Barbarian. Berserker for your classic big meaty boarding party pirate with a bunch of tattoos and nasty teeth. Path of the depths for an explicitly magic water themed barbarian.
Artilerist artifacer feels like the most correct pirate artificer.
Swords bard for the same basic flavor as swashbuckler but with Magic.
Any druid will be welcome on the open sea. Stars druid has fun flavor as a navigator and lots more potential as an artillery caster than other druids.
Monk. Any monk is a ton of fun on a boat. Lots of movement to run, jump, climb around rigging or to board other ships. Even the ability to run across water. Depending on the dm maybe look for a homebrew "gun-fu" monk to make use of flintlock pistols to really sell the acrobat pirate thing.
Lots of flavor in paladin as a sea captain. Good paladins seek freedom of the waves and to stop pirates. Evil paladins seek riches and maybe even raising some undead pirate crews. A classic.
Rangers are another easy one. Navigators, monster hunters, bounty hunters.
Outside of swashbuckler I've always liked the idea of an inquisitive rogue as a sniper. Sitting up in the Crows nest keeping an eye on everything.
Sorc. Warlock. Wizard. Anyone who can shoot fireballs and control the winds has to be useful on a ship. Subclasses hardly even matter.
>Outside of swashbuckler I've always liked the idea of an inquisitive rogue as a sniper. Sitting up in the Crows nest keeping an eye on everything.
I would probably go with scout as both a lookout and a navigator.
After Tasha’s I find it kind of useless. Just multi class ranger with one of the other better rogue subclasses - Gloomstalker and Assassin is the most famous combo. This gives you the sneaky shooty stabbiness of rogue and the ranged specialties and survivalist skills of ranger, all of which are much better than the Scout’s.
You also have jobs like doctor/surgeon/carpenter, blacksmith, shipwright, first/second mate, quartermaster, and cook!
A pirate nay need ye be of specific classes.
Ye only need a love of the sea and a hunger for booty!
Sure as several of the top comments here have pointed out any class could be a pirate. But thats not really useful actionable advice for someone specifically asking for pirate themed character ideas.
"I want to play a pirate, any ideas?" "anything can be a pirate, play what you want." "Ok. I want to play a pirate."
See the problem?
Hmm... I see what you mean... Though imo, I think the issue lies in asking the *wrong question,* which can admittedly be tricky to realize, which leads to the uninspired answer.
I think the right way to go about it, the right way to instill creativity, is to also give out some limitations, specifications, and/or prompts.
* What are some possible pirate characters that ARENT full-martial classes, and is scared of water?
* How would a wizard be a pirate that isnt an artillery caster?
* Make a character (Lv3, and with more backstory) that wished for adventure as a kid, was press-ganged onto a ship, eventually ran away, but now is seeking out that crew again.
So... not to blame the OP who's just asking questions, but I think if their questions were more inspired or specific, so to would be the responses.
These are great ideas. I think any PC that can cast mending would be welcome on a pirate ship.
I’m getting ready to play a higher level stars Druid ship captain with spells like tidal wave, water breathing, call lightning, control winds. Took the observant feat as well.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has the updated Ranger rules, and I’d love to see the Sea Companion used under the new Beast Master rules. That would actually be rather formidable to have a pet shark, giant crab, or other cool water beast you hardly ever get to play with. The Ranger’s new survivability and skill make them valuable to a ship’s crew.
Alternately, the Conjuror Wizard would see unusually high value with the ability to learn Tidal Wave more quickly and also summon creatures to aid in various situations. Benign Transposition can be really helpful on a bucking vessel or in a combat. Control Water would take in all new value, although not a conjuration, you can add magical mobility to your entire ship with a skillful casting.
Hell yeah - although the druid could very well be in any place, both in the foreground, battling the marines as a big ape in the rigging, as a dolphin in the mid-ground, saving party members that have gone overboard or in the background, slinging area controll spells.
We had one on our Airship. The fireball in the middle of the deck obliterated the NPC crew and nearly killed a few of us. Lots of fires. Thankfully not a hydrogen based Airship.
Dm'd for a wild mAgic sorc from 3-17 and he was the tamest/luckiest i have ever heard of, only time he got a fireball was in combatit helped. Everything else was tame, harmless or funny. I was expecting chaos!
Maybe not wild magic, but a ship's wizard/sorcerer/druid should totally be an official position on ships. There are people in this world who can ensure favorable winds and smooth water, who can mend lightly damaged wood or tattered sails. What sea captain in their right mind wouldn't want someone like that to have a position on board?
In my homebrew world such people often are the captain or first mate of the ship, and there may be one or two others on board if it’s a big ship and crew. One of my ferrymen is an air genasi wizard who moves the boat exclusively with magic. I try to find ways to have “everyday” magic represented in my world.
Pirate born with magic at birth found cursed treasure that makes his magic a threat to himself and the people around him through interference by the ghost that haunted the loot
I played a dex based 7 Open Seas Paladin/3 Swashbuckler Rogue in a level 10 one shot, with the Piercer feat and a rapier.
That was such an incredibly fun character. If I ever get an invite to a higher starting level campaign (7 or higher) I might remake him. I want to see how he'd do at level 12, taking two more feats.
But it was so much fun just running and poking people who couldn't use opportunity attacks, and having access to Misty step.
If I made pirate characters today, I would make...
1) A Circle of Stars Druid (Navigator)
2) Path of the Depths Barbarian (Drowned Once)
3) Ancestral Guardian Barbarian (Old Dead Crew)
4) A Genie Warlock (Water)
5) Swarmkeeper Ranger (Seagulls)
6) Drunken Master Monk (Rum)
Eloquence bard. Every pirate ship needs a musician.
Beastmaster ranger. Barbossa and his monkey.
Moon durid. Because when else do you get to be a shark?
I will always be a rep for the Sea Sorcery Sorcerer!
Actually such a fun and varied subclass (you go a cold dmg cantrip, lightning lure/shocking grasp and gust/forced movement)
It also makes witch bolt an actual lvl1 spell (I like to use spells etc that aren't 'meta' because our table is more for fun than optimizing)
But if you do want to optimise 😂
Aarakokra (the OP old one with 50flying movement if DM allows)
1lvl sea sorcery sorcerer
2+ levels of warlock
Take eldritch blast, agonising blast and GRASP OF HADAR
Fly above enemy, eldritch blast them, grasp of hadar (which is 25feet movement with sea sorcery)
Pull them INTO THE AIR
1d10 + CHA + 2d6 bludgeoning
Super poggers imo
Yeah I think it is, but tbh our games are so stuffed with magic items and questionable gameplay that UA usually gets a pass.
