Plunder
Most ships pirates encounter rarely are loaded with gold coins, jewelry, and expensive magic items, instead, they typically hold trade goods, foodstuffs, spices, and mundane valuables. Without getting bogged down, these various goods are simplified into a unit known as plunder. Plunder is roughly equal to 100 gold pieces and takes up 50 bulk in a vehicle's cargo space.
Plunder is used to increase a pirate's infamy, pay the ship's crew, and convert into money at port when sold.
Earning Plunder
The easiest way for pirates to earn plunder is to claim a merchant ship's cargo, conquer a stronghold, or find a significant source of treasure. Plunder means more than simply finding a few magic items or fancy clothes, but rather finding creates of sugar, animal pelts, large crates of grain, dyed linens, and more. Plunder is about a large number of mundane goods and includes low-cost foodstuffs to expensive spices from around the world.
Awarding Plunder
When a GM awards plunder, it is based on the size of the challenge that came from winning the plunder, along with the actual value of trading it in. For an easy challenge, the GM might give a minor reward of 1 point, while a difficult challenge would be worth 5 points.
Plunder isn't the only treasure that players should find, but rather supplement what they find so that they can pay for their ship's upkeep, their crew, and other miscellaneous goods for their ship.
Characters can also buy plunder if they wish to bring it from one port to another in hopes of earning a profit, but they run the risk of becoming known as a merchant rather than a pirate. This could end with them being the targets of pirates or losing infamy for going soft.
Plunder's Value
Plunder is worth roughly 100 gold pieces and takes up 50 bulk of cargo space for a vehicle. While plunder might be worth a certain amount, it doesn't mean that players can always get that much for their ill-gotten gains. While pirates might be skilled in acquiring plunder, it is the merchants who are actually skilled at selling it.
Beyond selling plunder for gold, plunder is also useful for increasing your Infamy, see below.
Selling Plunder
Exchanging 1 point of plunder for gold or another item requires a character to spend 1 downtime day. One character is required to spend their downtime on this activity, selling 1 point of plunder per day spent at this activity, though multiple characters can attempt this activity at a settlement to sell multiple points of plunder a day. At small settlements, the GM may determine that only one character can take this downtime activity as there isn't a large enough settlement or economy to handle as much plunder.
If the character doesn't like the price offered, they are not forced to sell it at that price but they do waste the day.
When a character goes to sell plunder in a settlement, the GM determines the size of the settlement and the base DC to find someone to sell the plunder to, using the chart below as a guide. Certain settlements might pay more value for plunder, and a character might even be able to sell plunder for more than it is worth in the largest of cities.
| Settlement | Base Sale |
Base DC |
Increase Sale |
Maximum Sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamlet | 10% | 10 | +5 per 5% | 30% |
| Village | 25% | 10 | +5 per 5% | 50% |
| Town | 50% | 10 | +5 per 5% | 75% |
| City | 70% | 10 | +10 per 10% | 130% |
| Metropolis | 90% | 10 | +10 per 10% | 150% |
Sell Plunder
- Check Diplomacy, Mercantile Lore
- Activity Downtime
You use your guile and quick wit to make friends, create contacts, and find places to sell your plunder. The GM determines the base DC of the check based on the settlement you are in, and it takes 1 day to sell 1 point of plunder.
Based on the result of your check, you can sell your plunder at the Base Sale price, or if you excel at the check, you Increase the Sale by an amount you exceeded over the base DC, to the Maximum Sal in the settlement. If you do not like the price offered, you are not required to sell but it takes you an entire day regardless of the offered price.
You can only sell 1 point of plunder at a time. You can continue trying to sell plunder on subsequent days without needing to roll again. For each day you spend after the first, you can sell plunder at the same amount as the first day, up until you have no more plunder sell. You still can only sell 1 point of plunder per day.
If after you have spent a day and feel like you are being short-changed and could earn more, you can spend an additional day trying to find new contacts that might be willing to pay more. You don't make a check for this day, but rather are spending additional time in port. Once you spend a day meeting new people and gathering information, on the next day, you can then re-attempt your check.
Buying Plunder
Players can buy plunder if they so wish.
Paying the Crew
For every 1 point of plunder sold, the crew is paid 1 point of plunder as well. It is assumed that player characters are the senior officers on the ship, and thus get their own share of plunder to split among themselves as they see fit. A character does not have to sell the crew's plunder as it is simply handed out to the crew to sell by themselves and make their own profits as they will. This is to simplify crew pay and reduce the amount of bookkeeping needed.
If the crew is not paid an equal amount of plunder that the player characters receive, their morale is affected.
Infamy & Disrepute
Wealth isn't everything. For many pirates, wealth is only used to grow their reputation and power. Infamy can be used to intimidate enemies, press-gang crew, repair their ship, get discounts from merchants you don't wish to rob, and far more. As a pirate's infamy grows, so does their presence on the seas. You can garner support from pirate lords, win with only a few words, and even rally whole pirate armadas under your flag. This system is intended for characters to track their legend and provides a tangible reward for their growing influence.
Your Scores
The party has two related scores, Infamy and Disrepute.
