Table of Contents
Ships' Crews
In The Stolen Lands game, there is a range of vessels that can be used for fishing and trade - these are the standard crews that I use for each type of vessel. That doesn't mean that every vessel has this crew makeup, but it sets levels and expectations if players (or I) want to design a unique crew for a vessel.
Note: Sailors only don armour when they know there is a conflict coming. Most of the time they are unarmoured and only armed with a dagger. However, boarding axes and belaying pins (clubs) are freely available aon the decks of most ships.
Crew
These standard NPC templates 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 crews will have a mixture of different crew types - but if it comes to combat, use the Pirate or Sailor stats for all the crew.
These make up the bulk of the crew, and are generally known as Deck Hands. If one is put in charge of something, they are known as Leading Hands.
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.