Pirate questions

[Bastoche]

I have a few questions about skills and equipment for the forgotten realms campaign setting.

Our next campaign will involved ships, pirates etc. The characters are based in Amn and will travel the sword coast, possibly going to Maztica now and then.

Questions:

- To build firearms, should a character take craft(weaponsmithing) and craft(alchemy) or simply craft(gunsmithing) that will allow to only build firearms but also to make smokepowder?

- Informations about ships? Those listed in the FRCS are not in the DMG. Elven frigate great ships, carracks, caravel, etc...

- Does smokepowder cannon exists? in any case, rules about it? The skill is certainly the same as for the catapults (siege engineer) but what about range and damage, etc.

- Does Profession(Sailor) is the same skill for a captain and all other crew member but at various skill level (for. ex. captain is Prof(sailor) at rank 10+) or should there be a separate skill. Does it allows to read map or should it require knowledge(geography).

Any link to a website treating pirates d20 setting?

Thanks.

 

[Piratecat]

Consider picking up Green Ronin's Skull & Bones. It'll be an immense help for this sort of campaign.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Consider picking up Green Ronin's Skull & Bones. It'll be an immense help for this sort of campaign.

Not really since S&B is more geared towards a historical pirate game rather than a fantasy game. The ship-to-ship combat rules figure in the use of gunpowder weapons but require a little shoe-horning to make it work for ballistas and other low-tech weapons. Fantasy Flight Games Seafarer's Handbook is actually probably the best "Fantasy" seafaring handbook for a d20 game. It has some great ideas on ships for different races (imagine a giant sled pulled by a whale) and has new spells and feats.

Edit: S&B DOES have better rules to represent the crew of the ship. There are "Sway" rules to determine how much support a captain can expect from his crew. Your best bet is to get both and use some of the rules from both. If you have to go with one book though, go for Seafarer's Handbook. You should be able to get it at Drivethrurpg.com.