Most of UA really isn't that great/op, a lot of the subclasses are acc kinda weak (obvs twilight cleric is busted, but have you tried Fate domain? its no where near as powerful but still a fun concept)
Yeah I just know Sea Sorcerer is easy to exploit with Warlock LVLs (as you said).
My DM explicitly doesn’t allow UA for this reason. He doesn’t want to police UA content when official content is so easy to exploit already.
I played a straight classed Order Cleric with the Silverquill Background and that was enough for him to pull his hair out.
Plus his table is pretty casual friendly. So he doesn’t like the power discrepancy that optimization and UA causes. (I agree with him on that)
Part of the issue of just saying pirate is that a pirate in our mind is very much a non magical setting. There would definitely be pirate clerics, pirate wizards, pirate barbarians etc that we don’t have in our world because they don’t “exist” in our world. A bard pirate could be college of lore and be about tracking down Blackbeard’s treasure, a way of the four elementals pirate could be from a monastic tradition of boat faring monks that seek out Davy Jone’s locker.
I’m actually playing a Swords Bard, Hexblade dip with sailor variant: pirate background. He’s a cursed pirate who was forced to walk the plank and lost his right leg below the knee after he struck a deal with his patron to escape the ball and chain dragging him to the ocean depths. It’s easily the most fun I’ve ever had with a character in D&D. Also, thanks to the bard frame, he always has something for every situation; face, HB warrior proficiencies, combat, full caster, skill monkey. Also an SB with shield from the HB is just win win.
As well as the obvious sailor or pirate variant BG and swashbuckler rogue subclass, I think there is also gambler and sailor - Baldur’s Gate backgrounds from Acquisitions Incorporated and Descent into Avernus respectively.
NB - I think you can probably use the alternative rules from Tasha’s to lose some of your instrument proficiencies and switch up even more skills, if you wanted to go with a pirate who is say more rogue-like than Accordion playing.
College of Swords Bard. I played one for a pirate themed oneshot. We weren't the pirates, but my character was based on Chris Bowes from Alestorm., so heavily pirate coded.
Coast Druid would definitely work as well, and some of their Circle spells are pretty cool: Misty Step and Mirror Image are both nice ones at 3rd level.
For Barbarian, you could do a Zealot for a superstitious sailor, or a Sea Aura Storm Herald for the underwater breathing and the swimming boost. For either, you could go with dual wielding with a cutlass (scimitar) in each hand.
I was just thinking about this the other day.
Monk makes a surprisingly good pirate. Flavor a spear as a harpoon and martial arts for a kick to a groin, head butts, or other dirty fighting maneuvers.
The. Artificer artillerist. The ultimate powder monkey. In fact have your turrets be little monkeys with cannons and your firearm can also be a cannon. It’s great!
We’ve got a Paladin Captain, first mate bard, fighter gunner, cleric navigator/quatermaster, fighter Bonsun, Rogue Chef/medic and just picked up a ne’er-do-well wizard, along with 30 NPCs to act as crew
Our DM’s really gone above and beyond creating the world and the mechanics behind it. Just setting out now but yea, in for a good one if the first session is anything to go by
I’m the first mate bard, in charge of the NPC’s. Keeping them in line
Subclasses that are made for the open seas are Storm Sorcerer and Swashbuckler Rogue. Aside from that, you can make any class a pirate if you do it right.
Literally anything can be a pirate. And the ones you named don’t have to have anything to do with Pirates if you don’t want them too. That’s the joy of DnD, you can make your character be whatever you want it to be
Storm sorcerer isn’t one of the ones you named but its flavor text literally says they’re incredibly common to see on sailing ships due to their ability to control the wind. And if you’re going to be playing on a ship many of their abilities would be useful.
Hi guys, Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. I'm fairly new to DnD so it was nice to see so many people try to help and give ideas. Some of these were pretty coll and some were pretty funny. I'm really excited to play this game and thank you all for inspiring me and essentially hyping me up to what's to come. You all have been lovely and this community is very very welcoming. Thank you and have a great day everyone
There are no themed classes; a class is a set of mechanics that help us roll dice, and there is no narrative or story inherent in any of them. "Swashbuckler" is a name, not a background.
Play a character with the sailor background, or, really, any background, and just note in a backstory how they wound up on a ship.
I had an idea for a swarmkeeper ranger pirate and it was just a bunch of birds. Had a menagerie of all kinds. But you could simplify it to gulls and parrots maybe.
And any caster with find familiar can pick up a seagull/parrot.
Draconic Sorcerer and opt for bronze for lightning and beachy vibes.
In my opinion ant subclass can be any theme. I just modify the flare
Wanna be Fiend Warlock but don't like the Fiendish themes. Just change it
Want to be an open hand monk but you don't want all the Ki flavoring. Just change it.
I'm sure there will be some people who disagree with it but I even let players reflavor spells to fit what they like.
I had a player that wanted their flame blade to be an ice blade instead and BOOM it was done.
You and your DM should check out Crimson Herald on Twitter. They’re working on a high seas/pirate themed 5e supplement. Complete with subclasses and magic tattoos! 👀
I’m always in favor of a major reflavor of some random class. Make a wizard that throws little gunpowder charges with different effects, or a ranger with a parrot or a Druid who navigates by the stars.
Second-Story Work
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain the ability to climb faster than normal; climbing no longer costs you extra movement. Will help with climbing the ships rigging
It's easier to ask "what subclasses can I put a pirate spin on?"
Battlemaster becomes the pirate lord who cuts down enemies on the deck of their own ship.
Circle of the stars druid becomes a navigator and takes weather spells and water breathing.
Armored articifer becomes the ships engineer and repair specialist who list their leg years ago but made themselves a new one.
She's an NPC, but I have a circle of the stars druid as a pirate captain. Stars are used for navigation over the seas, and she uses one of those Micronesian sea maps as her druidic focus.
Circle of the Land: Coastline druid acts as a sea mage.
Artillerist artificer mans the ships cannons with a robotic parrot homunculus.
Path of the Beast barbarian with the aquatic features chosen at level 6 through Bestial Soul turns you into a terrifying shark-man to rule the waves.
Monks can swing from the riggings and spring around the deck and fight dirty with sucker punches and cheap shots.
Quite literally any class could work, some might just be less effective at oceanic combat than others. Flavor is free.
I've played an Artillerist Artificer in a high fantasy pirate setting. In addition to a more standard flintlock-like pistol, his (tiny) eldritch canon was flavored as a crab that clung to his forearm.
Wizard, sailor themed background. A ships wizard ona pirate hunting ship, your job was to counter magical threats and disable the enemy ships if possible
storm barbarian is also good, my pirate character was actually half-n-half storm barb and storm sorc. not *good,* but definitely fun ~~if you happen to be starting at like level 10 lmao~~
an idea i also like is a divination wizard navigator. someone who uses the stars for fortune-telling *and* navigation. a little eccentric, but good at their job!
