High Seas High Stakes!
An Adventure by Elizabeth Webster
Primer
Of course you had heard of the quest-turned-bounty about 2 years ago. It was all the rage for pirates, privateers, royal navy, the works! All you had to do was find a lost ship and either bring back its location or sail it up to The Nest (main wharf) flying the queen’s banner and you’d get a heap of gold (and bragging rights)! And nobody’s found her. There were rumors that didn’t quite match up and some slick pirate who tried to build a replica and claim the gold. The entire crew were hung as a warning for that one. Now, every so often, the bounty goes up and The Admiral posts a new flyer in the local taverns. Nothing special. But this guy, Hannon seems to be on to a new lead. He’s been around a while and done some pretty crazy things. Sounds like fun. Plus, he already has a ship.
Welcome aboard!
Time to assemble, you motley crew! You’ll be building level 4 characters using the 5e player’s hand book (use point buy or standard array; use any race) you may only use the classes/sub-classes listed below. But think of your characters as privateers first, everything else second. You will be spending some time on a ship, so pick an additional proficiency and 1 magical item from the lists below. And remember, this is a one-shot! A pirate’s life for me!
Classes
Barbarian
Bard (College of Lore or College of Valor)
Cleric (Life Domain or Tempest Domain)
Fighter (Champion Archetype)
Monk (Way of Shadow or Way of the Open Hand)
Paladin (Oath of Devotion, Oath of Glory, or Oath of Vengeance)
Ranger (Gloom Stalker or Hunter)
Rogue (Arcane Trickster, Assassin, or Trickster)
Wizard (School of Divination, Illusion, or Transmutation)
Additional Proficiencies
Navigation - Ropes/rigging - Ship guns and gunpowder
Magical Items (choose 1 for your character):
Lucky parrot’s foot - this item has 3 charges and allows you to reroll 1s when performing skill checks; you must keep the new result; after all 3 charges have been used, the item becomes a regular dried parrot’s foot
Ocean's Oculus - This eye patch is embedded with a glowing, gemstone. The wearer gains 60ft of Darkvision (magical and nonmagical) and has advantage on Perception and Investigation Checks while touching sea water.
Scallywag’s shank - a beautifully designed +1 dagger with guard and pommel fashioned like barnacles; requires attunement; a player who holds this in their teeth can breathe underwater
Pearl earring - you have advantage on hearing-based perception checks
Hollow leg - a peg leg filled with 2 liters of either a drink of your choice; after the liquid is gone, the hollow leg is considered a storage space; must be worn, -5 ft of movement
Small, silver spyglass - using this item gives you advantage on perception checks at a distance greater than 20 ft, but less than 100 ft
Wind fan (from Dungeon Master’s Guide)
Gilly weed - 3 uses worth, consume this weed to breathe underwater for 1 hour
Driftwood Staff - magical quarterstaff with a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. It has 3 charges and can be used to cast Sandstorm or Fog Cloud once per day.
Tattoos (choose 1 or none for your character):
Choose, or let the fates choose for you!
Medic symbol (skull and crossbones over your religious symbol)
Animal of your choosing + “Don’t Run, You’ll Only Die Tired”
Weapon of your choosing + “My Turn”
Flames surrounding a skeletal hand
Queen of hearts
Dove flying over water
Crossed hammers with wings
“Live Free, Die Well”
“Too Pretty To Die”
Ship being taken down by a giant spider
Skull with open mouth + “Volunteer”
Bones in a potion bottle
Barrel of apples and Silvanus eating one (see gods mentioned above)
“Hold Fast”
Storm breaking with sun behind the clouds
“Treasure First, Heal Me After”
Mermaid (you can describe)
Tribal tattoo (on your face)
Dice (snake eyes)
Tymora shaking hands with Mask (see gods mentioned above)
Gods and Goddesses of the Righted Realm
Yondalla - halfling goddess of fertility and protection - lawful good
Lathander - god of birth and renewal - neutral good
Silvanus - god of wild nature - neutral
Tymora - goddess of good fortune - chaotic good
Myrkul - god of death - neutral evil
“Forbidden” Gods and Goddesses
The Banished - god of madness, greed, and destruction - chaotic evil
Mask - god of thieves - chaotic neutral
Zeboim - goddess of the sea and storms - chaotic evil