Dread Seas: A sandbox 3.5 Pirate Campaign!

DREAD SEAS: A Sandbox 3.5 Pirate Campaign!

Starting Level: Level 2. Max HP at first level.

Starting Gold: 900

Alignment: Any nonlawful. (You may take Monk levels without being lawful, and you may take the Freedom Paladin variant from Unearthed Arcana.)

Humans may choose to take a +2 to any ability score instead of a bonus feat.

Half-Elves get a bonus feat, but take a -2 to con like elves. They lose low-light vision as well.

Core Books: Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, DMG, Stormwrack, Complete Adventurer, Unearthed Arcana. As well, the Improved Toughness feat can be taken.

(Things from other books may be taken WITH the Dungeonmaster's discretion. You MUST ask to take things that are not from the core rulebooks + Stormwrack and Complete Adventurer!)

Banned Books:

Book of Vile Darkness
Book of Exalted deeds
Tome of Battle

Do not even ask to take things from these books. They are completely banned.

Special Prestige Class rules:

Duelist: Due to the nature of High-Seas combat, Duelist levels may be taken without prerequisites. However, doing so incurs a +2 Level Adjustment on your character, causing you to gain experience more slowly. (This is brought down to LA +1 because Duelist is a favored class)

Dread Pirate levels may be taken without prerequisites as well, though only by the captain of the current crew. This as well incurs a +2 level adjustment. (This is brought down to LA +1 because Dread Pirate is a favored class)

Core Races:

Human
Half-Elf
Half-Orc
Elf
Dwarf
Halfling
Gnome
Kobold
Catfolk
Lizardfolk
Aventi
Hadozee

These are the only races you may take. Other variant races from stormwrack such as Seacliff Dwarves or Darfellan are not allowed.

Kobolds may take the Dragon Disciple class with a Knowledge (Arcana) of 6 ranks instead of 8.

Favored Classes:

Bard
Swashbuckler
Fighter
Ranger
Barbarian
Assassin
Dread Pirate (Captain only)
Duelist
Rogue
Legendary Captain (Captain only)
(NPC) Expert

These classes are well suited for the high seas and thusly gain experience as if they had LA -1. You only take the -1 in level adjustment if a favored class is the class you have the most levels in.

LOW MAGIC: This campaign is in a setting where wizards are rare and a terror to behold. Full caster classes such as Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, etc. incur a +3 LA penalty when played. Classes such as Bard or Paladin with spellcasting must take a +3 LA in order to be able to cast spells- but may choose to ignore the LA penalty if they decide to be non-spellcasting. Magic Items are incredibly rare- the cost for all magic items is three times as much to buy or create. This does NOT count potions-only non-potion magic items such as wonderous items or enhancement bonuses. Because of this, weapons of a superb quality may be forged at the normal cost of enhancement bonus from +1 to +3. Basically, if you pay 18,000 gold to make a rapier a +3 masterwork rapier, the rapier gets a +3 bonus as if it were magical, but it is not treated as a magical weapon. (Example: A Masterwork +3 Rapier would be 18,000 gold, while a +3 rapier by way of magical bonus would cost 54,000). Magical bonuses and Masterwork bonuses stack, but it must be specified how much of the bonus is from masterwork quality and how much is from magical enhancement bonus.

You may NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES use Captain Jack Sparrow in your character portrait. EVER.

While you may take the leadership feat no matter what, you may attract followers only if you are a captain. This does not necessarily mean you have to have a ship- but you get +4 to your leadership score to attract followers if you do have a ship large enough for a sizable crew. For non-captain crew members, you may only attract a cohort. Most cohorts in this world will be mercenaries who wish to be paid.

The captain, as well, must make his own Pirate's code, therein reside the guidelines (not rules, guidelines), of your ship. Examples would be: As an honorable captain, you may of course grant parlay to whoever asks for it- As a vile one, you may demand that you take no prisoners when you raid enemy ships. Read this wiki article to get an idea of some real life examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_code

Before you decide to join our campaign, realize that each player will have a position on the ship (See Seafaring Roles, page 81 of Stormwrack), and that only ONE player will take the role of captain. Talk in the skype chat before you pick your classes, and decide who will be captain. To post a topic that you wish to join is to apply- You will pick your class with the rest of the party.

The party will start out from the first session knowing each other- either only briefly or for many long years. You may choose to have been a prisoner of the party, or to have been a part of the crew. The game starts with the party having recently escaped a destroyed ship- The Merryweather. One of the players will have been the captain of this ship. If you would like more information on this, do not hesitate to ask.

Assassin levels can be taken by any nongood

You must have Skype to contact everyone who will be playing, and a mic is highly recommended. As well, your dungeonmaster knows very little about ships or anything to do with naval fare except from what the movies tell him. Keep that in mind.

Dungeonmaster's Skype: Dylan.Guy7 in Beverly Hills.

Provide your own skype name in the Post New Topic bar if you wish to join. You will be invited to the group chat after consideration.

And finally, game time will be when everyone can make it!