Buccaneer

There are many fighting folk who sail the seas. Many of them crew pirate, privateer, and corsair vessels, skilled at spilling blood into the salt water. But the buccaneer stands out even among such worthies. It is not enough to be adept with violence – the buccaneer is the subject of tales spread among envious cohorts and terrified merchants and sailors.

As the buccaneer’s career in bloodshed advances, so too does the terror around their legend, giving the buccaneer a potent weapon indeed: fear.

Buccaneer Features

Fighter Level	Feature
3rd	Blooded Salt, Sea Legs
7th	Dreaded Name
10th	Signature Vessel
15th	Signature Port
18th	Flying the Colors

First Ship

All buccaneers have a history aboard a sailing vessel of some sort. No matter the task the ship is engaged in, there are always some aboard it who learn to fight on the rolling, wet decks, in defense of themselves and their ship. That ship is likely in your past – what was the ship’s purpose, and why did you leave it?

First Ships

d6	Ship Type
1	A pirate vessel, preying on fat merchantmen ships.
2	A smuggling vessel, full of forbidden cargo.
3	An exploration vessel, yardarm pointed toward the horizon.
4	A merchant vessel, heavy with riches.
5	A naval vessel, bristling with weapons and fighting folk.
6	A doomed vessel, brought low by fate, plague, or curse.

Blooded Salt

The buccaneer terrifies even other hardened seagoing folk, cultivating an appearance and demeanor equal parts terrifying and exotic. When you take the buccaneer archetype at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the Intimidate skill and improvised weapons found aboard a ship or on the docks: bottles, belaying pins, gaff hooks, and similar items, as well as any weapons that are attached as prosthetics.

As a bonus action, you may seek to terrify an opponent with an Intelligence of 4 or greater who is within 5 feet of you with a snarl, display of violence, or other intimidation tactic. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw, DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice). Failure means the target is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

Along with the normal benefits of fighting a frightened target, you gain the following additional benefits against such a foe:

• Your melee weapon attacks inflict an additional +1d8 damage on frightened targets once per turn. This bonus increases to +2d8 at 7th level, +3d8 at 12th level, and +4d8 at 15th level.
• When you reduce a frightened target to 0 hit points, your movement does not provoke opportunity attacks until the end of your turn.
• At 15th level, you gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from any frightened attacker.

Sea Legs

At 3rd level, your experience with sailing vessels gives you proficiency with either water vehicles or navigator’s tools. Additionally, while aboard a water vessel or on docks and wharves, you may use your reaction to gain either a climb speed or a swim speed equal to your normal speed until the beginning of your next turn.

Dreaded Name

At 7th level, you develop a signature style calculated to intimidate your foes. You and your Game Master should come up with what this is: matches in your beard set alight, tearing off of your shirt to reveal gruesome scars, or setting your crew-mates to chanting a signature dirge or shanty.

Whatever it is, when you use your bonus action to perform this signature threat, all enemies with an Intelligence of 4 or greater within 30 feet must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw at a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency modifier + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice) or become frightened of you for one minute. Those affected by this condition may attempt another save at the end of each of their turns to throw off the condition. After using this scare tactic, you may not use it again until you have completed a short rest.

At 12th level, the range of this ability increases to 60 feet, and you regain use of it every time you score a critical hit against a target.