Character Creation: Pirates of Pugmire

THE FOURTH GAME OF XMAS, TWENTY-TWENTY-TWO,
IS PIRATES OF PUGMIRE,
THE TROUBLESHOOTERS,
THEN STAR-CROSSED,
AND THE FIRST ONE WAS THE ONE RING 2nd ED!

The Game: Pirates of Pugmire
The Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
Degree of Familiarity: Quite a bit, now!
Books Required: The Pirates of Pugmire book and either Pugmire or Monarchies of Mau, which I have

I picked this for the "four calling birds" slot in the song because you can make bird characters, but I probably went round and round about it the most. See, it turns out that in a lot of versions of the carol, it's "four colly birds," which is often meant to refer to coal, so that might be coal-colored birds (i.e., blackbirds or crows or whatever) or the sort of bird you'd want in a coal mine (i.e., canaries), but if it's "calling birds," then any songbird makes sense. And I did Corvid Court already. 

Well, anyway, let's make a birb. 

First thing, we choose a calling (like calling bird, hey, neat). I think I shall be a gundog (or rather, a gunner, since I'm not a dog). I like the idea of gliding between the masts of a ship and shooting at enemies from above. 

For neste I can be a sparrow, crow, or parrot, and I know I want to be a crow. That gives me +1 Constitution and +1 Intelligence. 

Background, I can choose sailor, marine, or one of the backgrounds in either of the core books. I'm leaning towards Sailor, but let's take a look. Yeah, nothing in the other books really speaks to me, so sure, my crow found his bliss on the high (in acidity) seas! I get the Seafarer Knack, and the Know Nature and Survive Skills.

Ability scores. Standard array, so 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, with a +1 to Con and Int. Well, as a gunner I want a high Dex, so I'll put my 15 there. I'll put the 8 into Con, which is a stupid idea but life's like that, which gives me a 9 there. I'll put the 10 into Strength (starting to see my birb as kind of skinny and frail, especially for a crow). I'll put the 13 into Intelligence, so it's 14. 14 into Wisdom, 12 into Charisma. 

Filling in my stamina points and saving throws and stuff, I get my proficiency bonus to Con and Dex saving throws, which is good because my Con modifier is -1. That likewise means I start with 7 stamina points. 

Skills! I get Know Nature and Survive, as mentioned, and then I get to pick two from my calling. I'll pick Balance and Know Culture. 

Knacks! I get a bunch. I get Seafarer from background, I get Glide from neste, and then I get Simple Weapon, Martial Weapon, Light Armor, Medium Armor, Pistoleer, and my choice of Quick Draw or Precise Attack from calling. I'll go with Precise Attack; I know how effective that can be. Ooh, and using Glide I can make a Dex saving throw to gain advantage on an attack, which is exactly what I want for this guy. 

Equipment! I jotted down the stuff from my background (map, clothes, a few coins) but the interesting stuff comes from my calling. I get a melee weapon and a firearm, a set of light or medium armor, gloves, a hooded lantern, rations, and 50 feet of rope. 

Let's see. I'll take a filleting knife, because it's a finesse weapon so I can use my Dex modifier instead of Strength, and I'll take a flintlock pistol. I'm very tempted to take medium armor because my Con is shit, so any bonus to Defense is helpful. Erm. I don't want to be making Dexterity checks at disadvantage, though. I'll take light armor, that still gives me 13 Defense, that's not terrible. 

I got the flintlock under strange circumstances, so I'll keep that in the back of my feathery head.

The rest is background (that is, history) and personality traits, so let's do that! 

My bird's name is Crackle of the Four Calls. He's a lifelong sailor, and was hale and healthy until his ship made landfall on an island where the saltpeter for making gunpowder was being mined. Crackle and some other sailors went ashore and they visited with some of the manufacturers, and everyone else wore a mask over their faces, but there weren't any that covered Crackle's beak. After a few days there, he started feeling ill. The cats that ran the place recognized his symptoms and gave him a flintlock pistol in apology - sure enough, within weeks Crackle had lost weight and had trouble catching his breath. That was when he started using the name "Crackle," after the sound it makes if he takes a deep breath (tragic, I know). 

Crackle has learned to be an expert shot, however, and when his crew gets into battle he glides through the rigging taking out the most dangerous of the opponents. He's searching for a cure for his ailment, so that he can breath easy again. 

So, Ideal: What's most important to me is...curing my ailment. I can take a bond or a mystery, and I feel like mystery is more appropriate to Crackle, so No one knows about...the collection of medicines and ingredients I've stashed in the ship. (Some of them are extremely unsavory.) Finally, No matter what, I just can't seem to...stop coughing. Stealth is just not something Crackle does.

Crackle is thin and seems weak. He's fast, though, and he's learned to time shots and strikes between the coughing fits. He's even been known to double over coughing and then pop up with a knife strike, just in case you thought he was unable to fight up close. Crackle has black feathers and a black beak, and he wears lightweight leather armor and a bright red scarf around his head. 

That'll do it! Caw-hack-hack-caw!