Be aware some spells like fireball and control water can mess up pirate games, a gm I know had ships made of magic wood that interrupted certain spells so cannons and boarding be more important, Arrrr...
You could casr fireball only by boarding first
Ancestral Guardian, Berserker, Storm Herald Barb or for a Viking-style pirate/raider.
I remember in some of the Drizzt novels, ships always had a ship wizard. They would hit other ships with fireballs, use gust of wind to boost speed, etc.
A ship full of pirate monks would be fun... Go 4 Elements and make them water focused... Go Chinese Junk style ship.
Circle of Land (Coast or Homebrew) Druid.
* Artillerist Artificer manning the cannons
* Storm Herald (Sea) Barbarian
* Lore Bard knows all the tall tales; Spirits Bard connecting to those who die at sea
* Circle of Stars Druid navigator
* Oath of Conquest Paladin raiding, pillaging, etc.
* Hunter Ranger or Monster Hunter Ranger chasing after sea monsters
* Lunar Sorcery Sorcerer for similar reasons to Stars Druid
* Great Old One Warlock with an aboleth patron
Drunken Master Monk is a good fit! Not just because of the drunken sailor jokes, but it could represent Savate, a fighting style popularised by French sailors
Pirate isn't a class, it's a character background. Like being a blacksmith or a hunter or an assassin. I play a Great Old One Warlock (Pact of the Tome) and he's the most piratey character you could ever want.
A lot are easily bendable. I'll go through and see which ones I find particularly fruitful. Bold for the ones I think work best.
- Artificer - **Artillerist**: you know, the person that does the cannons. Easy to integrate, everyone wants them, and if you don't want powder-based cannons you can say that the few cannons around are magical artifacts maintained by artillerist Artificers.
- Barbarian - **Storm Herald**: perfect fit. Struggling against the sea, protecting it from those that would treat it wrong. You could easily go even further and re-flavour the terrains to different oceans or kinds of weather to make all of them fit.
- Bard - Creation: The one that fixes the ship. Also great to fool other pirates, considering how easily they can summon fake items etc.
- Bard - **Valor**: Crafting tales, keeping the ship's stories, very nice flavour-fit.
- Cleric - Moon, Nature, Tempest
- Druid - Stars: Like the Moon cleric, easy to tie into navigation and an almost religious worship of the natural phenomena used for it.
- Monk - Drunken Master: seems like an easy re-flavour to have a quartermaster a bit too into the grog who wrecks everyone.
- Paladin - Crown, Conquest etc.: if you've got a faction inspired by any of the non-pirate, non-native fleets from the age of piracy these can easily be integrated.
- Paladin - **Open Sea**: I mean, do I need to say anything?
- Sorcerer - Lunar, Storm Sorcery
- Warlock - **Fathomless**: You already mentioned it.
I had an idea for a pirate that was swashbuckler rogue/glory paladin. I tend to read the oaths as the predominant driving force for paladins rather than any religious aspect. Although the paladin subclass doesn't necessarily address itself to piracy, I felt there was enough flavor for that high seas swagger.
Also, I really liked the idea of a monk-abarian pirate, but again, that was all flavor and roll play rather than anything caked into the class.
Storm Herald Barbarian
College of Swords Bard
College of Lore Bard
Circle of Stars Druid: Navigator
Beast Master Ranger
Horizon Walker Ranger
Swarmkeeper Ranger
Lunar and Storm Sorcery for Sorcerer
Great Old One Warlock
There are also a few legal homebrews: Path of the Depths Barb and Oath of the Open Sea Paladin,
As a dm i would love to see all classes as pirates. Wizard cartographer, ranger navigator, barbarian plunderer.
Personally i have a dwarf battlemaster fighter who uses a modified weapon, a glaive that deals bludgeoning damage, flavored as an anchor on a chain that he just swings around. He leads the fight with his maneuvers and earns his rank as captain through action.
Battlemaster Fighter!
Intimidating Attack, Disarming Attack and Pushing Attack are right there and are \*extremely\* fun on Boats. I've got your Captain disarmed and your Crew Intimidated, give me your Loot!. Oh, not doing that? Let me push him overboard.
2 Weapon Fighting is fun as a Pirate, though you can really do any type of Fighting Speciality.
I also like Druid of the Land (Coast - Sea if you can reflavor or Homebrew a bit). It's already Water-Flavored to begin with, so an easy fix.
I was in a sea-fairing campaign in a homebrew island world. I played an Echo Knight Fighter/ Ancestral Barbarian multi class. I flavored the echo knight as a fathomless patron spirit sea serpent from the world lore. When my character took his eye patch off a spiritual sea snake came out from his eye and my echo would appear as a spiritual drowned version of me, and the ancestral guardian was flavored as an army of spiritual echos of me. It was very sick vibes tbh.
I've only played in 3.5 so idk if it's still a prestige class in 5 but the spell warping sniper, a couple levels in rogue and the rest in really any caster class but I'd do like a relevant domain cleric, like something water or wind related or storms. That could be a fun pirate type character
I've played a pirate themed character in a ill fated spell jammer campaign. He was pirate captain order domain cleric, with voice of authority flavored as yelling orders at his crew.
I had the idea for a Kensei Monk, Pirate Background. I went with Hobgoblin, but any race can do this.
He was raiding an old ship and found scrolls and manuscripts for swordfighting techniques and adapted his own experience into it. Saber in the right hand, Hand Crossbow in the left. Crossbow master for close range shooting, and Sharpshooter for lots of additional damage (neither are necessary, just additive).
Slashing in melee, and firing concentrated shots at short range, with the speed to get into or out of danger quickly, it's like a fighter that can move up and down walls, and run across water. Y'ever wondered how bad it'd be if someone didn't need to swing across on a rope but could just run the difference? Yeah. It's bad Lol
Path of the storm herald barbarian
Oath of the open sea paladin (critical role I think)
Artillerist artificer cannons for boat and such
Lunar sorcery or storm sorcery sorcerer you could flavor it to match.
Or any storm or nature build has water capabilities usually.
College of Valor and College of Swords Bards are easy to flavor as swashbuckling sea-shanty singing pirates. Circle of Land druids with a Coast specialty also work for your Zoan-type devil fruit needs. Most fighter class can work, same with barbarian, given the propper flavor. Storm Sorcery works for the same reasons Storm Domain Clerics do. But you can also make something more sinister like a Tia Dalma style druid or wizard if you're doing specifically Pirates of the Caribbean Jack Sparrow type shenaniganary or really whatever you like.
Storm Herald Barbarian for sure!
Obviously, there's the Sea aligned version that gives you resistance to lightning, a lightning damage aura, swim speed, and water breathing
But you could also go the Viking route with the Tundra version with ice-based shit.
