Pact of the Loyal Crew

Warlocks of the Pact of the Loyal Crew tradition forge supernatural bonds with pirate companions whose loyalty endures beyond death. Rather than seeking power through domination, they command through trust, shared purpose, and an unwavering commitment to protecting their crew.

This subclass represents Part B: Pact of the Loyal Crew (Warlock) of the Pirate Captain prestige class. It focuses on turning enemies' successes into failures, protecting companions through Captain's Sanctuary, summoning and commanding Skeleton, Zombie, and Shade pirates, and strengthening their supernatural abilities as the Warlock grows in power.

It is designed to be used alongside Part A: College of Triumph (Bard), which represents the Pirate Captain's inspirational leadership and ability to empower companions. The Bard subclass focuses on turning allies' failures into successes, coordinating battlefield initiative, responding to threats through enhanced Reactions, and granting Heroic Inspiration.

For the intended Pirate Captain progression, take Bard at 1st character level, Warlock at 2nd character level, and alternate between the two classes thereafter, reaching Bard 10 / Warlock 10 at 20th character level.

Pirate Captain prestige features begin at 5th character level, when the character reaches Bard 3. Pact of the Loyal Crew subclass features begin at 6th character level, when the character reaches Warlock 3, while College of Triumph subclass features begin at 5th character level.

Both subclasses are independently playable. Pact of the Loyal Crew grants supernatural protection, undead pirate companions, magical disruption, and seafaring abilities, while College of Triumph provides inspirational leadership, tactical initiative control, enhanced Reactions, and Heroic Inspiration. Together, they combine dependable leadership with the enduring loyalty of a crew that stands together even beyond death.

Pirate Captains believe that a great captain's responsibility is to recognise each crewmate's strengths, prepare for danger, and bring everyone home safely. Their leadership reflects the belief that true excellence is measured not by personal achievement, but by the success and empowerment of those who follow them.

Ethos: “Excellence through empowerment.”

Leadership Points

Your supernatural leadership allows you to undermine your enemies' successes, generating Leadership Points (LP) that fuel your Captain's abilities.

Leadership Point Maximum. Your maximum number of Leadership Points equals twice your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). At Warlock level 7, this maximum increases to three times your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).

Generating Leadership Points. You gain 1 Leadership Point when a spell you cast, a debuff you impose, or one of your subclass features changes another creature's successful D20 Test into a failure.

For Disadvantage, the higher modified d20 must succeed and the lower modified d20 must fail. Captain's Sanctuary has its own Leadership Point generation trigger. Rerolls made using Heroic Inspiration do not generate Leadership Points.

You can normally generate no more than 1 Leadership Point per turn, including turns belonging to other creatures.

Leadership Beyond Battle. Outside combat, you can generate a maximum of 1 Leadership Point per distinct consequential challenge. Trivial, repeated, staged, or deliberately manufactured tests do not qualify. The DM determines whether a challenge has meaningful consequences.

Resting and Carryover. Unspent Leadership Points remain available between encounters but reset to 0 when you finish a Long Rest. Spent Leadership Points are not refunded.

Multiclassing. If another subclass grants Leadership Points, you maintain only one shared pool, using the highest maximum granted by either subclass. Maximums and upgrades do not stack. Leadership Points generated by either subclass can be spent on abilities granted by either subclass.

Loyal Crew Spells

Your supernatural pact grants you magic that weakens your enemies, protects your companions, and reinforces the enduring loyalty of your crew.

Loyal Crew Spells. You learn Vicious Mockery and always have Bane, Ray of Sickness, Sanctuary, and Ray of Enfeeblement prepared. At Warlock level 5, you also always have Counterspell prepared.

These spells count as Warlock spells for you. Vicious Mockery doesn't count against your number of Warlock cantrips known, and the leveled spells don't count against your number of prepared Warlock spells.

Captain's Sanctuary. When an attack hits another creature you can see within 60 feet, before damage, you can take a Reaction and expend a spell slot of 2nd level or higher to cast Sanctuary on that creature.

Resolve the triggering attack as though Sanctuary were already active. The spell lasts until the end of the current turn unless ended earlier.

Each failed Wisdom saving throw against this casting of Sanctuary generates 1 Leadership Point (LP), subject to your normal generation limit, regardless of the attack's outcome.

Summon Pirate's Crew

Your supernatural bond allows you to summon and command a loyal crew of undead pirates.