- Infamy tracks how many cumulative points of Infamy the crew has gained over its career-this is the sum of all the outlandish stories and rumors being told throughout the seas and alehouses. This total rarely ever decreases, and every pirate's goal is to reach new Infamy thresholds that provide useful benefits and to use their Infamy to buy points of Disrepute.
A crew's score can never be more than 4 x the senior officers, the characters namely, average party level. - Disrepute is a resource that can be spent by the crew, and is how a crew uses their reputation for their adventure. This resource can be used to purchase Impositions, ask certain deeds from others who may dislike or hate the asker, or to gain greater favor with other pirate lords. This score will fluctuate over the course of a crew's career and can go as high as the crew's Infamy, but can not exceed it. Occasionally, this score might even drop to zero.
While a low Disrepute doesn't mean that the crew is any less influential, it does mean that their influence can only take them so far based on their legends.
Winning Infamy & Disrepute
Gaining Infamy requires only a few things...
- An audience
- A deed to weave stories about
- Flair for storytelling
- And proof of the group's deed as plunder
To gain Infamy, a crew must moor their ship at port for at least 1 downtime day, and one of the crew must spend a downtime day onshore carousing and boasting of their famous deeds. This often involves the character to use either Deception, Intimidation, or Performance check to liven up the crowd and to influence them.
The GM secretly sets the DC for this check, but it is typically a Hard DC for the party's level. The character must take the Influence Infamy activity below.
Influence Infamy
- Check Deception, Intimidation, or Performance
- Activity Downtime
You spend time regaling others with stories of your crew's deeds. This requires you to be in places with a large crowd who can spread your stories to others.
This takes time and requires using the Deception, Intimidation, or Performance skill to impress others or strike fear into them.
When you take on this activity, the GM secretly sets the DC of your skill check. After your first day of work, you roll to determine your success. You gain an amount of Infamy and Disrepute based on your result. You can continue working at the task on subsequent days, though you need to roll again for each day of work. You can only gain a maximum of 5 points of Infamy and Disrepute per settlement. However, the amount you can earn from a single settlement is reset once your crew reaches a new Infamy threshold.
- Critical Success The crowd continues your stories for days and weeks to come. Your crew gains 3 points of Infamy and Disrepute, to the maximum of the settlement.
- Success The crowd is excited by your stories. Your crew gains 1 point of Infamy and Disrepute, to the maximum of the settlement.
- Failure The crowd quickly loses interest in your tales.
- Critical Failure The crowd boos your performance and you can not gain additional Infamy and Disrepute from this settlement until you reach a new Infamy threshold.
Exceptional Daring & Depravity
On rare occasions, the GM may determine that the crew has done something exceptionally daring or deprave, allowing the party to increase their Disrepute. This is solely up to the GM's discretion and requires you, or your crew, to succeed at a check to perform a particularly dangerous or daring action, such as taking down a pirate hunter or robbing a fortress citadel. This type of activity typically requires you to succeed at a very hard DC for your level.
Settlement Limit
A crew's Infamy and Disrepute can only gain a maximum of 5 points from any particular port or settlement. This amount resets every time the crew reaches a new Infamy threshold, allowing the crew to revisit past ports and share new stories.
Plunder & Infamy
Plunder can quickly modify a character's attempt to gain Infamy in two ways. Before taking the Influence Infamy check, the crew can choose to spend plunder to influence the result, for every point of plunder expended, it adds a +2 item bonus to the character's skill check to earn Infamy. The crew can choose to spend as much plunder as they like.
In addition, if a character fails an Infamy check, the crew can choose to spend 3 points of plunder to immediately reroll the check. The crew can only make one reroll attempt per day and must spend the plunder even if the second attempt fails.
Spending Disrepute
A crew's Disrepute can be spent to buy beneficial effects, known as Impositions. Impositions have a wide variety of effects, and some might only be available in certain places, like at a settlement, or have additional costs, like have a prisoner walk the plank. Spending Disrepute to purchase an Imposition requires a downtime day unless otherwise noted.
When Disrepute is spent, the crew's Disrepute score decreases by the price of the Imposition, but not its Infamy.
Infamy Threshold
The crew gains the following benefits upon meeting the Infamy Threshold.
| Title & Infamy Required | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Disgraceful 10+ Infamy |
The crew may purchase Disgraceful Impositions. |
| The crew chooses a favored port. They gain a +1 status bonus on all Infamy checks made at that port. |
| Despicable 20+ Infamy |
The crew may purchase Despicable Impositions. |
| Once per week, the crew can sacrifice a prisoner or crew member to immediately gain 1d3 points of Disrepute. This sacrifice is always fatal and returning the victim to life results in the loss of 1d6 points of Disrepute. This sacrifice is often to a god of oceans, wind, blood, or death. |
| Notorious 30+ Infamy |
The crew can purchase Notorious Impositions. |
| Disgraceful Impositions can be purchased for half price (rounded down). | |
| The crew chooses a second favored port. They gain a +1 status bonus on all Infamy checks made at that port, and they gain a +2 status bonus on all Infamy checks made at their first port chosen. |
| Loathsome 40+ Infamy |
The crew can purchase Loathsome Impositions. |
| Despicable Impositions can be purchased for half price (rounded down). | |
| The crew gains a +2 status bonus when taking the Sell Plunder action. |
| Vile 55+ Infamy |
The crew can purchase Vile Impositions. |
| Notorious Impositions can be purchased for half price (rounded down). | |
| The crew chooses a third favored port. They gain a +1 status bonus on all Infamy checks made at that port, they gain a +2 status bonus on all Infamy checks made at their second port chosen, and a they gain a +3 status bonus on all Infamy checks made at their first port chosen. |
Impositions
The following Impositions can be purchased by crews that spend the required amount of Disrepute and have achieved the requisite amount of Infamy. If an Imposition allows you to take the Cast a Spell action, any spell DC required is DC 10 + the ship's level, and any spell attack roll required is equal to the ship's level.