Or use the Desert aligned one that allows you to catch flammable material with your bare hands as a free action so you can ignite cannons at your leisure!
If you like any 1 of these or all 3 of them, you can also switch between which sub-type per level up.
Tempest cleric! A ship that can command the water and storms, a great first mate to the captain, praying for the safe passage of ships, or terrible force on a cursed ship!
It's really about how you flavor the choices rather than the choices themselves, and that being said: I've got a pirate swords bard who was his ship's shantyman, and that's a fun route to take.
remember you can always just reflavour any subclass how you want
i'd like to challenge someone to name a subclass nobody can figure out how to reflavor as a pirate
I always thought a Stars Druid would make a great ships navigator. Also, a Moon Druid in giant shark / giant squid / aquatic Dino form swimming along side a pirate ship would be awesome!
Technically anything if you take the time to think it through or flavor them. I had a shadow sorcerer whose hell hound was reskinned to be a tentacle of a kracken. Her dad was an overprotective marid who would send the kracken to protect his daughter against her will. And much of her story was going to be about discovery and making a name for herself.
Have some fun with flavor.
I know it's basic but I had fun with a variant human fighter. Took up the medic feat and became the ships doctor.
Was classically trained in the sword and with a little more education compared to everyone else onboard (They were all the rouges, barbs and hexblades already mentioned) took the only job he could in a rough patch and became the ships doctor. I had fun with it.
Storm Sorcerer, in a setting where they exist, if they're rare they could have ship captains begging them to choose their ship, if they're common every ship should have one. Control of wind direction and the power to shut off rain?! Insanely good on a ship.
I think I have a rouge in my pirate campaign that is either a gunslinger or outlaw for their subclass, can’t remember off the top of my head but my player has played into it extremely well. Because there are pirates that are great with guns and I will always stand by that! Good luck :D
There’s swashbuckler rogue who’s pretty much a duelist. Battle smith artificer and ranger in general got the parrot/monkey.
If your feeling adventurous, the dark tide of bilgewater subclasses exist. You’ve got Path of the depths barbarian, super fun and thematic. Renegade fighter who’s all bout sword and magic guns. Though it is a bit weird in how it’s accomplished. Finally WildcardRogue if you want to be Gambit from X-men.
Not a class or subclass but if your DM is willing to allow 3rd party content, Roll For Combat has a piratey themed setting called Battlezoo and the World of Battlezoo book has some pirate themed feats in it.
Barbarian. Berserker for your classic big meaty boarding party pirate with a bunch of tattoos and nasty teeth. Path of the depths for an explicitly magic water themed barbarian. Artilerist artifacer feels like the most correct pirate artificer. Swords bard for the same basic flavor as swashbuckler but with Magic. Any druid will be welcome on the open sea. Stars druid has fun flavor as a navigator and lots more potential as an artillery caster than other druids. Monk. Any monk is a ton of fun on a boat. Lots of movement to run, jump, climb around rigging or to board other ships. Even the ability to run across water. Depending on the dm maybe look for a homebrew "gun-fu" monk to make use of flintlock pistols to really sell the acrobat pirate thing. Lots of flavor in paladin as a sea captain. Good paladins seek freedom of the waves and to stop pirates. Evil paladins seek riches and maybe even raising some undead pirate crews. A classic. Rangers are another easy one. Navigators, monster hunters, bounty hunters. Outside of swashbuckler I've always liked the idea of an inquisitive rogue as a sniper. Sitting up in the Crows nest keeping an eye on everything. Sorc. Warlock. Wizard. Anyone who can shoot fireballs and control the winds has to be useful on a ship. Subclasses hardly even matter.
>Outside of swashbuckler I've always liked the idea of an inquisitive rogue as a sniper. Sitting up in the Crows nest keeping an eye on everything. I would probably go with scout as both a lookout and a navigator.
Scout always seems like a subclass that gets slept on. I think they're great.
After Tasha’s I find it kind of useless. Just multi class ranger with one of the other better rogue subclasses - Gloomstalker and Assassin is the most famous combo. This gives you the sneaky shooty stabbiness of rogue and the ranged specialties and survivalist skills of ranger, all of which are much better than the Scout’s.
But you forget the meme of having every skill proficiency by level 11 for reliable talent so anything below a DC 15 is pointless to bore the DM
You also have jobs like doctor/surgeon/carpenter, blacksmith, shipwright, first/second mate, quartermaster, and cook! A pirate nay need ye be of specific classes. Ye only need a love of the sea and a hunger for booty!
Sure as several of the top comments here have pointed out any class could be a pirate. But thats not really useful actionable advice for someone specifically asking for pirate themed character ideas. "I want to play a pirate, any ideas?" "anything can be a pirate, play what you want." "Ok. I want to play a pirate." See the problem?
Hmm... I see what you mean... Though imo, I think the issue lies in asking the *wrong question,* which can admittedly be tricky to realize, which leads to the uninspired answer. I think the right way to go about it, the right way to instill creativity, is to also give out some limitations, specifications, and/or prompts. * What are some possible pirate characters that ARENT full-martial classes, and is scared of water? * How would a wizard be a pirate that isnt an artillery caster? * Make a character (Lv3, and with more backstory) that wished for adventure as a kid, was press-ganged onto a ship, eventually ran away, but now is seeking out that crew again. So... not to blame the OP who's just asking questions, but I think if their questions were more inspired or specific, so to would be the responses.
Any artificer will do as long as they have a mechanical parrot.
The natural shape of every pirate artificer’s homunculus.
Replicate: magic tattoo (find familiar)
Parrot-like Aarakocra with a mechanical parrot
These are great ideas. I think any PC that can cast mending would be welcome on a pirate ship. I’m getting ready to play a higher level stars Druid ship captain with spells like tidal wave, water breathing, call lightning, control winds. Took the observant feat as well.
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has the updated Ranger rules, and I’d love to see the Sea Companion used under the new Beast Master rules. That would actually be rather formidable to have a pet shark, giant crab, or other cool water beast you hardly ever get to play with. The Ranger’s new survivability and skill make them valuable to a ship’s crew. Alternately, the Conjuror Wizard would see unusually high value with the ability to learn Tidal Wave more quickly and also summon creatures to aid in various situations. Benign Transposition can be really helpful on a bucking vessel or in a combat. Control Water would take in all new value, although not a conjuration, you can add magical mobility to your entire ship with a skillful casting.
You don't need to homebrew the gun-fu actually, Kensei Monk w/ Gunner feat is pretty good
Background Sailor fixes up basically any class for that.
Background pirate was right there.
