While many take to the skies as pirates, only a few truly become one with the profession. These doughty individuals call themselves 'skyborn', feeling a keen kinship for the medium in which they ply their dastardly trade.
Role: Skyborn buccaneers are flexible combatants who can engage at close or medium range, and are skilled in the operation of airships.
Alignment: Skyborn buccaneers cannot be of lawful alignment.
HP Roll: d4+3
To qualify to become a skyborn buccaneer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
BAB: +4
Skills: Acrobatics 4 ranks, Profession (sailor) 4 ranks (at the GM's discretion, other sky-pirate-appropriate Profession skills may be used to qualify)
Feats: Two-weapon fighting
Special: Must have willingly participated in acts of sky piracy.
The skyborn buccaneer's class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge [engineering] (Int), Profession (Wis), and Swim (Str)
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Primary Attributes: Dex, Cha, Str
"Yo ho ho's a bit too low, yi hi hi, a pirate's life for I!"
All of the following are class features of the skyborn buccaneer prestige class.
A skyborn buccaneer is especially proficient in his preferred weapons. He gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with weapons from the following list: boarding pike, hook hand, gunblade, kunai, revolver, and saber.
This counts as the Weapon Training ability for the purpose of meeting prerequisites. At 5th and 9th levels, the bonus to attack and damage rolls with these weapons increases by 1, and the skyborn buccaneer may additionally choose an advanced weapon training option to use with these weapons.
Skyborn buccaneers have braved dangers that would wilt the hearts of lesser men. They gain a +1 bonus to saving throws against fear effects and mind-affecting effects. This bonus increases to +2 at 7th level.
At 2nd level, the skyborn buccaneer is at home in a crowded melee, able to find time to weave shots between his melee strikes. He gains his choice of either the Sword and Pistol feat or the Gunblade Specialist feat. At 6th level, he gains the Cleave feat; if he already has this feat, he may choose any other combat feat that lists Cleave as a prerequisite. He need not meet the prerequisites for these bonus feats.
In addition, he gains a +1 competence bonus to all Boat Raid or Boarding actions that he leads, and to his attack rolls made while aboard an airship. This bonus increases to +2 at 6th level.
At 2nd level, the skyborn buccaneer is exceptionally skilled at maneuvering through the vagaries of shipboard combat. He gains a bonus to Acrobatics, Fly, and Profession (sailor) checks equal to half his level in this class.
At 3rd level, the skyborn buccaneer is easily able to maneuver in armor. He ignores the armor check penalty to Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, and Swim checks if he is wearing light armor.
At 7th level, he gains this benefit in medium armor as well.
At 4th level and 8th level, the skyborn buccaneer gains a bonus feat from the list of combat feats. He counts his skyborn buccaneer level as his fighter level for the purpose of qualifying for these feats.
At 10th level, a skyborn is an expert at mitigating damage to his ship. When his ship suffers a critical hit, after the critical hit result is rolled on the chart, he may reduce the result by an amount up to half his Cha bonus (minimum 1). The roll result cannot be reduced below a 1.
In addition, the skyborn buccaneer gains DR 3/- that stacks with other DR/-.