Summon Pirate's Crew. As an Action or Bonus Action in combat, spend Leadership Points (LP), spell slots, or both to summon Skeleton, Zombie, or Shade pirates into unoccupied spaces you can see within 60 feet.

Each LP contributes 1 effective spell-slot level, and each spell slot contributes its level. Divide the total among your summoned pirates, including levels contributed by the same spell slot. Unused levels are lost.

Each pirate must receive at least 1 effective spell-slot level, up to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1; minimum 4 at Warlock level 10). You can have a maximum number of active pirates equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). Each pirate's effective spell-slot level is fixed when summoned. Spending spell slots to summon pirates doesn't generate LP.

Commands and Turns. Summoning can also command all your pirates, including existing ones. Otherwise, you can command all your pirates as an Action or Bonus Action, giving individual orders.

Your pirates share your initiative and take concurrent turns, interleaving their actions and movement with yours. Newly summoned pirates can act immediately. Each pirate has its own movement, Action, Bonus Action, and Reaction, and turn-based effects apply normally. Repeated commands don't grant additional actions.

At the end of your turn, pirates that haven't received commands take the Dodge action if their Action remains unused. They retain their movement and ability to make Opportunity Attacks.

If you're Incapacitated, your pirates defend you and nearby allies against immediate threats without pursuing fleeing enemies.

Pirates disappear when combat ends or when reduced to 0 Hit Points, unless Undead Fortitude prevents the latter. You can dismiss a pirate without an action on your turn. Summoning requires no Concentration, and pirate attacks don't generate LP.

Crew's Cant. You can speak, read, write, and understand Crew's Cant. Your pirates can speak and understand it. You can communicate telepathically with your pirates within 120 feet without using an action, although issuing commands still requires an Action or Bonus Action.

D&D Beyond Note: To add Crew's Cant to your character sheet, open Proficiencies & Languages, select Customize, and manually add Crew's Cant as a custom language.

Seafaring Captain. You gain proficiency with Water Vehicles and Navigator's Tools. You always have Call Pirate Ship prepared and can cast it once without expending a spell slot per Long Rest. It counts as a Warlock spell for you and doesn't count against your normal prepared-spell limit.

D&D Beyond Setup. To add your pirate ship's stat block to your character sheet, open Extras → Manage Extras → Vehicle, select Airship, and add it to your character.

This is a one-time manual setup. Use the Airship's vehicle stat block to track your pirate ship's statistics, Hit Points, movement, crew, passengers, and cargo.

Your Airship serves as the vessel associated with your Call Pirate Ship spell, which grants the magical abilities described in that spell. Adding the Airship to Extras doesn't automatically move or transport it when you cast Call Pirate Ship. Track its location and once-per-dawn magical transportation restriction manually.

Crew Upgrades

At Warlock level 6, your supernatural bond strengthens your undead crew, granting additional abilities to pirates summoned with sufficient power.

Crew Upgrades. Each of your summoned pirates with an effective spell-slot level (L) of 2 or higher gains the following ability appropriate to its form:

Rusted Blades (Skeleton Only). Once per turn, when the Skeleton hits a creature with its Scimitar, the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your Warlock spell save DC or become Poisoned until the end of its next turn.

Loyal Undead (Zombie Only). The Zombie has Advantage on Constitution saving throws made for its Undead Fortitude trait.

Spectral Withdrawal (Shade Only). After the Shade hits with Colour Drain, it gains the benefits of the Disengage action until the end of its current turn, without using an action.

These upgrades are also detailed in the Pirate Crew stat block. Pirates with an effective spell-slot level below 2 do not gain these abilities.

Terrifying Crew

At Warlock level 10, your most powerful undead pirates become terrifying opponents.

Terrifying Crew. Each of your summoned pirates with an effective spell-slot level (L) of 4 or higher gains the following ability:

Once per turn per pirate, when that pirate hits a creature with an attack and the natural d20 roll is 15 or higher, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your Warlock spell save DC or become Frightened until the end of its next turn.

This ability is also detailed in the Pirate Crew stat block. Pirates with an effective spell-slot level below 4 do not gain this ability.

Epic Boon

Your mastery of your chosen discipline continues to grow as you approach the heights of legendary power.

This feature serves as a progression placeholder for the Pirate Captain prestige class and grants no additional abilities, resources, feats, or Epic Boons.

Epic Boon feats remain available through the normal character progression rules, subject to their usual prerequisites.