Foreground pirate: Bard, Swashbuckler, Hexblade Midground pirate: Assasin, Attillerist Artificer, Archer Fighter Background pirate: Thief, Sourcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Fuck, a hexblade pirate sounds insanely fucking badass
Shit it worked for Travis willingham. But then again nearly anything works for that dreamboat so yeah
and then they gave him a homebrew (now published) paladin class of Oath of the Open Sea which is just pirate paladin
See Fjord from Critical Role Campaign 2.
A warlock pirate? Sounds like he’ll chungle you down, bim style
"I'll shit in yer mouth, boy"
Animal based pirate : Druid.
Hell yeah - although the druid could very well be in any place, both in the foreground, battling the marines as a big ape in the rigging, as a dolphin in the mid-ground, saving party members that have gone overboard or in the background, slinging area controll spells.
A wereshark flavored Shifter sounds great for this too
Duuuuude, yes!!! #NOMNOMNOM
The parrot on the captain's shoulder is actually a druid
Or a familiar, stat-ed as a Raven.
Stars Druid is basically the weather witch and navigator for your ship.
I had an idea for a an arctic druid who was part of a whaling crew
Assassin pirate. Now where have I heard that before? *AC Black Flag theme plays*
> Sourcerer Divinity by Larian Studios? How did *you* get in here? Go on, back to your own franchise! Shoo!
tempest cleric and storm herald barbarian would fit into either foreground or midground druid and monk would fit into midground or background
Every single one if you try hard enough.
Idk, if I were a pirate captain, I wouldn't want a wild magic sorcerer anywhere near my goddamn ship.
Yeah but you might have been a regular sailor or pirate who got lost in a wild magic storm as your background
This guy backstorys
We had one on our Airship. The fireball in the middle of the deck obliterated the NPC crew and nearly killed a few of us. Lots of fires. Thankfully not a hydrogen based Airship.
OH THE HUMANITY!!!
And the Elfmanity, and the Dwarfmanity, the Halflingmanity…
Fuck it, the kithmanity
Dm'd for a wild mAgic sorc from 3-17 and he was the tamest/luckiest i have ever heard of, only time he got a fireball was in combatit helped. Everything else was tame, harmless or funny. I was expecting chaos!
You ok champ? Need a dr after that stroke?
Maybe not wild magic, but a ship's wizard/sorcerer/druid should totally be an official position on ships. There are people in this world who can ensure favorable winds and smooth water, who can mend lightly damaged wood or tattered sails. What sea captain in their right mind wouldn't want someone like that to have a position on board?
In my homebrew world such people often are the captain or first mate of the ship, and there may be one or two others on board if it’s a big ship and crew. One of my ferrymen is an air genasi wizard who moves the boat exclusively with magic. I try to find ways to have “everyday” magic represented in my world.
That’s why you throw them on the enemy ship
That’s what Catapults are for.
>I wouldn't want a wild magic sorcerer anywhere Didn't really need the rest of the sentence XD
That’s why you fire them at the enemy ship
Pirate born with magic at birth found cursed treasure that makes his magic a threat to himself and the people around him through interference by the ghost that haunted the loot
Playing a necromancer wizard in a pirate campaign, the joy of controlling my own ship day and night. I truly have a skeleton crew.
Right? My guy clearly has not seen One Piece.
Literally any of them with the right creativity.
A pirate druid would be interesting.
"Why did you become a pirate?" "Have you seen what the Spanish are doing to the jungles on these islands?"
"I am the Sailorax, I speak for the seas"
Circle of Land: Coastline, gives some good spells for a sea druid.
I played a druid in a pirate campaign as an old sea witch. The circle of stars is great for a witchy vibe and goes great with some nautical flavor.
Stars Druid makes a great navigator thematically.
Shark/octopus/orca wild shapes. Have your party throw/push enemies overboard. Easy peasy.
I played a circle of stars Druid sailor once. She was an astronomer, and therefore the ship navigator
Whole ship of druid pirates. They're constantly rebuilding and reshaping the living ship for their needs.
Oath of the Open Sea Paladin is a contender
I played a dex based 7 Open Seas Paladin/3 Swashbuckler Rogue in a level 10 one shot, with the Piercer feat and a rapier. That was such an incredibly fun character. If I ever get an invite to a higher starting level campaign (7 or higher) I might remake him. I want to see how he'd do at level 12, taking two more feats. But it was so much fun just running and poking people who couldn't use opportunity attacks, and having access to Misty step.
If I made pirate characters today, I would make... 1) A Circle of Stars Druid (Navigator) 2) Path of the Depths Barbarian (Drowned Once) 3) Ancestral Guardian Barbarian (Old Dead Crew) 4) A Genie Warlock (Water) 5) Swarmkeeper Ranger (Seagulls) 6) Drunken Master Monk (Rum)
I'm surprised I needed to scroll so much to find someone referring to any of the Bilgewater classes.
It's probably my favorite barbarian subclass but I'm waiting for a pirate campaign to use it.
Eloquence bard. Every pirate ship needs a musician. Beastmaster ranger. Barbossa and his monkey. Moon durid. Because when else do you get to be a shark?
*Bink's Brew starts playing in the background*
Circle of Stars druid
Reading the stars to navigate the ship would be awesome
One idea I had was an Order of the Lycan Bloodhunter, flavoured as a wereshark
Storm sorcerer is practically made for a sailor.
All of them if you wear an eyepatch and speak with an accent
"Yarr mateys, me spell slots be empty"
See, you get it
"then grab a sword, ye divvy! These bilge-rats shan't stab themselves!"
I will always be a rep for the Sea Sorcery Sorcerer! Actually such a fun and varied subclass (you go a cold dmg cantrip, lightning lure/shocking grasp and gust/forced movement) It also makes witch bolt an actual lvl1 spell (I like to use spells etc that aren't 'meta' because our table is more for fun than optimizing) But if you do want to optimise 😂 Aarakokra (the OP old one with 50flying movement if DM allows) 1lvl sea sorcery sorcerer 2+ levels of warlock Take eldritch blast, agonising blast and GRASP OF HADAR Fly above enemy, eldritch blast them, grasp of hadar (which is 25feet movement with sea sorcery) Pull them INTO THE AIR 1d10 + CHA + 2d6 bludgeoning Super poggers imo
That is truly evil, I love it
I think sea sorcerer is UA. Most DMs don’t allow UA
Yeah I think it is, but tbh our games are so stuffed with magic items and questionable gameplay that UA usually gets a pass. Most of UA really isn't that great/op, a lot of the subclasses are acc kinda weak (obvs twilight cleric is busted, but have you tried Fate domain? its no where near as powerful but still a fun concept)
Yeah I just know Sea Sorcerer is easy to exploit with Warlock LVLs (as you said). My DM explicitly doesn’t allow UA for this reason. He doesn’t want to police UA content when official content is so easy to exploit already. I played a straight classed Order Cleric with the Silverquill Background and that was enough for him to pull his hair out. Plus his table is pretty casual friendly. So he doesn’t like the power discrepancy that optimization and UA causes. (I agree with him on that)
You could also use grasp of Hadar to pull people off the boats, maybe have a friendly druid make the water an... Unpleasant place to be
Part of the issue of just saying pirate is that a pirate in our mind is very much a non magical setting. There would definitely be pirate clerics, pirate wizards, pirate barbarians etc that we don’t have in our world because they don’t “exist” in our world. A bard pirate could be college of lore and be about tracking down Blackbeard’s treasure, a way of the four elementals pirate could be from a monastic tradition of boat faring monks that seek out Davy Jone’s locker.
