Yours truly has been hip deep in module writing and back to back weekend gigs, so we’re back with some more GNC 007 previews this week. This time I’m going to take the opportunity to introduce a member of the new 5th Edition D&D crew for my Music of the Night module – Kirada the half-orc swashbuckler.
Kirada used to be a smuggler. But they weren’t your average smuggler. Instead, the group that they were a part of tended to move people – mainly war refugees or people facing political persecution. Unfortunately, that made Kirada and their crew very unpopular with certain types of governments. It was while they were extracting a large group of refugees from a kingdom undergoing violent revolution by a hardline military coup that they got into serious trouble. The military was ready for them and had ships hunting for Kirada’s crew on the waterways. And they found them. With several ships sunk and their own boat overloaded with surviving crew and refugees that managed to make the swim, Kirada was trapped. But then a miracle happened.
A privateer vessel came in over the horizon and engaged the enemy ship, letting Kirada’s boat limp to a safe harbor. After unloading the “cargo,” Kirada knew what they had to do and took the boat back into the battle, maneuvering up to the enemy ship and boarding it in a dazzling display of panache. Once on the deck, they challenged the captain to single combat and handily ran him through, ending the fight. Afterwards, they made their way over to the privateer ship and was so impressed by the captain that they immediately pledged their service by way of thanks for helping save what refugees remained. And that is how they met Irakon “Broadside” Athune. They’ve served aboard the vessel ever since, eventually becoming boatswain over the years.
For Kirada, I wanted to do something a little bit different than a standard swashbuckler. And thanks to the new character creation mechanics that were introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything I was able to settle on a flashy half-orc smuggler turned privateer. Mechanically the subclass is pretty straightforward – a more martially focused Rogue class that likes to engage opponents one on one as much as possible. But with both Savage Attacks and the Piercer feat, when they manage to score a critical hit, the enemy is going to feel it – all the more if Kirada can manage to get into a sneak attack position making their burst potential quite powerful.
Ben Erickson
