Hey there
So I’m thinking of creating a pirate character but there are some things that aren’t clear for me yet:
Thanks !
From a certain point of view.
No, not by default, but if you want to be the treasure stealing, ship looting, gun shooting, scourge of the sea, then yeah you aren’t likely to be a nice person.
Pirates are prosecuted in kul’tiras with hanging
stormwind harbor and ogrimmars port might have a similar low tolerance for piracy as it is basically banditry on the water
but a low profil pirate could probably slip into town and booty bay is basically gonna welcome you with open arms if you have coins to spend.
the default pirate class is probably rogue scoundrel, with its abilities themed around the pirate fantasy and similar.
but anyone could be a pirate even a warlock.
Is stealing evil?
Pirates can be evil, but don’t need to be. During the Golden Age of piracy, many pirates started their pirating career after mutineering their vessel from their captain. This happened mostly because the men hated the strict authoritarian structure on the ships, and life on a ship was harsh and with little future.
Unlike most media portrails, the majority of pirateships didn’t have a true pirate captain who dictated every move, rather their leaders were collectively chosen, or disposed off if he didn’t make good results.
In the end Pirates are outlaws, bandits, anarchists, anti-conformists who rather choose a harsh but free life, rather then being at the bottom in a hierarchy. Your pirate can do evil things, but don’t have to. However you’ll have to make your hands dirty at times, fighting the law, other pirates, or hurting perhaps innocents if things doesn’t go right. Still your character can do honourable things regarding it’s suroundings, if you feel like.
Pirates mostly keep themselves in Booty Bay, or neutral places such as Ratchet. They may enter cities such as Orgrimmar or Stormwind, but will have to use disguises if they are wanted in those cities. If you prefer not being wanted in one of the cities, you can also be a privateer, which is a legit pirate who only works for one side, by privateering goods from the other during wartime.
Historic pirates were people from many different places and backgrounds. Runaway-criminals, factory workers, runaway slaves, impoverished nobles, veteran traitors, alcoholic priests, you name it, they all walked the woods of a pirateship. In WoW a lot of pirate NPCs are both Alliance or Horde races, and they don’t mind much their background so long you can work together. If your character is a warlock, it can only bring some new skills to the table.
Great , thanks alot guys, certaintly clears some things up.
Last question though, why is Booty Bay so welcoming to pirates?
It’s a pirate haven I believe. So long they don’t start trouble, they are welcomed.
They have to meet a quota to be allowed to keep the name.
Neutral port, as long as you follow the Steamwheedle rules.
It’s less evil, more… needs of the one/needs of the few being prioritized over the needs of the many!
Though more sincerely - piracy can have it’s own morality. There’s a whole multitude of reasons to become a pirate, from feeling as if society has failed you thus making a free life as a seafarer seem more appealing to being a rage-filled bloodthirsty marauder who craves every opportunity for violence. Generally you’re not going to be a paragon of morales as a pirate, however.
That depends entirely on notoriety. A captain probably can’t, but it’s doubtful that every city knows every crewman on every ship. A deckhand could probably get in just fine without issue, assuming they knew to keep their profession to themselves.
Yes! Personally I think the darker magics suit piracy very well. If piracy can be a short and “easy” path to riches and power, then using a magic that reflects that mentality is quite on-brand for a pirate.
I think you’d struggle to justify a priest of the Light or a paladin as a pirate, and I don’t personally feel as if dracthyr would suit the high seas all too well, but beyond that I think you can add an appropriately nautical spin to most of the game’s classes.
It’s a goblin-owned and ran port. Time is money, and piracy sometimes pays (contrary to what law abiding citizens would have you believe.)
Yes, no. A pirate can be evil, a pirate can be good. Flynn Fairwind was / is a pirate, he’s pretty good.
Yes. Get yourself a letter of marque and you can be a legal pirate plundering in the name of one of the factions. But you might want to avoid Kul Tiras without that letter, lest you get hanged.
Not impossible, but not very fitting if an IC thing.
Care to elaborate on this?
To me bolstering the crew with enslaved demons makes total sense, for example.
I know this has been a thing in the real world, but I can’t find anything on such letters being a thing in lore.
It’s ran by the Blackwater Raiders (Steamwheedle funded pirate fleet/Town?), the pirate Nemesis of the infamous Blood Sail Buccaneers.
What do you mean by not very fitting? There are numerous warlocks and mages that run with pirates, see the blood sails even outside of Booty Bay hosts a number of dark casters and warlocks.
We even saw the expanding features/perks spell casters can bring to ships in BFA in the form of tide mages, squall-casters and whatever flavoured spell jocky there’s out there.
In my experience pirate RP can somewhat run the gamut between low fantasy guilds that don’t really have much in the way of magic-using characters and perhaps may outright avoid such to fully and openly embracing them.
I think a problem that can arise with pirate RP is the question of “well why do you even need a ship if you have a character that can teleport?” to which there can be a whole range of answers:
Bit of a tangent and a ramble but discussing how seafaring RP fits into the high fantasy aspects of WoW is admittedly a fun topic to me.
The existence of privateers since Classic implies the existence of letters of marque, BfA went a step further and added comissioned privateers in Boralus.
We’ve seen plenty of casters running around with pirates, yes. But the majority of them have been some kind of flavour of mage, generally frost / water related. The only warlock / dark caster pirate I can mention from the top of my head are the aforementioned Bloodsail Warlocks in Stranglethorn. It happens, but it isn’t common, and it requires much more than becoming a mage does.
That’s a fair point, but unless there’s a solid example of a letter of marque somewhere, I think it’s something one should be careful with. Worst case you’ll have a Jack Sparrow walking around Lion’s Rest with the pirate equivalent of a Warlock license.
Implied really is a word us forumites seem more than happy to flip flop with, judged by the overall stance on - for example - darkfallen where it’s also implied that the night elf ones are successful in re-joining the Alliance due to the customisation option unlocking and the line from the quests.
Unless there are actual statistics other than the quantity of Bloodsail warlocks in Stranglethorn, I don’t think this is a solid foundation to stand on when arguing against a pirate warlock.
Something being uncommon doesn’t and shouldn’t really deter someone from roleplaying it as long as it has some root in the lore.
I would recommend for any pirate roleplayer, if you haven’t done it yet, to not complete the Freehold part of the Tiragarde Sound questline. It lets you keep the Irontide Raider hat that turns all mobs in Freehold friendly permanently. The downside is that it does lock you out of completing the overarching Kul Tiras questline but being able to mosey around an actual pirate port without consequence is worth the tradeoff in my opinion.
Also the hat looks cool.
Longtime pirate roleplayer here!
I don’t have a lot to add to what others have said, but as for warlocks; while the concept isn’t an issue in itself, various crews may have good reasons to avoid it. Think about it - On a ship, you’ll be isolated with your crewmate in a limited space, with nothing but open sea around you, for long periods of time. While some crews may choose to allow warlocks, mages and whatnot, others may feel reluctant to have someone who can cause an unstoppable fire by sneezing the wrong way. Either way is valid, and if you join a guild to do pirate RP, they may have some established rules about it.
(“Sneezing” is obviously hyperbole on my part, implying the risk that even a small mistake can have catastrophic consequences)
Difference is the legal pirate license is something very much implied to exist in the lore given the presence of quite the amount of privateers throughout this world.
Unlike this, where the only solid thing we have to go by is that some night elven dark rangers are wishing to rejoin their living kin, but there is nothing to suggest they have done so yet. The skin implies very little when combined with the void elf dark ranger skin.
But you don’t know that the process of how one becomes a privateer is the same as in the real world. Having a letter as proof might not be the case at all.