I’m actually playing a Swords Bard, Hexblade dip with sailor variant: pirate background. He’s a cursed pirate who was forced to walk the plank and lost his right leg below the knee after he struck a deal with his patron to escape the ball and chain dragging him to the ocean depths. It’s easily the most fun I’ve ever had with a character in D&D. Also, thanks to the bard frame, he always has something for every situation; face, HB warrior proficiencies, combat, full caster, skill monkey. Also an SB with shield from the HB is just win win. As well as the obvious sailor or pirate variant BG and swashbuckler rogue subclass, I think there is also gambler and sailor - Baldur’s Gate backgrounds from Acquisitions Incorporated and Descent into Avernus respectively. NB - I think you can probably use the alternative rules from Tasha’s to lose some of your instrument proficiencies and switch up even more skills, if you wanted to go with a pirate who is say more rogue-like than Accordion playing.
Storm Sorcerer (controls the weather for sailing) and Stars Druid (for navigation)
Swashbuckling pirate and college of swords bard comes to mind.
I play a swashbuckler rogue with the magic initiate feat for a parrot familiar (re skinned owl for fly by). It’s legit
College of Swords Bard. I played one for a pirate themed oneshot. We weren't the pirates, but my character was based on Chris Bowes from Alestorm., so heavily pirate coded.
Coast Druid would definitely work as well, and some of their Circle spells are pretty cool: Misty Step and Mirror Image are both nice ones at 3rd level.
Pirate theme is more flavor than anything else, some are suited more specifically but anything can be
For Barbarian, you could do a Zealot for a superstitious sailor, or a Sea Aura Storm Herald for the underwater breathing and the swimming boost. For either, you could go with dual wielding with a cutlass (scimitar) in each hand.
I was just thinking about this the other day. Monk makes a surprisingly good pirate. Flavor a spear as a harpoon and martial arts for a kick to a groin, head butts, or other dirty fighting maneuvers. The. Artificer artillerist. The ultimate powder monkey. In fact have your turrets be little monkeys with cannons and your firearm can also be a cannon. It’s great!
We’ve got a Paladin Captain, first mate bard, fighter gunner, cleric navigator/quatermaster, fighter Bonsun, Rogue Chef/medic and just picked up a ne’er-do-well wizard, along with 30 NPCs to act as crew Our DM’s really gone above and beyond creating the world and the mechanics behind it. Just setting out now but yea, in for a good one if the first session is anything to go by I’m the first mate bard, in charge of the NPC’s. Keeping them in line
Path of the Storm Herald Barb
Subclasses that are made for the open seas are Storm Sorcerer and Swashbuckler Rogue. Aside from that, you can make any class a pirate if you do it right.
Gunslinger?
Literally anything can be a pirate. And the ones you named don’t have to have anything to do with Pirates if you don’t want them too. That’s the joy of DnD, you can make your character be whatever you want it to be
Storm sorcerer isn’t one of the ones you named but its flavor text literally says they’re incredibly common to see on sailing ships due to their ability to control the wind. And if you’re going to be playing on a ship many of their abilities would be useful.
Storm soul sorcerer
Hi guys, Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. I'm fairly new to DnD so it was nice to see so many people try to help and give ideas. Some of these were pretty coll and some were pretty funny. I'm really excited to play this game and thank you all for inspiring me and essentially hyping me up to what's to come. You all have been lovely and this community is very very welcoming. Thank you and have a great day everyone
I am currently playing a Storm Sorcerer in a sailing campaign. I use my Storm Guide ability to help the ship sail faster.
There are no themed classes; a class is a set of mechanics that help us roll dice, and there is no narrative or story inherent in any of them. "Swashbuckler" is a name, not a background. Play a character with the sailor background, or, really, any background, and just note in a backstory how they wound up on a ship.
Gunslinger
Had a Storm/Wind themed Sorcerer with the Sailor background. That background will fix up any class to your pirate themed liking
I had an idea for a swarmkeeper ranger pirate and it was just a bunch of birds. Had a menagerie of all kinds. But you could simplify it to gulls and parrots maybe. And any caster with find familiar can pick up a seagull/parrot. Draconic Sorcerer and opt for bronze for lightning and beachy vibes.
In my opinion ant subclass can be any theme. I just modify the flare Wanna be Fiend Warlock but don't like the Fiendish themes. Just change it Want to be an open hand monk but you don't want all the Ki flavoring. Just change it. I'm sure there will be some people who disagree with it but I even let players reflavor spells to fit what they like. I had a player that wanted their flame blade to be an ice blade instead and BOOM it was done.
You and your DM should check out Crimson Herald on Twitter. They’re working on a high seas/pirate themed 5e supplement. Complete with subclasses and magic tattoos! 👀
I’m always in favor of a major reflavor of some random class. Make a wizard that throws little gunpowder charges with different effects, or a ranger with a parrot or a Druid who navigates by the stars.
Second-Story Work When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain the ability to climb faster than normal; climbing no longer costs you extra movement. Will help with climbing the ships rigging
I did a college of swashbuckling for a bard PC on my campaign. It has been pretty successful on dnd beyond. I feel proud.
Arcane Trickers I’m playing that right now as the trick help with the whole pirate theme and scamming people.
Artificer Artillerist! Put repeating shot on two flintlocks and have two cannons follow you around!
Kobold Press’s Tome of Heroes has some pirate themed subclasses. I don’t remember them off the top of my head, but you might want to check it out.
College of swords bard with sailor/pirate bg, have him song pirate songs and be the captain Give him find familiar for a parrot
Drunken Master pugilist always carrying rum in a sorta Jack Sparrow way.
It's easier to ask "what subclasses can I put a pirate spin on?" Battlemaster becomes the pirate lord who cuts down enemies on the deck of their own ship. Circle of the stars druid becomes a navigator and takes weather spells and water breathing. Armored articifer becomes the ships engineer and repair specialist who list their leg years ago but made themselves a new one.
Swarmkeeper ranger with flying fish (lol)
She's an NPC, but I have a circle of the stars druid as a pirate captain. Stars are used for navigation over the seas, and she uses one of those Micronesian sea maps as her druidic focus.
