A wild Gainsey appears!
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Anyhoo, the name for this is a bit vague as the actual "Seafarer" could be anything from a trader to a pirate and there will be traits assigned to represent this. The following proposal draws from the mercenary, merchant and fishermen professions.
All seafarers start with one ship with five men plus themselves to operate it. From this they gain an income of 500 Crowns.
Additional ships can be bought at a price of 5000 Crowns. These grant an extra 200 Crowns of income and the addition of 50 men to the Seafarer's retinue. (The first lot of 50 men cancel out the previous 5 that all freemen get). While idle or taking part in a menial task the full retinue would not be active on the ships due to the size of them at this time though they are the number that the Seafarer can call upon at any time should he need to.
Weekly Rolls:
1 - Storm. The Seafarer's ships are badly damage, they cannot be put to work this year and forfeit their roll for the next year as losses are recouped. No additional income.
2-4 - Hostile waters. The ships cannot depart from their place of birth due to either stormy seas or high enemy/pirate activity, making any planned voyage all but suicidal. No additional income.
5-8 - Competition. Rival ships make it difficult for the Seafarer to do all that he plans. 100 extra Crowns income this year.
9-12 - Work as usual. Nothing in particular caused much upset this year, though nor was there anything to place this year above the rest. 200 extra Crowns gained this year.
13-16 - Must be doing something right. The Seafarer has seen a goodly amount of work this year. 300 Crowns extra gained this year.
17-19 - Lucky break. A wealthy backer has seen fit to employ the Seafarer at for an easy task. 400 extra Crowns gained this year.
20 - King of the seas. Any would-be rivals have suffered grave misfortunes this year, giving the Seafarer free access to control the waterways this year. 500 extra Crowns gained this year.
Paths of the Seafarer:
Merchant Ship
The Seafarer has decided to either trade privately or attach himself to a merchant house.
Investment:
Once per year, a merchant may risk their coins in an attempt to turn a profit on this venture. The venture may be Low-Risk, Medium-Risk or High-Risk. Low-Risk will gain 20% profit if successful, Medium-Risk will gain 40% and High-Risk will gain 70%. A mod will roll a d20 every income day and consult the table:
1 - Total Loss! The merchant loses the entire amount risked, and earns no income from clients or fleet either.
2-4 - Market Slump The merchant loses 75% of the amount risked; subtract 20% from next year's income.
5-8 - Weak Market Low-Risk ventures gain normal profit, all others lose 50% of risked amount.
9-12 - Average Market Low-Risk and Medium-Risk ventures gain normal profit, High-Risk loses 50% of risked amount.
13-16 - Strong Market All ventures gain normal profit.
17-19 - Growing Market Gain normal profit +20%; add an additional 10% on next year's income.
20 - Market Boom! Gain normal profit +50%
A roll of 13 and above grants the Seafarer a Client. Clients provide an additional 1500 Crowns a year
(Mods - Rules need a bit of editing in the Freeman professions re Florin/Crown conversions)
Smuggler
The Seafarer has decided to involve himself and his fleet in more profitable yet controversial exploits. These could be anything from smuggling arms to enemy forces or capturing free people and selling them as thralls in Scandinavia and elsewhere.
Smuggling:
Once per year, a merchant may risk their coins in an attempt to turn a profit on this venture. The venture may be Low-Risk, Medium-Risk or High-Risk. Low-Risk will gain 40% profit if successful, Medium-Risk will gain 70% and High-Risk will gain 100%. A mod will roll a d20 every income day and consult the table:
1 - Total Loss! The merchant loses the entire amount risked, and must pay the amount that was risked once more to compensate.
2-4 - The merchant loses 50% of the amount risked; subtract 10% from next year's income.
5-8 - Low-Risk ventures gain normal profit, all others lose 25% of risked amount.
9-12 - Average Market Low-Risk and Medium-Risk ventures gain normal profit, High-Risk loses 25% of risked amount.
13-16 - All ventures gain normal profit.
17-19 - Gain normal profit +40%; add an additional 20% on next year's income.
20 - Gain normal profit +100%
After these are rolled we must then discover whether the smuggler was caught:
1-5 - Caught
6-20 - Undetected
If caught, a 50/50 roll determines whether the amount risked and any profit made was found and confiscated.
Pirate
The Seafarer has committed his fleet to battle, be it for illegal activities such as pillaging undefended towns and plundering merchant ships, or under the flag of a warring nation, transporting troops and adding to their naval strength.
Plundering merchant ships:
Mind's gone blank on this one, give me some time to work it out.
Pillaging:
Normal pillage rules apply with the addition of villages yielding D20 x 500 Crowns.
Not sure as to usual troop numbers in 3.0 as I can find no map showing them or even who owns what so you guys are going to have to help me here in regards to how many men should be in each type of settlement. So far I'm thinking that villages would be D20 x 25, minor settlements would be D20 x 50 and so on...
In the act of facing off with the guards in the act of pillaging a 50/50 die is rolled determining whether the settlement gains any reinforcements. If so, the numbers of these reinforcements are determined by the same roll of the settlement they are defending. So if a village is under attack and the defenders roll a 4, they currently have 100 men. However the 50/50 roll shows that reinforcements are on their way, as the reinforcements are reinforcing a village they are subject to the same D20 x 50 roll. They roll a 13 and so the pirates are now fighting 100 + 325 = 425 men.
Thieves and beggars:
The pirate can hire desperate men to fight for him. So long as he remains a pirate he can hire 50 men and 1 ship together for 1000 Crowns. However, if the Seafarer abandons the path of the pirate for another, he loses these extra men and ships.
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At the beginning of each year the Seafarer may choose to change his path, though once chosen it is fixed for that year.
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Skills
Every Seafarer gets +2 for naval battles.
The following skills can be chosen from as normal and shall be added to the current skill sets.
Naval Battles - +1
Businessman - now applies to both Merchant and Merchant ship
Smuggler - +1 to both smuggling and detection rolls.
Pirate - + 10% men when hiring thieves and beggars.
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Right, that's all for now. I may have missed some things or made something else too complicated so let me know. I also think that we may be able to work out some way to allow for a Fisherman to become a Seafarer if they wish to climb the fishy ladder with the possibility of branching out into mercantile activities and the like. Merci.