Best feats for a Pirate

Philip_fry

Mongoose
Hello again,

what may be the best feats a pirate should pick if you want him to become some kind of assasin, silent killer etc?

For instance the pirate I created relies more on dexterity than on strength, so I decided to go with improved feint first. Therefore two feats are already taken (Combat Expertize and Improved Feint).

But where to go from here?

Regards
Marcel
 
Well, if you're willing to forsake armour, you can't go wrong with Light-footed; its a great feat for unarmoured Sneak attackers. You have to be able to Sneak attack to get it though, so not until 3rd level for a Pirate.

Improved Initiative might be a good idea if you want to catch your opponents flat-footed in the first turn (giving you ability to Sneak attack and also a high chance to successfully finesse through armour).

Another favourite of mine is Fleet-footed; great for maneuvering around and catching opponents in the flank. I'd probably get Dodge to, just to boost my Dodge defense as high as possible.

Also, if you really want to be an assassin, maybe you should look into multiclassing for a couple levels of Thief (for the extra Sneak attack I mean).

Hope that helps.
 
I think you neeed the fleet-footed Feat for the Proffessional (assassin) prestige classs and gain the Death strike.
 
In terms of combat, thinking of the atypical pirate, they would fight in such a beserk manner as to intimidate and push over their opponents, almost irregardless of any sense of self-preservation, like "bash him in & slash him to bits before he cuts you down." But since you're looking for an assasin type of guy, the other posts already drawn give good examples.

I think the supplement Shadizar has an assasin prestige class in it (I haven't looked through my copy yet), but I doubt it's reallly necessary for you to spend all that money for it. Just follow the advice already given. (I'd offer others, but I'm at work w/o access to any books now anyways :oops: ).
 
If you don't intend ever hitting level 15, Getting the Mobility Feat in the first 4 levels seems to be worth it, as you then get Improved at level 5 and Greater at level 10.
 
The Combat Expertise/Improved Feint/Light-Footed idea is very nice; also, make him Zingaran (+1d6 sneak attack damage) and make sure to max out his Bluff. At 3rd level he should be doing some nice damage.
 
If you're interested in assassins the only info I know of is here:

Assassin {MULTICLASS}, 125 [Hyboria's Finest]; 45 [Hyboria's Fallen].

However, for whatever reason, I don't really associate pirates with assassin-types.
 
Yogah of Yag said:
However, for whatever reason, I don't really associate pirates with assassin-types.

Me neither. If you want to create an assasin type, why not a seaborn thief? Maybe put a level or two of pirate, but make thief your primary class.

Assasin types might look to catch their prey unaware or surprise them so they get little chance to react. For that purpose all the feats that improve initiative are great, although if you are planning to use that on ships where pirates are common, remember they have uncanny dodge, so they are able to defend even when flat footed. Anyway, I would couple a good initiative with brutal attack from Shadizar City of Wickedness, if your strength bonus makes it worth. The feat allows you to triple your strength bonus to damage on opponents you caught flat footed. Again, if the target has uncanny dodge, this wont work, but could make it easier to force a fort save for characters that can't defend while flat footed. If uncanny dodge is being a problem, then feint, but feints are hard to pull if the target has a good sense motive bonus, which is modified by his BAB. You would want to maximize your bluff. The ruffian thief-barbarian multiclass options from Hyboria's Fallen, give you Waiting for the Chance, which after a round of combat spent in total defence, you can make a feint check adding your BAB to it. This is the only way I have found to overcome the sense motive check characters get when feonted in combat.

Then instead of sneak attack you could try poison, and get Poison Use, and feats that allow you to improve your attack bonus, and give you more attacks, thus the target will be forced to make a fort save when hit with a poisoned weapon. The weapon could be ranged. Soldiers have a tough fort save bonus, so if you hit many times, that will force more fort saves, and he might eventually fail one. But if he makes all his fort saves, then you would want to have feats like Run and Fleet footed to get to safety swiftly :lol: You will need access to poison.

For a stangler, take improved grapple and feats that allow you to increase your unarmed damage, and eventually Crushing Grip. If you deal damage with a grapple, you can deal damage to constitution, strength or dexterity. If you reduce your target's constitution to 0, he is dead. The Ruffian gives a god option for grapplesr too: Dirty Grapple, if you succeed at the opposed grapple chek, the opponent is stuned for 1d6 rounds, which will allow you to dispatch him without opposition.
 
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