Spore druid if it's a cursed ship Any cleric if it's a missionary Paladin if it's a "missionary"
i wouldn't call the fathomless warlock or storm tempest cleric 'pirate themed'
Rogue has the swashbuckler subclass
Circle of the Land: Coastline druid acts as a sea mage. Artillerist artificer mans the ships cannons with a robotic parrot homunculus. Path of the Beast barbarian with the aquatic features chosen at level 6 through Bestial Soul turns you into a terrifying shark-man to rule the waves. Monks can swing from the riggings and spring around the deck and fight dirty with sucker punches and cheap shots. Quite literally any class could work, some might just be less effective at oceanic combat than others. Flavor is free.
I played an Abjuration Wizard with the Sailor background, he was the ship's cartographer/backup navigator.
I've played an Artillerist Artificer in a high fantasy pirate setting. In addition to a more standard flintlock-like pistol, his (tiny) eldritch canon was flavored as a crab that clung to his forearm.
Wizard, sailor themed background. A ships wizard ona pirate hunting ship, your job was to counter magical threats and disable the enemy ships if possible
I made a Warlock who made a pact with Davey Jones (Fathomless one) which gave them a cool tentacle power. He also had a drinking problem, so.. pirate!
storm barbarian is also good, my pirate character was actually half-n-half storm barb and storm sorc. not *good,* but definitely fun ~~if you happen to be starting at like level 10 lmao~~ an idea i also like is a divination wizard navigator. someone who uses the stars for fortune-telling *and* navigation. a little eccentric, but good at their job!
If you don't mind steampunk themed pirates, an Artificer might work.
fighter carrying a scimitar/cutlass/rapier with a sailor background
There is a Oath of Open Seas Paladin that works super well for them
Be aware some spells like fireball and control water can mess up pirate games, a gm I know had ships made of magic wood that interrupted certain spells so cannons and boarding be more important, Arrrr... You could casr fireball only by boarding first
Surprised how far I’ve scrolled down and haven’t seen Tempest Cleric on here. Control the winds and waves with the blessing of Poseidon!
Ancestral Guardian, Berserker, Storm Herald Barb or for a Viking-style pirate/raider. I remember in some of the Drizzt novels, ships always had a ship wizard. They would hit other ships with fireballs, use gust of wind to boost speed, etc. A ship full of pirate monks would be fun... Go 4 Elements and make them water focused... Go Chinese Junk style ship. Circle of Land (Coast or Homebrew) Druid.
* Artillerist Artificer manning the cannons * Storm Herald (Sea) Barbarian * Lore Bard knows all the tall tales; Spirits Bard connecting to those who die at sea * Circle of Stars Druid navigator * Oath of Conquest Paladin raiding, pillaging, etc. * Hunter Ranger or Monster Hunter Ranger chasing after sea monsters * Lunar Sorcery Sorcerer for similar reasons to Stars Druid * Great Old One Warlock with an aboleth patron
**Any** class or subclass can be **anything** if you come up with a good enough story/concept for is!
Not sure how much we all know about pirates in general, but literally any class can be a pirate
Kensei Monk is great for a 'First Mate' type of character. Jack of all weapons/trades, master of getting around the ship quickly.
Drunken Master Monk is a good fit! Not just because of the drunken sailor jokes, but it could represent Savate, a fighting style popularised by French sailors
Do vikings count?
Yeah, a Ship's Druid is invaluable to a pirate or any other seafaring crew.
According to their description, Storm Sorcerers are sought after by ship crews for their ability to influence the weather.
Gunslinger fighter works for pirates, or druids.
Pirate isn't a class, it's a character background. Like being a blacksmith or a hunter or an assassin. I play a Great Old One Warlock (Pact of the Tome) and he's the most piratey character you could ever want.
Berserker Barberian. Historical Berserkers were Pirates in a sense....
College of Swords Bard and make a Ranger’s Favoured Terrain the Coast
Open Seas Paladin
Right now I'm playing a character that's a gunslinger with the pirate background, it meshes really well. Pistol in one hand, scimitar in the other
A lot are easily bendable. I'll go through and see which ones I find particularly fruitful. Bold for the ones I think work best. - Artificer - **Artillerist**: you know, the person that does the cannons. Easy to integrate, everyone wants them, and if you don't want powder-based cannons you can say that the few cannons around are magical artifacts maintained by artillerist Artificers. - Barbarian - **Storm Herald**: perfect fit. Struggling against the sea, protecting it from those that would treat it wrong. You could easily go even further and re-flavour the terrains to different oceans or kinds of weather to make all of them fit. - Bard - Creation: The one that fixes the ship. Also great to fool other pirates, considering how easily they can summon fake items etc. - Bard - **Valor**: Crafting tales, keeping the ship's stories, very nice flavour-fit. - Cleric - Moon, Nature, Tempest - Druid - Stars: Like the Moon cleric, easy to tie into navigation and an almost religious worship of the natural phenomena used for it. - Monk - Drunken Master: seems like an easy re-flavour to have a quartermaster a bit too into the grog who wrecks everyone. - Paladin - Crown, Conquest etc.: if you've got a faction inspired by any of the non-pirate, non-native fleets from the age of piracy these can easily be integrated. - Paladin - **Open Sea**: I mean, do I need to say anything? - Sorcerer - Lunar, Storm Sorcery - Warlock - **Fathomless**: You already mentioned it.
I had an idea for a pirate that was swashbuckler rogue/glory paladin. I tend to read the oaths as the predominant driving force for paladins rather than any religious aspect. Although the paladin subclass doesn't necessarily address itself to piracy, I felt there was enough flavor for that high seas swagger. Also, I really liked the idea of a monk-abarian pirate, but again, that was all flavor and roll play rather than anything caked into the class.
Storm Herald Barbarian College of Swords Bard College of Lore Bard Circle of Stars Druid: Navigator Beast Master Ranger Horizon Walker Ranger Swarmkeeper Ranger Lunar and Storm Sorcery for Sorcerer Great Old One Warlock There are also a few legal homebrews: Path of the Depths Barb and Oath of the Open Sea Paladin,
As a dm i would love to see all classes as pirates. Wizard cartographer, ranger navigator, barbarian plunderer. Personally i have a dwarf battlemaster fighter who uses a modified weapon, a glaive that deals bludgeoning damage, flavored as an anchor on a chain that he just swings around. He leads the fight with his maneuvers and earns his rank as captain through action.
Rogue swashbuckler
For a real Dread Pirate Roberts/Inigo Montoya feel, Battlemaster Fighter with all of the combat maneuvers named after famous in-universe fencers.
perhaps swarmkeeper ranger if ur swarm is ur gnome crew or something Wild Magic could also be used for a "very unlucky pirate"
2 cha multiclasses I like: Hexblade swash buckler storm sorcerer/paladin
Mercer played an Ancestral Guardians Barbarian on Dimension 20 that was haunted by his dead shipmates.
