Ship Tasks and Roles

Okay, so the one rule about starting skills is that no one can be trained in Profession (sailor) at level one. The idea is that none of the characters have skill at this seafaring thing yet. That said, there are plenty of skills that might come in handy on a ship. Some people asked about various tasks on a ship, and what skill will be appropriate. I want you to find out what skills work well, rather than build characters who are already perfectly equipped and split up by role on the ship to begin with. The module is built around an organic development of characters, so keep that in mind--your character learning either what skills to learn the hard way, or what use they can put an existing skill toward is part of the game. Some things to ponder though:

Basic Ability
For almost all tasks, you can swap the base ability score in rather than the skill.For example: swabbing the decks, a task of mopping and cleaning the wooden surfaces with sandstone blocks called holystones, can either be done with a Profession (sailor) check OR a Strength check.

Doubling Up
I know that the temptation is to say "okay, you be good at this and I'll be good at that and we'll be more effective." Unfortunately, the nature of life on a ship means that there might be times when EVERYONE on board the ship has to take part in a given task. In a blowing storm, almost everyone has to be working on the lines and rigging to keep it both intact and the ship sailing. So rigging skills like Climb, Athletics, Profession (sailor), Perception, and various Craft skills, could be handy for everyone to dabble in.

There's a lot of diversity in a good crew, but also a great deal of similarities

Who Actually Makes the Ship Go
There are more than a few roles that happen on various sailing ships. Not every one is required, but many are essential to the process of sailing, commerce, war, or discipline. A list of who does what on a ship will at least help players understand the kind of people they are working for and with, and who has what authority (and set of skills). All of the following descriptions are taken directly from the materials presented to the GM in Book One of the Skull and Shackles adventure path. The size of the boat determines how much crew is needed to make it sail.

Botswain (also called Bosun): Runs the upper deck of the ship, and is responsible for all the rope, rigging, anchors, and sails. Directly oversees most of the ship's daily labor, and is such often a key part of the discipline of the ship.

Cabin Boy/Girl: Servant to the officers and runs errands.

Captain: Ultimate authority of the ship, who decides the plan for the ship as well as who fills the other stations of the ship.

Carpenter/Surgeon: Mainly responsible for taking care of the below-decks well-being of the ship, plugging leaks and repairing damage. Typically also the ship's surgeon, as Craft (wood) can be a default for Heal checks for certain tasks on the ship... such as the sawing off of injured legs.

Cook: Makes and distributes the food that is stored on the ship to the crew.

Master-at-arms: Concerned with the security of the ship and the fitness of the crew. Keeps order on the ship, administers punishments during the Bloody Hour (the hour before dinner when punishments are conducted with the full crew present), and trains the crew for boarding and deployment as a fighting force.

Master Gunner: Commands all ship-board artillery, and ensures that the crew knows how to use all the weapons on the ship. Ability to craft siege engines and knowledge of engineering is critical. How martial they are depends a lot upon the type of weapons used by the ship, as they might need to know how to fire everything from a sling to a musket, fight with any and all weapons longer than a dagger, and fire everything from ballistae to catapults to even cannon.

Quartermaster: Oversees the supplies and items that are stored on the ship. Every bit of food and weaponry, plus all the plunder, are coordinated and counted by the Quartermaster. They are also responsible for distributing the rum rations each day.

Rigger: These folk climb the rigging and unfurl the sails, which is dangerous work even in calm water. When fighting enemy vessels, their role is one of the most dangerous--having to pull enemy vessels close in preparation for boarding.

Sailing Master: This crew member is the one who commands the moment-to-moment direction of the ship. While the Captain determines the course, the sailing master is the one who guides it. They may work the wheel themselves, or have a helmsman to do the actual piloting. Likewise, they may command the positioning of the sails, or let the Botswain do that task while they mind the general course of progress.

Swab: Any sailor who mops the decks and does generic low skilled work on the ship.

You might be asking, "wait, where's the mate? I know that there are mates on a ship!" True, but only on merchant ships where they are the various levels of deck officers. As the characters are on a pirate ship, the call of "Ahoy matey" is much more about boarding a vessel that is prey than about saying hello to a buddy on the same ship.