows the river as well as anyone.
- Crew: Harriet Sheets (Warrior-2/Commoner-2) - She used to work as a guard on an armed trader out of Pitax, but decided that she wanted a quieter life. Harriet is Helga's support muscle.
- Crew: Nora Fencemend (Halfling, Commoner-1/Expert-1) - The newest member of the crew, Nora is the ship's cook and general dogsbody. She is often assigned lookout duties.