Disgraceful Impositions
| Cost | Benefit |
|---|---|
| 2 | Yes, Sir! For the next 8 hours, the crew completes any mundane tasks they’re assigned in half the expected time. This typically relates to Crafting and Sailing Lore checks made to prepare, maintain, or repair the ship, and cannot be applied to combat or more complex deeds like crafting magic items. |
| 5 | Captain's Orders! A character, while onboard their ship, can take the Cast a Spell action and cast a 1st-level air bubble, gust of wind, hydraulic push, or a 3rd-level heroism. |
| 5 | Walk the Plank! The crew may sacrifice one crew member or prisoner to grant themselves one of two bonuses: either a +2 status bonus on all skill checks or a +2 status bonus on attack rolls. These bonuses only apply while onboard the ship and last until either the next day or when the captain leaves the ship. If a sacrificed character is returned to life, the crew takes a –2 penalty on both skill checks and attack rolls for 1 day. |
| 10 | Get Up, You Dogs! Every character and allied character on the deck of the ship is affected as if by a heal spell heightened to half of the ship's level (rounded down) using 3 actions. This imposition can only be used once per week. |
Despicable Impositions
| Cost | Benefit |
|---|---|
| 5 | Lashings! The speed of the ship doubles for 1 day. |
| 5 | Shiver Me Timbers! While onboard their ship, the characters and the entire crew can reroll initiative. The benefit of this imposition can be used immediately, but only once per week. |
| 10 | Ocean’s Blessings! A character, while onboard their ship, can take the Cast a Spell action and cast a 2nd-level water breathing or water walk, a 3rd-level remove disease, or a 4th-level remove curse. |
| 10 | Dead Men Tell No Tales! While onboard their ship and the crew makes an attack roll, they can use this imposition to automatically increase the degree of success by one step. |
Notorious Impositions
| Cost | Benefit |
|---|---|
| 5 | You’ll Take It! The crew can sell up to 5 points of plunder in 1 day at 50% of its value (regardless of a community’s maximum sale %). This amount cannot be adjusted by skill checks. |
| 5 | Honor the Code! The characters and their crew gain a +2 bonus on all Charisma-based skill checks made against other pirates for the next 24 hours. |
| 10 | Master the Winds! A character, while onboard their ship, can take the Cast a Spell action and cast a 5th-level control water, hallucination, mariner's curse, or telekinetic haul. |
| 15 | Chum the Waters! For every Infamy threshold they possess, the crew summons 1d4 great white sharks into the waters surrounding their ship. These sharks are not under the crew’s control and viciously attack any creature in the water. |
Loathsome Impositions
| Cost | Benefit |
|---|---|
| 5 | Evade! Teleport your ship 120 feet in any direction and facing any direction. This imposition can be used once per day. |
| 10 | You’ll Take It and Like It! The crew can sell up to 5 points of plunder in 1 day at 100% of its value (regardless of a community’s maximum sale %). This amount cannot be adjusted by skill checks. |
| 10 | Master the Waves! A character, while onboard their ship, can take the Cast a Spell action and cast a 7th-level unfettered pack, or an 8th-level discern location or punishing winds. |
| 20 | The Widow’s Scar! Choose one enemy to curse. You and your crew gain a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls against that NPC for 1 week. The enemy is aware of the curse and who cursed her, and can end the effect with a remove curse spell with the DC of the affliction equal to 15 + the ship's level. |
Vile Impositions
| Cost | Benefit |
|---|---|
| 10 | More Lashings! The speed of the crew’s ship quadruples for 1 day. |
| 15 | The Hungry Sea! A character, while onboard their ship, can take the Cast a Spell action and cast a 9th-level storm of vengeance. |
| 20 | Dive! Dive! Dive! The crew's ship submerges and can travel underwater at its normal speed for up to 1 hour. During this time, the vessel is encompassed by a bubble of breathable air and takes no ill effects from the water—even most sea creatures keep their distance. The ship leaves no visible wake upon the waters above, but might be visible in particularly clear water. |
| 25 | Summon the Serpent! One sea serpent comes to the aid of the crew’s ship. This sea monster is under the control of the crew and serves for 10 minutes before disappearing back into the deep. |
Errata
Converted by VaranSL from the Pathfinder Skull & Shackles Adventure Path.
Version 1
- Separated it from the Naval Combat system created by VaranSL. You can find that document here.