Saturday, June 18, 2016

Roguish Archetype: The Corsair [ROUGH DRAFT]



The Swashbuckler in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is a really cool option - probably my favorite in the book. And while it's great for a duelist, rake, or general seeker of adventure, it's just not a pirate in the same way that 3.5's Dread Pirate class was.

So, based on a great suggestion from one of my readers, I created the Corsair roguish archetype option! Lead your crew into battle on land and ship, and teach those landlubbers why you are the most-feared pirate to sail the seven seas!

FEATURES:

  • Sea Legs and Bonus Proficiencies, both designed to make you feel perfectly at-home on the deck of a ship!
  • Captain at the Helm and Infamy, designed to make you feel like a rogue ne 4e warlord as you lead your crew.
  • Avast, ye Scurvy Dogs! which is probably the most team-focused a rogue level 17 ability can be.
  • Monkey and Parrot familiars for pirates of sufficient station.
CONCERNS:
  • Sea Legs and Bonus Proficiencies give you a lot, but none of what they give you seems particularly game-breaking.
  • Captain at the Helm may be worded oddly, and its tHP math could use a look to see if it's overpowered or not.
  • I like Infamy a lot, but it could probably use a look at its power balance.
  • Avast, ye Scurvy Dogs! strikes me as almost a non-concern - rogue level 17's should do situationally an additional ~40 damage, and the situation on Avast is if everyone's attacks hit. Still, verbage might be shaky, and that's where I'd look there. 
  • The Monkey and Parrot likewise could use a look. As usual, I outright suck at monster math, and appreciate any help that can be rendered. 
WHAT I LEARNED:
  • Y'all have some great ideas. Thanks, Lee Robins!

13 comments:

  1. ayy my idea got posted! now we got a pirate and a ninja, how about a viking? cleric seems perfect for it, and winter and frost have kinda been shafted in the domain area.

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    1. also i don't think i have ever laughed as hard at a dnd subclass than when i saw that the monkeys throw could deal poison damage.

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    2. also i don't think i have ever laughed as hard at a dnd subclass than when i saw that the monkeys throw could deal poison damage.

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    3. also 10 int for the monkey seems a bit much seeing as apes only get 7

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    4. Also also i didn't get a credit at the end :\ ah well at least a mention is good enough, and maybe flooding the replys will make me feel a bit better

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    5. >viking

      I feel like this is the entire Barbarian class, though.

      A sea-borne barbarian would not be a bad idea, however.

      >10 int monkey

      Fair point, will fix.

      >credit

      My bad! =(

      I actually fully intended to credit you, but forgot to change my standard Credits box when I was formatting it. I'll make sure you have a credit in the v0.2 of this option.

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    6. thank you, and i'm not sure about vikings being all barbarian, I was thinking more of a combat focused domain for clerics, like tempest but ice themed

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    7. Winter seems like a really good domain for clerics to have.

      Can't promise I'll do it right away (I've got some revision to get to, first), but I'll definitely get to that one eventually.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Here is a stat block I wrote up for a monkey in 5e if you care to analyze it.
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bzl49pgK1xnEY19NbzAzRUpreG8
    https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bzl49pgK1xnEMjdNTWVNV1FwT2c

    I based it on the Pathfinder stat block here:
    http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/primates/primate-monkey

    I increased the INT score because in Pathfinder animals do not have INT scores above 2, but in 5e their INT scores seem to go up to about 5. I also added the Pack Tactics trait that social animals usually have in 5e. Finally, I added a Throw attack that I felt made a bit more sense than your current one.

    Hopefully you find this stat block useful.

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    1. Definitely useful. I think the statistics are about in the right ballpark, and Acrobatics is absolutely something monkeys should have trained. Bite makes more sense than punch, as well, considering that monkey bites will seriously mess you up.

      While I think your throw attack is definitely better, vis a vis mechanically representing the flinging of poo, I think my representation of it is more in-line with how 5e does such things. D&D 5e's approach to gross-out stuff seems to be to come at it sidelong, with a wink and a nod, rather than saying flat out "this monkey is hurling feces" and using mechanics to fully illustrate that point.

      Also important: I'm basing the monkey on existing non-warlock familiars, which have certain conventions in place. An attack that does 1-2 damage and nothing else is just about right for a general familiar, while an attack that has a saving throw and an effect attached seems to be only warlock familiar territory.

      Of course, all this is moot because attacks like Throw and Bite are not usable by familiars (unless, again, they are warlock familiars). Although that would be a great thing to change up in the next draft of this class option...

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  4. This post is using an image that is owned my me, Louis Porter Jr which i paid Alex Garcia P for. Please remove this image from your work. I didn't give you permission to use this artwork on your product.

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    1. Sorry for the delay in posting, didn't seem right to respond until I've fixed the issue at hand. You may have to refresh to see it, but I've altered the offending artwork.

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