Buccaneer (3.5e Class)

Buccaneer

Buccaneers roam the coastal areas looking for work and their next mug of ale. In a fight there are very few that can stand with him, so work is generally easy to come by - someone is always looking for more security on their cargo ships. A buccaneer can be loyal or a backstabbing scalawag. In either case though they don't tend to operate withing the bounds of anyone's rules but their own.

Making a Buccaneer

A buccaneer is a melee skill monkey class. They have the weapon proficiency, feats, agility and damage reduction to go toe-to-toe with most creatures you'll run into. Not being proficient with heavy armor or shields can make a buccaneer not want to stand face-to-face with some of the tougher mobs though. Buccaneer also offers a trapfinding class without the stealth flavor. Dirty fighting techniques gives the buccaneer some combat control as well.

Abilities: Since he is a melee combatant, Strength and Constitution are important. Since he is restricted to medium armor, some Dexterity is good for improving his AC. Intelligence can be useful since he access to a lot of skills.

Races: Humans, half-elves and half-orcs are the most common races to be drawn to the life of a buccaneer. It is not unheard of for the other races to find themselves entering into this class though.

Alignment: Any non-lawful

Starting Gold: 5d4 x 10 (125 gp)

Starting Age: Simple

Table: The Buccaneer

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Bonus Feat, Trapfinding
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Uncanny dodge
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Dirty Fighting
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Bonus Feat
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Improved uncanny dodge
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	-
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Damage Reduction 1/-
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Bonus Feat
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	-
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	Damage Reduction 2/-
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3	-
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Bonus Feat
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4	Damage Reduction 3/-
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4	-
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	-
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Bonus Feat, Damage Reduction 4/-
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	-
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	-
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	Damage Reduction 5/-
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Bonus Feat
Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Disable Device (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Geography) (Int), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Open Lock (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex)

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the buccaneer.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A buccaneer is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor and medium armor. Buccaneers are not proficient with heavy armor or shields.

Bonus Feats: At 1st level, a buccaneer gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The buccaneer gains an additional bonus feat at 4th level and every 4 buccaneer levels thereafter (8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A buccaneer must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums. A buccaneer’s levels count as fighter levels for the purpose of qualifying for feats.

These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. A buccaneer is not limited to the list of fighter bonus feats when choosing these feats.

Trapfinding: Buccaneers can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20. Finding a non-magical trap has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

Buccaneers can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. A magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

A buccaneer who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with their party) without disarming it.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 2nd level, a buccaneer retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. If a buccaneer already has uncanny dodge from a different class, he automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.

Dirty Fighting (Ex): At 3rd level, a buccaneer can use Dirty Fighting techniques (listed below). One Dirty Fighting technique may be used after a buccaneer misses on a melee attack (may only be used once per round, multiple attacks do not allow multiple uses of Dirty Fighting). Dirty Fighting may be used on any target within normal attack range of an unarmed attack. Dirty Fighting may not be used on critical failure attack rolls (natural 1's). Dirty Fighting provokes no attacks of opportunity.

Follow Through Punch A buccaneer attempts to follow up a missed attack with an unarmed strike. Attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a buccaneer may even make a Follow Through Punch with their hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a buccaneer using Follow Through Punch. A buccaneer may thus apply their full Strength bonus on damage rolls for their Follow Through Punch. A Follow Through Punch works as an additional attack at the buccaneer's highest base attack bonus. Damage done by a Follow Through Punch is given in the table below.

Table: Follow Through Punch Damage

Level	Damage (small)	Damage (medium)	Damage (large)
1st - 3rd	1d4	1d6	1d8
4th - 7th	1d6	1d8	2d6
8th - 11th	1d8	1d10	2d8
12th - 15th	1d10	2d6	3d6
16th - 19th	2d6	2d8	3d8
20th	2d8	2d10	4d8

Pocket Sand A small pile of sand is thrown or kicked at the targets eyes. An attack roll is made at the buccaneers highest base attack bonus. If it hits the target is dazed for 1 round.

Spit in the Face The buccaneer makes a melee touch attack at their highest base attack bonus. If it hits the target is enraged and provokes an attack of opportunity from one of the buccaneer’s allies that threaten the target. The buccaneer must choose which ally gains the attack of opportunity.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 5th level and higher, a buccaneer can no longer be flanked. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the buccaneer by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target has buccaneer levels. If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum level a rogue must be to flank the character.

Damage Reduction (Ex): At 7th level, a buccaneer gains Damage Reduction. Subtract 1 from the damage the buccaneer takes each time he is dealt damage from a weapon or a natural attack. At 10th level, and every three buccaneer levels thereafter (13th, 16th, and 19th level), this damage reduction rises by 1 point. Damage reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not below 0.

Ex-Buccaneers

A buccaneer who becomes lawful loses the Dirty Fighting ability and cannot gain more levels as a buccaneer. He retains all the other benefits of the class (trapfinding, damage reduction and uncanny dodge).

Epic Buccaneers

Table: The Epic Buccaneer

Hit Die: d10

Level	Special
21st	-
22nd	Damage Reduction 6/-
23rd	-
24th	Bonus Feat
25th	Damage Reduction 7/-
26th	-
27th	-
28th	Bonus Feat, Damage Reduction 8/-
29th	-
30th	-
Class Skills: 6 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Bonus Feats: An epic buccaneer continues to earn bonus feats every four levels gaining one at levels 24 and 28.

Damage Reduction: An epic buccaneer's damage reduction continues to increase by 1 every three levels after 19th.

Campaign Information

Playing a Buccaneer

Religion: Though typically not overtly religious buccaneers do commonly send quick prayers to "the gods" when in a tight spot.

Other Classes: When their goals align with his own a buccaneer can get along with anyone, though grouping with those goody-two-shoes types can get messy...

Combat: Buccaneers get in their enemies faces and employ every dirty trick they can think of to win a fight.

Buccaneers in the World

“	There's no such thing as a fair fight lad.	”
—Cap'n Rourke, Human Buccaneer

Most buccaneers are found along coastal areas, though have been known to venture inland when the work in lucrative enough.

Daily Life: If he's got some coin in his pocket a buccaneer can be found at the nearest inn or tavern. Once the coin has run out it's back to the docks to look for work.

Notables: <-notable NPCs of this class->.

Organizations: Most commonly found along coastal areas formed into loose crews.

NPC Reactions: The shipping routes are dangerous and it takes people like the buccaneer to get the goods through on time. Most coastal cities are more than willing to put up with a buccaneers shenanigans in return for the continued flow of trade goods, though they still may grumble about it.

Buccaneer Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (local) or Knowledge (history) can research buccaneers to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (local), Knowledge (history)

DC	Result
5	Buccaneers are typically found in coastal trading ports
10	Buccaneers are known to be dirty fighters who do whatever it takes to get the job done
15	Buccaneers can be skilled trapfinders
20	A player who rolls this high may learn information about a specific buccaneer in the campaign world.

Buccaneers in the Game

Buccaneers are a sort of combination of rouge and fighter. They can easily fill the rolls that a barbarian, monk or rogue typically fill. They can fill the tank/defender role as well with the proper feat selection.

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