i’m playing a sailor in my new campaign and i love sailor superstitions, so i made a bunch of dnd sailor superstitions/traditions! (some might be weird/bizarre, but a lot of ours are too so i felt it fitting)
- having a water genasi on board is good luck, even better if they’re higher ranked (captain, first mate). however, if they’re a prisoner, it’s extremely bad luck for the crew that has them imprisoned.
- holy people of sea gods closely follow water genasi in good luck/bad luck.
- sailors tend to get tattoos of a land god’s symbol in hopes that if they drown, a land god will get them back safely. however, sea gods find this extremely rude and disrespectful, so sailors have to find ways of hiding the tattoos at all times, whether with magic, clothes, or makeup.
- every port city has a shrine or temple to a sea god. the very last thing sailors do before heading out on the ocean and the very first thing they do when they get back on land is pray at one of these places. bigger port cities have special roads for sailors to take.
- the only time it’s okay to sing sea shanties on land is if you have a vial of seawater on you. if you don’t have any, sea gods think you’re singing for the land gods instead of themselves. and if they think that, things will turn nasty when you get back to sea.
- sailors don’t talk about their families/friends/loved ones while at sea. the sea could get jealous, and try and keep the sailors all to itself–by whatever means necessary.
- there are various tattoos one can get for certain accomplishments (ie. defeating a monster, sailing for a certain amount of time/for a certain distance, which port you hail from, etc)
- every ship brings a small animal that’s special to a sea god on board (ie a crab). that animal has all priority–in food, in defense, in healing. it’s said that if that animal dies, the rest of the crew will soon follow.
bonus sea shanties:
- dwarf and orc shanties have a very steady rhythm and often involve drums–meant to keep rowing easy and sailors focused.
- tiefling and elf shanties are melodious and often eerie to hear from another ship–especially in foggy/stormy weather. they’re meant to simulate the sound of the wind, waves, and those who died at sea.
- dragonborn and genasi shanties often involved overlapping lyrics and melodies, causing them to sound like the storms out at sea. they’re meant to pay tribute to and appease the gods.
- halfling and gnome shanties are cheery and peppy, meant to keep things interesting after monotonous days at sea and to make sure morale is up.
- human shanties are as wide and varied as the race itself. they often tell stories–of the crew, of other ships’ adventures, or of history.
Tag: oc: jo
1, 3, 7, 22 for your pick of kid~
Thank you!I’m just gonna go by which character is the most interesting? (Oops it turned out I’m in a Flicker mood)
1. What’s their full name, how’s it pronounced, and what does it mean? – Flicker! Pronounced in the ordinary way like the word is normally pronounced? Her family was trying real hard not to adopt this child that wandered into their monastery, because what if she has parents (one of her aunts pulled the ‘dont name something you don’t want to get attached to’ card), but they needed something to call her, and at that age little sparks of magic were a Thing for her, and there was a joke about flickering magic, and then by the time the winters over and they find out she doesn’t have a family the name has firmly stuck, so, Flicker!
3. What type of drunk are they? – Flicker is, a child, basically (she’s not she’s like 22) and doesn’t drink because it tastes gross. Rien doesn’t drink for. Reasons. Amatri, my boy, he is the drunk history channel. More than two cups and suddenly he is telling a story. You didn’t want to hear about history? Too bad you now have a very drunk elf passionately explaining it in a very excited manner.
7. Do they have any living relatives? If they do, which one do they like the least and why?- Rien loves his gramma, for reasons I can’t say yet. Flicker has so many, just a whole bunch of relatives, and she can’t pick just one!! She loves them all equally!! (Yes she can her favourite is the Grandparent who taught her how to card and spin wool while telling her all the best stories)
[EDIT] Whoops misread the question! Rien Does Not Like his uncle. For also reasons I can’t say. Flicker will say she hates her cousin, but that is just not true at all. She’ll also say she hates the aunt who made her practice all sorts of weird annoying things like doing embroidery by night in the dark for some reason, but she doesn’t, not really. Just enjoys fighting with her, and her aunt enjoys the fights too.
22. When your character is sad, what do they do to cheer themselves up?- Flicker spins, usually, and meditates/prays. Storms cheer her up too, though. Amatri sings or dances, something that needs all his attention. Same for Jo, who will climb to the crows nest (or onto a roof if they’re on land) and just sing something.
Barrett’s Privateers by Stan Rogers except you’re the captain of a ship that’s rocking through the waves one night, and a group of off-duty sailors below your cabin are harmonizing together.
requested by @theseashellscenter
1, 3, 14 for your choice!
1.What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? For Jo, it was basically ‘sea shanty bard’, and everything else kinda fell in after that. Flicker started out as a monologue I had to do for english, and the vague mental image of her. Rien… Backstory and name came kinda hand in hand, their gramma told them stories about foolish children who gave away their names, so when they stumbled into the wilds and a stranger asked for their name, well. Then there’s Amatri, who I think is the oldest of them? he started as a elven bard dance boy in a party full of even more bards (and one rogue) and was built to fit the party for the (unfortunately cut short) campaign about …bard band battles.
3. How did you choose their name? Flicker: I?? dont remember? other than she’s a tempest cleric and I liked that name for her? It suits her. Jo: from my list of names I find cool. Rien: hahahaaa well. French. Amatri: there’s a list? from an rp site I stumbled across somehow, with prefixes and suffixes for an elven language I don’t remember what from, and basically his name means “beautiful dancer.” I think. I chose his name like, 5 years ago.
14. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be? Jo was created like, two days ago and can be summed up with “sea shanties” and “not a pirate”. Rien is way more sneaky and backstabby than I am, and I have to keep in mind that they’re ruthless, more out of self preservation than anything. Flicker! is very! excited! all! the time!! and while she really wants to make friends she is… not very good at making them. and Amatri… uh. I haven’t played around with him in almost years, but he is just so bad at the talking thing, no matter how good he is at telling stories, he just perpetually digs the hole deeper.
Nava 