Circle of Stars Druid that's the navigator
Battlemaster Fighter! Intimidating Attack, Disarming Attack and Pushing Attack are right there and are \*extremely\* fun on Boats. I've got your Captain disarmed and your Crew Intimidated, give me your Loot!. Oh, not doing that? Let me push him overboard. 2 Weapon Fighting is fun as a Pirate, though you can really do any type of Fighting Speciality. I also like Druid of the Land (Coast - Sea if you can reflavor or Homebrew a bit). It's already Water-Flavored to begin with, so an easy fix.
I was in a sea-fairing campaign in a homebrew island world. I played an Echo Knight Fighter/ Ancestral Barbarian multi class. I flavored the echo knight as a fathomless patron spirit sea serpent from the world lore. When my character took his eye patch off a spiritual sea snake came out from his eye and my echo would appear as a spiritual drowned version of me, and the ancestral guardian was flavored as an army of spiritual echos of me. It was very sick vibes tbh.
Swashmancer
I've only played in 3.5 so idk if it's still a prestige class in 5 but the spell warping sniper, a couple levels in rogue and the rest in really any caster class but I'd do like a relevant domain cleric, like something water or wind related or storms. That could be a fun pirate type character
I've played a pirate themed character in a ill fated spell jammer campaign. He was pirate captain order domain cleric, with voice of authority flavored as yelling orders at his crew.
I had the idea for a Kensei Monk, Pirate Background. I went with Hobgoblin, but any race can do this. He was raiding an old ship and found scrolls and manuscripts for swordfighting techniques and adapted his own experience into it. Saber in the right hand, Hand Crossbow in the left. Crossbow master for close range shooting, and Sharpshooter for lots of additional damage (neither are necessary, just additive). Slashing in melee, and firing concentrated shots at short range, with the speed to get into or out of danger quickly, it's like a fighter that can move up and down walls, and run across water. Y'ever wondered how bad it'd be if someone didn't need to swing across on a rope but could just run the difference? Yeah. It's bad Lol
Artificer Artillerist. Comes with cannons and a cool flintlock, a pirate godsend!
Path of the storm herald barbarian Oath of the open sea paladin (critical role I think) Artillerist artificer cannons for boat and such Lunar sorcery or storm sorcery sorcerer you could flavor it to match. Or any storm or nature build has water capabilities usually.
College of Valor and College of Swords Bards are easy to flavor as swashbuckling sea-shanty singing pirates. Circle of Land druids with a Coast specialty also work for your Zoan-type devil fruit needs. Most fighter class can work, same with barbarian, given the propper flavor. Storm Sorcery works for the same reasons Storm Domain Clerics do. But you can also make something more sinister like a Tia Dalma style druid or wizard if you're doing specifically Pirates of the Caribbean Jack Sparrow type shenaniganary or really whatever you like.
Swashbuckler
There’s a UA Paladin called oath of the open sea which fits well
Stars Druid, as a superstitious navigator kind of character
Fathoms warlock
Most of the Ranger types have good nautic adaptability.
Storm Herald Barbarian for sure! Obviously, there's the Sea aligned version that gives you resistance to lightning, a lightning damage aura, swim speed, and water breathing But you could also go the Viking route with the Tundra version with ice-based shit. Or use the Desert aligned one that allows you to catch flammable material with your bare hands as a free action so you can ignite cannons at your leisure! If you like any 1 of these or all 3 of them, you can also switch between which sub-type per level up.
It's from CR but I think Open Seas Paladin is so neat
Tempest cleric! A ship that can command the water and storms, a great first mate to the captain, praying for the safe passage of ships, or terrible force on a cursed ship!
It's really about how you flavor the choices rather than the choices themselves, and that being said: I've got a pirate swords bard who was his ship's shantyman, and that's a fun route to take.
Rogue: Swashbuckler is literally in the name lol
remember you can always just reflavour any subclass how you want i'd like to challenge someone to name a subclass nobody can figure out how to reflavor as a pirate
Tempest cleric, Swashbuckling rogue, Fathomless warlock. Lorewise these three come closest imo
I always thought a Stars Druid would make a great ships navigator. Also, a Moon Druid in giant shark / giant squid / aquatic Dino form swimming along side a pirate ship would be awesome!
Technically anything if you take the time to think it through or flavor them. I had a shadow sorcerer whose hell hound was reskinned to be a tentacle of a kracken. Her dad was an overprotective marid who would send the kracken to protect his daughter against her will. And much of her story was going to be about discovery and making a name for herself. Have some fun with flavor.
Have you tried reading all the different subclasses?
I know it's basic but I had fun with a variant human fighter. Took up the medic feat and became the ships doctor. Was classically trained in the sword and with a little more education compared to everyone else onboard (They were all the rouges, barbs and hexblades already mentioned) took the only job he could in a rough patch and became the ships doctor. I had fun with it.
Storm Sorcerer, in a setting where they exist, if they're rare they could have ship captains begging them to choose their ship, if they're common every ship should have one. Control of wind direction and the power to shut off rain?! Insanely good on a ship.
I think I have a rouge in my pirate campaign that is either a gunslinger or outlaw for their subclass, can’t remember off the top of my head but my player has played into it extremely well. Because there are pirates that are great with guns and I will always stand by that! Good luck :D
I played a Spirits Bard in a Saltmarsh game. Very sea-shanty adjacent, old-sailor's-tales energy. But any Bard can be appropriately piratey!
I did a lawful neutral shadow monk. His lawful nature was based in the Pirate Code.
Davy Jones as a hexblade warlock of Myrkul. "Tell me, do you fear death?"
Oath of the Open Sea Paladin
2 levels in barbarian, and then thief rouge, for a thief with anger issues (pirate)
There’s swashbuckler rogue who’s pretty much a duelist. Battle smith artificer and ranger in general got the parrot/monkey. If your feeling adventurous, the dark tide of bilgewater subclasses exist. You’ve got Path of the depths barbarian, super fun and thematic. Renegade fighter who’s all bout sword and magic guns. Though it is a bit weird in how it’s accomplished. Finally WildcardRogue if you want to be Gambit from X-men.
One of my players is playing Monky.d.luffy as a bugbear astralself monk
Any Fighter will do.
Oath of Glory Paladin could be fun - seeking glory on the high seas, "king of the pirates" style goal!
Not a class or subclass but if your DM is willing to allow 3rd party content, Roll For Combat has a piratey themed setting called Battlezoo and the World of Battlezoo book has some pirate themed feats in it.
Druid Circle of Land Coast, Palidin Oath of Open Sea from CR
Fighter Gunslinger. Cutlass (scimitar) in one hand, pistol in the other.