Full Build Friday - Long John Silver
- bjacobt1
- 1 hour ago
- 12 min read
This was one of my favorite movies back in the day, which I'm sure isn't a unique opinion, but is one of the reasons that I'll never forgive Disney. Naturally, I'm using this opportunity to expand on my Starfinder 2e builds and this time we're looking at an envoy! As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
I actually had some serious issues with the video for this one. I hope you'll give it a chance - it was either post a slightly jank video or post no video at all and I don't think it turned out bad, just not as good as I'd like.
Set sail for adventure with this build for Long John Silver from Treasure Planet!
LONG JOHN SILVER
CHARACTER John Silver
SOURCE Treasure Planet
BUILD GOALS
o John Silver is a pirate captain who has dedicated his life to finding the fabled Treasure Planet in pursuit of its riches
o He is a member of the Ursid race, which resembles the cross between a bear and a human
o His body is equipped with multiple cybernetic augments and prosthetics, including a robotic arm, leg, ear, and eye
o This arm has multiple functions and can be switched from a hand to a sword, pistol, welding tool, or even cooking implements. He can also augment it with parts from his leg for a low-grade plasma cannon
o As for his cybernetic eye, it can zoom-in to aid his aim or provide him with thermal vision, night vision, or x-ray vision
o He is a master chef who was able to skillfully disguise himself and his crew aboard an official ship
o Silver also has a pet and sidekick by the name of Morph, a small shapeshifting creature that could mimic everything from other people to items
o He’s also featured in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode where he is a tank able to repair himself, enhance his abilities, and study enemies to gain an advantage against them
Summary of Goals: Representing Silver as a captain of his crew is going to be an important aspect of this build, but I don’t want to neglect his cybernetics. I’m afraid a lot of that will come down to his items, but I’ll try to feature that idea where I can within the build itself. While Silver does end up giving away Morph in the end, I still want to include the little troublemaker in his kit.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Beastkin Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Charisma
o Ancestry Feat: Adapted Augmentations
Background: Space Pirate
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Charisma
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (T), Piracy Lore (T)
o Background Feat: Group Coercion
Class & Subclass: Guns Blazing Envoy
o Class Ability Boost: +Charisma
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Athletics (T), Crafting (T), Deception (T), Diplomacy (T), Piloting (T), Society (T), Thievery (T)
o Class Feat: Size Up
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Gear: armored coat, boom pistol, phase cutlass
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +1, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +4)
While it is a minor thing that goes unmentioned in the movie, I thought it would be fun to represent the fact that Silver is a bear-themed alien and to that end, I made him a human with the beastkin heritage. Over on the MM Discord, there was a suggestion to have him use the custom mixed heritage for the automaton, and this concept honestly works quite well to represent his nature as a cyborg, at least mechanically. I preferred the more animalistic aspect and started in on his cybernetic design with Adapted Augmentations with his ancestry feat. For his background, he pretty much has to use space pirate – the knowledge we have of him before being a space pirate is nil and he seems to have been a space pirate for quite a long time, so I think that works out nicely. And as a space pirate, he’s a captain who rather capably commands an unruly crew. Given all that, I decided to use another new Starfinder class and built him as an envoy, specifically one who follows the ‘gun blazing’ style of leadership. This style helps Silver and his crew swap or prep weapons faster through the Ready Arms directive, and that is handy when it comes to representing the variety of weapons and tools his hand can turn into, even if it requires flavoring. In addition to all these options already, I have him taking Size Up, which provides an interesting array of benefits but is actually inspired by his ability to study enemies from the Disney Heroes: Battle Mode. Honestly, I don’t quite know what this is so I probably shouldn’t put too much stock into it, but options like this are at least a fun nod to it.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Space Pirate Dedication
o Skill Feat: Additional Lore – Cooking Lore
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (E), Cooking Lore (E), Piloting (E)
o Gear: commercial dragon gland
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Deception (E)
o Gear: tactical phase cutlass, commercial dragon gland, hideaway limb
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Acquire Asset
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Prowess
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (E)
o Gear: golden legion epaulets, tactical phase cutlass, tactical boom pistol, commercial dragon gland
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +2, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +4.5)
o Ancestry Feat: Animal Senses – Low-Light Vision
o Skill Increase: Athletics (E)
o Gear: advanced phase cutlass, golden legion epaulets, darkvision capacitator, tactical boom pistol, commercial dragon gland, hideaway limb
Just as obviously as us having to take the space pirate background, he also takes the Space Pirate Dedication. This grants him some enhanced Piloting and few weapons that he gets to pick up before letting fly high the colors with the Holo-Roger action. He also enhances his Size Up through the Acquire Asset feat, letting him do so in the midst of combat, which is a significant improvement over having to prepare the Size Up ahead of time. While the envoy does receive skill increases at every level, they don’t receive a skill feat at every level – though they do have Adaptive Talent – which I initially misread. I had to go through my build again and remove all the extra skill feats and settle on the important ones like Additional Lore for Cooking Lore! This obviously references his role as a cook, which he does seem to be fairly adept at even if it doesn’t look the best, but he’ll follow it up with the slightly more practical Intimidating Prowess. For his other feats within this block, Toughness leans into his burliness and his tank role within Disney Heroes whereas Animal Senses is meant to better encapsulate his bear-like qualities as well as the extra vision granted by his cybernetic eye.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Hang in There
