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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.

Recruiting

These rules fall someway between the Pathfinder Downtime system and the recruiting rules from Skull & Shackles.

There is a cost associated with recruiting any team, which covers agents, money spent while looking and ‘starting payments’ to new members of the crew. Team numbers, skills and costs reflect those in the Downtime systems, although there are minor differences.
You must also make a good impression on the crew members you with to recruit, so there is also an Influence Check. This can be a Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidation check, the DC is 10 plus 2xLevel of the team, +2 if the team have a PC class. A team Deckhands (Commoner-1) has a DC of 12, a team of Elite Marines (Warrior-3) has a DC of 16, while a team of Specialist Marines (Fighter-2) also have a DC of 16.
To recruit any of the Maritime teams listed below, you must be in an appropriate port town or city. You won’t find a team of Elite Marines, etc, in a small village - but you might find a team of Deck Hands.

Sailing Crew

The teams in this section can be used to build the Minimum Crew Criteria for a vessel. Smaller vessels (such as fishing boats or keelers) my be crewed solely by Deckhands and Rowers. For larger vessels, Sailors or Seamen must make up at least 50% of the crew. Sailing teams come from a variety of different backgrounds, and their 'average' alignment is TN.

Deckhand (Commoner1) – Basic sailors

Experienced Deckhand (Commoner-2) – Sailors with secondary skills

Sailor (Expert-2 ) – a skilled sailor

Seamen (Expert-1/Warrior-1) – fighting sailors preferred by navies.

Military Crew

Are used to defend ships or provide an assault force for navies and freebooters. Because of their military training, marines tend towards Lawful alignments, and the 'average' alignment of a team of marines is LN. However, you should note that in some areas, such as The Shackles, piracy is legal, while in other areas (including the open ocean) piracy is not illegal. Freebooters, sailing under a Letter of Marque, are generally legal in their own lands.

Marines (Warrior-1) – soldiers who can be used as guards or for assault

Marine Artillerists (Fighter 2) – soldiers skilled in the use of Ballistae

Fighters trained for shipboard combat, including the use of siege ballistae, which are the most common siege engines found aboard ships. Often associated with National Navies, although other groups employ marine artillerists as well. They do not count as part of the ‘Minimum Crew’ required to sail the vessel. They are more about their siege engine and defending their own ship/position - but will act as assault troops, if required.

Note1: a team of 5x Marine Artillerists (Ballistae) cost 300gp to recruit (DC16), although that does not include the price of their weapons as well. Ironically, a team of 5 can support 8 ballistae - one on the prow, one at the stern and a battery of three on each side of the ship, however, only one battery can be used at a time.

Note2: It might be cheaper to spend 390gp to equip your ship with an armoury, than buy weapons individually. An armoury can support up to ten marines with weapons and armour. If you have more than ten marines, you need more armouries. This is different from land based Soldiers, who demand much heavier armour.

Note3: In combat, Marines command siege engines as you close for battle, then defend their ship with boarding pike and LXB. They join the assault, using cutlasses, if ordered. Note that each siege engine requires a Marine to command it, and a crew to work it. The crew can be made up of any members of the crew (including deckhands and other marines) however, the artillery crew must be over and above the Minimum Crew requirements to sail the vessel.

Note4: Siege engines are expensive to run, as they require extra crew and may want to use expensive ammunition for the extra damage. :}

Init +6; Senses Perception +1
AC: 15 HP: 17 (2d10, con +4, Favoured Class +2
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +1; +1 vs. fear
Combat: Melee boarding pike* +5 (1d8+3/×3) or Cutlass +4 (1d6+2/19–20)
Combat: Ranged light crossbow +4 (1d8/19–20), Ballista +4 (Varies)
STATISTICS: Str 15, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10
Feats Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Ballista), Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (boarding pike*)
Skills Climb +6, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (engineering) +4, Swim +6
Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds;
Other Gear
studded leather, light crossbow with 10 bolts, boarding pike*, cutlass,

Elite Marine (Warrior-3) - frontline military troops

Pirate Crew

Pirate teams are unusual in that they are sailors and fighters, and are generally considered to be Bandits of the Sea - they are only found in Pirate towns and cities. However, this covers Pirates, Buccaneers, Corsairs, Freebooters and other, similar, 'aggressive' crew types. They tend to be expensive to recruit, fickle and unruly in their behaviour - their 'average' alignment is CN.

These teams do not follow my normal NPC build rules, but are based around NPC builds from various PF adventure paths.

Pirate (Warrior-2) - Sailor/Bandits

Buccaneer (Fighter 2) Experienced pirate, skilled with Ballistae

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 may have PC classes. The following examples are from D20PFSRD andn while they might be immediately useful, 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.

Recruitment costs and DC will vary.

Petty Officers will probably be L2/3 in a character class, L3/4 in an NPC class.

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.

Recruitment costs and DC vary.

Characters of Level 5, or more, 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.

Bespoke Crews

You might, one day, acquire a second ship/boat that you want to have crewed by NPCs. It would be best to use crew members that you trust as captain and officers, but you might need to recruit extra people to fill gaps in your staff. These example crews give you an idea of what tou could aim for. Note, however, I tend to reuse NPCs that I like, and these crews have appeared in earlier games, so don't be surprised if they turn up somewhere in your game.

The Folding Boat Crew

This bespoke crew were used as the crew of a magical folding boatwhich was used by adventuring parties for river travel - so they are tough enough to survive quite serious fights. The PCs from two games 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 river, and became a minor priest of the river spirit 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.

JohnB's Games

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