Zuan Codex (3.5e Sourcebook)/Corsair

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Corsair

“

What I love most about this crazy life is the adventure of it.

”

Corsairs are some of the most widely varied people you will ever meet. Ranging anywhere from a noble privateer in a kings army, or a scandalous rogue who pillages anything he can get his hands on, Corsairs love adventure and travel wherever their heart may lead them.

Hit Die: d8

Abilities: Dexterity is most corsairs' main choice for combat, because the limited weapon choice encourages players to take the Weapon Finesse feat. Charisma and Intelligence are also popular choices because a corsair is fairly skill oriented and intelligence and charisma both increase a corsair's skill proficiency. Wisdom is often the least popular choice as it has few places where it's needed.

Races: Races of all kinds like to follow adventure, but usually only more chaotic races lean towards corsair. However some lawful races enjoy corsair as well considering a corsair could be somewhat of a privateer of sorts.

Alignment: Any

Starting Gold: As Fighter.

Starting Age: Simple.

Table: The Corsair

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+0	+2	+0	Wicked Strikes, Take 'em Alive, Sea Legs
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+0	Swordplay, Bonus Feat
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+1	Navigator
4th	+3	+1	+4	+1
5th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Bonus Feat
6th	+4	+2	+5	+2	Pet
7th	+5	+2	+5	+2	Luck of the Wind
8th	+6/+1	+2	+6	+2	Bonus Feat
9th	+6/+1	+3	+6	+3
10th	+7/+2	+3	+7	+3	Deadly Aim
11th	+8/+3	+3	+7	+3	Bonus Feat
12th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4
13th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+4	Escapist
14th	+10/+5	+4	+9	+4	Bonus Feat
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+5
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Fame and Fortune
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+5	Bonus Feat
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+6
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+6
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+6	Bonus Feat, Explorer's Guide
Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Corsairs are proficient with all simple weapons, plus the hand crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, and short sword. Corsairs are proficient with light armor, but not with shields.

Wicked Strikes (Ex): At 1st level, a corsair knows just where to strike to hurt his enemies the most. This ability grants a corsair's Intelligence bonus (if any) as a bonus on damage rolls in addition to any Strength bonus she may have. Targets immune to sneak attacks or critical hits are immune to the corsair's wicked strikes. In addition, a corsair's threat range increases by 1, so if a corsair was wielding a dagger, which normally has a 19-20 threat range, it would increase to 18-20. This bonus increases to 2 at level 10.

Take 'em Alive (Ex): At 1st level a corsair has become adept at taking prisoners via nonlethal tactics. A corsair gains the Improved disarm feat even if he does not meet prerequisites for it, along with a +4 competence bonus to all Use Rope checks.

Sea Legs (Ex): At 1st level, a corsair is adept at keeping his footing on tricky footholds and other unstable ground, granting +6 competence bonus to Balance.

Swordplay (Ex): At 2nd level, a corsair has learned the art of fencing and may feint as a swift action.

Bonus Feats (Ex): At 2nd level and every three corsair levels thereafter (5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th), The corsair gains an additional bonus feat. These bonus feats are not limited to the list of fighter bonus feats. A corsair must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums. These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels.

Navigator (Ex): At 3rd level, because of his many travels and adventures, a corsair is quite knowledgeable with maps and traveling in general. This grants him +6 competence bonuses to Knowledge (geography) and Profession (sailing). In addition, a corsair may count Profession (sailing) and Knowledge (geography) as a trained skill, regardless of if he has ranks in them or not.

Pet (Ex): At 6th level, a corsair can obtain a pet. Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up no magical materials or gold. A pet is a tiny mundane beast and is quite skilled. The creature serves as a companion and servant.

The corsair chooses the kind of pet he gets, and gains abilities based on that choice. As the corsair advances in level, his pet also becomes more skilled.

If the pet dies or is dismissed by the corsair, the corsair loses no gold or experience points. A slain or dismissed pet cannot be replaced for a minimum of 2 weeks. A slain pet can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs.

A character with more than one class that grants a familiar, Animal Companion, or pet may have only one at a time. Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a pet. An animal companion or familiar cannot also function as a pet, and vice versa.

Pet	Special
Monkey	Master gains a +3 bonus on Sleight of Hand checks
Rat	Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves
Parrot1,2	Master gains a +3 bonus on Appraise checks
Weasel	Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves
Raven A parrot familiar can speak one language of its master's choice as an extraordinary ability.

A pet retains the appearance and all the original stats of a normal animal of the same type except for skills.

Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the pet has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master’s skill ranks, whichever are better. In either case, the pet uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a pet’s total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the pet’s ability to use.

The master and pet understand each other so well they can communicate as though the master was under the effects of the Speak with Animals spell; The pet can also communicate with other animals of its kind.

Luck of the Wind (Ex): Once per day, a corsair of 7th level or higher may re-roll any attack roll, skill check, ability check, or saving throw, and may do so after seeing what was rolled, but before the result is announced by the DM. The character must take the result of the re-roll, even if it's worse than the original roll.

Deadly Aim (Ex): At 10th level, the corsair has deadly aim with his weapon, granting a +4 competence bonus to confirm critical hits.

Escapist (Ex): At 13th level, a corsair has mastered the art of swift escapes and distractions. He may make an escape artist check as a swift action and the attempt only takes 2 seconds as opposed to the normal, 1 minute. In addition, the corsair may make a bluff check to create a diversion as a swift action and adds a +2 competence bonus to any attempts made to create diversions.

Fame and Fortune (Ex): By 16th level, a corsair has become more aristocratic, and obtained quite the reputation. This allows the corsair to mark knowledge (nobility) as a class skill, and adds a +6 competence bonus to intimidate and knowledge (nobility). In addition, the corsair has great renown in respects to the leadership feat, and ignores cruelty as a negative modifier as well as fairness and generosity granting an additional +1 modifier.

Explorer's Guide (Ex): At 20th level, a corsair has become a master of adventure and explored all over the world. Upon Reaching 20th level, a corsair may replace his current pet with a Roc, a gargantuan eagle. The Roc functions just like the previous pet but it grants +2 to attack in addition to retaining whatever bonus the previous pet granted.

Ex-Corsair

A Corsair who multiclasses, changes his class, or changes his alignment, retains all class features and proficiencies.

The Epic Corsair

Table: Epic Corsair

Hit Die: d8

Level	Special
21st
22nd	Bonus Feat
23rd
24th
25th	Bonus Feat
26th
27th
28th	Bonus Feat
29th
30th	Bonus Feat
6 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Bonus Feats: The epic Corsair gains a bonus feat, selected from the list of epic Corsair bonus feats, at every specified level.

Epic Corsair Bonus Feat List:
Blinding Speed, Combat Archery, Dexterous Fortitude, Dexterous Will, Epic Dodge, Epic Reputation, Epic Skill Focus, Epic Speed, Improved Combat Reflexes, Improved Sneak Attack, Intuitive Trapfinding, Legendary Climber, Lingering Damage, Self-Concealment, Sneak Attack of Opportunity, Spellcasting Harrier, Superior Initiative, Uncanny Accuracy.

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