o Skill Feat: Favored Disguise
o Skill Increase: Crafting (E)
o Gear: tactical armored coat, advanced phase cutlass, advanced boom pistol, golden legion epaulets, tactical dragon gland, squire’s tabard
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Augmented Body
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (M), Cooking Lore (M)
o Gear: shifter prosthesis, tactical armored coat, advanced boom pistol, advanced phase cutlass, golden legion epaulets, darkvision capacitator
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Press-Gang the Soul
o Skill Feat: Confabulator
o Skill Increase: Deception (M)
o Gear: advanced dragon gland, shifter prosthesis, tactical psychoactive eyes, tactical armored coat, advanced phase cutlass, advanced boom pistol
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Animalistic Resistance
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (M)
o Gear: advanced armored coat, advanced dragon gland, pain journal, shifter prosthesis, advanced boom pistol, advanced phase cutlass
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +3, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +5)
o Class Feat: Opening Volley
o Skill Feat: Seasoned
o Skill Increase: Athletics (M)
o Gear: greater killer’s belt, advanced microcord armor, flaming module, advanced dragon gland, advanced boom pistol, advanced phase cutlass
Since his own movie might be a little light on the details, what with having the gall to feature other characters in it, I lean into his Disney Heroes version a bit with Hang in There, which can also affect his allies. He then swaps to his space pirate feats to grab Press-Gang the Soul, which seem a little strange, but stick with me a bit. This allows him to call forth a wisp ally, a Tiny bouncing wisp that will attempt to distract foes and make them off-guard – resembling his shapeshifting little buddy, Morph, and how it will prank and trick others. Opening Volley does fit him at least a little bit better. While Silver isn’t quite a dual wielder, but he’s been known to open a few doors with a cannon before switching to more personal weapons. For his skill selection, he focuses a bit more on feats that help him sell his assumed identity, initially using Deception feats such as Favored Disguise and Confabulator, but then grabbing Seasoned to help him when it comes to his cooking. Adding Augmented Body to his repertoire gives him yet another augmentation, which doesn’t count against his limits. This, along with his Adapted Augmentations, means that he can have six total augmentations – such as an arm, leg, eye, and ear while still having room for a few more. He closes out the build with Animalistic Resistance, which is based on similar reasonings to his Toughness feat.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Increase: Piloting (M)
o Gear: superior phase cutlass, greater killer’s belt, greater ventriloquist’s ring, advanced microcord armor, advanced dragon gland, advanced boom pistol
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Secondary Directive
o Skill Feat: Terrifying Resistance
o Skill Increase: Crafting (M)
o Gear: superior microcord armor, superior phase cutlass, superior boom pistol, greater killer’s belt, flaming module, gossip’s eye
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Stubborn Persistence
o Skill Increase: Piracy Lore (E)
o Gear: elite phase cutlass, superior microcord armor, nano-optics node, superior boom pistol, greater killer’s belt, greater ventriloquist’s ring
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Cut ‘Em Deep
o Skill Feat: Tech Crafting
o Skill Increase: Piracy Lore (M)
o Gear: elite dermal plating, elite phase cutlass, elite boom pistol, superior microcord armor, admiral’s bicorne, greater blastfoot
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +3, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +5.5)
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (L), Cooking Lore (L)
o Gear: elite microcord armor, elite dermal plating, elite boom pistol, elite phase cutlass, nano-optics node, skirmisher’s coat
He goes a bit more on the offensive for this block with the likes of Secondary Directive allowing him to follow-up a 2-action directive with a Strike and single action directive. Presently, his only directives are Get ‘Em and Steel Yourselves, but I think there’s an interesting idea where he could potentially do a 2-action Get ‘Em against one target and then do Secondary Directive against a second target so that his teammates can redirect fire if one target goes down. However, when he doesn’t have multitude of enemies, he can instead consider Cut ‘Em Deep, improving his Intimidation capabilities and making it so that he can continually Demoralize the target of his Get ‘Em. He also finally goes for another Intimidation skill feat in the form of Terrifying Resistance so that we can make his as tanky as an envoy to get. I do want to point out that the bonus from this will stack with the bonus from a two action Steel Yourselves as this skill feat offers a circumstance whereas Steel Yourselves is a status bonus. He also takes Tech Crafting as I expect him to run maintenance on his own machinery – and maybe make a few modifications to them when need be. His remaining feats honestly all play into making him even tougher and harder to put down with the likes of Diehard and Fast Recovery, but even Stubborn Persistence allows him to push through tiredness in pursuit of his goal, calling to mind his dogged pursuit of the Treasure Planet.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Unstoppable Directives
o Skill Feat: Terrified Retreat
o Skill Increase: Deception (L)
o Gear: tactical flaming module, elite microcord armor, rhyton of the radiant ifrit, elite dermal plating, elite phase cutlass, elite boom pistol
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Too Stubborn to Die
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (L)
o Gear: ultimate phase cutlass, tactical flaming module, tactical pain journal, elite microcord armor, elite dermal plating, elite boom pistol
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Search High and Low!
