Feature: Infamy of the Bloodtide

You were once part of the most feared crew to ever sail the northern seas — the Bloodtide Pirates. Every port, every tavern, every coast remembers the raven-and-tide sigil.

You gain advantage on Intimidation checks against anyone who recognizes your name or the mark of your old crew.

You suffer disadvantage on Persuasion checks with lawful or good-aligned individuals who despise pirates.

In coastal towns, rumors of your presence spread fast. You can always find smugglers, mercenaries, or old sailors willing to deal with you — out of fear, respect, or profit.

However, law enforcement and military forces instantly recognize your face or name. Any guard captain, bounty hunter, or naval officer who spots you will attempt to arrest or kill you on sight, as there is a massive bounty on your head throughout several kingdoms.

Ability Scores: The sea didn’t teach you charm — it taught you survival. Every scar, every storm, and every blade that missed your throat forged you into something harder than iron.

Choose one of the following options:

+2 Strength, +1 Constitution — You’ve fought through shipwrecks, storms, and sieges. Your body is a fortress; pain is an old friend.

Feat: Feat: Haunted by the Tide

(Prerequisite: Bloodtide Pirate background)

“The sea took everything from me. Now it follows me wherever I go.”

You survived the wreck of The Maiden’s Lament and the death of the Bloodtide Pirates. The ocean left you changed — harder, colder, and carved from salt and steel.

Feat Benefits

Relentless Survivor.
When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Salt-Hardened.
You gain proficiency in the Survival skill.

Aura of Dread.
You gain advantage on Intimidation checks made against anyone who recognizes your name, face, or reputation as a Bloodtide Pirate.

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Intimidation

Your life on the sea honed your body and your presence into tools of survival. You’ve hauled anchor chains in raging storms, climbed masts slick with blood, and fought men who’d slit your throat for a crust of bread. Your strength isn’t just muscle — it’s endurance. Your stare isn’t just anger — it’s a memory of what you’ve survived.

Tool Proficiencies: Tool Proficiencies — Bloodtide Pirate

Navigator’s Tools, Vehicles (Water)

You spent half your life reading the moods of the sea — the pull of the current, the weight of the wind, the way the gulls circle before a storm. You can chart a course through fog and wreckage with little more than instinct. Whether it was steering The Maiden’s Lament through black water or repairing her hull mid-battle, you learned that a sailor’s hands decide who lives and who drowns.

Navigator’s Tools represent Skari’s experience steering through tempests, reading maps, and calculating distance by stars and wind.

Vehicles (Water) symbolizes mastery over ships both great and small — whether piloting a longship, maneuvering a skiff through shallows, or commanding a crew under fire.

Languages: Common, Thieves’ Cant

A life on the sea forces a man to learn more than the wind’s language. You speak Common like every tradesman and sailor, roughened by years of shouting orders over roaring waves. But beneath that, you know another tongue — the whispers of smugglers and cutthroats, the coded hand signs and phrases of Thieves’ Cant.

Among raiders, it wasn’t just about gold — it was about survival. Knowing when a word meant “deal” or “ambush,” when a gesture meant “ally” or “knife in the dark.” Even now, when you pass through a port, a flick of your hand or a quiet phrase can still make the right kind of people listen… or vanish.

Equipment:

You carry the remnants of a life the sea tried to erase.

• A rusted compass taken from The Maiden’s Lament, its needle still trembling like it remembers the storm that sank her.

• A keepsake from a fallen crewmate — perhaps a carved raven pendant, a shark tooth strung on twine, or a fingerbone charm. You keep it close, though you no longer remember whether it’s out of guilt or loyalty.

• A weathered dagger with a cracked hilt, once part of your boarding kit. Its edge is dull, but you still sharpen it when the memories get loud.

• A small pouch containing 15 gold coins blackened by sea salt and years in the surf. You could trade them, but you never do — they’re reminders of what greed cost you.

Suggested Characteristics

d7	Personality Trait
1	I keep count of every sin I’ve committed — it helps me remember what I owe.
2	I judge men by their eyes. The mouth lies; the eyes don’t.
3	I keep my emotions buried; showing weakness once cost me everything.
4	I don’t trust anyone until they’ve proven they can bleed beside me.
5	I laugh in the face of danger — not from courage, but because I’ve already met death.
6	I’ve done unforgivable things. Every act of kindness now feels like a confession.
7	I’m slow to forgive, slower to forget, but loyal once trust is earned.

d6	Ideal
1	Redemption. The sea took everything; I’ll spend what’s left of my life giving back what I can. (Good)
2	Strength. Only the strong survive — the world’s mercy is a lie. (Neutral)
3	Atonement. I can’t undo what I’ve done, but I can decide what I’ll be remembered for. (Lawful)
4	Freedom. No king, no god, no sea will ever own me again. (Chaotic)
5	Survival. I live because I refused to die. I owe nothing to anyone for that. (Neutral)
6	Balance. Every drop of blood spilled must be repaid, one way or another. (Any)

d6	Bond
1	The Dead Crew. Every man who followed me into the storm deserves more than a shallow grave. I live so their memory won’t sink with them.
2	The Maiden’s Lament. My ship was my home, my kingdom, my sin. One day, I’ll find what’s left of her — and bury her properly.
3	The North Sea. I owe the ocean a debt. It spared me for a reason, and I intend to learn what that reason is.
4	The Bloodtide Banner. The raven over the red tide was more than a flag — it was a promise. I’ll never raise it again.
5	The Boy on the Shore. There was one survivor — a child I spared. His face still follows me, older every time I dream.
6	My Own Name. “The Butcher of Varensfjord” and “Captain of the Bloodtide Pirates” are dead. I walk to prove that Skari Hrafnsson still lives — and that he can be something else. (Neutral Good)

d6	Flaw
1	Old Habits. When I’m angry or cornered, I reach for the sword before I think. Violence is the only language I learned.
2	The Weight of Guilt. I’ve done things that no man deserves forgiveness for. I don’t believe redemption is real — so I chase atonement
3	Paranoia. I don’t trust kindness. I’ve seen too many smiling faces hiding knives.
4	The Pull of the Tide. Part of me still misses it — the raids, the blood, the fire. I fear the man I was is still somewhere inside me.
5	Restless Soul. Peace feels like drowning. I don’t know how to live without conflict.
6	Haunted Dreams. I see their faces — my crew, the villagers, the dead. Some nights I hear them whispering in the waves, calling me home.