o Skill Feat: Scare to Death
o Skill Increase: Athletics (L)
o Gear: presence intensifier, ultimate phase cutlass, ultimate boom pistol, tactical flaming module, elite microcord armor, rhyton of the radiant ifrit
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Robust Health
o Skill Increase: Piloting (L)
o Gear: ultimate microcord armor, presence intensifier, ultimate boom pistol, ultimate phase cutlass, tactical flaming module, tactical pain journal
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +4, Con +4, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +6)
o Class Feat: True Leader
o Skill Feat: Legendary Negotiation
o Skill Increase: Crafting (L), Survival (T)
o Gear: paragon phase cutlass, ultimate microcord armor, major stalwart’s banner, presence intensifier, quicklock, ultimate boom pistol
Unstoppable Directives allows him to drive his crew on, forcing them to dig deep and push on towards his goals - which is finding treasure and why he uses Search High and Low. I’m not entirely sold on this one and kind of wish that the envoy had some more directives to use, but I guess it’s one of the ways they’re trying to keep it distinct from the commander? Still…
Anyway, with this and True Leader, he’ll be able to do something like a two-action Steel Yourselves, follow that up with a Secondary Directive, and then use Search High and Low as a free action to activate three directives in a single round. As for his skill feats, Terrified Retreat and Scare to Death are a shoo-in with the former having interesting interactions with his Holo-Roger and potentially allowing him to scatter an entire enemy crew if he rolls well. He also has Legendary Troll inspired by his attempts to connect with Jim and convince him to join as part of his collection of the treasures. This is a great combo with his Get ‘Em, potentially creating a three-point swing for allies targeting that foe. Too Stubborn to Die allows him to pull himself back from the brink whereas Robust Health will then help him get back into the fight, increasing the healing that he receives from outside sources.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: There are two standout options for Silver when it comes to a free archetype game. The first of these is a little more functional and comes in the form of the Sterling Dynamo. I imagine that he would use a manual pile drive, but I think the most important aspect for delving into this archetype is to take Modular Dynamo several times and represent the variety of weapons and tools that he can transform his cybernetic arm into. In more ways than one, its second choice is a bit more flavorful as he could take up Wandering Chef. This wholly plays into the role he assumed aboard the ship and is further referenced in a number of his Lorcana cards, which just makes for a fun inclusion.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Long John Silver is a beastfolk human envoy who follows a guns blazing leadership style and has a background as a space pirate, a background so prominent that he has become the captain of his crew who Searches High and Low for Treasure Planet. His beastkin heritage and a few of its feats cover his ursid race but going human allows us to grab Adapted Augmentations, which alongside his Augmented Body, makes him the cyborg he is built to be. I didn’t want to call out augmentations and decided to leave that all to you lot instead though he does use Animal Senses to gain low-light vision per some of the advanced options of his cybernetic eye. There’s some more augments to help with this idea and there’s the likes of prosthetic limbs or hideaway limbs, but there isn’t quite a Swiss army knife option yet. He does have the Ready Arms directive to help him switch weapons faster, which does work quite nicely with his Opening Volley, encouraging him to open fire before closing with his phase cutlass. He’s also a highly capable chef as seen through his Additional Lore with Cooking Lore and his Seasoned feat whereas his investment in Deception covers his ability to disguise himself as one. Press-Gang the Soul will allow him to summon a wisp ally to resemble his mischievous mate, Morph, as it plagues his foes. I also managed to replicate the tankiness of his Disney Heroes version with Toughness, Animalistic Resistance, and Hang in There. He slips in Size Up and Acquire Assets given how he studies foes in that game to gain an advantage against them.
Capable of a collection of curious crafts, this caring crook is a competent captain, cook, and combatant that carves through companies in conquest of captured capital while commanding a crew of craven cutthroats.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog. I'm returning to my roots next week with a character I'm not actually familiar with, but I think it should still make for a sound build that is sure to slay!
Have a fantastic Friday!
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